User Groups

User groups let you define reusable groups of workers -- often called "crews" in the field -- so you can filter, notify, or route work to the same set of people without re-selecting them one at a time. A group is just a name, an optional description, a status, and a list of members.

Where it is

Sidebar → Workforce → User Groups. URL: /groups. The page requires the User Group → View permission -- without it, User Groups does not appear under Workforce and the page is unreachable.

The User Groups list

Columns

Column	Description
Name	The group's name. Links to its detail page. Sortable -- the only sortable column, sorted ascending by default.
Description	The group's free-text description, if one was entered.
User Count	Number of active users currently in the group.
Status	Active, On Hold, or Terminated, shown as a coloured pill.

A padlock icon in place of a row's checkbox marks a locked group -- it can't be selected for bulk Archive/Delete/Restore. This is the same mechanism used on the Roles & Permissions list; the demo instance's seeded "Estimator Group" is locked this way.

Search, filter, and quick tabs

Control	Behavior
Search Name	Free-text search against the group name only.
Status filter	Searchable checklist. Options are built from the statuses actually present on your groups -- on the demo instance that's just Active, since no group is On Hold or Terminated.
All / Active / Archived	Quick tabs that filter the list by archive status.
Sort	Click the Name column header to reverse sort direction; it's the only sortable column.

Export

Click Export to download a CSV of the current view -- it respects the active tab, search text, and Status filter.

Create User Group

Click Create User Group at the top right of the list to open the create panel as a flyout. The same form is also reachable as a standalone page at /groups/add (not linked from navigation, but a valid route):

1. Fill in Group Name (required).
2. Optionally add a Full Description.
3. Optionally change Group Status (defaults to Active).
4. Click Add Members to open a searchable checklist of users, check the ones you want, and confirm.
5. Click Save.

Field	Required	Type	Effect
Group Name	Yes	Text (max 255 characters)	Sets the group's display name.
Full Description	No	Multi-line text	Free-text notes. Keep it under 800 characters -- the form will let you type a longer description, but anything past that limit can be rejected or cut off when you save.
Group Status	No	Select: Active, On Hold, or Terminated	Defaults to Active on create.
Group Members	No	Add Members button → searchable checkbox list of users	Connects the checked users to the group when you save.

note

User Groups don't support custom properties -- there's no custom-properties field on the create/edit form, and User Group isn't one of the record types you can add a custom property to. What custom properties can do is point at a User Group -- see Where User Groups Are Used Elsewhere below.

note

Clicking Cancel on the standalone /groups/add page does nothing -- the URL and form stay put. The same Cancel button on the list's flyout version works normally and closes the flyout. Use the flyout (the Create User Group button) if you want a working Cancel.

Bulk actions

Check the box on one or more (unlocked) rows to reveal a bulk-action bar:

Tab	Action	What it does
Active	Archive	Removes the selected groups from the Active view. Members and data are kept.
Archived	Restore	Moves the selected groups back to the Active view.
Archived	Delete	Permanently deletes the selected groups.

note

No screenshot of the bulk-action bar is included -- the demo instance has only one group ("Estimator Group"), and it's locked, so its row checkbox can't be selected. The behavior above follows the same archive/delete/restore pattern documented for Jobs and Roles.

Group detail page

Click a group's name (from the list, or from anywhere else it's linked) to open /groups/[id]. The header shows the group's name and a Status badge; if the group has one or more active members, a second email group badge appears next to it, linking to a mailto: address listing every active member's email -- a quick way to message the whole crew at once.

note

The breadcrumb trail on this page reads Home → System Settings → User Groups → (group name). Clicking System Settings goes nowhere useful: it tries to open the Settings panel to a User Groups tab under Human Resources, but no such tab exists there. The only working path to this feature is Workforce → User Groups in the main sidebar.

Two tabs: Overview and Group Members.

Overview tab

Permissions: User Group → View (tab visibility); User Group → Edit (the edit pencil).

The Group Information card shows:

Field	Notes
Group Name
Description	Shown as - when the group has no description set (empty state).

Click the pencil icon to reopen the same Create a Group flyout, pre-filled with the group's current name, description, status, and members. Saving applies both the detail changes and any membership changes you made in the same edit.

Group Members tab

Permissions: User → View (tab visibility); adding or removing members requires User Group → Assign.

Column	Description
Full Name	The member's name, linked to their user record.
Email Address	The member's email.
Trade Classification	The member's trade level, if one is set.

Control	Effect
Search	Searches Name, Email, Trade Classification, and Phone # across current members.
Trade Classification filter	Narrows the member list to one or more trade levels.
All / Active / Archived	Quick tabs, filtering by the member user's own active/deactivated status -- not the group's own status.
Export	Downloads the visible member list as a CSV.
Update Group Members	Opens the same searchable Add Members checklist, pre-checked with current members, so you can add or remove people in one save.

The "Users" card above the search box is the generic saved-views control (lock / save / edit / duplicate / Add New) shared with other list pages -- see Users → View controls rather than repeating it here.

note

Selecting one or more member rows reveals a bulk toolbar whose action removes the selected users from this group -- it does not delete the user record. No screenshot is included: the demo instance's only group has zero members, so there's nothing to select.

Where User Groups Are Used Elsewhere

Feature	Confirmed behavior
Form question targeting	A form's Person question type can be restricted to one or more User Groups, and a form's Assign Users / User Groups / Exclude Users / User Groups access-control fields accept groups alongside individual users. See Form Management.
Notification targeting	Every Assign Users / User Groups picker in the Application and Mandatory notification systems (and geofence notifications on a job's Settings tab) accepts a group as a recipient. See Notification Control.
Scheduling filters	User Group is a filter on the Daily Schedule and Calendar Schedule grids (not on the plain User Schedule). See User & Workforce Schedule.
Custom property targeting	A custom property with Linkable Object set to User can be narrowed to a specific User Group, restricting the picker to that group's members instead of every user. See Property Settings.
Recipients (Safety Forms, Projects, mandatory notifications)	Safety Forms and Projects can be sent to a group as a recipient, and mandatory app-notification types can be assigned to (or excluded for) a group in System Settings.
Permissions	Managing groups is itself controlled by the User Group permission (View / Edit / Assign) on the acting user's role -- being a member of a group does not grant that group's members any permissions.

Groups vs. Departments vs. Roles

These three are easy to conflate. They answer different questions:

Concept	Answers	Membership	Grants permissions?
User Group	"Who do I filter/notify/assign together?"	Any user can belong to any number of groups.	No.
Department	"What organizational division is this person in?"	Typically one primary department per user, with a head and a color.	No.
Role	"What can this person see and do?"	Every user has one or more roles.	Yes -- roles are the entire permission model.

Permissions

Permission	Controls
User Group → View	Whether User Groups appears in the sidebar; access to the list and a group's Overview tab.
User Group → Edit	The Create User Group button, the list's row-edit action, and the Overview tab's edit pencil. There is no separate "create" permission -- creating and editing share the Edit setting.
User Group → Assign	Adding or removing members, from either the Group Members tab's Update Group Members panel or its bulk-remove action.
User Group → Archive / Delete / Restore	The list's bulk Archive / Delete / Restore actions, following the same operation vocabulary as every other record type -- see Roles & Permissions → Permission Operations.
User → View	Required for the Group Members tab to appear at all.

note

Group membership isn't what drives a field worker's own schedule in the mobile app -- their schedule and assignments come from the jobs they're individually scheduled to.

tip

Keep group names consistent with how your team refers to them on site. If everyone calls it "Crew A," name it "Crew A" -- not "Insulation Team Alpha."

Example: Naming Crews by Trade

Appello doesn't require or template any particular group structure -- these are just example names an ICI insulation contractor might use, to illustrate how you could organize groups around trade and function:

Example Group Name	Illustrative Purpose
Crew A -- Pipe Insulation	Piping insulation crew, filtering/notifications
Crew B -- Vessel & Tank	Equipment and vessel insulation crew
Estimating Team	Estimators and takeoff specialists
Safety Committee	JHSC members, for form and notice distribution

Related Pages

• Departments -- Organizational divisions your groups' members belong to
• Trade Classifications -- Worker skill levels shown on the Group Members list
• Roles & Permissions -- What a user can do, as opposed to who they're grouped with
• User Detail Page → Groups tab -- The reverse view, from a single user's own record
• Form Management -- Using groups to target form questions and access control
• Notification Control -- Using groups as notification recipients
• User & Workforce Schedule -- Where the User Group scheduling filter actually lives (Daily/Calendar Schedule)
• Property Settings -- Narrowing a User-linked custom property to one group