BriefBox’s Groups allows users to build teams beyond organisations and geographies. For those who want to share in team environments, BriefBox’s Groups feature provides enterprise social networking – create or join a private or public online group and use it for discussion boards, knowledge sharing, leave tracking, photos and group surveys.

To access your main Group page is easy. Select the My Groups icon from the BriefBox Homepage.

On the main Group page, you will see a list of the Groups you have currently joined as a member at the top of the page. Below this, under “Discussions” you will see a list of all of the Discussion threads for all of your Groups (for more information on Discussions see below).

To access a Group page, click on the relevant Group at the top of the page or, alternatively, to view a particular Discussion thread, just select the Discussion thread name.

To join an existing Group, click either of the “Join a Group” buttons on the main Group page (to access the main group page, see How do I join and access a Group? above).

Search for Groups in the next screen by either typing in your search term or filtering in the left hand filter pane (filter by Group category, skills, location or area).

Once you have found a Group you wish to join, select “Actions” to the right of the Group name and select “Join Group” in the dropdown menu. If the Group you wish to join is a Private Group, you will need to wait for Activation by the Group Admin before you can view and participate in the Group Discussions.

You can tell if your request to join a Group is pending approval by the status beneath the Group name.

Absolutely. To create a new Group, simply select either of the “+ Create a Group” buttons on the main Group Page (to access the main Group page, see How do I join and access a Group? above).

You will then be asked to complete the new Group’s information (including the Group‘s name, type, description etc).

Important notes regarding the creation of a Group:

• You must specify whether the Group Type is Public or Private and whether any BriefBox user can join the Group or whether a user must request to join with approval required.

• Take care when uploading a Group Logo. After clicking “+ Browse”, you will have an opportunity to review and scale the chosen image. You may need to revisit this option once the Group has been created depending on the final view on the main Group page.

• Category, Skills, Location and Area entries are designed to make it easier for users to search and join relevant Groups.

• You can add preapproved Members of a Group by entering in the user’s name where indicated (note, to select the user, enter in the first few letters of the user’s name and select the user from the list that populates).

As the Owner (or creator) of a Group, you can update the settings for that Group. To do so, from the Group’s page, click the settings icon and select “Edit Group” from the dropdown menu or otherwise select “Edit” in the left hand menu.

From the subsequent page, simply update the settings as required and select “Save”. From the settings page, you can change the Group name, type, description, Logo and permissions.

To invite a new Member to a Group, once in the relevant Group’s page, either (a) select the settings icon and select “Invite User” from the dropdown menu or navigate to the dedicated Member page and select the plus button.

On the modal which displays, enter in the user’s name, select the user when displayed and click “OK”.

The invited user will need to confirm the invitation when the user next navigates to the Group page.

When navigating to the Group’s dedicated Member page, you may notice that certain users have an “Awaiting Activation” or “Waiting for Confirmation” status. As per How do I join and access a Group? above, the “Awaiting Activation” status may appear if the user has requested to join a Group requiring active approval by a Group Admin before the user can participate. If the “Awaiting Activation” status is displayed above a user’s name, the user has requested approval but approval has not yet been granted.

The “Waiting Confirmation” status will appear above a user’s name if the user has been invited to join a Group by another user, however, the invited user has not yet confirmed the invite. In these circumstances, the user will see an ‘Invited’ status next to the new Group on the user’s main Group page. The user will need to confirm the invitation when the user next navigates to the Group page.

Group Admins have certain additional privileges to normal members of a Group. Group Admins can activate, suspend and remove members of the Group and can also appoint other Group members as Admins.

To assign Admin rights to a member of a Group, navigate to the dedicated Members page by selecting “Members” in the left hand menu. Next, select the “Actions” button next to the relevant member’s name and click “Set Admin” from the dropdown menu (note, to remove an Admin, simply select “Unset Admin” instead).

In order to suspend, remove or activate a member, an Admin can select the relevant option from the dropdown menu in the above image.

The Overview page for a Group provides you with a snapshot of all important information and activity

related to that Group such as:

• recent messages and uploaded files

• upcoming event

• recent activity

Discussion threads are specific conversations/threads on a particular topic relevant to a particular Group (e.g. social news, team announcements etc). All members of a Group may particulate in Discussions.

The latest Discussions across all of your Groups are found on the main page with all Discussions related to a particular Group found on that Group’s Discussions page.

To view and contribute to a Discussion thread, simply click the relevant Discussion thread. To contribute by posting in the thread, simply type your message in the “Add a comment” field, add any attachments and click “Add Comment”.

Add attachments by either dragging the file(s) where indicated or clicking the “Add attachment” link and navigating to the relevant file. Please note that the maximum file size for attachments is 20MB.

You can delete a comment you have made by clicking “Delete” next to the comment.

Once you are a member of a Group, you can easily create a new Discussion thread by clicking the “New Post” button on the Discussions page for the Group. Please note, Discussion threads work better if once a thread is created, new posts on the same topic are posted to that same thread.

In the fields that are presented, include a Discussion Title, initial comments, add any attachments and click “Post Discussion”. Add attachments by either dragging the file(s) where indicated or clicking the “Add attachment” link and navigating to the relevant file. Please note that the maximum file size for

attachments is 20MB.

You can upload a file to a Group page by either attaching the file to a comment in a particular Discussion (see What are Discussion threads and can I contribute? above) or via the dedicated Files page for

the Group. To upload directly to the File page, select “Files” in the left hand menu to navigate to the dedicated File page for that Group.

Next, select the plus sign and search for the relevant file or otherwise drag the file where indicated. All files uploaded directly or via the Group Discussions will be accessible from the dedicated Files page.

You can sort uploaded files by File Name, Source, User or Date Uploaded by selecting the relevant column heading.

You can delete a file by selecting the Trash can icon next to the file.

All Members of a Group have access to a shared Group Calendar for all Events related to that Group. To view the Group Calendar, select “Calendar” in the left hand menu.

You can display the Calendar by month, week or day by clicking the relevant option at the top of the Calendar. Cycle through Calendar entries by clicking on the left and right arrows at the top right of the

screen. You can revert back to the current day, week or month by clicking the “today” button.

Click on an Event in the Calendar to view more details related to that Event. Note that you can also search Events by entering in a search term in the search field at the bottom right hand side of the Calendar and view past Events by ticking the “Show Past Events” checkbox below the Calendar.

Simply select “+ Event” at the top right of the dedicated Calendar page. Complete the details in the modal which displays (Title, Description, Event Type and Start and End dates and times). Once all details have been populated, select “Create”.

To edit or delete a Group Calendar Event, simply select the Event within the Calendar and click the edit or delete button. If editing an Event, you can update the details of the Event in the modal which presents after clicking “Edit”.

If you wish to leave a Group, click the settings icon on the main Group page and click “Leave Group” from the dropdown menu. You cannot leave a Group of which you are the Owner.

If you are the Owner of a Group, you can delete the Group and all of its files and discussions. Please note, once you have deleted a Group, the information contained within the Group pages (including all

documents) will not be recoverable.

If you wish to delete the Group, click the settings icon on the main Group page and select “Delete Group” from the dropdown menu.