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Manager guide

A Manager is the operational driver of an org, event, or session. On a typical training-company instance, account managers, program leads, and the operations team all hold the Manager group role on the orgs and events they run.

This page describes the day-to-day work of a Manager. For the configuration tasks (designing event types, setting up task patterns) you also need the Content Manager site role — see Admin guide.

Your dashboard

When you sign in, your dashboard shows:

  • My active events — events in their start or running window.
  • My upcoming events — events that haven't started yet.
  • My tasks — your personal tasks (Managers often have tasks like "Approve the attendee list" or "Confirm the venue").
  • Pending actions across the orgs you manage — things waiting for your attention.

Creating an event

To create a new event:

  1. Click the plus icon in the main menu → Event.
  2. Pick the org the event belongs to. (If you only manage one org, this is pre-selected.)
  3. Pick the event type that matches the format (one-day workshop, multi-day program, conference track, …). Event types are pre-configured by the Content Manager — if the right type is missing, ask them to create one.
  4. Fill in the basic fields:
  5. Label — the display name of the event.
  6. Date range — start and end (smart-date widget).
  7. Venue — where it happens.
  8. Accommodations — logistics info.
  9. Description — short paragraph content.
  10. Save.

On save, FedMS:

  • creates the event group under the chosen org,
  • creates a matching fedms_event content entity,
  • spawns the Manager-level tasks defined in the task patterns for this event type (e.g. "Confirm the venue", "Brief the speaker", "Send joining instructions").

Adding sessions

For each session that needs to happen:

  1. From the event page, click Add session.
  2. Pick the session type.
  3. Fill in the session-specific fields (date window, venue if different from the event, etc.).
  4. Save.

Sessions inherit the event's context. They appear as sub-groups of the event.

Adding members

To add a member to an event or session:

  1. From the group page, click the Members tab → Add member.
  2. Pick the user. Picker behavior:
  3. On an event, you can pick any authenticated user.
  4. On a session, you can only pick users who are already members of the parent event. This is by design — see Sessions.
  5. Pick the group role(s) for this membership (Manager, Host, Speaker, Attendee, Moderator, Service Provider, Observer).
  6. Save.

On save, FedMS spawns the role-specific task patterns for the new member (e.g. when you add an Attendee, you might be adding "Read joining instructions" and "Confirm dietary requirements" to their task list).

Bulk-adding members

The bulk-assign feature is on the roadmap.

For now, add members one at a time, or use a CSV import via the admin import tools.

Syncing session members from the event

A common pattern: most sessions of an event have the same attendees as the event itself. The member sync feature gives you a "sync members from event" button on the session — under implementation.

Removing members

To remove a member:

  1. From the Members tab, find the member.
  2. Click the Remove operation.
  3. Confirm.

The member is soft-removed: their group_relationship is marked inactive, but the record is kept for the audit trail. Their open tasks are hidden. To bring them back, use Re-activate from the same page.

Attaching content

To attach content (a book page, a media item, a webform) to an event or session:

  1. From the group page, click the Content tab.
  2. Pick the content type to add.
  3. Fill in the content. If the content is a node, you can also attach task patterns to it (the fedms_task_patterns field).
  4. Save.

Once content is attached and has task patterns, FedMS will spawn the corresponding tasks for the right members.

Running reports

From the main menu → Reports, you can:

  • Show all tasks grouped by milestone for a specific event.
  • Show member-by-member task completion status.
  • Show the membership timeline (who joined, when, who left).
  • Export the data to CSV for offline analysis.

The full reporting capability is being formalized; current state is in /admin/reports.

Cloning an event

If you need to run the same event format again:

  1. Open the source event.
  2. From the Operations menu, choose Clone.
  3. Pick the destination org.
  4. Confirm.

The clone copies the event's structure, fields, and configurable content. Members are not copied by default — you add them per delivery.

The clone flow is implemented in the event_groups ECA model. The event-template feature is tracked at fedms/components/content#5.

Day-to-day rhythm

A typical Manager rhythm:

  • Morning — open your dashboard, scan the open tasks list, work through the actionable items.
  • Before each event — verify the attendee list, send the joining instructions, confirm the venue and the speaker.
  • During an event — handle on-the-day changes (new attendees, cancellations, room changes).
  • After an event — close out the event (mark sessions complete, collect feedback, archive recordings, issue certificates).
  • Weekly — review the upcoming events horizon and make sure nothing has slipped.

Where to ask for help

  • For "I can't do X" → see Help and support.
  • For "this should work differently" → submit a ticket via the Helpdesk in the upper toolbar.
  • For setup / configuration tasks beyond your permissions → ask a Content Manager or your site admin.

Next steps