Create / Edit Groups

• Create a Group
• Edit a Group
• Deleting a Group
• History

A Group is a specific instance of an organization within the hierarchy. For example, if you have a college within your institution titled, "College of Arts and Sciences" - the full name would be used to create the Group, and it would be created with the Category of "College." Groups are used to help organize users within roles, and roles are used to determine which users are brought into the workflow, assign permissions, and provide filtering options. 

You are able to create as many Groups as you need. While most Groups are created with associated Categories, it is not required that they belong to one. For example, it is common to see Groups created for entities that exist outside of your academic structure, such as a Library or Registrar's Office. 

Within a Group, you will find the following attributes:

Category

The Category field allows you to select one of your pre-defined Categories to associate with the Group, if one is needed. 

Roles

A role is the type of job a user holds, but it is not the same thing as their title. Roles are used within the Workflow of CM to indicate which user is brought into the process in order to Approve or Acknowledge specific steps. Common examples of a role may be Provost, Committee Member, Committee Chair, Dean, Department Head, etc.

Fields

Custom fields can be created within the Category as a text field, text area, or checkbox. If these fields have been created within the Category that is associated with a Group, they will be available for use.

History

The history is an audit log that displays how a group has changed over time, including who made the changes and when, allowing for greater transparency around changes. 

Create a Group

You can follow the outlined steps or jump to a specific section:

• New Group
  • Direct
  • From Category
• Product
• Roles
• Fields
• Hierarchy

Note: Only Admins will be able to create or edit Groups.

• To create a new Group, select the Groups app from the App Switcher.

• From the All Groups page, you are able to create a new Group in one of two ways:
  • You can create a New Group directly from this page, and assign the Category as a part of that process, or
  • You can select the Category first, and create the Group within the Category directly.

New Group (Direct)

• Click on the New Group link at the top-right of the screen.

• On the next screen, you will be prompted to fill in the details of your new Group. The first field will be Name. This will be the name of the Group - such as College of Fine Arts, or English Department.

• The second field shown is Category. When you create a Group directly from the All Groups page, this option will default to Uncategorized, and you will see (Unassigned) after the title of the new Group. This field will be a drop-down menu that provides you with your previously created Categories to choose from.  
  
• Select the Category that best fits the Group you are creating.
  • • For example, if your Group is titled College of Fine Arts, then the Category to select is likely College. If your group was titled English Department, then the Category to select is likely Department. If no Category fits, you can either create a new one, or leave this option set to Uncategorized.  

New Group within Category

• Select the Category you would like to place your Group within from the options in the left navigation.   

• Once the Category has been selected, click on the New Group link in the upper-right corner.

Product

• The next field for the Group is Product. There are only two options available - Global and Student. While working within Curriculum Management, select the option for Student. Selecting Global will not have a negative impact within your system, but does not provide any additional features within CM.

  

  • Once you select a Category, the Product field may no longer be able to be adjusted as it will reflect the settings specified within the Category Template. 

Roles

• The next section for the Group is Roles. The Roles that will be shown will be based on the Category selected. 

• The Roles outline the type of position a user holds; but is not necessarily the full title a person holds. 
  • For example, if the new Group being created is the College of Fine Arts, we would be entering the user who holds the associated position within this college. 
• To select a user, click into the field and begin typing. The typeahead field will look for users as you type.

• You may add multiple users to a Role, and you may add a user to multiple Roles if needed.
• If additional Roles are needed, you will need to add them by editing the Category.

Note: Avoid using the Override Template option. When you override a template to create new roles, these roles cannot be used within workflow. Overriding roles is not recommended as it doesn't function within the workflow correctly.

Fields

• Next, you will find the section for Fields. The fields will only be shown in the Category or on a Group; and the data housed here can not be used within the forms in CM. This will be for informational purposes only. For example, you may want to store a specific code with the group, and providing a custom field will allow you to have a place to store it. Like the Roles, you will first need to create the fields within the Category before they will be available here.

Hierarchy

• The hierarchy field allows you to determine a category that is considered a parent to this one - but will only be available if the Category you have selected is already parented to another Category. For example, if you have a Category for 'department' where you have already established the relationship with 'college'. Use the drop-down menu to select the Group that you'd like to set as the parent.
  
  • For example, if the new Group being created is the Department of Art History, we may need to indicate that it is housed under the College of Art.

Once all information relating to your Group has been entered, click on the Done link in the upper corner to save the Group. 

Edit a Group

You can edit a Group as needed to adjust any of the details within - such as the hierarchy or roles associated with it.

Note: If you intend to change the users within Roles or the Hierarchy within a Group, it is recommended that you first ensure you do not have any proposals in progress, as the changes may impact workflow. You can pause submissions to prevent any additional proposals from being submitted while you make adjustments.

• To edit a Group, start by selecting the Groups app from the app switcher. 
• Using the search bar at the top, locate the Group you need to modify.
  • You can also select a Category from the left navigation, and then select the appropriate Group.

• The next screen will provide an overview of the current Group settings. To modify them, click the Edit Group link in the upper-right.

• You can now make any edits needed to the Group. When you are finished, click the Done link in the upper-right corner to save the changes. 

Note: When a change is made to an existing Group, that change will affect everywhere that group has been used. This will include all past records, active records, and current proposals.

Delete a Group

A Group can be deleted if needed - but only if there are no other items using it. This would include a Group being parented under another, or proposal going through workflow on an item that falls within the Group. 

Note: It is strongly suggested that you inactivate an item rather than deleting it. Deleting a group is a permanent action that will impact all records. A deleted group will reflect as a - on the form.

• To delete a Group, start by selecting the Groups app from the app switcher. 
• Using the search bar at the top, locate the Group you need to modify.
  • You can also select a Category from the left navigation, and then select the appropriate Group.
• The next screen will provide an overview of the current Group. To delete the Group, click the Delete Group link in the upper-right.

• Once you have selected the Delete option, you will need to confirm that you would like to Delete the group in order for it to be removed.

Note: If the Delete Group link is not available, then you can not delete the Group at this time. This is likely due either another Group being parented to this one; or a proposal currently going through the workflow.

History

The Group history is an audit log that displays the changes made to a group over time, including who made the changes and when, allowing for greater transparency around these system changes.

The following information will be shown within the History for a Group: 

• Date and time of change
• User who made the change
• Action
• Description of action