What is it

We have created groups so that their functions can be tailored to your different needs. This section tells you how to create the group, edit the content and give members different permissions.

You may notice that to achieve some formatting results requires special code, you can find a quick guide to that here

How it works

To create a group go to the PHINE groups page and select Create a new group from the right hand menu.

You will then be presented with a form with a number of fields for completion.
You will see this for in edit mode. You can switch to view mode by slecting the button at the top of the form at any time but remember to save your changes before you do.

Once you've created the group you can return to the edit mode at any time by choosing edit group from the admin panel at the foot of the group page.

There are three tabs, Basic, Advanced and Members.

Basic

Name: This is the name of the group
Description: This should tell visitors about the group, what it's for and who should join. The description appears in the blue box at the top of a group on the overview page.
Summary:This is a short overview of the group for which appears in the list on the groups page.
Application text:This is optional. Write here a message for those joining the group. You may wish to specify who should be joining the group before they apply.
Thumbnail:This area allows you to load an image for that group.
Save changes:This button at the foot of the form saves changes you have made. You must save what you have done before navigating to other pages.

Advanced

Join Policy: allows you to define who can access your group.

• Open is the default setting. This allows anybody to join the group and view its resources.
• Approve requires a group administrator to approve an individuals membership before they can access the group and its resources. The administrator will be sent an email to alert of the applicant and will aslo receive any application text they may send.
• Closed groups are only visible to invited members.

Parent Group This pull-down tab allows you to make your group a 'child group' of another. This is useful if you wish to create working groups within other groups.
Group features This matrix allows you to customise the access of the different components which make up the group or disable them altogether. By default all group functions are restricted to members only. In most cases it makes sense to restrict the discussion and resources to members but make news and events available to all.

Members

The members tab gives you control over who can use your group and what they can access. Permission levels are broken down into:

• Admins
• Officers and
• Members

The default permission is member but you may wish to change another member to an admin to help manage the group. To do this click the Make Admin button next to the members name you wish to edit.

The officer permission is simply another level which allows you to enable different admin rights for some members but not others.

The remove user button deletes that member from the group.

Applicants shows you who is waiting approval, although when you log into the group you will see who has applied to join on the homepage (only admins can see this!)

To add a new member to your group you can start to type there name into the provided search box and if a match is found it will list them below. Click on the name you'd like to add to the group. You will then need to re-enter the edit mode if you wish to alter their permissions.

Tag Group allows you to assign keywords to help your group be found and add your group to topic specific Special Collections used on the PHINE Platform.

Any questions

If you have questions about how to use this function, or comments on how it might be improved, please comment below.

Useful Links

• Joining Discussion Groups
• Posting Discussions