Resource Custom Categories

Resource Custom Categories

Create Custom Categories in Resources

Custom Categories (categories) are like labels or tags, and provide you with an extra level for organizing your resources, and you can:
  1. use categories by themselves, or use them in combination with the iCarol AIRS Taxonomy Tools
  2. create top-level categories by themselves, or choose to add lower sub-categories underneath them
To create a new category, a top-level or a lower sub-category, complete the following steps:
  1. From the main Resources page click the 'Manage Resources' link, as a user with permission to do so
  2. Under the Taxonomy section, click the link to 'Customize your categories'
    1. Note, if you don't see this link, an Admin level user at your organization must enable the feature by clicking Admin Tools in the left side menu, and on the Resources tab select the checkbox next to the setting 'Uses categories as well as 211 Taxonomy' and click 'Save' 
  3. The page to manage categories now appears, where you can edit any of your existing categories and create new ones
  4. Click 'Add new category' to create a new top level or sub-category
  5. Enter the 'Name' and 'Description' of the new category as you wish; as the instructions on the page say, the description will appear when you hover your mouse over the category name 
  6. Enter the 'Rank on Lists', which controls where the category will appear
  7. If you're creating a top-level category, select the checkbox at the top of the list on the left side of the page to 'Assign as top-level category, and click 'Save' 
  8. If you're creating a sub-category, select the checkbox next to the top-level category, or sub-category you wish to add the new sub-category under, and click 'Save'
    1. Note, you can create as many levels of sub-categories as you wish; to create a lower level sub-category, select an existing sub-category to add it under and click 'Save'
For example, your organization may wish to create a top-level category named Food, and underneath have the following 3 sub-categories: Food Pantries, Food Stamps, and Senior Meal Delivery. This type of categorization will make it easier for your users to locate provide appropriate referrals to help seekers quickly and efficiently, with little experience needed. 

Create Custom Categories with linked Taxonomy Terms

After you create Custom Categories in Resources, if your organization is subscribed to the iCarol AIRS Taxonomy tools you can assign one or more taxonomy terms to a Custom Category. When you assign a Taxonomy term to a Custom Category, the following resources will appear in your search results when you search for the Custom Category, depending on your filters:
  1. any of your resources categorized/indexed with the selected Custom Category will appear, and
  2. any resources indexed with the Taxonomy term
For example, if you have a Custom Category named "Disaster Resources" you may want to assign the following Taxonomy terms to the Custom Category:
  1. Disaster Related Clothing/Emergency Supplies (TH-2600.1550)
  2. Evacuation Centers (TH-2300.1670)
  3. Disaster Services for Animals (TH-2600.1600)
When your users search for the Custom Category "Disaster Resources", their search results will include all resources indexed with those Taxonomy terms or Custom Category.

To enable the Linked Taxonomy Terms to Custom Resource Categories feature:
  1. Log into iCarol as an Admin (or user with advance access privileges)
  2. Click on “Admin Tools” from the left menu
  3. Click on the “Resources” tab
  4. Under the AIRS/211 Taxonomy section, click the checkbox for the setting “In category searches, also look in taxonomy terms linked to the category”
  5. Click the "Save all settings" button
To link Taxonomy Terms to Custom Resource Categories:
  1. Click on “Resources” from the left menu
  2. Click on “Manage Resources” to the right of the geographic filters
  3. Click on “Customize your categories” from under the Taxonomy and categories section
  4. Click on an existing category to view the Taxonomy terms assigned to this category configuration menu
  5. Using the same process as assigning a Taxonomy Term to a resource, search for, or drill down to select taxonomy terms to link to the category.
  6. Once terms are selected, click “Save taxonomy selections below” to add terms to the Category. To delete existing terms from a category, select the term to delete and click “Delete taxonomy selections above”.
Note: When the “In category searches, also look in taxonomy terms linked to the category” setting is not enabled in Admin Tools, resource editors will still be able to link Taxonomy Terms to Custom Resource Categories, but terms linked will not affect Category searches.
Please note, at this time assigning Taxonomy terms with target terms attached are not currently supported with this feature. 

Assign Custom Categories to Resources

After you create Custom Categories (categories), you can assign the categories to your Resources to help your users easily search for and locate them. To assign categories to Resources, complete the following steps:
  1. First, ensure the categories field is set to visible when editing resources; you should also consider setting it to visible when viewing resources, so your users can quickly identify which categories are assigned to a resource
  2. When editing a resource, scroll down to the Categorization section and click the link to 'Assign this resource to categories'; if your organization also uses the Taxonomy you'll click the link to 'Assign this resource to taxonomy terms'
  3. A pop-up window will open; scroll down to the category tree and select the checkboxes next to each category you wish to assign to this resource
  4. After you've made your selections, click the button to 'Save selections for this resource' and the categories will appear in the box at the top of the page
  5. Close the window and finish making changes to the resource as you wish, and click 'Save' 
After you have assigned categories to Resources, your users can use the categories to search for Resources to make referrals to. After categories are assigned to resources, you can use categories to search in the following ways, depending on how your organizations Admin Tools settings are configured:
  1. use the categories tree on the left side of the main Resources search page to click through the different categories to search for; as you click through the tree, your search results update according to whichever category is selected
  2. use the search bar to search for categories; as you start typing the name of a category, an auto-suggested drop-down list will appear with categories matching your search; finish entering the name of the category you wish to search for and click 'Search', or select the name of the category from the auto-suggest list to complete your search
  3. when viewing a resource assigned to a category, scroll down to the categorization section of the resource and click the category name that appears as a link; this will bring you back to the main Resources search page with the search results appearing for the selected category

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