Group Account Handbook

Group Accounts: a handbook for Group Owners

(Last update: 3 March, 2023)

You cannot access your Dashboard at the moment as I am in the process of transferring all membership details to a new membership system. Once that transfer is complete, this handbook will be replaced by a new Group (Corporate) Accounts Handbook.

This handbook should help answer most Group Owners’ questions, and walk you through the various aspects which differ from an Individual account. Much of this handbook will also apply to any members to whom you give the Role of Admin.

There are two approaches to adding members to your Group Account:

i. Method 1. You collect names and email addresses from your prospective members, which you then enter into your Group Owners’ Dashboard, either one by one, or by creating a .csv file of everyone’s details and uploading that in your Dashboard. The site then sends out an invitation email to each of your members, giving them instructions to follow to accept the invitation, and to set up their passwords. Only when they have “accepted” their invitation will they become full members of your group. Full instructions for this method are given in sections 1-6 below;

ii. Method 2. In your Group Owners’ Dashboard, scroll down to Group Settings and enter a Group Code of your own choice, which creates a URL link. You send that link to all those who you want to become members. When they click on the link it takes them to a page to enter their details themselves. This method takes much less time for you the Group Owner, and puts the onus on your members to get their details correct. You opt-in to this method by entering a Group Code; to opt back out, delete everything in the Group Code box. If someone you don’t know has managed to acquire the link and has self-registered, you can easily delete them from your group by clicking on their “Remove from Group” link. If this occurs, you can change the Group Code.  Full instructions for this method are given below.

More information about Group Accounts

Method 1

1. Collect information from your members

Each group account includes a set number of seats for “members”. The Group Owner is already allocated the first seat; he/she can then add or import the other members in order to give them access to the group.

Collect from all the people you are going to invite to be a member of your group: first_name; last_name; email (this latter will be used by the system as their individual Username). Please take special care in getting the email correct. May I make a plea for your members to use a private email address that is not likely to change in the forseeable future, as opposed to a work one; when an auto-reply is set, as often happens on a work email, the reply comes to me; also when a member changes employment, or retires, having that old email as the Username will not work.

Note that for European GDPR compliance (I am based in the EU so have to abide by their rules; this is the case even after Brexit), you need to get each member’s permission to enter their name and email address to the group. I know it seems obvious. Choirs that I have been a member of have done this by handing out a form to be completed by each member. This form should simply ask for the member’s agreement to have their name and email address entered into the group account. Note that it is you, not me, that needs this permission.
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2. Add these members to the group

You can invite your members one at a time. Once the Group Owner (or Admin) has logged on, you will be able to go to your Group Owners’ Dashboard. There is a link on the right-hand side of all the pages on my site. Clicking on this opens up your Dashboard, and there is a section for you to add new members one at a time. You need First Name, Last Name, and Email.

As you add each member, my system sends them an invitation email (see below). It explains what they need to do next in order to become a full member of your group. It contains a link for them to follow which enables them to accept the invitation, and to set their own individual, private password.

But if you have more than just a few members, it is much quicker to import a .csv file (see below) containing all their details and invite them all at once. If you wish, you can send your list of people to me (preferably in .csv format, or Excel sheet format). You, the Group Owner, already have the first seat, so should not be added to the list.
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3. How to use a .csv file for adding members in bulk.

Most people know how to use a spreadsheet. You may even have your members already recorded in this way. So, rather than add your members one by one, you can add them in bulk by entering their three bits of information onto a spreadsheet, saving that sheet in .csv format, and then uploading them all in one go using your Group Dashboard.

Here’s what an Excel sheet should look like, which you should then save in .csv format:

__|______A_____|_____B_____|_______C________
1 | first_name | last_name | email
2 | Joe              | Bloggs        |joe@bloggs.com
3 | Molly          |Smith           |molly@smith.com
4 | etc

Row 1 is vital: my system needs to know what information you are sending it. Note also that it is an underscore character not a hyphen in this first row, and that only lower-case is used. You start listing your member data in Row 2. It doesn’t matter what order the columns are in, as long as each column’s header matches the data it contains.

You the Group Owner are already entered in the Dashboard, so do not include yourself in the .csv file.

Once you have uploaded the .csv file of your members, my system sends them an invitation email (see below). It explains what they need to do next in order to become a full member of your group. It contains a link for them to follow which enables them to set their own individual, private password.
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4. Possible error messages after adding new member(s)

  • Invalid email address: correct the address;
  • Already has a paid-for membership: ask the member to wait until their current membership expires;
  • Already a member of a group: members can only belong to one group at a time. They could stay with their current group, or they could leave their current group by choosing YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP and clicking on their “Leave Group” link.

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5. What to tell your prospective members

Feel free to copy this section and send it on to your prospective members. They can then get their computer/device ready before you add them to your group.

[“You” in this section means the prospective member of your group]

Contact from JohnF’s site to you is done exclusively via email, so please add JohnF to your email contacts so that your system recognises his addresses, replacing  (at)  with the symbol @, and (dot) with a full-stop .

john_fletcher (at) mac (dot) com
email (at) johnfletchermusic (dot) org

Some email providers are getting very zealous about which emails they perceive as spam, and do not even send them on to their customers; rather they keep them in their email account on their website. So, it is a good idea to add JohnF’s email addresses to your Safe Addresses list on your email provider’s website. There are instructions about this on one of his members’ choir website: click on the “NOT RECEIVING MY EMAILS?” link which you will find on the right-hand side of every page. It refers to BT addresses, but it applies equally to all email providers.

You will have given your name and email address (a private one rather than a work one) to the Group Owner. You will have given your permission for your details to be added to the group account, and to have that information sent to me.

You will receive an “Invite” email. Click on the link it contains and you will be taken to a screen to choose a Password. If you get taken to a different page, just choose YOUR ACCOUNT>EDIT YOUR PROFILE and you can enter a password there. Doing this accepts you fully into the group.

You should also follow the link in the invitation email to read my Privacy Policy and to complete the Opt-In form for GDPR compliance.

If you are new to JohnF’s site, the system uses your email as your Username. You just need to enter a password.

If you were already a member, you will retain the Username you were using, although your email address will also work in the Username box. You may carry on using the same password, but if you’ve forgotten it you can enter a new one.

To login in future, choose LOGIN / LOGOUT. Your browser may insert a previously used username and password into the login boxes. Carefully erase any characters from the Username box before typing in your new one. Your Username will be your Email Address, unless you were already a member before being invited, in which case you will already know your Username. Put your Password into the Password box. Again, your browser may have entered an old password disguised as a row of xxxxxx or ******. Carefully delete these before typing in your password.  If you forget your Password, just click on the “Lost your Password?” link.

If you decide you want to leave the group for any reason, just choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP and click on the “Leave Group” link.
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6. Members invitation email

As you add each member to your group, either individually or en bloc by uploading a .csv file, the system sends them an invitation email.

Here is what a fictitious Winnie Mouse would receive if she were invited to join Anytown Choral Society by its group owner Mickey Mouse:

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Hi Winnie,

Mickey Mouse has invited you to join the Anytown Choral Society group subscription to JohnF’s Rehearsal Files

These are the steps you must take in order to become a member of this group:

  1. To accept this invite Click here to join the group or click on (or copy into your browser address bar) this link: xxxxxxx   Note that this link will only remain active for 7 days after the date of this email being sent to you; if you leave it longer than that, please contact the Group Owner and ask for the invitation email to be sent again.
  2. You will see a message confirming your acceptance, and be directed to set a password (enter it twice)
  3. If you are not directed to set your password, choose LOGIN / LOGOUT and click on the “Lost your Password?” link, which just requires your email address
  4. If you are already a member of my site, then your existing Username and Password will still work
  5. You should view my Privacy Policy, then fill-in the opt-in form by choosing YOUR ACCOUNT>GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR) OPT-IN from the top menu

That’s it. To access the site in future, visit johnfletchermusic.org and choose LOGIN / LOGOUT. Enter your username or your registered email address into the Username box, and the password you chose above into the Password box, then click the button.

If you have forgotten your password, you can click on the “Lost your password?” link on the Login page.

Please add my name and two email addresses to your email contacts list, replacing (at) with the @ symbol, and (dot) with a full-stop/period. I am told this may help to ensure that messages from me get through to you:

john_fletcher (at) mac (dot) com
email (at) johnfletchermusic (dot) org

If you decide you want to leave the group for any reason, just choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP and click on the “Leave Group” link.

Note that, if you click “reply” to this email, it will get sent to me, JohnF. If you want to contact the Group Owner Mickey Mouse, their email address is: mickeymouse at anytown.com

If you need help, there are some useful articles in HELP menu at the top of every page.

Many thanks,
JohnF

===================================================================
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Method 2

I highly recommend this method. It is a lot easier on you, the Group Owner. In brief, you enter a Group Code to set up a URL link. You email this link. using your own email, to all those you want to become members of your Group. They click on the link and fill in their details themselves.

If you choose to use this method because you think an invitation using Method 1 has failed, you should remove them from your Dashboard first: locate the member and click on their “Remove from Group” link.

As Group Owner:

i. Go to your Group Owners’ Dashboard and scroll down to Group Settings;

ii. Enter a unique code in the Group Code box. You will be warned if the code you choose is already in use by another group; your prospective members don’t need to know what the code is. Click on the “Update Group” button;

iii. You will see a new section immediately above Group Settings, called “Invite Group Members” which contains the URL link which you email to those members wishing to join. You can send the link to more than one member at a time – just add their addresses in the BCC field of your email, and put your own address in the To: field.

Note that if you have filled all your seats, your Dashboard will not show this option, nor will it show you the Add Member, or Import Members sections.

As prospective member:

iv. They click on the URL link which takes them to a Self-Registration form requesting all their details. They are also asked to check the Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Policy boxes;

v. They click on the “Register” button, which adds them to your Group Dashboard list.

You can see who has self-registered successfully because they will be added to your Dashboard with the status “Member”. If someone you don’t know has managed to acquire the link and has self-registered, you can easily delete them from your group by clicking on their “Remove from Group” link. If this occurs, you should change the Group Code.

Error messages

vi. If they are already registered with the site, but are not logged in, they will get an error message saying their email is already in use, and asking them to log in and try again. If they have forgotten their password they can use the “Lost your Password?” link on the LOGIN/LOGOUT page. They should then go back to the email containing the URL link and click on it again. They will now be offered a much shorter Self-Registration form for the group, as the system now knows they are already registered with the site;

vii. If they are already a member of a group, they will get a message saying so. They should choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP from the menu at the top of the page to see which group it is. If it is yours, but the member informs you that they cannot access the files, check your Dashboard. If their status is “Invited”, click on their “Set as Member” link and tell them they now have access;

viii. If the group they are a member of is not yours, they should choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP and click on the “Leave Group” link. They can then click on your URL link and go through the process again. They will  be offered the shorter Self-Registration form. Their previous Username and Password remain valid;

ix. If your seat limit is reached, the people who try to join after will get a warning message informing them of this, so you will need to be wary of this.

To opt back out of this method, delete everything in the Group Code box.
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What to tell your prospective members

Feel free to copy this section and send it on to your prospective members. They can then get their computer/device ready before you add them to your group.

[“You” in this section means the prospective member of your group]

Contact from JohnF’s site to you is done exclusively via email, so please add JohnF to your email contacts so that your system recognises his addresses, replacing  (at)  with the symbol @, and (dot) with a full-stop .

john_fletcher (at) mac (dot) com
email (at) johnfletchermusic (dot) org

Some email providers are getting very zealous about which emails they perceive as spam, and do not even send them on to their customers; rather they keep them in their email account on their website. So, it is a good idea to add JohnF’s email addresses to your Safe Addresses list on your email provider’s website. There are instructions about this on one of his members’ choir website: click on the “NOT RECEIVING MY EMAILS?” link which you will find on the right-hand side of every page. It refers to BT addresses, but it applies equally to all email providers.

To login in future, choose LOGIN / LOGOUT. Your browser may insert a previously used username and password into the login boxes. Carefully erase any characters from the Username box before typing in your new one. Your Username will be your Email Address, unless you were already a member before being invited, in which case you will already know your Username. Put your Password into the Password box. Again, your browser may have entered an old password disguised as a row of xxxxxx or ******. Carefully delete these before typing in your password.  If you forget your Password, just click on the “Lost your Password?” link.

If you decide you want to leave the group for any reason, just choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP and click on the “Leave Group” link.
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Sample email to send to prospective members

Hi [Name of member],

Here’s how to join the [Name of your group] group account on the John Fletcher Rehearsal Files site:

1. Click on the link below, and you will see a Group Members Self-Registration form requesting all you details. You are also asked to tick the Terms and Conditions, and the Privacy Policy checkboxes;

[URL link for your group]

2. Click on the “Register” button, and you will be automatically added to the Group list and be able to access all files.

ERROR MESSAGES YOU MAY ENCOUNTER

“That email is already in use”

You will see this if you are already registered with the site, but are not logged in. If you have forgotten your password, use the “Lost your Password?” link on the LOGIN/LOGOUT page. You will be sent a link to set a new Password. You should then go back to the email containing the URL link and click on it again. You will now be offered a shorter Self-Registration form for the group, as the system now knows you are already registered with the site;

“You are already a member of a group”

You will see this message if you are already registered with the site and are already a member of a group. Choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP from the menu at the top of the page to see which group it is. If it is [Name of your group] but you are not able to access the files, please let me know and I will check your membership status;

If it is another group, choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP from the menu at the top of the page and click on the “Leave Group” link. You can then come back to this email and click on the URL link above again to restart the [Name of your group] self-registration process. You will now be offered the shorter Self-Registration form, as the system knows you are already registered with the site. Your previous Username and Password remain valid.
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Further information about Group Accounts

7. Group Owners’ Dashboard

When you first purchase a group subscription, you use your group dashboard to add those people in your group who you want to be members.

You will see a statement of how many seats you have used, out of how many you have purchased.

You access the Dashboard by logging in, then clicking on the GROUP OWNERS’ DASHBOARD link which is available on the right-hand side of every page, under the heading “GROUP OWNERS”.

In the Add Group Members section you can add an individual person.

Method 1: Fill in the First Name, Last Name and Email boxes and click on the Add Member button. This last action sends out an Invite email to the person.

In the Import Group Members section you can import a prepared .csv file that contains the data for all your choir. Click on the Choose File button to navigate to the file on your harddrive, then click on the Import CSV button. Ensure you have prepared the file correctly (See “3. How to use a .csv file for adding members in bulk” above). This sends out the Invite emails to all those in the .csv file. Click here to see the pro-forma email that gets sent out to your members.

Method 2: Enter a code into the “Group Code” box. This creates a URL link that you can send out which takes them to a Self-Registration form for your group.

Once added, you will see all your members listed under the Group Members section. There is a search box which accepts either your member’s username or their email address – useful for large choirs.

For each member you will see:

  • Name
  • Email
  • Role:
    • Invited: is the Role if a person is sent an invite. It indicates they have been sent their group invite email, but that they haven’t yet responded to the invite.
    • Member: is the Role when a person has either clicked on the link contained in their invite email, which link also takes them to their Profile page so that they can enter their own private password, or, they have completed the self-registration form after you sent them the Group Code URL.
    • Admin: is the Role you can give to a “Member” if you want them to help in managing your members. Admins can access the Dashboard and invite/remove members. They don’t get access to the Owner’s record of what payments have been made, nor can they renew the Group Membership. When there is a change of Owner, the ex-owner is automatically given the role of “Admin”.
  • Actions you can take, which vary depending on what Role they currently have:
    • Remove from Group: you can apply this action to all three Roles.
    • Set as Member:
      • you can apply this action to those having the “Invited” Role. This should be applied sparingly as it invalidates the link in the invite email, clicking on which will now take them to the Home page rather than their Edit your Profile page. This is no good if they haven’t set their password. In this case advise them to use the “Lost your password?” link on the Login page.
      • you can apply this action to those having the “Admin” role, in order to remove their admin status.
    • Resend Invite: you can apply this action only to those having the “Invited” Role, to be used if the person says they have lost their invite. As an alternative, you could opt to set up Method 2, “Remove” them from your members list, and send them the self-registration Group Code URL

There are further sections to the Dashboard:

  1. Add Group Member, for adding members individually – they are sent the invite email
  2. Import Group Members, using a .csv file
  3. Group Settings. This includes a Group Code box: if you enter a code into this box, you will see an “Invite Group Members” section above the Group Settings section. This hold the URL link to the members self-registration page.

These sections are self-contained so click on its relevant button to complete your task before proceeding to another section.
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8. What you and your members get for your money

Group membership entitles the Group Owner and all members of the group to visit the whole site, for in- and out-of-copyright material, and to play all the files through browsers, and/or to download them to hard drives. They can then load them onto any mobile device they own which will play them. In-copyright files must not be shared with anyone else, unless they are a member of your group.

In-copyright MP3 sound files must not uploaded directly to your or any website. Choose HELP>COPYRIGHT for reasons why not.
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9. Create a dedicated choir page on this site

Click here for how you can create a page on my site just for your group. The intention is that you provide a list of the music you are currently rehearsing, and you make each title a link to the actual page on my site which holds the rehearsal files.
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10. What to do if you need to renew, or to change the size/duration of the group membership

Renew

To renew your existing membership for the same time period, logon and choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP and click on the “Renew your membership” link. Enter the number of seats you require. Ensure this is equal to or greater than the number of seats you already have occupied. You won’t lose any member details.

If you are decreasing the number of seats, you should first reduce the number of occupied seats in your current membership if necessary, so that it is equal to or less than the size of the new membership.

Even after your membership has expired, you can make seat adjustments and renew.

Change number of seats mid-term

If you are mid-term in your membership, and you want to increase the size of your current Per-Seat group (minimum 15) please contact me. There is a minor bug in the system which is being worked on so I need to sort it out for you.

If you need to have a different time period for you next membership, logon and choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP and click on the “Upgrade or change your membership” link.
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11. What to do if you need to change the ownership of the group

You need to contact me. The proposed new owner needs to be a full member of your group already, so add them if that isn’t the case. Then the current owner should let me know the name of the group, and the name and email address of the person who will be taking over. It’s all very simple, but as there are various bits of data on my system which need transferring, it isn’t something that you can do yourself.
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12a. What to do if you want to suspend your membership for a period of time

You need to contact me. I expire your existing membership, after calculating the value of any unused portion remaining. I then give you a Discount Code to use when you are ready to start up again.

The old membership will retain all your members, but neither you nor your members will be able to access in-copyright sound files whilst the memberships is “Expired”. If any of your members do want to continue on their own, they need to login to their own account, choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP and click on their “Leave Group” link.

When you are ready to start up again, login and choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP and click on the appropriate link. When you scroll down to the payment section, you will be able to enter the Discount Code I gave you.

The new membership will start afresh from the date you create it.
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12b. What to do if you want to disband the group altogether

You need to contact me. I expire your existing group membership, after calculating the value of any unused portion remaining if any. I then give you a Discount Code to use when you are ready to start up your group again, or to use on an Individual membership.

Go to your Dashboard and for each member click on their “Remove from Group” link. This releases all the members to go their own way – getting a paid-for membership, or joining another choir’s group account. This will just leave yourself.

Choose YOUR ACCOUNT>YOUR MEMBERSHIP and click on the “Change your membership” link.

If you want to have your own individual membership, select one of the Individual memberships and complete the rest of the page; click on the “Register” button.

If you want to join another choir’s group, select the last membership “Ex-Group Owners”. There will be nothing to pay. Then click on the “Register” button. Then approach the new choir and ask to join their group.
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