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Create a New Group in Novi
Create a New Group in Novi

Learn how to create a Group in Novi, by selecting specific records or creating conditions.

Pete Zimek, CAE avatar
Written by Pete Zimek, CAE
Updated over a week ago

Novi's Group feature is a great way to segment your database into groups that have certain commonalities - whether it's member type, location, the same custom field values, etc.

Groups have six main purposes:

  1. To sync to MailChimp or Constant Contact for email marketing

  2. To lock down content (e.g. blog/news categories, static webpages, etc.)

  3. To lock down certain pricing (e.g. event tickets, products, etc.)

  4. To create a directory on your website

  5. To share custom reports with non-admin users

  6. To survey individuals for NPS

Use Novi Groups as a quick and easy built-in report! Also, bulk register attendees for events as an admin from groups!

Note: Custom Reports offer a wider variety of additional column options. When in need of a detailed report with specific data such as address fields split into separate columns, primary contact information, etc. Novi recommends using the Custom Report feature instead of the Groups functionality. 


Create New Group

To create a Group:

  • Go to Members > Groups in the left navigation.

  • On the Groups screen, click the Add Group button in the upper right-hand corner.

You can also copy an existing Group!

  • Go to Members > Groups in the left navigation.

  • On the main Groups screen, locate the group and at the end of its row, click the arrow in the Action column.

  • Then select Copy Group.

  • From there, rename the new group and edit the setup as needed (more info below).


Once the group has been created, there are two different approaches to the setup: Limit to Specific Records or Conditions.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Each group must be built on "Limit to Specific Records" OR using Conditions, but both "Limit to Specific Records" and Conditions cannot be used at the same time.

Below are some tools to help determine which is correct for the scenario. As always, if help is needed please reach out to Novi's support team & we're happy to assist.


Limit to Specific Records

This is the fastest way to create a one-off group in Novi. Simply toggle the "Limit to Specific Records" toggle to "On" and select any records to be included in the group.

The approach does require admins to manually add and remove records from group. Therefore, this may not be the ideal approach for larger groups.


Conditions

Creating a group with conditions can be a more flexible approach. If unfamiliar with creating conditions, search for "conditions" in our help section for a variety of articles with more information.

Group condition options are listed in sections:

  • Custom Fields - Applicable custom fields created by the association.

  • Customer Activities - A list of activity types that appear on a record's activity timeline that can be pulled based on "days ago" conditions.

  • Events - A list of all non-recurring events that can be pulled based on "Registered" or "Not Registered" conditions as well as "Attended" or "Not Attended" conditions.

    • Note: Groups will pull attendees, not purchasers, and guest registrations will not be included because they are not linked to a member record.

  • Member Fields - Specific pre-existing fields in Novi, such as address, member type, open balance, etc. See "Member Field conditions available" below for a list of available fields.

  • Product Purchases - A list of ecommerce products that can be pulled based on "Has Purchased" (not including canceled orders, but fulfilled or open status does not count) or "Has Not Purchased" conditions. Note: If the purchaser was not logged in (i.e. they were a guest), they will not be included in the Group.

  • Subscriptions - A list of subscription products based on the number of days ago of the subscription expiration dates.

To search for a condition:

  • Click into the Conditions section of a group.

  • From there, a dropdown will appear, presenting all of condition options.

    • Additionally, keywords can be searched in condition box to easily filter/find a specific condition.

Here is an example of a Product Purchase condition:

Member Field Conditions Available

  • Auto-Pay

  • Billing Address City, State, Zip & Country

  • Credentials

  • Has a Headshot or Logo

  • Has a User Account

  • Has Member Benefits (This will include any record in your database that is currently receiving benefits, both dues-paying and inheriting records.)

  • Is A Person

  • Job Title

  • Last Login - Days Ago (The group will be updated as soon as the user logs in, as well as nightly. People who have never logged in will have a null value. Removing or changing the user account will reset the Last Login date to a null value. Note: A user can stay logged in for days, or even up to several weeks at a time, so we recommend entering a value of 30 days or more.)

  • Member Since Date - Days Ago

  • Member Type

  • Membership Expiration - Days Ago (A positive number would identify members that expired in the past. A negative number of days would project members who are scheduled to expire in the future.)

  • Membership Expiration Date

  • Membership Status (Options: Non-Member, Prospect, Pending, Current, Grace Period, Expired, or Inheriting)

  • Open Balance (Refers to all open invoices for a member record, plus their sub-companies and staff.)

  • Open Dues Balance (Refers to the balance on open dues invoices created within Novi, for the member record only. It does not include invoices created in QuickBooks.)

  • Original Join Date - Days Ago (This is an optional field for tracking when a member first joined. If there has been a lapse in membership, this date will be different from the Current Membership Since date.)

  • Original Join Date - Specific Date (This is an optional field for tracking when a member first joined. If there has been a lapse in membership, this date will be different from the Current Membership Since date.)

  • Overdue Balance (Refers to all past-due invoices for a member record, plus their sub-companies and staff.)

  • Overdue Dues Balance (Refers to the balance on past-due membership dues invoices created within Novi, for the member record only. It does not include invoices created in QuickBooks.)

  • Parent Member Type

  • Prefix and Suffix

  • Shipping Address City, State, Zip, Country & County/Parish

  • Fields related to seats:

    • Assigned Seats

    • Unassigned Seats

    • Total Seats


Group Beneficiaries

Don't forget to also determine which group beneficiaries should be in the group. For example, if pulling a group of companies, should their staff also be in the group?


Group List Columns

Once the group has been created, remember that the columns in the group member list are driven by the gear icon in the top right corner. To add new columns to a group member list, click the gear and select additional columns to display.


Group Category

There are several uses for groups in Novi, so keep groups list organized by utilizing Categories.

When creating a new group, select corresponding category(ies) in the Categories field.

The categories available are based on pre-determined categories created by admins in Novi and are located in the sidebar under the Members section.


Additional Resources:

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