Locations filter

Introduction

Locations is one of the three primary filters in the Jostle® platform. Each user can be assigned to multiple Official Locations. Locations are optional – if you have none defined, this filter will not appear in the platform.

Note that you can repurpose the Locations filter -- it can be used for something other than Locations. System Admins can rename it at Administration settings > Filters and badges > Configure Official Locations (Location). For example, if you have employee types that need to be organized in a hierarchy (and therefore do not fit the flat Custom Filter) you could repurpose Locations to do this.

Table of contents:

1. Optimizing the Location filter hierarchy
2. Managing Official Locations
3. Assigning Official Locations via bulk uploading
4. Automatic creation of Location Address Aliases
5. Allowing users to update their own Location
6. Official Locations versus ad hoc locations

1. Optimizing the Location filter hierarchy

Each Official Location is designated by an Alias. This should be the common name that people use for that location. Something like “London office”, “Palo Alto campus” or “Building 3 floor 2”.

Official Locations can also have a city, state, and country associated with them. These details are optional, but the Alias name is required. If you do use city/state/country, they will auto-create a hierarchy in your Location Filter. This makes it easy, for example, to publish something to all locations in the US, or all locations in California. You will want to play with this setup to get your Location filter (you can see the hierarchy created by the filter by looking at it in the People view filter panel) optimized for easy use. Note that you can collapse the structure by, for example, placing city and state in the same field (i.e. enter Palo Alto, California in the City field) to obtain a flatter hierarchy that looks more consistent with other locations around the world.

2. Managing Official Locations

Official Locations are managed by System Administrators at Administration settings > Filters and badges > Configure Official Locations (Location). Here you can change the "Locations" label, add new Official Locations, or edit or delete existing ones.

Here is how to add a new Official Location:

1. Go to Administration settings > Filters and badges > Configure Official Locations (Location)
2. Scroll down to Add an Official Location and enter an Address Alias name. This should be short and be the common name used for this location (e.g. the building's nickname).
3. Fill in the rest of the location information and the click the Save button. What you fill in here determines how the Filter hierarchy will appear when it is used (see the section above for more on this).