Yes, Group Administrators are allowed to add members using the function of "Assigning Members" to access a list of other members. However, the list of members they see will only be members that Group Administrator is connected within other groups. This list will not show all members across your Clinked account.
The Connected Member feature was created to enhance the data protection rights of all account members. This adds an extra layer of security to limit Group Administrators from seeing account members they are not already connected within another group. Group Administrators are able to add new members using email invitations and, if that invited member is already a member of another group in your Clinked account, they will be simply added to the Group Member list.
Let's explore how a Clinked client can use this new feature with their own clients:
Budex uses Clinked to work with their clients, including Willowbend Investments. Sam is the Group Administrator of the Willowbend Investments Group that is used to work directly with both Francisco and Evelyn to deliver the services provided by the Budex's team on Willowbend Investments portfolio.
Francisco has been designated as a Content Contributor so he has been able to lead the content creation and management as he works alongside Evelyn. Francisco and Evelyn have been impressed how easily they can interact with Sam in the group - they like the collaboration functionality across all the content & mobile access - and have found the tasks tool increasingly helpful working remote. Francisco would like to expand how they work with Budex across different teams using tasks and asked Sam if he can take more of an administrative role in the group.
Amanda is Budex's Account Administrator. She controls all aspects of their Clinked account as part of her role as Budex's Senior Vice President of Clients. They started using Clinked to work better for and with their clients by adding a secure platform for all client and team interactions. Sam has brought this request by Francisco to Amanda and they have decided to add value to Willowbend Investments. The best course of action to achieve more together on the services offered is to offer Francisco more ownership of the group. As such, they have decided to make Francisco a Group Administrator alongside Sam so, in addition to his capabilities as a Group Contributor, he can:
(Need a refresh on Group Members in Clinked, visit our help centre here)
Thanks to the feature of Adding Connecting Members, Amanda is able to change Francisco's member type with confidence. She knows that when he adds new members using the "or Add People From..." functionality he will only see a list of other account members he has in common through shared groups. In this case, Francisco is a member of 3 other groups in Budex's Clinked account for Willowbend Investment's portfolio work therefore he will only see the other members of those groups in this list.
Now that we've set the story and situation, let's see how to implement this in action within Clinked account.
You need to login to the account and go to the relevant group to navigate to the Members Area, which is visible to all group members:
In the Group Members screen, click on the “Manage members” to activate to see the list of the member's profile area. Here you can update the member's capabilities from Basic to Group Administrator by checking off the "Administrator" box as show below:
Now this user has been enabled in the group as a Group Administrator. When they log in and navigate to the members area, they will see the term "Administrator" below their name as shown below. They now have the capabilities to add new members by using the "Invite Members" box to bring additional colleagues and consultants into the group without requiring your assistance when they were set up as a basic member.
To add these colleagues and consultants, Francisco will have two options:
- Invite
- Assign Members
To invite new members, they need to simply add their email address to the box shown in the screenshot and then assign the member's capabilities and add a short note before hitting "Invite" to welcome them into the group.
They can also Assign Members using the "or add people from..." link under the email box to view their Connected Members. These will be the people they are in shared groups with and they will be listed for selection as shown below:
They are now able to take additional control of the group. This has brought added value to them to further use the capabilities of the group, including tasks, across their wider team. They are able to offer this additional functionality and value to their client as part of their service offering.
We hope this helps you understand how to further understand the capabilities of Group Administrators and how Clinked will help protect member data privacy.