UNDERSTANDING GROUPS GUIDE
Thank you for choosing Noverant LMS as your online training service! At Noverant Support, we strive to ensure that your issues, tasks, or requests are resolved in a timely manner and also provide follow-up to ensure you are given adequate support. This Understanding of Groups Guide provides you with information on:
- Overview and Purpose of Groups
- Creating a Group and Adding Users to a Group
- The Group Tree / Hierarchy breakdown
- Administrator, Approving Manager and Manger
Overview and Purpose of Groups in the LMS
In the LMS, groups are a way to organize and categorize users into smaller subsets based on various criteria. These groups can be created by administrators, managers, or even coordinators depending on the permissions and privileges granted within the LMS. Managers or administrators can use groups to manage large classes by dividing them into smaller, more manageable subsets. This allows managers (or users with the correct privileges) to allocate resources, assign assignments, and communicate with specific groups.
Groups can be organized based on different criteria, such as course sections, various departments, or any other relevant grouping that serves the specific needs of the LMS users. The flexibility of creating and managing groups within the LMS allows for targeted communication, and efficient administration organization, contributing to a more personalized and engaging learning experience.
Creating a Group and Adding Users to a Group
Creating a group is an advanced tool that are suggested to be used by administrators or given privilege by administrator for a specific reason.
1. Navigate to the “Administrator” tab on the home page in the top header banner. Hoover over the “Groups and Users” tab and click on the “Groups button” .
2. On the “Groups” page, scroll or filter search for the “root group” or the group in which you are creating this subgroup for.
3. Next, at the near top right of the “Groups” page, click the “Actions” button and select the “Add Sub-Group” button.
4. Last, fill in the information needed to complete the creation of the new group. Once the information is confirmed, scroll to the bottom of the page and click submit.
Adding a User to a Group:
1. Navigate to the “Administrator” tab on the home page in the top header banner. Hoover over the “Groups and Users” tab and click on the “Groups button” .
2. On the groups page select which group you are looking to create a user to be apart of. All users must have a primary group, it is important to distinguish which group this user must be initiated with.
3. Next, on the groups detail page, scroll to the near bottom right of the page and click on the “Actions” dropdown menu. Select the “Add New User” or “Add Existing User”.
4. Last, on the next page you will be directed to filling out information for the user. This includes their name, username, and password. Important to note that when creating a password for a user, please verify that it meets the criteria noted by the text field.
The Group Tree/Hierarchy Breakdown
In a Learning Management System (LMS), the group hierarchy typically follows a structure that allows for effective organization and management of users and their respective roles within the system. While the specific hierarchy may vary depending on the LMS platform and implementation, here is a general breakdown of the group hierarchy in an LMS:
1. Root Level or Main Level: At the top of the hierarchy is the root group, which represents the highest level of administrative control within the LMS. This level includes administrators or system administrators who have access and control over the entire LMS including sub groups. They manage system-wide settings, user roles and permissions, course creation and management.
2. Group Categories or Departments: Under the system-level, the hierarchy may include group categories or departments. Group categories serve as spaces that hold various groups, allowing for better organization and management. For example, categories could represent different departments within an organization.
3. Sub-Groups of Departments: These groups serve as a purpose for a more specific need which typically are devoted to users needing same assignments, details, or even announcements.
Administrators, Approving Managers, Managers
When visiting any group detail page in the LMS, you’ll notice a few users selected in the Administrator, Approving Manager, and Manager fields. These are in place to give users who are selected in those fields proper usage and dictate how they can mange the specific group.
Administrators:
The Administrators of a group may have certain privileges in managing users and content for a group and its sub-groups. This is important for understanding which users are to be selected in this field for the group. This administrator field can be used with more than one user, which is essential with the right privileges and can be beneficial for having multiple administrators viewing the groups assignments, assigning the groups assignments or editing certain assignments for the group. Also to note, users in the administrator field of the root group are able to access and “manage” every other sub group with also the correct privileges. With this, users are not needed to be placed in multiple administrator fields of multiple groups.
Approving Manager and Manager:
The approving managers and manager of a group are allowed to view assignments for a group and, to the extent authorized through privileges, may also modify assignments. In addition, Approving Managers may also be referenced by specific signature routing templates. While there can only be one manager of the group, multiple users can be apart of approving managers which give same access with the appropriate privileges.
Below is a visual of the system setting for setting the role for an approving manager and an administrator. This feature is important for setting consistent privileges and access with scoping for these approving managers and administrators of groups.
Thank you,
Noverant Support