Introduction
Now that you are a Group Project Administrator, you may find it helpful to have a brief overview of the most important features of the Group Administration Pages and some tips and tricks for effective project administration
Communication
Group Projects are collaborative efforts where everyone involved has a common goal. Communication with project members is essential to help foster a community of shared knowledge. Encouraging group members to provide what genealogical information they have and letting them know you are there to help answer questions and concerns they may have is a great place to start. It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers. No one is an island and FamilyTreeDNA is a great community of helpful family history enthusiasts.
To get started with dynamic communication, there are a few areas of your Group Administration Page that you may find important:
Contact Information
As a Group Project Administrator, you are privy to information about your group members. Since you can see who is in your project and the email address to contact them, it is important that you provide the same. This information can be added on the Contact Information page. It is also important you follow the guidelines set forth in the Group Administrator Terms and Policies.
Public Website
The Public Website and Project Profile tools are both available to add information to the project website. This can include the background of the project, research goals, expected codes of conduct for members, best practices, and more. Depending on your project preferences, you can make some or all of this information public to anyone visiting the project page or exclusively to project members only. In any event, again, the privacy of your group members' personal information is paramount.
Welcome Email
The Welcome Email tool allows you to set up a prewritten email message that will be automatically sent to new members when they join the project. This is an opportunity to introduce yourself, your fellow administrators, or information about the project. This can include member guidelines, requirements, research goals, and more.
Bulk Email
The Bulk Email tool allows you to write an email to all or part of your project. This is a way to communicate news and research progress, inform your group members of upcoming events or sales, encourage members to take additional testing or give a general request for genealogical information. There are several guidelines to bulk emails, the most important of which is to respect the privacy of the personal information of your members.
Genealogy
Genetic data is most effective when coupled with genealogical information. We encourage customers to add as much genealogical information to get the maximum benefit from finding genetic relatives and participating in projects. In some cases a project member will have little or no information, or perhaps may not have added it to their FamilyTreeDNA account. As a Group Project Administrator, you may be able to see some or all of this information depending on their project preferences.
Account Settings
The Account Settings section of an individual's FamilyTreeDNA account is a place where they can add genealogical information such as names and locations of earliest known ancestors, known surnames, contact information, and more. This is information supplied by the project member. If you find some members have missing information, you can always use the Bulk Email tool or email them directly to encourage them to add what they know.
Project Preferences
The Project Preferences tab within an individual’s Account Settings is where they can set access levels for specific administrators and projects, and how much control the administrators have. For example, a Y-DNA project likely has no use for mtDNA results, so the individual might decide to keep that information private. You can learn more about access levels and permissions here.
Activity Feed
The Activity Feed on your project website is a forum where group members can share information with one another and post questions or comments. Here you can post notifications, information, news, and more as well. The activity feed is a great place for information to flow freely and you can learn more about how to use and moderate it here.
Learn More
This article touches on just a few of the important things to keep in mind as an administrator. As you explore your Group Administration Page, if you need help on any of the pages or tools, you can find in depth articles to each in our Group Project Administration section of our Help Center.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact the Group Projects department at groups@ftdna.com or by contacting customer support.