A member grouping is a named set of criteria for selecting members from the member database. Any time you want a new member grouping, you need to specify these criteria and enter a name for them. To do so, click on the Add new grouping button at the top-right of the Member Grouping page (circled below)...
This displays a Member grouping Details page. To create a new member grouping, proceed as follows:
- Enter a name for your new member grouping in the Name field shown in the image below...
- Under the Name box is the Display ranking field. Entering a number in this box determines whether this member grouping appears as a tab on the Member List page, and if it does, what order/sequence it appears there. The grouping with the lowest number appears first on that page. Leaving this field blank means that this member grouping will not appear on the Member List page.
- The next section allows for the specification of Member Details criteria.
You can specify State or Postcode criteria for your member grouping. If these criteria are not relevant to the specification of your member grouping, then you simply leave them as Not specified, as shown in the image above.
- The next section, Membership Details, allows for the specification of membership criteria. The default member groupings called Regular Members and Members and Helpers are examples of groupings that make use of membership criteria (and not participation criteria). By default, the Membership Details section appears like this...
If the definition of the subset of members you want includes membership criteria, select your club/chapter from the drop-down list. This is optional. If the subset of members you want is solely based on participation criteria such as section/voice part, then you can leave this as "Not specified".
To specify membership criteria, select your club/chapter from the drop-down list. When you do this, a list of membership criteria is displayed, as shown below...
You can now specify criteria based on membership Type/Role, Level, Status, Dues Payable, Dues Schedule, Happy to be on Mailing lists?, membership Expired?, and a number of different Date range criteria.
- The next section, Ensemble Details, allows for the specification of criteria based on each member's participation in an ensemble. The default member grouping called Active Singers is an example of a grouping that makes use of participation criteria (as opposed to membership criteria). By default, the Ensemble Details section appears like this...
If the definition of the subset of members you want includes ensemble participation criteria, select the relevant ensemble from the drop-down list. This is optional. If the subset of members you want is solely based on membership criteria, then you can leave this as "Not specified".
To specify ensemble criteria, select the relevant ensemble from the drop-down list. When you do this, a list of ensemble participation criteria is displayed, as shown below...
You can specify ensemble criteria based on the member's ensemble Status and Section, whether he/she has a special role?, and whether he/she is on the Front row?.
- Once you have specified all the necessary criteria for your member grouping, click Save at the bottom of the page.
Important Notes about Selecting Criteria
- Ticking all boxes for a criterion is the same as ticking none. For example, the following two examples of criteria are functionally identical...
...is the same as...
That may seem counter-intuitive, or even wrong. But it works like this: The first example means "When selecting members, the Section field is not important". The second example means "When selecting members, match members in the Lead, Bass, Baritone or Tenor sections (i.e. in any of the four Sections)".
- Ticking n/a may not do what you think it does. For example, the following criteria...
...does not select members with any Level. It does not mean, "When selecting members, Level is irrelevant/not applicable" (or in other words, match members with any Level). Instead, it means "select members that specifically have n/a ticked in their Level field".
