Search for and Configure Groups or Individuals

A group is an entity for which reservations are made at your facilities. A group can be an internal or external entity and it can be an organization or an individual. A group must be configured before you can make reservations for it in EMS. Optionally, if you want to first confirm that a group has not already been configured, then you can search for the group.

Typically, your EMS administrator carries out basic configuration of the groups for which you need to make reservations. You always have the option of modifying any group that your EMS administrator has configured and you always have the option of configuring new groups when needed.

Your organization might use a different term (such as client, customer, and so on) to identify the entities for which reservations are made at your facilities. Contact your EMS administrator if you need assistance in clarifying this term.

Search for a Group and/or Contact 

1. On the toolbar, click the Groups icon. The Groups window opens. The Results tab is the active tab. By default, when the Results tab first opens, it lists the first 1000 groups that are configured in your EMS database with an Active status.

   To change the number of records that display in the Groups window, click Options, and then on the Group Options dialog, select a different number of records to return.

2. Open the Filter tab and set your search criteria.

   Option	Description
   Display	Groups – Display all groups that meet your search criteria on the Results tab. Contacts – Display all contacts that meet your search criteria on the Results tab. When a list of contacts is displayed, the contact’s group is also displayed.
   Search Fields	Starts with – The string is not case-sensitive, but your search is limited to the exact order of the characters in the string, and the string must begin with the information for which you are searching. For example, Assoc returns Association of Broadcasters but not Biomedical Student Association. Contains – Your search is limited to the exact order of the characters in the string, but the string is not case-sensitive, and the string can be found anywhere in your search results. For example, Assoc returns both Association of Broadcasters and Biomedical Student Association.
   Group	Fields are available if you select Groups for Display. Enter values as needed in any or all fields.
   Contact	Fields are available only if you select Contacts for Display. Leave all fields set to their default search values to search for all active contacts that are currently configured in your EMS database, or enter values as needed in any or all fields. If you select Contact, then both the Group fields and the Contact fields are available for searching. If you enter data in both sets of fields when you are searching for a contact, then your search criteria must be met for both the contact and the contact’s group to be displayed on the Results tab.

   To reset the Filter at any time to its default settings, click Reset Filter.

3. Click Get Data. The Results tab opens with a list of search results that meet all your search criteria.

4. To further filter the display on the Results tab, in Search, enter a search string. The list of groups is dynamically updated as you enter your search string.

   Your search is limited to the exact order of the characters in the string, but the search string is not case-sensitive and it can appear anywhere in the search results. For example, a search string of Assoc returns both Association of Broadcasters and Biomedical Student Association.

Configure Groups 

Typically, your EMS administrator carries out basic configuration of the groups for which you need to make reservations. You always have the option of modifying any group that your EMS administrator has configured and you always have the option of configuring new groups when needed.

Remember that before you configure a group, you might want to search for the group to verify that it has not already been configured.

1. On the toolbar, click the Groups icon.

   The Groups window opens. The Results tab is the active tab. By default, when the Results tab first opens, it lists up the first 1000 groups that are configured in your EMS database with an Active status.

2. Click New. The Group dialog opens. The Group tab is the active tab.

3. Enter the summary information for the new group.

   The only required information is the group name. All other information on all tabs is optional and can be added at a later date when needed.

   Field	Description
   Name	Required field. The name of the group. This is the only required information for the group. All other information on all tabs is optional and can be added at a later date when needed. The name can be a maximum of 50 characters, including spaces.
   Address City ST Country Zip	The street or mailing address for the group.
   International	Select this option to drop the State and Zip fields for an international group.
   Group Type	Pick a group type. If calculations have been assigned to a group type, then these calculations are applied only to new groups of this type.
   Phone Fax	The phone number and fax number for the group. The Phone and Fax fields have a field available on which you can select a different value (Fax, Mobile, Other, or Phone) for the field label, or you can enter a user-defined value. To enter a user-defined value, double-click the current field label to select it, and then enter the user-defined value over the selected label.
   Email Address	The email address for the group. If your computer is connected to a network, click the Search icon to open a Global Address Lookup dialog and search for the email address.
   URL	The URL for the group’s website. Web users can link to this group's website on VEMS.
   Default Contact	Populated with the name of the default contact for the group after you have defined default contacts for the group.
   Require Contacts	Select this option if the group is to always require a contact when a reservation is being made for the group.
   VIP	Select this option if the group is to be designated as a VIP group.
   Available to Web Users	Select this option if users are to be able to select the group on the Group Lookup page in VEMS.
   Inactive	Leave this option blank to add the group as an active group. Select this option to inactivate the group.

4. Optionally, do one or both of the following; otherwise, go to Step 5.

   • Open the Billing Information tab and add the default billing information for the group.

     The values that you specify here are the default values that are applied when a new reservation is made for the group. Any EMS user can change these values if needed.

     Option	Description
     The values that you specify here are the default values that are applied when a new reservation is made for the group. Any EMS user can change these values if needed.
     Pricing Plan	Pick a pricing plan.
     Payment Type	Pick a payment type.
     Salesperson	Pick a salesperson.
     Event Coordinator	Pick an event coordinator.
     Sales Category	Pick a sales category.
     Status	The status is a way to indicate the standing or ranking of the group. The default values are the following: OK – A reservation can be made for the group. (In your organization, this status could indicate that the group is current in payments due.) Warning – If a group status is set to Warning, then a Warning message opens when you make a reservation for the group. It does not, however, prevent a reservation from being made for the group. Bad – If a group status is set to Bad, then reservations cannot be made for the group.
     Billing Reference Number	You can manually enter data into the field, or you can click the Search icon to open a master list of billing reference numbers and select a reference. To define a list of eligible billing references that are specific to the group, see Configure Additional Information for a Group.
     PO Number	You can manually enter data into the field, or you can click the Search icon to open a master list of PO Numbers and select a PO number. To define a list of eligible PO numbers that are specific to the group, see Configure Additional Information for a Group.
     External Reference	Links the group to a web user record and/or HR Toolkit.
     Account	Pick an account.

   • Open the Other tab and add any other identifying information for the group as needed.

     Option	Description
     Network ID	The Windows login for the group.
     Personnel Number	Organization number for the group.
     Badge Number	Badge number for the group.
     Other ID	Any secondary ID for the group.

5. Click OK. 

   A group-specific window opens with the newly configured group automatically selected. You can use the options on this window to carry out additional configuration for the group.