Group Actions

Asset Groups are a critical feature in the Asset Manager’s toolbox when the data ecosystem contains a large number of Assets. Being able to Group and sort them quickly can be a deciding factor in terms of seeing important information in a timely manner. Groups allow users to institute a system of classification outside of Asset Attributes that can be used for a number of organizational needs, including reporting systems, auditing, maintenance, and leasing.

Duplicate Group

Duplicating Groups allows users a number of quick sorting and filtering options without the need to restart the entire Add Group process each time. If, for example, users wish to create a Group with all but 3 of the Assets in another Group, they can duplicate and remove the 3 Assets. This allows users to take advantage of other features more quickly, like, for example, sending bulk messages and creating subgroups for reporting purposes.

Group Messaging

Messaging within Groups is an important way for users to be able to send pointed bulk messages, reducing the time required to send individually, and giving users a way to quickly narrow the recipient list to only those Assets that need to receive the message. Users will often create Groups on the fly for this purpose exclusively. For example, creating a Group from a Geofence in order to isolate the Assets in a dangerous area, and then immediately send all of them a warning message with instructions.

External

Users of the portal can send messages in bulk to the entire Group using the Send Message tool in the Group Options Details Panel. Any message sent from the portal will go to all Assets in the Group that can receive messages.

Internal

The Message Destination ID of each Group allows the portal to route messages it receives from other Assets to that group. This means that Assets can communicate internally in bulk to all Assets in the Group through the Portal without ever needing to log in to use the bulk messaging feature.

Nested Groups

Users can choose to make an Asset Group as a Subgroup of another Group. There is no limit to the depth of the Subgroups, and therefore, an infinite number of levels of sorting are possible.

Nested Groups give users the ability to apply multiple sorting and filtering conditions at the same time, and in large enough ecosystems, can even become an additional form of applying combination Attributes.

Combining Features

In a rescue/recovery scenario, teams can be dispersed to cover more territory in less time, and even if all teams are outside of traditional communication networks, they can use the Group Messaging tools from the portal to message each other.

The emergency command leader assigns all search teams collectively to a group with an assigned Message Destination ID, and then each individual team would be a subgroup of that Parent Group with its own Message Destination ID. Teams can communicate directly with each other and with the entire group at once simply by sending messages to the ID of that Group. The portal routes the message automatically.