A batch group is a group of batches that share common restrictions in addition to the restrictions in their individual batches. Setting up a batch group allows you to create restrictions that span batches. These restrictions include:
Number of times a location can be shopped
Number of shops a shopper can do
Number of times a shopper can shop the same location
Time between shops at the same location
Batch group limitations
A batch may only belong to one batch group (but you can change what batch group a batch belongs to, or take it out of all groups)
ALL restrictions in a batch group apply to ALL batches in the group, without exception
When to use batch groups
The restrictions available in batch groups are also available within a batch. Batch groups should also be used when you have restrictions that apply to the batches as a group, rather than individually. For example:
Your program uses different scenarios in alternate months (thus, different surveys), but you don’t want the same shopper to revisit a location
You want to have at least one week between shops at the same location, even if they're in different months
You need 100 shops monthly (out of 1000 locations), but you don’t want a location to get shopped more than twice in a quarter
Setting up batch groups
Select the company from the nav bar.
Go to Setup -> Batches.
Click Manage Batch Groups.
Click New Batch Group.
Enter the settings for the batch group. Note that all the settings are optional, but that if you set a time between completion and claim (time between shops) you must set the Claim Limit to 1. If you do not want to set a minimum time between shops, leave both these settings blank.
Click Save.
Adding batches to batch groups
Once you’ve created a batch group, you can add batches to this group. The setting is near the bottom of the batch settings and defaults to This batch is not in a batch group. To add the batch to the new batch group:
Open the batch settings for the batch that you want to add to the group, and navigate to the batch group setting.
Click Change.
Select the batch group from the dropdown
Click Save.
Click Save Batch at the bottom of the page.
Example: Batch Limits Plus Batch Group Limits
In this example, the client has the following requirements:
Client has 1000 locations, wants 100 shopped each month
Client is willing to allow 2 shops at one location but not more than 2 per quarter
A location cannot be shopped more than once a month
There must be at least a week between shops at the same location
Client does not want the same shopper to shop a location twice
You’ve decided to limit shoppers to a total of 10 shops for this program. They can do them all in one month, but then they’re done for the quarter.
To accomplish this, you will need three batches for the quarter and one batch group. The settings are as follows:
Batch Settings | Batch Group Settings |
| Start date: first day of month | 2 shops per location (requirement 2) |
| End date: last day of month | 10 shops per shopper (requirement 6) |
| 100 shops total (requirement 1) | 1 shop per shopper per location (requirement 5) |
| 1 shop per location (requirement 3) | 1 incomplete shop at a location at one time (requirement 4) |
| Minimum of 604800 seconds (one week) between completion time of one shop at a location and when another shop can be claimed at the same location (requirement 4) |