Groups Overview

The Groups Form allows users to save a selection of a group of analytes, locations, materials, facilities or subfacilities for reporting and graphing. For example, instead of selecting individual samples every time a report is created, group maintenance allows the creation of reports using saved groups of analytes, locations or materials.

Selecting and saving groups for reporting and graphing functions ensures that the same samples are reported each time a report is run, preventing omission of any member of the group.

Warning: Group Members (RT_GROUP_MEMBER.MEMBER_CODE) and Group Names (RT_GROUP.GROUP_CODE) should be unique names, and group members should not have the same name as the group they belong to. Doing so may result in unexpected behavior. For instance, making a Facility a member of a Facility Group with the same name (RT_GROUP.MEMBER_CODE=RT_GROUP.GROUP_CODE) may cause users to be unable to login to EQuIS Professional or adding a subfacility to a location group with the same name will cause that location group to be unusable in reports.

While groups and group members can be added or edited by accessing the associated reference tables, the Groups Form available in Professional provides an easy to use interface to create and maintain groups within the EQuIS database.

Groups Form

To begin using the Groups Form, click Groups located in the Edit section of the Home ribbon of EQuIS Professional.

PRO_Groups-Ribbon

The EQuIS Professional Groups Form with a location group selected

Within the Groups Form, a user can do the following:

1.Select a group type.

2.Create a new group.

3.Add or remove group members.

4.Copy a group.

5.Delete a group.

Notes:

•If creating a new facility group, the name of the facility group cannot be the same as one of its members.

•Groups of the type RT_GROUP.GROUP_TYPE = "*" will not be displayed in the Groups Maintenance Form in EQuIS Professional. See Group Types for additional information.

Accessibility Features

Several accessibility features are available in the Groups Form, as explained below.

•The Groups Form shows only groups with RT_GROUP.STATUS_FLAG = "A".

•The Show Groups for All Facilities checkbox is unchecked by default the first time the Groups Form is opened.

•Records where FACILITY_ID is null are visible to non-admin users if they check the Show Groups for All Facilities option. When creating a group, assign a Facility ID if the group is not intended for database-wide use.

•The Groups Form supports the Column Chooser to show/hide columns in the Group Member and Available Member grids.

•Within the Groups Form, Group Members fields have blank selections to clear data to supplement the use of the Delete and Backspace keys.

•For location groups:

•When a location group is added via the Groups Form, the Facility ID for the group (RT_GROUP.FACILITY.ID) is set to the current facility by default. Unless the group is intended for database-wide non-admin access, populate this field.

•Non-admin users must have facility-level permission to view facility-specific groups (RT_GROUP.FACILITY_ID is populated). Groups with no facility association (RT_GROUP.FACILITY_ID is null) are visible to non-admin users when the Show Groups for All Facilities option is checked.

•Non-admin users must have facility-level permission to view facility-specific group members (where FACILITY_ID is populated in the RT_GROUP_MEMBER or RT_MTH_ANL_GROUP_MEMBER tables). This means that, for example, while a group with no facility association is visible to non-admin users, the group’s facility-specific members will be hidden unless the non-admin user has facility permission (Viewer or above).

Groups Form Functions

Several functions are included in the Groups Form that assist in creating groups, including Sorting, Filtering, and Pinning.

Choosing	The column chooser is available to show/hide columns in Group Member and Available Member grids.
Sorting	Any column in the Group Members tab can be sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking the column header. Then the column sort indicator shows the direction of the sort (e.g., indicates Sort Ascending). The members may be re-ordered by using the up and down arrows to arrange the correct order before selecting Save. REPORT_ORDER allows users to determine the order of group members as they appear in reports.
Filtering	Any column in the Group Members tab can be filtered by clicking Filter on the toolbar.
Pinning	Any column in the Group Members tab can be pinned to allow viewing the columns in the Available Members or Group Members grids. Click Pin on the toolbar. Any column may now be pinned by clicking on the smaller Pin buttons that appear in the column headers.