Recipient groups

There are two distinct types of recipient groups that can be utilized for communication purposes:

• Predefined recipient groups

• Custom recipient groups

Predefined recipient groups

Recipient groups of the type "Predefined" are calculated dynamically during runtime. Frequently utilized predefined recipient groups are, for example, “All active members (own unit)” or “All active members (own unit and below)”. The distinction between "own unit" and "own unit and below" is that "own unit" refers solely to the individuals within that unit, whereas "own unit and below" indicates that individuals from all subordinate units are also included.

Example: Unit = District

• “All members (own unit)” = nobody (a district has no active members, only guest members)

• “All members (own unit and below)” = all members from all clubs and satellite clubs in this district

NOTE

Predefined recipient groups are dynamic – the concrete recipients are determined when the group is used.

In the list view of the predefined recipient groups, there are three functions available for each entry:

• Recalculate numbers: the calculated value displays the currently determined number of members in this recipient group in a separate column.

• Show recipient group members: opens a separate view with a list of all members of this recipient group

• Duplicate: duplicates the desired recipient group (attention: the resulting copy of this recipient group is a static custom recipient group)

Custom recipient groups

Recipient groups of the type “Custom” can be created (Utility > Recipient groups > “+ Create”) either by manually adding non-members or members or by importing recipient lists. They are often created for various mailings to specifically required recipients. The concrete compilation of addresses is often done in advance in Excel. For this reason, Polaris provides a straightforward way to import an Excel list.

NOTE

Custom recipient groups are static – the number of members is fixed and does not change automatically (members can be manually deleted or added).

In the list view of the custom recipient groups, there are five functions available for each entry:

• Recalculate numbers: the calculated value displays the currently determined number of members in this recipient group in a separate column

• Edit: Allows editing the recipient group – adding, importing or deleting members

• Show recipient group members: opens a separate view with a list of all members of this recipient group

• Duplicate: duplicates the desired recipient group (this copy of this recipient group is also static)

• Delete: the specified recipient group can be deleted permanently (a confirmation prompt will appear that needs to be accepted)

Importing email addresses into custom recipient groups

When you create a custom recipient group, you can import the email addresses from a file. On the tab “Recipients” By clicking the button “+ Import recipient-list”, you can download an example of the file format which is accepted by the importer (see templates below). The file must be an Excel sheet in XLSX format.

The importer will upload and verify the file once you either drag it into the designated upload area or select the file by clicking within that area.

When you click the “Save” button, the data you uploaded is processed and stored.

Following rules apply for the file rows

• First line of the file (header line) is always skipped during the import

• If the email address already exits in the list, the record is skipped and not processed. This avoids duplicates.

• If the RI-ID is set in the first column, the corresponding member must exist in Polaris. His Polaris data will be taken and the data provided in the file is ignored.

• If the RI-ID already exits in the list, the record is skipped and not processed. This avoids duplicates.

• If the language code is not set, the default club language is taken.

Practical hints

If you want to import non-Rotarians or people not in Polaris, use file with the columns: firstname, lastname, salutation, language and mail and let the RI-ID empty. See the template file:

If you want to import Rotarians existing in Polaris, set only the column RI-ID and let all other columns empty. The member data will be automatically taken from Polaris. See the template file:

IMPORTANT NOTE

Please do not import more than 400 address lines in a single operation. If you wish to import more data records, please split the Excel sheets accordingly. New data records can be imported anytime and added to the existing custom recipient group. Duplicate records are not created and existing records are not overwritten.