Question

Photo of DJ Grick

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Sending a message to multiple groups

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As I look at communication options I only see 2 ways to send e-mails.

  1. New Communications where you enter each person’s name individually.
  2. Click the message button inside a group.

If I want to send the same message to 5 groups is there a way to add groups to a message instead of adding individuals?

If not I will add this to the small black book. 

EmailGroups
  • Photo of Jeremy Hoff

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    Hi DJ, Michael,

    Since Data Views are reusable, and you can save each Data View as a Favorite within your chosen browsers, this may be the best way to go.

    >> If I want to send the same message to 5 groups is there a way to add groups to a message instead of adding individuals?

    The best use of a Data View in this case would be to organize groups in such a way that the Data View will always have the latest data of all the appropriate groups.  I.E. you would use based the Data View on a group type.  Using your example (above) is there something about these five groups that is unique from other groups within the same type?  In other words, is this an arbitrary selection?

     

    • Jim Michael

      Jim Michael

      Jeremy - I'm not sure if I did something wrong (or misunderstand your advice), but when I tried to create a data view based on Group Type, the results returned were the groups themselves (vs. the individuals in said groups), and the control to email was suppressed (presumably because Rock is smart enough to know when a data view is returning individuals vs. other entities.)


      Instead, I had to create a data view that applies to "Person" (vs. Group) and then add Filter Type of "In Group" and pick the specific group I wanted returned (and add additional filter types to grab other "In group" names) so that the data view returned all people in Group A OR Group B OR Group C, etc. But maybe I did it the wrong/hard way ;-)

      • Jeremy Hoff

        Jeremy Hoff

        Sorry - reread and noticed you chose Data View > Applies to Person > In Group.


        I recommend using Data View > Applies to Person > In Group of Type > ?
        ...which, if your groups are able to be organized in a manner that supports DJ's need, might keep the Data View reusable.

      • Photo of Jim Michael

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        My first suggestion would be to create a DataView that pulls in the groups you want. You could create a data view of type Person that then filters on "In group" for the groups you're interested in. Once the dataview is working, you can just click the Communicate button on it.

        • DJ Grick

          DJ Grick

          That definitly works. It just seems like a round about way of doing it....or maybe I am just stuck processing things the way I always have.

          • Jim Michael

            Jim Michael

            Yeah, I hear you. Our current ChMS works in a similar way... you can add a group ("tag") to a new communication, OR you can use a dataview ("list") to pull them in and then run the list to send email. Around here we tend to use the "list" method when you need to email the group-of-groups more than once.. since you only have to set it up initially and from then on click send. But for one-offs, emailing a group right from a communication is often faster.


            I do think it's an enhancement worth adding to the black book.

            • Kenneth Roach

              Kenneth Roach

              So.... did this idea get added to the Black Book? A number of times I've gone to the Communication page, naturally thinking I should be able to add Groups. Having to explain to others that they have to use a Data View is not... intuitive.

            • Photo of Amber McCoy

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              Is this something that is able to be done?  We introduced Rock to our staff and they are all happy with how things are working but I know it is a matter of time before someone asks if they can send an e-mail to multiple groups (without having to set up a data view).  Thanks!

              • DJ Grick

                DJ Grick

                As of now Dataview is still the best way that I know of. Fortunately for us the majority of our multi-group messages have dataviews created that we just keep re-using. As long as you get the Dataviews setup correctly early on it's simple going forward. :-)

                • Amber McCoy

                  Amber McCoy

                  Thanks! I will let everyone know. The training for the staff on creating their own data views is a LONG way down the road so I am setting up all data views and reports for them. Good thing I'm getting fast on setting them up! :) Thanks again!

                • Photo of Jim Michael

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                  Amber- Dataviews are still the best solution for repeated communications to the same groups (eg Serving Teams) over and over... you just create the DV once and go back to it each time... easy. But if you're needing/wanting a more "ad-hoc" way of emailing selected groups... ones that you can select from a Group Picker on-the-fly each time, you can use a Dynamic Report for that. Here's an example of a Dynamic Report we created (just a block on a page) called Email Selected Groups. It lets the end user pick whatever groups they have view rights to, get a grid, and email them. Our people seem to love it.

                  Email Selected Groups.png

                • Photo of Amber McCoy

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                  Thanks Jim!  Where (which page) did you put your Group picker block?  On the Group viewer page? 

                • Photo of Jim Michael

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                  No, we added a new (blank) page under the People | Communications menu, like so:

                  EmailSelectedGroupsMenu2.png

                  Once you have a blank page, you just put the Dynamic Report block on it and configure it to point at your Report (which consumes your dataview). Dynamic Reports is covered pretty well in the docs https://www.rockrms.com/Rock/BookContent/6/95#dynamicreportblock

                  • Amber McCoy

                    Amber McCoy

                    Thanks! I am testing this on the demo rock site first. I wanted to confirm, when I have this set up, it will list the individual people in the groups and not the groups themselves? Is that correct or am I missing a setting? Ideally, I would like to have a list of groups they could choose from (Small group A, Small group B, Large Group A, etc) instead of the individual names. I think I'm missing something??

                    • Jim Michael

                      Jim Michael

                      You will pick the groups themselves from the group picker, which then returns a grid (in the bottom panel) of people (from all of the groups you picked) and from there you can simply click the Communicate button in the bottom of the grid as usual. If you need help with the config on demo let me know.It might also be easier to discuss this kind of thing in Slack for more real-time chat. You can join Rock's Slack via https://www.rockrms.com/slack

                      • Amber McCoy

                        Amber McCoy

                        Thanks, I think I have it set up right then? But the filter part doesn't seem to be working correctly. I have it set up on the demo site if you are able to look at it. I'll log-into my slack account.