Create and manage group types and groups in 15Five

Groups and group types help you organize people in 15Five by department, location, business unit, or common interest. You can use them for segmenting, reporting, and filtering across the platform. This article walks through how you can organize groups into group types, and how you can create and manage groups.

In this article, you will learn...

Group types and groups overview
Create group types and groups
Create group types and/or groups one-off
Create and manage group types and groups via bulk import
Manage a group

Access and availability

⛔️ Required access to Manage groups.
👥 This article is relevant to Account admins and Managers.
📦 This feature is available in all pricing packages.

Group Types and Groups Overview

15Five uses group types to organize and easily report on the people in the platform.

A group type is an umbrella label used to organize groups.
A group is a subset of people in your organization made up of group members.

Example: you create a group type called "Offices," then create groups for each city where your company has an office (Berlin, Denver, Madrid, New York, and Raleigh). Then, you'll add group members to the groups that align with their office location.

Create group types and groups

First, you'll want to determine how you want to create groups, as there are a few different ways, depending on how many you want to create at once, and if you use an integration.

(Recommended) Create groups via your HRIS integration: If you are connected to your HRIS via our HRIS Connector, please refer to the HRIS Connector article to automatically sync those groups and group types.
Create group types and/or groups one-off: You don't use our HRIS Connector, or the group doesn't exist in your HRIS, you can create a group type and/or group one-off.
Bulk import group types an/or groups: You don't use our HRIS Connector, and/or there are multiple groups you need to create at once. Our bulk import feature makes this easy to create and manage group types and groups via CSV.

Create group types and/or groups one-off

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Note

Only account admins can create group types.

Click on the Settings gear in the top, right-hand corner of 15Five.
Select "People" from the dropdown menu.
Open the "Manage groups" tab.
You're now on the 'Manage groups' page. By default, you will see two group types: Groups and Departments. If you'd like to proceed with creating group types in addition to those, click Create a new group type.
Give your new group type a name and click Save.
Your new group type appears in the list on the "Manage groups" page.
From the 'Manage groups' page, click on the name of the group type you want to add a group under.
Click the Create a new group button.
Name your group and double-check that the group is being created under the correct group type.
Appoint group admins. Group admins can manage group questions, group members, and group settings. Only account admins and direct managers can be appointed as group admins.

✏️

Note

Group admins are also not members of the group by default. If the group admin(s) should also be a member of the group, please add them.
Add group members. Account admins can add anyone as a group member, whereas direct managers can only add their direct reports and people in their hierarchy.

💡

Tip

Check the 'Manage people' page to see who can be included in your group.
Select visibility and Check-in frequency settings for your group.
- Group view: When enabled, this setting allows all group members to view each other's Check-ins.
  - All group members can view and engage with each other’s Check-ins, creating a forum-style environment.
  - It’s ideal for encouraging idea generation, identifying issues, and creating a transparent communication model.
- Group drill-down: When enabled, this setting allows all group members to view the Check-ins of all group members' downstream direct reports.
  - The member highest in the hierarchy within the group has the Check-ins of their entire reporting line made visible to all other group members.
  - This creates a shared view that allows leaders or peers in different hierarchies to collaborate more effectively on shared goals or projects.
- Company-wide questions: When disabled, group members will not see company-wide questions on their Check-ins.
- Priorities: When disabled, the "Priorities" section will not appear on the Check-ins of group members.
Finally, click Create group or Create group & add another.
Your new group will now appear on the list of group types on the "Manage groups" page. See the Manage groups section below for how you can manage groups moving forward.

Create and manage group types and groups via bulk import

If you want to create a large number of groups and add members all at once, the best way to do so is via bulk import. This section walks through how to create a bulk import CSV to create groups and add group members, and upload it to 15Five.

✏️

Note

You must add people to groups to create group types and groups via CSV. If you'd like to create group types/groups without adding members, you must follow the steps in the previous section of this article. To learn more about our bulk import feature, check out our "Bulk import or update people" Help Center article.

Click on the 'Settings' gear in the top, right-hand corner of 15Five.
Select "People" from the dropdown menu.
Click "Import" in the top navigation bar.
You are now on the bulk import page. From here, download your company's current employment structure by clicking the Download current structure button at the top of the page. Keep a copy of this document in a safe place in case any unintended changes are made when you upload your CSV.
Each group type gets its own column in a CSV import. You can create new group types via bulk import CSV by adding a new column with the format group_type_NewGroupType (e.g. group_type_Department).

To create a new group, add the new group name to the appropriate group type column. For example— if you want to create a group called Learning & Development in the group type Team Initiatives, your bulk import CSV would look like this:
Then, click Choose file at the bottom of the screen and find the CSV from your computer that you would like to import. Please note: the file must be in UTF-8 CSV format.
Once you have selected the file that you want to import, a 'Preview import' screen will appear. Review the changes to be made, then click Finish import.
When the import is complete, you can navigate back to the 'Manage groups' page to see all newly-created group types and groups. When creating groups via bulk import, you do not have the option to set desired group settings. If you'd like to change the default group settings, you can do so by following the steps in our "Edit group settings" Help Center article.

Manage a group

Click on the Settings gear in the top, right-hand corner of 15Five.
Select "People" from the dropdown menu.
Open the "Manage groups" tab.
Search for the name of the group you want to edit settings for using the search bar at the top of the screen.

Or, click on the group's group type and click on its name from the group type page.
Click the 'Settings' gear in the top, right-hand corner of the group page and select 'Edit group' from the dropdown menu.
You're now on the "Edit group" page. Here, you can edit the following:
- Group name: The name of the group.
- Group type: The group type under which the group is categorized. Select the dropdown to change which group type the group is categorized under. All group types your organization has created will appear in the dropdown menu.
  
  You can also change the group type in bulk from the "Manage groups" tab. Check the boxes to the left of all groups that need to be moved to the same new group type.
  
  Click Bulk actions at the top of the screen and select 'Change group type' from the dropdown menu.
- Group admins: The people who can manage group settings and membership.
- Group members: The people who are in the group.
- Group settings
  - Group view: When enabled, this setting allows all group members to view each other's Check-ins. Learn more.
  - Group drill-down: When enabled, this setting allows all group members to view the Check-ins of all group members' downstream direct reports. Learn more .
  - Company-wide questions: When disabled, group members will not see company-wide questions on their Check-ins.
  - Priorities: When disabled, the "Priorities" section will not appear on the Check-ins of group members.
- To delete a group that is no longer active or needed, Click the 'Settings' gear in the top, right-hand corner of the group page and select "Delete group" from the dropdown menu.
  
  If the group has any group objectives assigned, you'll see a popup asking you to select the group that you want to reassign those objectives to. If not, you'll see a confirmation popup. In either case, click the Delete button.
When you're done making changes, click Save.