Groups

What it does

Behaviours, not fields. Choosing between two modules is choosing between these.

A group has a size, a purpose and often a schedule — it is not a tag, and treating it as one loses all three.

The waiting list is a group like any other, which is what makes the case for opening another cohort visible.

Scheduling and billing can address the whole group rather than each person.

Membership changes are recorded, so a cohort that shrank is a fact rather than a feeling.

How it works

1
A group is named when people start being addressed or scheduled together.
2
Membership counts update as people join and leave.
3
A waiting list is a group like any other, which is what makes the case for another cohort visible.
4
Scheduling and billing can address the group rather than each person.

Best for

Things chosen by eye — products, venues, people.

Not the right choice for

Long lists someone needs to scan quickly.

What a row holds

Every field, and what the agent listens for to fill it — which is the difference between a page you type into and one that fills itself.

Field	Type	Filled from
Grouprequired	text	What the set is called, as members would call it.
Membersrequired	number	How many. The number that makes a waiting list an argument.
Meets	text	When, if it has a schedule. A waiting list has none, which is fine.

What it does not do

A module chosen for something it cannot do costs more than one that was never offered.

Membership is a count unless you also keep the people, which is a different module.
No capacity limit, so nothing stops a group growing past what the room holds.
Meets is text, so it does not appear on a calendar without being entered there too.
No history of who was in a group when.

Before it works

What you have to provide, if anything.

Nothing.
Pair with Attendees when who actually turned up matters, which is usually.

In practice

A workshop running two classes with a queue nobody had counted.

“How many are waiting for the advanced class?”

What was said to the agent

What the agent built

Four groups with sizes and meeting times, including the waiting list.

What changed

Twenty-three waiting against a class of eight. A third session opened the following month and filled in nine days.

Better with

These do a different job on the same data. An agent can have all of them.

AttendeesLive

Attendance is recorded per session and no-shows matter for planning, billing or certification.

EventsLive

The business puts on things people attend and needs the next few dates visible on the site without editing a page each time.

BookingsLive

Customers reserve time, capacity is finite, and double-booking would be a real problem.

Who uses this page

Non-profit or association

Answers members and donors, and captures the offers of help you would otherwise miss.

Club or community organiser

Answers members, takes sign-ups, and keeps fixtures and subs straight without a committee.

Questions

What data does the Groups page use?

It reads group records the agent has collected. Any collection of people. Nothing has to be imported first — the page appears once there is something to show.

Do I have to build or configure it?

No. You describe what you need in a sentence and the agent chooses the view and fills it. Custom pages exist for the cases no built-in view covers, and those are reviewed before they go live.

When is a cards the wrong choice?

Long lists someone needs to scan quickly. It is best for: things chosen by eye — products, venues, people.

Does it stay up to date?

Yes. The page is a view over the data rather than a copy of it, so anything the agent learns afterwards shows up without a rebuild or a re-import.