The Group Builder allows you to create customizable groups of staff, students, or parents to make communicating with different segments of the school population easier.


To access the Group Builder:

1. Go to the Communicate tab.


2. Select the SmartSend / SmartSend Pro sub-tab at the top of the page.


3. Select Groups.



On the left side of the screen you’ll see the “Add New Group” button near the top, the list of all groups in the middle, and the “Delete Group” button near the bottom.



In addition to the custom groups that you build, the list also includes five built-in Groups that cannot be altered. Built-in groups have an asterisk before their name.


In order to build a new group:


1. Hit the Add New Group button. Two new fields will appear in the center of the page: Group Name and Person Type. 


2. In the Group Name field, enter a name for the group.


3. Select the Person Type that you'd like to add to the group.



Depending on which Person Type you select, additional fields will appear to help you narrow down your selection. 


For “Administrators”, “Teachers”, and “No-Access Staff”: 

  • “Status” refers to whether the account is Active or Inactive.
  • "Tags" refers to the custom tags that Full Administrators can assign to staff members on their profiles.


For “Parents” and “Students”:

  • “Status” for Parents and Students includes options such as “New Enrollment” or “Alumnus” in addition to "Active" and "Inactive".

  • “Grade” refers to Grade Level, and will only display options for grades that have Active students in them.

  • “Division”, which not all schools use, often refers to a subset of students in a particular grade level.

  • “Class” allows you to select groups of students populated in any classes in the current Term. Please note that if two or more classes share the same Class Title, they will all be included in the custom group. This is why we recommend ensuring that your class titles are all unique.

  • “Tag” refers to the custom tags that administrators can add to students on their profiles.



After you've selected the Types you'd like to include in the group, hit Add. Two new elements appear on the page:

  • The Complete Listing on the right side of the screen which displays every individual who is currently a part of the group you are working on.
  • A small label displaying the Type that you just added will appear below the Group Name. If you wish to remove a Type from the group, just hit the “X” button on the right side of the label.



Once you’ve finished building your Group, hit Save Group at the bottom of the page to complete the process. The new group should instantly appear on the list on the left side of the screen.



If you would like to edit a group, select it from the list and the Group Builder interface will re-appear, allowing you to make changes. When you’re done, don’t forget to hit Save Group again. If you would like to delete a group you’ve added, just hit the Delete Group button located below the Group list. 


In addition to the built-in groups discussed earlier, SmartSend also features additional built-in groups that only show up in the messaging interface.


Administrators will see built-in groups for every active class in the current term as well as groups for every grade level with at least one active student in it. Teachers, on the other hand, will only see built-in groups for classes they teach, as well as groups for the grade levels of students in their classes.



Furthermore, some built-in groups will function differently depending on what type of account you use. For example, as an Administrator, the group “All Active Students” includes every student in the school. As a Teacher, “All Active Students” only includes that specific teacher’s ‘active students’.