User Groups

This feature was previously called "Regions".

Overview

User Groups allow an admin to restrict a platform User's access to (one) subset of Contacts. This requires selecting a custom Contact field that will indicate which (one) group each Contact belongs to. Some potential use cases for this feature include:

• geographic regions for admissions territories
• students at different campuses
• managing employees at different offices/plants/warehouses
• dividing access by program
• partitioning team leads across departments

Effects

When a User is assigned to a specific User Group, they will only see Contacts in the corresponding group (that is, Contacts whose value for the selected field matches their User Group value). This restriction is in effect in the following tools:

• Imports: All contacts this User creates will be assigned to their User Group. The User will be prevented from updating contacts outside of their assigned User Group.
  • Note that a User in a User Group cannot explicitly set a contact's User Group in an import. Even if they include this field, it will be ignored; Mainstay automatically assign this contact to the importing User's User Group.
  • If a pre-existing contact is matched, and that contact is already in a different User Group, this record will not be updated and a validation error will appear.
  • When viewing Import History, a User will only see imports from their User Group.
• Contacts: The User will only be able to see and edit Contacts in their assigned User Group.
• Conversations: The User will only be able to see and communicate with Contacts in their assigned User Group.
• Knowledge Maintenance: The User will only be able to see and resolve messages from Contacts in their assigned User Group.
• Audiences: All Audiences this User creates will be assigned to their User Group, and will be pre-filtered to only show Contacts in their assigned User Group.
  • This User will only see Audiences tied to their User Group (in the Audience Manager, when filtering Insights, when scheduling a Campaign, etc.)
• Campaigns: When sending a Campaign, the User will only be able to select an Import or Audience from their assigned User Group.
  • On the Calendar, this User will see Campaigns tied to their User Group and Campaigns sent by non-restricted Users.
  • When downloading a Campaign report, whether sent by someone in this User Group or a non-restricted User, this User will only get Contacts in their assigned User Group.
  • The behavior is the same for Web-chat Intro and SMS Intro reports - only contacts in the User's User Group will be included.
  • The behavior is the same for #Command reports - only contacts in the User's User Group will be included.
• Insights: This User will see Insights graphs reflecting the full institution, but when downloading an Insights report, they will only get Contacts for their assigned User Group.

Note that you can also choose to not restrict a User's access, by selecting "All User Groups," in which case that User will be able to interact with all contact records.

Settings

Navigate to Settings > General Settings > User Groups.

• User Groups (toggle): Set whether the User Group restrictions are in effect.
  • When this is enabled, nothing will happen immediately. Users will need to be assigned to User Groups (see below) in order for restrictions to be in effect.
  • When this is disabled, User Group restrictions will no longer be in effect. That means that any Users who are assigned to a User Group will now have full access to all contacts.
• User Groups List: Define a list of User Groups. Each User can be assigned to one User Group, or no User Group. Configure each User's Group on the User Settings (see below).
• User Groups contact field: Set the corresponding custom contact field that is used to determine which (one) group a Contact belongs to. Best practice is to use a Multi-choice field, with options that exactly match the User Groups List above.

Note: If a User is assigned to a User Group, then it is not possible to delete that User Group:

Users

When Inviting a User, you can select their User Group and feature Permissions:

You can also edit an existing User's Group and Permissions:

If a User has access to multiple institutions accounts, they can be assigned different User Groups in each one.