Manage User Caseload Using “Groups”

The most common complaint from users is that their inbox is full of other user's conversations. If you have thousands of contacts in Modern Campus Message, your inbox can become crowded. When users only need to interact with their own caseload, it can be challenging to locate the relevant conversations and contacts. Luckily, Message has tools for creating and assigning caseloads that can help cut down on this frustration. 

Organize your programs into smaller groups for easy counselor management.

Creating caseloads

You're probably already family with the Groups field. The Groups field, also known as Group List, is a great way to pre-segment and organize your contacts. By including groups, you have easy ways to target your messages, but it's also used for assigning caseloads to individual users.

Assigning caseloads to users is easy, but first we need to make sure our Groups are set up the way we want them. The field itself allows for multiple values, giving you the option of including both segment and caseload entries. There are a couple of ways that you use this to your advantage.

Let's pretend we have a contact, Alley Alligator, and we want to assign her to the user Kimberlee Peto. You can add groups in the web app, but most of us are using CSV imports for this type of action. Using the group_list field in an import, we can include just the caseload information like this:

If Kimberlee is assigned to the "Kimberlee Peto" group, she would have access to see and message Alley, without seeing contacts assigned to other users.

But maybe I want to include other segment info in her groups. Changing the group_list value, I can include more:

Without changing her permissions, Kimberlee now has access to message Alley, but also has pre-defined segments for Admitted and Central VA students. Kimberlee doesn't need explicit permissions to Admitted or Central VA as long as she has permission to her original caseload.

Users are allow to be assigned to multiple caseloads, as well. Maybe I want Kimberlee to see both her caseload and Laura Long's caseload as backup. I already have contacts set up for Laura that looks something like this:

If I assign Kimberlee to Laura's caseload, she'll be able to see both Alley and John. You don't have to restrict to just specific users if you need a more creative setup. Let's say that you want Kimberlee to have her normal caseload plus backup on all Central VA contacts:

If you assign Kimberlee to both her original caseload - Kimberlee Peto - plus the Admitted segment, she'll be able to message Alley and Harry, but not John or Jane.

Assigning caseloads

It's straightforward to turn around and assign those caseloads. When inviting users, you simply pick the group from the list available. Go to the gear icon in the top right - Settings - User Management and pick to invite a counselor from the Invite New User dropdown. As you add the user, you'll have the option to add in specific groups.

The same option is also available when editing a user, in case you need to change permissions later on or need to temporarily assign a caseload when another user goes on vacation.

Simplify your inbox by filtering groups

1. Expand your program with the dropdown arrow.
2. Select / deselect your desired groups.
3. You will see the inbox message numbers change as groups are added or taken away.

Filter groups to decrease the amount of contacts in your inbox.

All-in-all, using Groups and assigning permissions gives you a powerful and extensible tool for creating caseloads, focusing your team's inbox and reducing frustration from your users.