In this section you will learn:
IMPORTANT: New features in PetPoint called the Animal Group are outlined below. The animal group overview document, distributed to PetPoint users via the System Alert email sent on can be found here.
You may also want to view the brief video on how the Animal Group option works. You can view the Animal Group video, and many of our other available videos, by clicking here: Webinar Recordings
What is the Animal Group function?
Currently, PetPoint allows users to create Animal Groups through the “Add Another Animal” button found within many of our wizards (Intake, Outcome, Ownership, Licensing, etc.). We have expanded on this functionality by allowing users the ability to create and manage their own Animal Groups via a new screen, “Animal Group.”
There are two types of animal groups, those that are set up manually by PetPoint users, and those that are created automatically through doing multi-animal operations by using the Add Another Animal button.
User Created Groups: litters and buddies
Each Animal Group must have a Type and a Subtype, and each Animal Group Member must have a Role, which is dependent on the Group Type. Here are the choices for each field within PetPoint:
To search for and Edit or to Create an Animal Group go to Edit Animal Group
The Group Search tab allows users to search for and select Groups for review and editing. Search criteria are:
Group Number (default): users can search for Groups by the automatically-generated Group number.
Group Type, Group Subtype: user can search for Groups by Type and Subtype, and can search the Group creation date (date from / to).
Animal Number: users can search for all Groups that a specific Animal is a Member of by entering an Animal Number.
ARN: users can search for all Groups that a specific Animal is a Member of by entering the ARN#
Microchip ID: users can search for all Groups that a specific Animal is a Member of by entering the Pet ID#
Last 10: returns the last 10 Group records accessed.
Include related Groups checkbox: also shows Groups that are related to the selected Group.
Click the Create New Animal Group to form a new group, which will take you to the details tab.
Here you will see the following:
Group Number (system-generated number)
Group Type & Group Subtype. See Animal Groups section above for examples.
Formed Date / Time: Date and time that the Group was formed. This field defaults to the current date/time, but can be backdated to any date/time in the past.
Create Date / Time: read-only field populated with the date/time that the Group was created in the database.
Created by: Read-only field that records the user that created the Group in the database.
Comments: optional text field for additional comments
Once you select Group Type, Group Subtype alter the Formed Date/Time if needed, and add your Comments, click Save to save your work and move on to the next tab.
Once the Details tab is completed, the “Members” tab will become available. At least 2 Group Members must be added to an Animal Group before it can be saved. This tab allows users to add existing Animals to the Group, as well as update or remove existing Group Members from a Group. The Group Members grid lists all current Group Members – each can be selected for further editing or be removed from the Group. The standard Animal Search Control is used to search for an select an existing Animal to add as a Group Member.
Search for and select the animal you wish to add to the group.
Updates can be made to Animal Details/Photos/Videos for existing Animals when adding/updating a Group Member. Clicking the “Submit” button will save the changes.
The Member Details section is used to indicate the Members’ Role within the Group and indicates when / by whom the Member was added to the Group. Within Member Details, Role & Added Date/Time are required fields which users can edit. The Added Date/Time defaults to the current date/time, but can be backdated to any date/time in the past. Clicking the “Add/Update Member” button will save the changes.
After adding first animal return to the top of the page to the search area and repeat the process which can be repeated indefinitely for as many animals as needed.
Important Note: Members cannot be added to system created group that were set up using the Add Another Animal button.
As with all of the PetPoint tab screens, the Save button will save the work you have done while keeping you on the current screen and current record, and the Submit Group button will save your work and take you back to the search screen to move on to the next record.
The Related Groups tab shows us any groups related to this group designated by related reason. On this tab you can search for existing groups to tie groups together if they are the same group, perhaps came from the same parent or the same owner/guardian.
Related Reason: this required field value can be customized by a PetPoint Administrator. It is used to indicate why Animal Groups are related. Examples: multiple litters from the same mother; a litter that arrived together; two separate “playmate” groups that share some of the same animals.
Is Primary for In/Out/Operation Group?: This checkbox appears when a relationship is being created between a system-created Group and another system-created Group or a user created Group. This will be used in updates to reports to be able to indicate that a multi-intake Group was also a Litter Group or Buddy Group.
Automatically Created Groups: Add Another Animal
When users perform multi-animal operations a multi-animal group is created automatically. This includes intakes, outcomes and ownership modifications and licensing at this time.
From the summary screen of intake there is a button for Add Another Animal, if you have used this feature before you know this will duplicate the animal allowing you to modify the fields as needed. For more information on how to add another animal, please click here.
By utilizing these features you will automatically create an animal group that can be easily accessed and viewed at a later time. Click Finish to complete the operation and get to the confirmation screen.
From the confirmation screen you will see each animal of the multi animal operation listed. To the left of the animal's name there is an animal number, which is a link to the Animal View Report.
By clicking that link you will get a pop up of the Animal View Report to view the group membership. This Animal Group section towards the top of the report will quickly show you any groups animals will belong to.
Displayed in the Animal Group section of the Animal View Report you will see the group number, group type, group subtype, number of animals in the group, formed date/time, created date/time, created by username, and any comments for the group.
The PetPoint Animal Group has a View Report component to describe the Animal Group and Group Members. The Animal Group View Report can be accessed from the Animal Group screen and the Animal View Report (by clicking on a Group Number).
Animal Group on the Reports Website
There will be new reports associated with Animal Group – Animal Group Detail and Animal Group Crosstab. These reports will provide details of Animal Groups created during a certain time, or counts of Group Types and the Animals and Roles within those Groups.
IMPORTANT NOTE: DATA CONVERSION OF “BUDDY” FROM ANIMAL PROFILE
The new Animal Group functionality for “Buddy” Group Types replaces and expands the current “Buddy” functionality found on Animal Profile. All historical “Buddy” information from Animal Profiles was used to create Animal Groups as part of this release. The following examples illustrate how Animal Profile “Buddy” Information was converted:
Scenario 1: Animal B was a “buddy” of Animal A (Animal B’s Animal # had been added to Animal A’s Profile). We created an Animal Group of Type = Buddy + Subtype = Placement and added both Animal A & Animal B to that Group, each with the Role of Placement Partner. These Animal Groups were created even if Animal A’s Animal # had not been added to Animal B’s Profile.
Scenario 2: Animal B from Scenario 1 was a “buddy” of Animal C (Animal C’s Animal # had been added to Animal B’s Profile). However, Animal C and Animal A from Scenario 1 were NOT Buddies. In this scenario we also created an Animal Group of Type = Buddy + Subtype = Placement and added both Animal B & Animal C to that Group, each with the Role of Placement Partner. However, this is a completely different Animal Group than scenario 1, so the end result is that Animal B is actually in two separate Buddy Animal Groups.
Finally, we never previously tracked which user filled in the “buddy” field on Animal Profile or when it was done. So, for any Animal Groups created from Animal Profile “Buddy” information, we used the Animal Profile Last Updated Date/Time the Group Formed/Created & Member Added/Created Date/Time fields and used the Animal Profile Last Updated By for the Group & Member Created By fields.
As a reminder, any historical buddy information previously stored in Animal Profile can now be located within the Group Membership section of the Animal View Report.
Last updated for Professional (formerly PetPoint SMS) & Lite January 2011 - Melissa Wainscott