Last week I talked about creating your own Special Buying Groups on lettuceshare. They are useful if you want to create special orders with different dates and stock lists to your usual buying routine. Another feature of these groups is that you can invite other buying groups to join in.
I'm hoping invitations is an area where lettuceshare can grow in the future. It could change the system from being one used by multiple distinct groups, into a network of co-operating buying groups, that discuss and help each other with their orders.
The invitation system was written at the same time as the new groups feature, so they are designed to work together. To use it, the first thing you want to do is join the invite-notifications group. At the moment this is done on request, so email info@lettuceshare.org with you username. Once you've joined this group you will be able to add other accounts yourself.
Joining the invite-notifications group gives you access to a new page at admin/invite. I'm going to use the same example as last week in the following screenshots, you will remember I created a special coffee order just for my group at Turnstyle. Now I want to extend this order to invite other groups, here's what the invite page looks like:
Since I created the order for Turnstyle, the invitation for this group was automatically accepted. Now I want to invite other groups to join, so I've selected Sovereign Foods and clicked invite.
Only buying groups where a member has joined the invite-notifications group are shown here. When I clicked invite, my Sovereign Foods account gets a notification:
Now that I've logged in to my Sovereign Foods account on lettuceshare, I can see that I've got a new notification. Clicking on the notification takes me to the invite page, where I can decide if I want to accept or decline the invitation on behalf of Sovereign Foods:
It shows me the description of the new buying group, and the account that created it in case I want to contact them for more details. If someone else from my group had already accepted or declined the invitation, it would show that too. I'm going to decline the invitation for Sovereign Foods, and log out.
Now I'll log back in to lettuceshare with my Turnstyle account. As the creator of the order, the invite page will show me the current status of my invitations:
That's all there is too it. The creator of the special order can always remove invitations, whether they've accepted or declined. When you accept an invitation on behalf of your group, all your members will see the new option on their home page. You're effectively adding the number of people in your group to those who have already joined, increasing the buying power for the order.
lettuceshare as a network of buying groups
I'm hoping invitations is an area where lettuceshare can grow in the future. It could change the system from being one used by multiple distinct groups, into a network of co-operating buying groups, that discuss and help each other with their orders.
The invitation system was written at the same time as the new groups feature, so they are designed to work together. To use it, the first thing you want to do is join the invite-notifications group. At the moment this is done on request, so email info@lettuceshare.org with you username. Once you've joined this group you will be able to add other accounts yourself.
Joining the invite-notifications group gives you access to a new page at admin/invite. I'm going to use the same example as last week in the following screenshots, you will remember I created a special coffee order just for my group at Turnstyle. Now I want to extend this order to invite other groups, here's what the invite page looks like:
Since I created the order for Turnstyle, the invitation for this group was automatically accepted. Now I want to invite other groups to join, so I've selected Sovereign Foods and clicked invite.
Only buying groups where a member has joined the invite-notifications group are shown here. When I clicked invite, my Sovereign Foods account gets a notification:
Now that I've logged in to my Sovereign Foods account on lettuceshare, I can see that I've got a new notification. Clicking on the notification takes me to the invite page, where I can decide if I want to accept or decline the invitation on behalf of Sovereign Foods:
It shows me the description of the new buying group, and the account that created it in case I want to contact them for more details. If someone else from my group had already accepted or declined the invitation, it would show that too. I'm going to decline the invitation for Sovereign Foods, and log out.
Now I'll log back in to lettuceshare with my Turnstyle account. As the creator of the order, the invite page will show me the current status of my invitations:
That's all there is too it. The creator of the special order can always remove invitations, whether they've accepted or declined. When you accept an invitation on behalf of your group, all your members will see the new option on their home page. You're effectively adding the number of people in your group to those who have already joined, increasing the buying power for the order.