Group setup and groups for children

Introduction to Group Setups

A Group Setup is the container for one or more age-based Groups. Typically, a Group Setup is created for your children/youth programme that runs at a weekend service, but you will add a Group Setup for each service, event or gathering in which you run a different configuration of age-based groups, e.g. mid-week Youth Club, Holiday Club or Toddlers Ministry. When starting a Check-In session, you will be asked to choose the Group Setup you wish to use.

For multi-site customers, Group Setups are site-specific. Even if the age-based groups are the same at your Sites, a separate Group Setup for each site is required.

While Group names need not be unique, a Group Setup name must always be unique. A child can only belong to one group in a Group Setup, but a child can belong to multiple Group Setups - see the related support article: Adding children to groups.

Adding a Group Setup

Navigate to the Groups section of the Children module and click Add group setup.

On the Add group setup pop-up, give the Setup a suitable Name. Specify the Maximum age of children for this Setup and select when a Child leaves on from the drop-down list. Children are not automatically removed from groups when they reach the maximum age; however, they can be processed through each group in a Setup as they get older and out of the Setup when they are no longer eligible for any of the groups. See the related support article: Processing children through groups as they get older. Finally, those using multi-site will need to select the Setup Site. Click Save to add the Group Setup.

The Group Setup View is shown. From here, you can add one or more Groups (see the next section). You can return here at any time to Edit and make changes to the Group Setup or Groups. See later in this article for further information on archiving and deleting a Group Setup.

Adding groups

In this section, we see how to add the various age-based Groups to a Group Setup. From the Group Setup View, and perhaps beginning with the youngest age group, click Add group on the Groups tab:

On the Add group pop-up, add the group Name and specify the age Entry Criteria for children to be eligible for the group. Select whether children are Processed into the group based on their Birthday or the start of a particular month in the year. When using the Check-In system or processing children through your groups as they get older, the Entry Criteria are used in conjunction with each child's age to determine their eligible group. A group's exit criteria are derived from the follow-on group's entry criteria, or for the oldest group, the maximum age set for the Group Setup.

For those using the Check-In system, group Check-In Options determine the number of Badges of each type that are produced when a child is checked in for the group. Setting a value of 0 means no badges of that type are printed. Optionally set a group Capacity - the maximum number of children that can be checked into the group. No further check-ins are possible once the group is full. Finally, based on your Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy, set the adult-child Ratio required for the group. The Check-In system Admin area includes a helpful session summary showing each group's "fill" progress and adult-child compliance based on the children, visitors, and team members registered for the group. Click Save to add the group.

The group View is displayed, showing all the details just added. From here, you can add group members - see our related support article: Adding children to groups. Click on the Group Setup name (next to the Group name) to return and add further groups to the Setup.

Continue adding all the other Groups to the Setup as appropriate. A Group Setup must contain at least one Group.

Archiving or deleting a Group Setup

When the structure of your Children or Youth ministry changes, rather than changing the Group Setup, you may find it helpful to preserve the ministry history (the Groups and the related historic attendance) by archiving the Setup and adding a new Group Setup that reflects the new structure.

What happens when a Group Setup is archived?

• All groups remain linked to the Setup and assigned to their group.
• All historic group attendance remains linked to the archived Setup and is accessible and fully reportable.
• Historic group attendance continues to show on each child and visitor's profiles.
• Any session templates for the Setup are hidden and won't show in the Check-In system—a Check-In session can only be started for an active Group Setup.
• Smart tags containing Group Setup conditions may be affected.
• An archived Group Setup can be set as active again.

What happens when a Group Setup is deleted?

• The Group Setup is permanently deleted from the Children module. The action cannot be reversed.
• All groups are unlinked from the Setup and archived. They cannot be re-linked to a Group Setup.
• All children are removed from those archived groups.
• All historic group attendance is preserved but it will no longer be attached to a Group Setup, which may affect attendance reporting.
• Historic Check-In sessions for the Group Setup will be deleted, including any active sessions. Group attendance is unlinked from the session and preserved. Session reporting will be affected, but Group reporting is unaffected.
• Historic group attendance continues to show on each child and visitor's profiles.
• Session templates for the Setup are deleted and will no longer show in the Check-In system.
• Smart tags containing Group Setip conditions will be affected.

To archive or delete a Group Setup, navigate into the Groups section of the module and select Archive or Delete from the Setup Actions:

To reactivate a previously archived Group Setup, switch from viewing Active to Archived and select Set as Active.

Historic group attendance for an archived Group Setup continues to show in the Attendance section of the module, with archived Group Steup names distinguished in strikethrough styling. The attendance remains fully editable and reportable.

Archiving or deleting a group

Depending on the ministry changes, and as an alternative to archiving an entire Group Setup, it is possible to archive individual Groups within a Setup (and later set them active again if needed). Note that it is not possible to move Groups between Setups. Instead, archive the Group from one Setup and create a new group in the new Group Setup.

What happens when a Group is archived?

• All children are removed from the Group member list, but they can be optionally added to an alternative active Group in the same Group Setup (children can only belong to one Group in a Setup).
• All historic attendance data is preserved, remains linked to the archived Group, and continues to show on child and visitor profiles.
• Smart tags may be affected.
• An archived Group can be set as active again.

What happens when a Group is deleted?

• All children are removed from the Group, but they can be optionally added to an alternative active Group in the same Group Setup (children can only belong to one Group in a Setup).
• All historic attendance data is preserved, but it is unlinked from the deleted Group.
• The unlinked attendance data will continue to show on child and visitor profiles and in the Attendance Summary report.
• Group attendance reporting will be affected.
• Smart tags may be affected.

To archive a group, and while working from the Group Setup View, select Archive from the group Actions. Note the option to switch between viewing Archived and Active groups. When viewing the Archived group list, a group can be Set as active again.

The Attendance section of the module continues to display historic attendance for archived groups, distinguished by a yellow warning triangle. The attendance remains fully editable and reportable.