Group Administrator Overview

Group administrators control group configuration and policies. The tools in this area have a significant impact on group properties. If you have questions after reading this, please consult Kavi for assistance. The tools for group administrators have been broken into four categories:

Common Group Activities

Add New Group
Use this form to add either top-level groups or subgroups. Define name, chair, charter, other semantics. Define default policies for sharing, visibility, adding, voting, lists, roster, ballots, subgroups. If you need to change a setting later, all are easily changed except two of them: Abbreviated Group Name (which is used in the URL), and Mailing List Name (changing it must be done manually and can result in disruption of email service for the group). Some defaults are driven from org configuration. If you want to change the defaults that show up on the Add New Group page, please see the Configure Roles, Types & States or Configure Application Settings tools.
Manage Existing Groups
Shows an alphabetical list of all groups by name with links to group location, modify, remove, or deactivate them.
Modify
If you need to change a group setting, all are easily changed except two of them: Abbreviated Group Name (which is used in the URL), and Mailing List Name (changing it must be done manually and can result in disruption of email service for the group). If you attempt to modify a group but don't see a setting listed there that you think should be available, you can change defaults by visiting the Manage Roles, Types & States or Configure Application Settings tools.
Remove
This is permanent. If there is any chance you will want to use the group again or have access to its documents, info, and email threads in the future, deactivate it rather than remove it.
Deactivate
This can easily be undone if the group is needed again in the future, or if you want to access its contents.
Manage Group Ballots
Manage ballots for the organization from a list of open/pending, closed, and deleted ballots. Ballot title links to full details and more links. If you want to add a ballot for a specific group, use the quick links to visit that group's home page. Modifying ballots cannot be done without having the changes appear as an amendment. Create a new ballot if you don't want your changes to appear as an amendment. Permanently delete a vote link for each ballot.
Modify Administrator Notes
Edit notes that appear strategically throughout application. Has confirmation page. HTML allowed.
    All Groups Note
    Appears at the top of the Kavi Groups portal and the My Groups page. It should contain information that is of general interest to the entire organization.
    Group Members' Note
    Appears at the top of all group landing pages when viewed by members of those groups. It should contain information that is of interest to members of any group.
    Group Chairs' Note
    Appears at the top of all group landing pages when viewed by chairs or co-chairs of those groups. It should contain information that is of interest to group chairs.
Add Organization-Wide Ballot
Add a ballot for the entire organization to vote on. Similar options to regular ballot except no reference documents allowed and no detailed results view available. If you want to add a ballot for one group, visit that group's home page.
Add Organization-Wide Calendar Event
Add a calendar event for the entire organization. The event gets displayed on members (portal) calendar. Option to share with public, email one or more groups, or cc others. No reference documents allowed. If you want to add a calendar event for a group, visit that group's home page.
View Usage Statistics
Includes a high-level look at resource usage, along with the top 5 groups per category for a number of criteria.
Check Database Integrity
This script examines the Kavi Groups database and attempts to fix any discrepancies found -- members on a roster who are not on the associated email list, members of an email list who are not on the roster, etc. A conservative approach to manually running this script would be to detect and review suggested changes first rather than auto-correct them. This script is also regularly run as a cron job to auto-correct errors.

Manage Group Participants

Add Users to Groups
Add bulk group members by pasting in email addresses separated by a new line or a comma. For each batch of users, select which group and which group role. Only users with valid Member accounts will be added to the group - the script will let you know which users could not be added for this reason. Confirmation shows number of users added, users not found, and users already on the roster.
Remove Users from Groups
This is an API script called by an internal dbsync program. Alternately you may manually run it to remove a user from all groups. A user lookup tool is provided.
Add Administrator
Create workgroup admins. Only grant this right to someone who has been trained, as there are several irreversible things that an untrained person could do inside the admin area. A workgroup admin has access to all the group application configuration forms (you are currently viewing these), and they also have group manager rights for every group. If you want to add a group manager or group chair, visit that group's roster. A list of current admins is displayed at the top of the page. A user lookup tool is provided. Select an admin, confirmation at top of page.
Remove Administrator
List of existing admins is displayed in the person lookup. Select, click Remove admin. Get confirmation at top of page. If you change your mind, you can add a workgroup admin back using the Add Administrator form.
Deactivate User
Allows admin to deactivate a user independent of Kavi Members status. The user will still be able to access the Kavi member tools (anything within the /kmembers/ area of the site), but they will not be able to access group member tools, will not receive group email, and will not have group member privileges until they are reactivated using the Activate User form.
Activate User
Allows admin to activate a user and restore membership to all groups they belong to, independent of Kavi Members status. Restores a user's access to group member tools, receiving/sending group email, and other group member privileges. Use the Deactivate User form to deactivate a group user independent of Kavi Members status.

Manage Roles, Types, & States

Manage Group Creation Defaults
Create a template for use when using the Add New Group form. The default values presented on this page may be overridden on a group-by-group basis, either during group creation or by authorized group admins, chairs, or managers once the group has been created. Set defaults for member privileges, mailing list usage, email notifications, voting and balloting, and document autonaming scheme.
Manage Group Roles
Add, edit, and delete group roles. A role is a set of privileges that define what a person can do within the group. A table is provided to show what privileges go with which role. The Group Chair role is special in that it has the same privileges in all subgroups of that group. For each role, you may enter a name, description, and corresponding privileges. Confirmation of changes is shown at top of page.
Manage Group Types
Define group type names (e.g., Workgroup, Special, etc.). Set these when adding a group. Used as a naming scheme - no special properties are conferred solely by the group types defined here.
Manage Document States
Define document states (e.g., Draft, Published, etc.). Set state name, description, and if this default state that is displayed when someone adds a document to a group. States can be added, edited and removed. State changes immediately available in docs UI. Confirmation at top of page.
Manage Document Types
Use this form (along with the Manage Content Types form) when you get an email notification that says a document of unknown type has been uploaded to a group. The symptom is that a generic icon appears next to the document in the groups folders, instead of a custom one of your choice. Set name and icon. Document types like image, Word, etc. Add, edit, remove types. Confirmation at top of page.
Manage Content Types
Use this form (along with the Manage Document Types form) when you get an email notification that says a document of unknown type has been uploaded to a group. The symptom is that a generic icon appears next to the document in the groups folders, instead of a custom one of your choice. This form provides ay to append to the list of recognized document content types. Relates content types to document types.
Manage Calendar Event Types
Add, edit, remove calendar event types. Calendar event types show up as a choice on the calendar when someone is adding an event. If your organization has an event type that is not listed in the defaults, add it here. Properties that can be set are name, description, icon, and default event type.
Manage Time Zones
Select which of 58 time zones are available when adding events. Zones in use cannot be removed. Changing the default does not change any items already created; it merely sets the default for the next time any member uses a form that requires a Time Zone entry, such as when adding a calendar event or ballot. Confirmation at top of page.

Configure Application Settings

Manage Group Settings
Set defaults for a group's home: number of items, calendar placement, defaults for different modules. the individual Group landing pages, and document pages. The settings also allow you to control members' ability to unsubscribe from mailing lists, the mailing list manager configuration options, the content encoding format of email messages generated by the application, and global voting options applied to all groups. Confirmation at top of page.
Manage "All Groups" Settings
Set All Groups page layout, where to display the organization-wide calendar, number of items, and group list style (link, link w/ info, full). Confirmation at top of page.
Manage "My Groups" Settings
Sets default layout for each member's My Groups page. Changing the default does not affect any personalized layouts already saved by members.Toggle member's ability to personalize the my groups page. Determine placement of my calendar. Determine default number of items shown. Determine whether to show shared items by default. Change number of rows and columns available. No confirmation message.
Manage Public Headers & Footers
Allows admin to define unique header/footer for each public group.
Modify Join Template
Edit the text that appears at the top of the page when one requests to join a group. HTML allowed. If the template is left blank, people will not have to click 'Yes, I accept the above terms and conditions to join a group.

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