Manage categories

What are Categories?

Categories are labels or profile information linked to each member, such as 'Department,' 'Function,' or 'Location.' They help organize and identify specific attributes of members, like 'Marketing' for 'Department' or 'Paris' for 'Location.'

Examples

• Department: Indicates the specific division within the organization where an employee works (e.g., Marketing, Communication, Human Resources).

• Location: Specifies the geographic location where the employee is based (e.g., Paris, Berlin, Lisbon).

• Favorite sport: Indicates the sport the employee enjoys the most (e.g., Basketball, Tennis, Yoga)

6 reasons why you should create Categories

Creating categories is a powerful way to enhance your ability to manage, understand, and engage your members effectively. By organizing and enriching member profiles, editing program audiences, creating precise matching rules, integrating detailed profile information, and filtering dashboard views, categories enable you to optimize the use of RandomCoffee and ensure that your programs deliver maximum value.

1️⃣ Easily collect, structure and visualize your members' data

• Structured Data: Systematically organize and search through your members' information.

• Detailed Profiles: Enrich profiles with comprehensive details about roles, skills, locations... and more!

2️⃣ Define the right programs for the right audiences

• Targeted Engagement: Define and adjust program audiences based on specific criteria.

• Customization: Tailor programs to different segments within your organization.

3️⃣ Generate higher-quality connections using sophisticated matching rules

• Enhanced Connections: Pair members based on shared or complementary attributes.

• Personalized Matches: Ensure relevant and beneficial connections.

4️⃣ Improve engagement with personalized matching emails

• Context-Rich Introductions: Provide meaningful and personalized introductions.

• Better Engagement: Encourage members to engage with relevant information upfront.

5️⃣ Customize your dashboards and use in-depth data to make decisions.

• Focused Analysis: Filter and segment the dashboard view for specific insights.

• Data-Driven Decisions: Make informed decisions based on detailed data.

6️⃣ Enable members to personalize their RandomCoffee experience*

*When the Members Portal is activated by the Admin.

• Profile updates: Members can ensure their profiles reflect their current roles, skills, interests, etc. This helps in creating more accurate matches based on categories created by the Admin.

• Preferences: Members can specify their preferences for the types of connections they want to make, and the type of connections they want to avoid. This ensures they are matched with individuals who align with their objectives.

6 category types

Dropdown

-> List of options to choose from, only 1 option can be selected.

Example:

Multiple Choice

-> List of options to choose from, multiple options can be selected.

Example:

Date

Example:

Number

Example:

Text

Example:

Yes/No

Example:

How to create categories?

From the RandomCoffee platform

1. Open the "Categories" section in the "Members" panel.

2. Click "New category"

You can drag and drop the categories to rearrange them in the order that suits you best, via the drag-and-drop handle highlighted below:

This order is displayed in the following cases:

• in the drop-down lists when setting the matching rules

• in the forms members have to fill when they join the initiative via the "Invite Link" option

1. Choose a title for your category, as well as the type of category you want to create.

You may choose between:

• Dropdown list (list of options to choose from, only one answer)

• Short text (free field, good for short answers)

• Date (calendar dates only)

• Number

• Multiple choices (list of options to choose from, several answers are possible)

• YES/NO (only 2 options)

In the example below, we selected the dropdown list. We can now add as many fields as we want in this list.

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🆕 You can now add a description for each category.

This description will be visible as a tooltip in member profiles:

It will also be visible in the RandomCoffee registration form (when you invite members via a link):

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By default, all categories are visible to members from their Portal (if the Portal is enabled by the Admin).

You can hide categories to members by activating a dedicated option, just below the Category name (see the image below), keeping in mind the following impacts:

• Hiding categories from members limit their preferences and instant match choices (if they have access to the Member Portal). • A hidden category will not appear as a field to fill in the invite form.

1. Click "Save" to create the Category. It is now visible from the Categories list.

Categories created via a .csv file import are also displayed in the "Categories" section of the "Members" panel.

✨ Pro tip

Interested in setting up a Program with matching rules based on category values filled in by users? Follow these steps! 1. Configure your Categories. 2. Send an email presenting RandomCoffee and including this Invite Link, and invite people to fill out their details for each Category in the Member's Portal. 3. In the meantime, you can configure your Programs with the right matching rules. 4. Plan your first sessions when your members list is up-to-date (when members have filled out their Category values)!

1. You can now edit the Category values for each member:

• Directly from the Members list (by clicking on a member's name)

• or via a .csv import

• You can also ask your members to do it themselves by filling out their values from their Member Portal.

From a .csv file

Follow the steps described here to create and/or update a Category with a .csv file import.

We recommend this option for adding several categories at once.

From your HRIS integration

Read the following article to understand how categories are automatically created via your HRIS integration.

Categories resulting from synchronization with your HRIS cannot be modified/deleted in RandomCoffee, as they are dynamically updated with each synchronization and take over the existing fields in your HRIS.

Of course, you can always modify member information that is not synchronized with the HRIS as usual.

For the same reason, categories resulting from synchronization with your HRIS are not visible into the joining form for joining users via invite link as they cannot edit/override these values that come from your HRIS.

From a SCIM provisioning

Read the following article to learn how to do it.

How to use categories...

... in your matchmaking rules

All category types except "Text" can be used in matchmaking rules.

You can use category values to fine-tune your matching rules:

Which category for which rule?

Use the categories in the rules that support them:

Category	Cross category rule	Cross groups rule	Optimization rule
Dropdown
Multiple Choice
Date
Number
Text
Yes/No

... for defining the audience of your program

In the "Communication" tab, you can define the audience of your program based on categories.

For the moment, only the "dropdown" and "multiple choice" types are supported when defining the program audience.