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ClearCompany Learning: Groups Overview

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Juan Burgos
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Groups help you organize learners who share common characteristics, such as department, location, job title, or team membership. This article explains how to create and manage individual groups, edit group settings and options, import groups in bulk using a CSV file, validate your file before importing and resolve common import errors

In this article:
Groups Overview
Add an Individual Group
Editing Individual Groups
Bulk Group Import
Validate the CSV File
Upload CSV File
Bulk Group Import Error Codes
Additional Resources

Groups Overview

Groups are organizational containers used to manage learners in the Learning platform.

Administrators commonly use groups to:

  • Assign training by audience.
  • Limit content access.
  • Run reports for specific teams or departments.
  • Build organizational hierarchy structures.

Examples of group types include: Department, Job title, Location, Supervisor, and Team.

Add an Individual Group

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Navigate to User/Groups > Groups and click +Add Group. (click images to enlarge)

    AddGroup 

  2. Update the information under Settings. All boxes highlighted in yellow are required fields.

     

  3. Parent Group:
    • The parent group determines where this group appears in your organizational hierarchy.
    • Example: If multiple department groups share the same parent, they will appear nested beneath that parent group.
  4. Group Code: Enter a unique identifier for the group. Must be unique and cannot be duplicated.
  5. Group Name: Enter the display name users and administrators will see in the platform. Use unique names whenever possible to reduce confusion.
  6. Group Type: Select or assign a group category.
  7. Group Description (optional): Enter an optional description for the group.
  8. Group Status: Active or Inactive. Inactive groups:
    • Do not appear on the learner-facing experience.
    • Do not display in Group Structure on the administration side.
  9. Manually Manage Membership: This setting defaults to No. Set to Yes only if you need to prevent automated processes or integrations from removing users from the group.

  10. Click Save.

    Save 

  11. After saving, additional tabs become available: Labels, Members, Options, Company news, and Email templates.

Note:

If your Learning platform syncs with another system, such as an HRIS, some settings may not apply.

Editing Individual Groups

Step-by-Step Guide

Once a group is created, Admins with access in the system can edit information for individual groups in the Learning platform. To access configurable elements, click on the edit pencil icon for the desired group.

  1. Settings: This tab allows you to update:
    1. Parent group
    2. Group code
    3. Group name
    4. Group type
    5. Description
    6. Group status
  2. Labels: Customize platform terminology for users whose primary group is this group. For example, you can replace Learning objects with Courses for a specific audience/
  3. Members: View and manage current group members. You can search members and Open user accounts for editing. 
  4. Options: Connect a LinkedIn account for Company News integrations.
  5. Company News: Create announcements displayed in the learner dashboard Company News widget.
  6. Email Templates: Create custom email templates for users whose primary group is this group.
    • Example use cases:
      • Specialized assignment notifications.
      • Group-specific onboarding communication.
    • Users who have this group as their primary group will receive the specialized template rather than the default selected within the assignment.

  7. +Add Sub-group: Select Add sub-group to create a child group automatically nested beneath the current group. The Parent Group will default to the Group you were just editing.

    AddSubGroup 

Note:

If your Learning platform syncs with another system, such as an HRIS, some settings may not apply.

Bulk Group Import

Bulk import allows administrators to create or update many groups at once using a CSV file.

Group file template

CSV Fields Requirements
Column Header Description

A

 groupCode

Unique identifier for each group. Requirements:

  • Must be unique.
  • Duplicate values will cause import failure.

This value identifies which group to create or update.

B

 groupName

Group display name. Recommended: Use unique values when possible

Although duplicates are allowed, duplicate names can make assignments and filtering difficult.

C

 groupStatus

Active or Inactive.

Inactive groups:

  • Do not display on the learner-facing platform.
  • Do not appear in Group Structure.

D

 groupTypeCode

Existing Group Type Code from LMS.

Group types must be created manually on the Learning platform administration side for the Bulk Upload to capture them; bulk upload can create group codes and group names but not group types.

Important:

  • Values must match exactly.
  • Extra spaces can cause failures.

E

 groupType

Existing Group Type Name from LMS. Must exactly match the Group Type Name associated with the groupTypeCode.

Common error source:

  • Leading or trailing spaces

F

 parentGroupCode

Parent group relationship. Determines hierarchy placement.

Rules:

  • All groups require a parent group except the top-level parent.
  • Parent values must already exist in:
    • Column A, or
    • the LMS
  • If building from scratch:
    • Parent group codes must exist in Column A before being referenced in Column F
  • Invalid parentGroupCode values may:
    • Cause import errors
    • Create orphaned groups under the top-level company group

Validate the CSV File

Before importing, validate your CSV file.

Check for duplicate group codes
  • Highlight the entire sheet.
  • Apply filters.
  • Highlight Column A.
  • Open Conditional formatting > Duplicate values.
  • If duplicates exist:
    • Correct duplicate values before proceeding.
Validate parent group codes

Confirm all values in Column F also exist in Column A.

  • Copy Column F.
  • Paste values below Column A.
  • Highlight Column A.
  • Apply duplicate highlighting.

Success criteria:

  • All pasted values should highlight as duplicates.
  • If a value does not highlight:
    • That parent group is missing and must be added.
  • After testing:
    • Reset filters.
    • Remove pasted values.
    • Check for parent-child conflicts.
Prevent groups from being their own parent

Prevent groups from being their own parent.

  • In cell G2, enter: =A2=G2
  • Copy the formula down Column G.
  • Expected result:
    • All rows should display FALSE
    • If any row shows TRUE:
      • That group is listed as its own parent
      • Update parentGroupCode and test again
  • Delete Column G after validation.
Validate group types

Confirm all Group Types exist in the LMS.

  • Filter Column E one value at a time.
  • Verify each exists in:
  • Administration > Users/Groups > Group Types
  • Add any missing Group Types before importing.

Upload CSV File

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Within Administration, navigate to User / Groups > Groups > Bulk Group Import. We recommend you download Basic CSV as a backup CSV file. (click images to enlarge)

    DownloadbasicCSV 

  2. You will Select your starting Group which determines where your groups will be built from. In most cases, this will be your Top Group.

    SelectStartingGroup 

  3. Choose your delimiter and determine if you want to create new groups if found in the file and/or update existing group data. Other supported delimiters: Tab, Tilde (~), Pipe (|), Semicolon (;).

  4. Choose a file and click Upload and Continue. You will be shown a sample of which rows/groups can be created. With this, you can spot-check and verify that the information is correct.

    CSVFile 

  5. You will also be shown which rows/groups have an error. This can help you identify any adjustments needed for the CSV to reupload. Different Bulk Import Error Codes can be found below.

    CSVFile 

  6. Click Save and Process Good Rows Only to confirm the error-free groups. The lines of data that have errors will need to be corrected and then re-uploaded. Alternatively, you can Cancel, make any adjustments to the error rows, and then re-upload the full file.

Common Bulk Group Import Errors

Error Codes Description
Parent Group Not Found The Parent Group provided in the file does not exist.
Group Type Not Found The Group Type provided in the file does not exist.
Parent Group Name / Code Mismatch The Group Name is incorrect based on the provided Group Code.
Group Type Name / Code Mismatch The Group Type Name is incorrect based on the provided Group Type Code
Parent Group Access Issue The administrator who initiated the bulk import does not have access to the provided Parent Group.
Group Access Issue The administrator who initiated the bulk import does not have access to the provided Group.
Impossible Move Moving this Group would create a cycle in the group structure and cause an invalid hierarchy (the group would eventually connect back to itself via Parent Groups, which is not possible).

Additional Resources

ClearCompany Learning: Introduction to Organizing Learners
ClearCompany Learning: Groupings
ClearCompany Learning: Group Types and Group Structure

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