Client Groups can come from one of two sources: your connected practice management system or Aiwyn Practice. The source determines where the group and its membership should be maintained.
Client Groups synced from a practice management system
For firms with a connected practice management system, the source system determines the Client Group records and which clients belong to each group. During implementation, Aiwyn maps the source system's group identifier and client relationships into Aiwyn.
The group record and the client records are ingested separately:
- The group supplies its name and any mapped group-level details.
- Each client record supplies the relationship that associates that client with the group.
- A client can belong to only one Client Group at a time.
Because membership is attached to the client record, Aiwyn builds the group's member list by finding the clients associated with that group. The group does not store a separate list of members.
Treat your practice management system as the source of truth for externally managed groups. A client in an externally managed group cannot be reassigned to an Aiwyn-managed group from the client record in Aiwyn. Make membership changes upstream so that the next refresh does not restore the previous relationship.
Client Groups managed in Aiwyn Practice
Firms using Aiwyn Practice can create and maintain Client Groups directly in Aiwyn. An Aiwyn-managed group can include a unique group name, member clients, an optional Primary Client, and group ownership details such as Office, Partner, and Manager.
When a Primary Client is selected, Aiwyn can use that client to prefill available group details, including office, assigned staff, and contact fields. The exact fields shown depend on the firm's configuration.
Clients already assigned to another group are not available to add to a new Aiwyn-managed group. This preserves the one-group-per-client rule.
How Aiwyn represents membership
Client Group membership is stored on each client, not as a member list on the group. In the external data warehouse, each member client's client_group_id points to the group record.
This structure has several effects:
- Adding a client creates or updates that client's group association.
- Removing a client clears the association without deleting the client.
- Changing a group's name does not change the client records that belong to it.
- Filtering by Client Group returns records associated with the member clients.
Where the relationship is used
After groups and memberships are available in Aiwyn, Client Group can be used to organize or select related clients in supported areas, including:
- the Clients list, where Client Group can be displayed, sorted, and filtered;
- Projects and WIP in Aiwyn Practice, where work can be viewed by Client Group; and
- Engagements, where a new engagement letter can include the clients in a group.
Practical rules
- Maintain externally managed groups in the connected practice management system.
- Maintain Aiwyn-managed groups in Aiwyn Practice.
- Keep each client in only one Client Group.
- Use the Client Group as an organizational relationship; keep client-specific billing and communication settings on the individual client records.
Related
- Where client group is used in Aiwyn
- How Client Groups organize clients
- Manage Client Groups
- Client record field mapping to Aiwyn from your practice management system