What Are Networks?

Networks are groups that help organize and segment your user population. Think of them as containers that group users together based on shared characteristics, locations, departments, or any other criteria that makes sense for your organization.

In the new dashboard, networks have evolved to use a hierarchical structure that provides better organization and clearer management capabilities than the previous system.

Simple example:

• Your main network: "Commute Company"
• Subnetworks: "Marketing Team," "Sales Team," "Engineering Team"

Networks determine:

• What content users see in their app
• Which programs and challenges they can access

Key Changes in the New Dashboard

Key Concept: Membership vs. Management

This is the most important thing to understand:

Network Membership = Being IN the network

• Affects what you see in the app and how it looks in terms of branding
• Determines which challenges you can join and allows networks to compete against each other
• Controls which networks your trips are counted toward in reporting and statistics

Network Management = Having MANAGEMENT access to the network

• You have access to the Management Dashboard
• You can create programs and challenges
• You can add/remove users
• You can see reports and statistics

☝️Key Takeaway: You can manage a network without being a member of it

How do Networks Work

Network Membership vs. Network Management

Network Membership:

• Controls which features and content users see
• Determines how trips are counted in statistics
• Affects which challenges and programs users can participate in

The hierarchical structure creates specific rules for how membership works between parent networks and subnetworks. Here's exactly what happens in each scenario:

Key Takeaways:

• Joining a subnetwork always requires joining the parent network
• You can leave a subnetwork while staying in the parent network
• Leaving a parent network removes you from all its subnetworks
• You cannot be in a subnetwork without being in its parent network

Example Scenarios:

Scenario 1: New Employee Setup

• John joins "Engineering Department" (subnetwork)
• System automatically adds him to "Commute Corporation" (parent)
• John now has access to both company-wide and department-specific content

Network Management:

• Manager / Program Coordinator and Admin  roles grant dashboard access
• Allow management of programs and content
• Admins, Managers and Program Coordinators can manage networks they are not a member of, if they have management rights in them

Critical Management Role Rules:

1. Role Inheritance: Adding a management role to a parent network automatically grants the same role to all subnetworks
2. Protection Rule: You cannot remove a subnetwork management role if the user has a management role in the parent network
3. Hierarchy Rule: You cannot downgrade a subnetwork role below the parent network role
4. Higher Subnetwork Roles: Subnetwork roles can be higher than parent roles, but parent role changes don't automatically downgrade subnetwork roles

Management Role Examples:

Example 1: Promoting to Company Manager

• Lisa is assigned "Manager" role for "Commute Corporation" (parent)
• System automatically grants "Manager" role for all subnetworks (Engineering, Marketing, Sales)
• Lisa can now manage company-wide programs and all department programs

Example 2: Department-Specific Manager

• Tom is assigned "Manager" role only for "Engineering Department" (subnetwork)
• He has no role in "Commute Corporation" (parent). He is a regular user there
• Tom can manage Engineering-specific programs but not company-wide programs
• The Commute Corporation (parent) network is not visible in Tom's dashboard

Example 3: Role Upgrade Scenario

• Jane has "Program Coordinator" role in "Commute Corporation" (parent)
• She's promoted to "Manager" role in "Engineering Department" (subnetwork)
• Later, her parent role is downgraded to "User"
• Her "Manager" role in Engineering Department remains unchanged

Example 4: Attempted Invalid Downgrade

• Mike has "Manager" role in "Commute Corporation" (parent)
• Admin tries to give him "Program Coordinator" role in "Engineering Department" (subnetwork)
• System prevents this because subnetwork role cannot be lower than parent role
• Mike keeps "Manager" role in Engineering Department (inherited from parent)

Primary Network

• Each user has ONE Primary Network that determines their app branding and logo
• Users can be members of multiple networks, but only one serves as their primary network
• The primary network doesn't need to be a parent network

Network Visibility

Networks can be:

Public or Private: Public networks can be searched for and joined by anyone. Private networks are invite-only – users can join via a manager-provided join link, via email domain association, or can be added manually by someone who manages their user account.

and

Hidden or Visible: Visible just means that users in your organization can see that this network exists, whether public or private. Hidden networks do not appear in users' network management screens or as options for carpool sharing/searching. Users cannot leave a hidden network without being removed by a network manager. The same process applies to adding them.These networks are useful for segmentation and reporting.

Example: A company might have a public "All Employees" parent network, private department subnetworks, and hidden networks for executive programs.

How Trip Counting Works

User statistics and CO2 savings are counted only once, regardless of how many networks a user belongs to.

Example:

• John is a member of "Commute Corporation," "Engineering Department," and "Bike Commuters Network"
• He logs one bike trip worth 10 miles and 5 lbs CO2 saved
• This trip appears in statistics for all three networks
• But it's only counted once in the total platform statistics

Think of it like a document that can be filed in multiple folders but exists only once physically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can a user be in multiple parent networks? A: Yes, users can be members of multiple parent networks and their respective subnetworks.

Q: What happens to old network structures from the legacy dashboard? A: There's no automatic migration. Existing networks continue to work, but new features and management capabilities are only available for networks created in the new dashboard.

Q: Do I need to be a member of a network to manage it? A: No! Management roles and network membership are separate. You can manage networks you're not a member of.

Q: How do challenges work with the new network structure? A: Users can participate in challenges from all networks they're members of, including both parent networks and subnetworks.

Summary

Networks let you segment users, structure them into parent/subnetworks, and provide access through different roles (User, Program Coordinator, Manager, Admin).

Ready to set up your own? See our article on creating Networks.