To link a contact group to a hierarchy

A contact group can be established as a parent or child of another to aid the end user in understanding the relationship between different groups. For example, members of the same family could be combined into a family contact group and then that group could also be made a sub-group of the local neighbourhood watch committee. In that instance the neighbourhood watch group would be referred to as the parent of the family group. Similarly, one or more building contractor groups could be linked as children to a group set up for, say, the Federation of Master Builders.

The procedure to link a contact group to a hierarchy is as follows:

1. Using the Advanced search spy-glass (), select Contact group as the Result Set and Criteria Set category and enter the Group name as the search criteria 1.
2. Double-click on the row containing the exact record match or use Refine Search to enter alternative criteria. The Contact Group Summary window is displayed.
3. Click on Contact Group Details. The Contact Group Details window is displayed for the current group.
4. Click on Hierarchy. The Hierarchy tab is activated.
5. Click on Link Group To Hierarchy. The Search Group window is displayed.
6. Enter sufficient contact group details into the search fields provided and click on Search. The Select Group window is displayed.
7. Double-click on the row containing the exact record match or use Refine Search to enter alternative criteria. The Contact Group Hierarchy Details window is displayed.
8. Using the Parent group drop-down field, choose the relevant group that is to be linked 2.
9. Where the linked group is to be adjacent in the hierarchy, use the Immediate parent tick box provided.
10. Choose an Effective from date for this record i.e. the date on which the link came into effect 3.
11. Choose an Effective to date if the link needs to be reviewed on a specific date or to capture a change of circumstances; a blank field means the details will never expire.
12. Click on Save. The structural relationship of the groups is displayed, both in hierarchical and graphical form.

Note

1 Additional search criteria may need to be employed (e.g. address or post code) to ensure that the correct contact group is returned.

2 When creating links between groups it is important to start with a parent group and use the Hierarchy process to link it through to a child group. By default, the top level group is the parent of itself.

3 The Effective from date defaults to the current system date and cannot be left blank.

See related topics...

To create a new contact group

Using the search facility