Kavi Help CenterKavi® Members Help
| Chapter 15. Company Types | ||
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Part I. Kavi Members Concepts and How-tos | 
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Table of Contents
As the name implies, Company Types are used to classify companies. They may also be associated with roles that grant access. When a Company Type has roles associated with it, users who belong to a company with this Company Type inherit these roles. In company-based organizations, the majority of site users inherit basic access privileges through Company Types assigned to their company.
For example, Member Companies are assigned a Company Type when they join the organization. This type usually confers the 'member' role. When people who belong to this company sign up as Company Representatives they inherit the 'member' role, which gives them access to Member Areas of the organization's site. Staff and administrators may inherit basic access the same way.
The most significant difference between Company Types and other types (i.e., User Types, Contact Types is this inheritance of roles through the company's Company Type(s). For this reason, Company Types usually confer roles that provide Member Area and Groups access only. Roles that grant administrative or editorial access are usually associated with User Types so they can be assigned to specific users, rather than everyone in a company.
This document assumes you are familiar with Roles, Types and Membership Types.
Back to topYour organization's website may have only one category of Company Types: 'General' Company Types. If Kavi Membership is installed on your site, you'll also have the Category 'General : Assigned through Membership Only'. A few organizations have an 'Admin' Company Type that is assigned to organization or management company staff.
General Company Types are used to classify companies, and on sites without Kavi Membership, they are likely to confer the 'member' role, and possibly the 'wg_access' role, which provides access to Kavi Groups.
On sites with Kavi Membership, the majority of Company Types correspond one-to-one to a specific Company Membership Type. The Company Membership Type is configured to assign the Company Type automatically assigned to a company when it acquires a certain type of membership. To make it easy to search for companies by membership type, most organizations create a Company Type for each Company Membership Type and assign the same name (or similar names) to both. For example, a 'Board' Company Membership Type and a 'Board' Company Type.
Depending on the membership structure, there may be a one-to-one correspondence between these types (so that every Company Membership Type has a single corresponding Company Type), or a single Company Type may correspond to multiple Company Membership Types or several Company Types may be assigned through a single Company Membership Type. Whatever the ratio of correspondence, it is important that at least one of the Company Types has a name that is instantly recognizable when searching for companies with a given Membership Type in searches.
Company Types assigned through Company Membership Types are usually associated with roles that confer access privileges, such as the default 'member' role that grants access to Member areas of the site. When a company is assigned a Company Type with roles, its users inherit the roles and access privileges. In organizations that offer memberships to companies, most users acquire their basic access privileges through a Company Type assigned to their company.
General types without roles may be used classify users by geographic region, area of interest, or as potential members, etc.
Admin Company Types confer roles that grant access to Admin Area tools. They are usually assigned to staff who belong to the organization or a staff company. Since most organizations prefer to assign administrative access to select individuals, there may not be any Admin Company Types on your website. If there is one, it may be assigned to only one or two companies, possibly including a "company" added to group organization staff. A privileged Company Type may be created and assigned to this "company" to grant the organization staff the roles and access permissions they require.
There are only two default Company Types, but they may not be in use on your website. 'Members Area Access', which is associated with the 'member' role, confers access to Member Areas of the site and Member Area Tools. This type is installed so that Members Area access can be granted to users out-of-the-box, without any additional configuration. 'Groups Access', which confers the 'wg_access' role and access to Kavi Groups may also be in use on your website. Some websites use this role, but some base Kavi Groups access on the 'member' role.
Back to topAdditional Company Types can be added as required, and deleted if no longer needed. To add a Company Type, use the Add a Company Type tool. Examples of additional Company Types include types that mirror Company Membership Types (e.g., 'Founding', 'Sponsor'), types assigned to nonmembers to indicate which sector of the community they fall into (e.g., 'Adopter', 'Academic'), and general types that may be assigned to members and nonmembers alike to classify them according to geographic area or area of interest (e.g., 'Asia-Pacific Region', 'Electronics').
Back to topIt isn't mandatory for every company to be assigned a Company Type, but any companies that didn't have a type would be harder to retrieve in searches. Company Types may convey roles that grant access to the Members Area or Kavi Groups. It is unusual for them to convey higher-level access. If the organization allows nonmembers to login, these users need to acquire the 'member' role (and possibly the 'wg_access' role as well), so they can access Member Area Tools that allow them to manage their personal account data.
A Company Type may be assigned automatically as a company is added to the Pending tables during the membership application process.
When a Super Admin adds companies in bulk through the Upload Data tool, the data file may specify one or more Company Types, or one may be assigned automatically.
An Organization Admin adding a new company manually through the Add a Company tool may assign a Company Type. If there is a default Company Type for a company with this Company Purpose, it is is preselected. The administrator may check additional Company Types if desired, and may unselect the default.
After a company is added, the Organization Admin can edit the assigned Company Types through the Edit a Company tool, or a Super Admin may use Upload Data when Company Types for multiple companies need to be edited.
In company-based organizations, most users inherit the roles required to access the website through Company Types assigned to their company. Companies may be automatically assigned 'Members Area Access' and 'Groups Access' Company Types when they are added to the database.
If Kavi Membership is installed, Member Companies are assigned types through their membership. There is probably one Company Type for every Company Membership Type.
In individual-based organizations or mixed organizations, Individual Members may acquire basic access to Member Areas of the website through Company Types. This is especially true of organizations that use one or two Company for Individuals to group all Individual Members. An individual-based organization may not have any additional Company Types, or may have one that applies only to Staff Companies.
If the organization has a Company Type specifically for Staff Companies, it commonly has no roles, or may confer just the 'member' and 'wg_access' roles only. In some cases, Staff Company may be associated with high-level roles such as 'org_admin'.
All Company Types installed on the site are managed through Kavi Members.
Organization Admins can view, and assign or revoke, company's Company Types through the Manage a Company tool. Organization Admins who are managing a company or company can click the link to the View Access Configuration page to view all available types and roles on the website.
Super Admins can view and manage Company Types through the Manage Company Types tool, and can view all installed types and roles through the View Access Configuration tool. Super Admins can edit default Company Types as required, and add, edit and delete non-default Company Types. You can change which roles are associated with a Contact Type by editing the type.
Super Admins may add Company Types for Company Memberships, semantic tagging or other needs that aren't met by the default set. Go to Manage Contact Types and click the link to Add a Company Type tool. Use the Edit a Company Type tool if you want to rename any one of the default Company Types, or edit descriptions or roles.
Table 15.1. Configuring Company Type Options
| Option | Tips |
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| Naming Conventions |
Company Types used to classify companies by their membership type should be named after the membership type they represent so they can be instantly recognized in pull-down lists. For example, a Company Type assigned through a Sponsor Membership could be named 'Sponsor'. If your organization has multiple membership types at the same general level of membership, such as different types of 'Affiliate' memberships, you may need an 'Affiliate' Company Type to allow these members to be retrieved as a group. You may also need to add Company Types to distinguish the different membership types under the 'Affiliate' umbrella, such as 'Business Sector, 'Academic Sector' and 'Government Sector'. |
| Description | The description should spell out any access granted through the type. If you edit a default type by adding or removing roles, be sure to update the description to reflect the new level of access. |
| Roles |
In most cases, only the 'member' and 'wg_access' role should be associated with build-your-own Company Types (if any). Default roles reserved for Contact Types (e.g., 'company_admin') won't be available when configuring Company Types. On sites where additional roles are added to provide access to areas or support functionality created by Kavi Web Developers, Company Types may be added and named after the role they confer. |
If you are adding a type to be assigned to companies when they acquire a company membership, here are some hints. Every organization's membership structure is unique, so these hints aren't universally applicable.
Tips
These types belong in the category 'General (only through membership)'.
At least one of the Company Types assigned through membership should be associated with the 'member' role to grant access to the Members area, or else you should associate the default 'Member Area Access' Company Type with the Company Membership Type, so that multiple Company Types are automatically assigned when a company acquires this type of membership. If your organization uses the 'wg_access' role to provide access to Kavi Groups, include this role or associate the default 'Groups Access' Company Type with the membership type. If there are areas that are unique to your website that this type of member needs to be able to access, associate the role that controls access to this area as well.
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Most Company Types assigned through membership correspond 1-to-1 to an Company Membership Type, but this isn't applicable to all membership structures. Some organizations assign multiple Company Types through a single membership type, and others assign a single Company Type through multiple membership types. Do whatever makes the most sense for your organization's membership structure.
For example, if there are multiple types at the same level that have only slight differences, the same Company Type might be appropriate for all these Company Membership Types. Conversely, if your organization has member chapters, members might be assigned two types, one that is assigned to everyone with this type of membership and a second type assigned only to members in this region. This approach is uncommon and the Company Types are generally created by Kavi when implementing this kind of built-to-suit solution.
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| Chapter 14. Types: Company, User and Contact Types |  |
Chapter 16. Contact Types |