At Connecteam, we want your set-up to be swift and clean. As customer success managers we took our experience from working with hundreds of Healthcare companies worldwide and created this step-by-step tutorial to get your company set up to PERFECTION.

You can expect this guide to go through all of the steps needed to get your account up and running with real-world examples of how each feature or capability can work for a healthcare company your size. Like Connecteam, this guide works as an all-in-one solution to your Communications Hub Set Up.

While there are many other articles found here on our Help Center we have designed this guide, particularly for Healthcare companies of your kind and it should walk you through your complete setup step by step.

Don't worry! We’ve got all of the first steps to make your life easy and Connecteam work for you! 🤩

After reading this guide you should be able to start fully operating the platform you will learn how to:

Tip: Anytime you see blue text in this article it is a link or menu of links to other areas inside this guide. If you're looking for something specific, or you don't finish the setup in one day, you can always find what you need or pick up where you left off by clicking on the relevant topic.

The first step is adding your users to Connecteam, giving them the correct credentials (for example CNA, RN, caregiver), and sorting them into relevant groups. As the owner of the account, you can add new users, control their personal information, activity status (active, archived, deleted), their permissions levels (mobile user, admin, owner), and even specific assignments for the admins (per feature and per smart group).

Custom fields are information fields found inside the user's profile, and are filled with information specific to each employee. Custom fields are a smart way to identify and group your workforce, allowing you to customize what information is important to your company in order to organize your users. Examples of custom fields can be Position, Qualification, Department, Birthday, Uniform Size, and much more.

We recommend planning out the information you want to know about your employees and creating these custom fields prior to adding the employees themselves. This will allow you to update all their information.

Adding a Custom Field: Head over to the Users tab and enter the employees' detail page then select Add Field and choose the type of field, name it, and press save. In the example below you can see we created a custom field named position. In our company, the positions will be CNA, RN, Caregiver, Doctor, Vet Etc. Another custom field can be the locations or branches the employee works at - Clinic’s name, Client’s / Patient’s home. You can also set additional custom fields by Contract - Full-Time / Part-Time.

Please note that there are 3 default fields you will never be able to edit or delete; these are First Name, Last Name, and Mobile Phone.

Then name it and press save. In the example below you can see I created a Custom Field named Job. If you create a custom field for one user, that custom field will be added to every one of your users' profiles. The admin will only need to update the created custom field in each profile.

Pro tip #1: By default, the user profile has two categories of fields these are Personal Details and Company Details, but you can always create additional categories or rename these. To add a category simply click on + Add Category in the top right-end corner and name the category. To rename the category, hover over the Personal Details or Company detail title and select the pen icon.

Pro tip #2: We recommend using the dropdown custom field type when creating your custom fields, which allows you to create a list of information to select from when filling out the custom field. This way you’ll just choose from a list and avoid typos

Once you have added a custom field it is important to set their settings. This can be done either while creating the custom field, or after the fact. To set a custom field's settings simply enter the employee details page, hover over the custom field, and select settings. Here you are presented with a few options.

Once all of the custom fields were created, you can go ahead and add all of your users to the Connecteam. This is an essential step so you can assign your employees shifts, and tasks and basically manage them. You have multiple ways to add users to the platform

To begin adding Users, go to the User's tab and click on "Add Users", and fill in the three required fields: First Name, Last Name, and Mobile Phone. Make sure to fill in the relevant country code before adding the number.

At the bottom, by ticking on / off, you can choose if you’d like to invite your users immediately, or at a later time.

Importing multiple users can save you a lot of time and effort and will help you set up your entire account prior to launching the app for all your employees.

In order to import users, access the Users page, and then click on the Import Users button as shown in the image below.

The first step is all about preparation, so once you're done preparing your file, you can click on the NEXT button on the bottom right corner of the screen.

We recommend creating all the Custom fields prior to importing The first step is all about preparing your Excel file to import. You may want to download our Excel template but you can of course use your own file, as long as it aligns with the Launch Pad's language.

The main columns you must have in order to create a user are First Name, Last Name, and Phone. The phone number MUST be a mobile phone number. We also included some tips along the way, so make sure to read them as you go through this process for the first time.

Here's an example of how the file may look:

This step is important as this is the time to select what you'd like to happen when you import the file. There a 3 main options to choose from:

You can find more information about the 3 options HERE

When done, choose the option you want and click NEXT.

Now it's time to upload your file. You can do so by dragging and dropping the file or by browsing your computer. Just make sure you've saved the spreadsheet as a CSV file (Comma separated values). When done, click NEXT.

Pro tip: In case there are any Unknown Groups or Unknown Columns check this article

Smart groups are the best way to arrange your employees by qualification, team, department, or even the locations they work at and sort them into relevant groups.

From our experience, most Home Care companies sort users by their position, qualifications, their locations, and by shift type (hourly/part-time/full-time).

Another typical use case would be to create a Smart Group per patient and assign it to the relevant caretaker.

Grouping your users now will help you later on with scheduling correctly (and much more).

Smart groups are the best way to arrange your employees by qualification, team, department, or even the locations they work at and sort them into relevant groups.

Smart groups are groups based on rules - All the users who meet the rule will automatically be added to the group and those who don't will not. It's as simple as that. A smart groups filter is based on custom fields - which we previously created.

Home care companies' smart groups are hugely beneficial and allow you to create different teams with different Qualifications \ Positions \ Certifications. In addition, many home care companies create groups for each Location \ Clinic \ Patient. Bigger companies that have a different management level, usually create a group also for that (Department manager / Region Manager). Since Connecteam's features, assets, jobs in the schedule, chats and much more can be assigned to smart groups, grouping them now will help us later on with things like scheduling correctly (and much more).

Step 1: Navigate to the smart group's category on the left sidebar

Step 2: First, add a Segment

Step 3: Use the + Add a group button from inside the Segment to create a group and then name the group.

Step 4: Set the Filter. First, choose the Custom field, and then finally select or enter the criteria that the group will be defined by.

You can click here to see the short video about how to add a smart group

The Communications Hub Consists of 6 features. This Set-up article will focus on 4 features:

Connecteam’s chat is your way to create an efficient communication center with your employees. Plus it's easy and instant! The chat allows users to effortlessly share media and files and it’s connected to almost any feature in the system making it easy to chat with anyone anywhere! Using Connecteam's chat feature you will be able to limit communication Keep all the data in-house, control who can chat with whom, segment into departments, work-life separation, and more!

In this section, we will go over

To activate the chat enter launchpad, go to the left sidebar, to the Company Chat feature, and activate the chat.

Now that you have activated the chat let's go over how to open a new chat.

To open a new chat, simply navigate to the Add New Button and add the relevant chat. There are 3 types of chats you can create depending on your needs. These are New Chat, New Team, and New Channel.

This one-on-one chat allows you to communicate with a single user or admin. Share information instantly, or clarify shifts by immediately chatting with a user or admin. In an individual chat, both people can communicate and write in the chat.

Team chats allow you to create groups and share information with a specific group of people. Team chats can be created for specific users by choosing select users, or for Smart Groups that you have already created. In a team chat all the members have the ability to see and respond to messages.

A channel is a one-way communication with your employees. If you want to communicate a message to a group of users without anyone being able to respond then this option is for you. A channel ensures you can effectively communicate with your users without the chat becoming flooded. Just like Team Chats, Channels can also be assigned to Smart Groups or Individual Users.

A Clinic we are working with is using Team Chat and a Channel based on their Team / Role - CNAs / RNs / Caregivers / Doctors / Assistance / Interns.

Another Homecare Company we are working with uses the chat to create a Team Chat and a Channel based on the name of the patient, so all messages and updates regarding the patient will be on a dedicated conversation.

Now that you have learned how to create chats let's talk about how to start a chat from anywhere on the platform. At the top of the screen, the chat icon can always be seen from anywhere inside the platform.

Simply click on it and the chat will open on the right

Additionally, in all other features such as the Job Schedule, Time Clock, Quick Tasks, and more, you can select the relevant users and create either a team chat or individual chat from the Actions Tab. In the example below I create team chats with three selected users from inside the Today Tab in the Time Clock Feature.

Medical information could be private, this is why we would recommend setting up the Chat feature settings, so you can control who can start a conversation and decide if the media could be shared outside of Connecteam.

Let's navigate to the Chat Settings.

Enter the Chat, to the options tab, and select Settings.

Once inside the settings, there are 3 main categories of settings as Chat permissions, Sharing Permissions, and Notifications which have different options inside.

Let's go over these different options:

The All users permissions allow admins to choose whether mobile users are able to create chats, or not, or whether they can only start chats with other users who meet specific criteria. Below we will go over the different options.

Users can start a chat conversation with anyone: This allows mobile users to start a chat with anyone.

Users can't start chat conversations with other users: by choosing this option, a mobile user will not be able to start a chat with anyone, or unless the user meets certain criteria. Here you have two options:

For example: if we have a restaurant with positions such as waiters, hostesses, cooks, etc. when using this chat setting then waiters can only chat with other waiters, hostesses with other hostesses, cooks with other cooks, and nobody else. Take a look at how this looks below.

Pro tip: This only applies to Custom Fields that are created as drop-downs in the User Profile. Take a look at our Drop Down Custom Fields article to learn more about this.

For example, you may choose to allow them to start chats only with the person who is their manager. Take a look at how this looks below.

Users can never start a conversation with: This option allows you to Select Users who users will never be able to start conversations with. For example, this might be your CEO, Payroll Manager, or anyone else who you don't want users to start chats with.

Pro Tip: These settings and options mentioned aren't exclusive, meaning you can use more than one of the chat settings at the same time, fully customizing your company's chat experience.

The Admins permissions will allow the Owner to control whether admins will be allowed to chat with anyone in the company or just the smart groups they are in charge of.

Admins can start conversations with anyone: This allows the admins to be able to start a chat with anyone from the company, whether they are part of their smart group or not.

Admins can start a conversation with only the users part of their smart group: This allows the admins to be able to get in contact with only the users who they are admins for.

The mobile users' teams options allow admins to decide whether or not users can create team chats, or to specify exceptions to the general rule they choose to set.

Users Can Create Team chats: This allows users to create teams, except for select users you choose who can not. In the example below you call see I allow all my users but one to create teams.

Users Can Not Create Teams: This option will not allow users to create a team except for the select users you set up.

In the example below you can see that no users can create teams, except one.

The default sharing permissions which are available in the Advanced Communication plan, enable you as an admin to set limitations on if users are able to share images and videos from one chat to another inside the company app, or if users can share content with other platforms (for example Facebook or Whatsapp).

The default settings are:

If you do not want users to share content with other teams inside the chat, or share content outside of your app, you can toggle off these settings. You can see how this looks below.

The Clinic is under renovation? Next week’s shifts are canceled due to bad weather. You can inform all your employees using Updates!

Updates are a great way for healthcare companies to engage employees and interact with them, especially when they might be working in different locations and at times.

The update will show on your employee's app feed and will help you set your own company’s culture and help with day-to-day Operations.

In addition to that, as an admin, you can get insights into who has seen your update and make sure your message is conveyed.

In this section, we will understand how to:

Real World Example: A British Homecare company we work with is posting an update each time a new patient needs their service, so the Caregivers will know how far the patient’s home is located from them and ask to work there.

In Order to create an update you can simply access the Updates feature,

Once your Update is published you have the option to gain insights and make sure all your employees saw your message. You can also filter out the results and send a message to the employees that have not seen them yet.

Creating your own digital phone library was never easier. No need to save each employee's phone and keep it up to date at all times. All your contacts are gathered in one place, including any contact who’s not an employee - suppliers, departments, clients, and patients.

In this section we will go over:

To activate the Directory, click Directory on your sidebar and click activate directory.

Customer Success Managers Tip: Keep in mind that all the users, regardless of their Smart Groups will be able to access the Directory in their smartphones once it is activated in the dashboard. What users see however can be managed through the Directory Settings.

Use the Work Contacts tab to add people that do not belong to your company's app.

This is the place to add more work contacts that are not app users, like reception, help desk, emergency contacts, patients, vendors, and more! A Work Contact doesn’t have access to the app.

To add a work contact:

One Healthcare Company we work for is using Work Contacts for her vehicle emergency services - Each day they are inspecting their trucks and vans and if there is an issue they simply call their mechanic.

Another Homecare givers company uses that to save an emergency contact for each patient they are visiting.

The Directory Settings allow you to decide how your users will use the directory and to which information they will have access. To get to the settings tab, enter the directory and navigate to the options tab, and select settings.

Once inside the setting, there are three options, to display users in the mobile app, Mobile Users Viewing Permissions, and Information Visibility. Let's go over these below!

To display users in the app make sure the display users in the mobile directory option is toggled on. If you do not want users' information to be visible to you and would like to use only Work Contacts, you can toggle this option off.

The mobile users' options allow admins to choose whether mobile users are able to view users in the directory, whether they can only view other users who meet specific criteria, or if there are certain users they will never be able to see. Below we will go over the different options.

This option allows users to view other users in the directory.

By choosing this option, a mobile user will not be able to view anyone in the directory except users who meet certain criteria. Here you have two options:

For example: if we have a company with different branches you may want users to only see other users from their branch in the directory. Setting these settings to be mobile users can not view users who except those with the same branch will allow users to only view those from their branch. Take a look at how this looks below.

For example, You may choose to allow them to view only direct managers and nobody else. Take a look at how this looks below.

This option allows you to select users that will not be able to be viewed in the directory. For example, you may not want your CEO or higher executives to be displayed in the directory. Any users you select here will not be displayed in the directory.

This allows you to decide which information will be displayed in the directory for users to see. You can easily uncheck the information you don’t want to be displayed in the directory. For example, you may not want the users' email to appear in the directory you can easily uncheck the email field.

In the example below you can see I unselected all the options besides phone number, email, and position and only these will be displayed in the directory. To the right, you can always see an example of how this will look in the app itself.

Pro tip: The information available in this list is based on the Custom Fields created in the user profile. You probably want to set this up before the launch date!

Easily connect your employees with information by creating custom libraries for Medication instructions, the Caregiving process, Safety protocols, Patient personal files and so much more! In the Knowledge base, you can create separate sections for each department or topic with each containing folders, text, links, or documents. This gives you complete control when organizing all the information inside your Knowledge Base.

In this section we will understand how to:

Now let's take a look at how to use the knowledge base

Step 1: Navigate to the left sidebar and to the add new feature button

Step 2: Add a Knowledge Base

Step 3: Name the Knowledge Base

Step 4: Save Changes

For example The name of the clinic, Patient, policy / Protocol Etc.

Customer Success Managers Tip: Not only can you keep all the information in one place, but you can also create as many knowledge bases as you need. If you are part of a larger company with different departments you could even create a knowledge base for each department.

Once you have activated the Knowledge Base you want to add a Section Folders. These will serve as the base to which you will then add SubFolders. We recommend spending some time planning how you envision your knowledge base looking prior to setting it up. This will help to get things organized exactly how you want.

To add a Section folder navigate to the bottom left corner to the + add folder button. Then, add and name the folder. In the example below I added a section called “Company Information”.

Once you have added all your section folders you need to add subfolders to these sections. This allows you to keep things extra organized. Later on, you will add all the information or knowledge you want into these subfolders.

To add a folder to a section select the section you would like to add to, and then click on the blue + Add button to the right of the section and select add folder. In our example below I added two folders called Company Policies and Company Documents to the Section folder named Company Information.

Once you have added Sections and Subsection folders, it's time to start adding your information. This can be done in the form of text, links, files, or even additional folders (to which you can add text links and files)

To add any of these enter the folder you wish to add them to and select the blue + Add Button and select which type of information you want to add.

Pro Tip: Did you make a mistake and accidentally create things in the wrong order? No problem! No matter what the content is - a folder, text, link, or document. It can always be moved by selecting the gray button to the left and dragging and dropping it into the correct order. If you need to move a file text or link to another folder this can also be done by hovering over the 3 buttons on the right side and selecting move to a new folder and then moving it to the relevant folder.

Now that you have set up your knowledge base it may seem a little daunting and you may wonder how will I or my users remember where to locate the information I have added. Do not worry, here at Connecteam we thought about that and created a powerful search bar within the Knowledge base. Simply search for anything in a library by typing a keyword in its search bar and the options will appear below.

See, with Connecteam's Knowledge base you really can organize and store all your information however you would like all in one place!

Need more guidance? 🙋 Our LIVE support team (at the bottom right corner of your screen) replies in under 5 mins to ANY question.