Student Department / College LISTSERV Term Management

Note: The majority of LISTSERV management is done through https://listserv.nodak.edu/. The below processes only apply if you have worked with IT to create a LISTSERV in Grouper that automatically populates with your students.

Grouper-managed student LISTSERV use the NDSU term codes to determine which terms are currently populating the list. The term code is a four-digit number, with the first two digits representing the fiscal year (which begins in the fall), and the last two digits representing the semester. The semester number is 10 for Fall Semester, 30 for Spring, and 40 for Summer. Listed below are the term codes for some recent and upcoming terms:

Automatic Term Updates (Opt In)

You may opt in to having your LISTSERV terms updated automatically by Grouper. If you elect to do so, Grouper will be authoritative over when terms are updated, and any manual term changes will be over-written each day. To opt in, submit a ticket to the NDSU IT Service Center at ndsu.edu/it/help, email ndsu.itservice@ndsu.edu, or call 701-231-8685. 

The below table explains when updates will occur throughout the academic year:

Manual (Owner-Controlled) Term Updates

Manually updating LISTSERV terms allows for more flexible management (for example, including preceding terms longer than the add/drop/withdraw date). However, you will assume the responsibility for updating your terms and keeping them current.

To manually update terms, you will need to be included in the Owner group for that LISTSERV in Grouper.

Please include all of the terms you want, and remove terms when you no longer want them. Grouper admins will eventually remove all data for historic terms from Grouper itself, which will therefore remove them from the LISTSERV population at that time.

To make changes to the terms:

1. Find the systemOfRecord group for the LISTSERV you want to change in Grouper. It will be in the Membership folder.
   
   

2. Once in the systemOfRecord group, click on the "Group actions" dropdown menu and choose "Attribute assignments" from the “Administration” category.
   
   

3. From there, only edit the values in the row labeled "term" (under “Attribute name”).

   1. If you want to remove an existing value, click the down arrow next to the term you want to remove and click "Delete the attribute assignment value". 

   2. If you want to edit a value, click the down arrow next to the term you want to remove and click "Edit the attribute assignment value". 

   3. To add a new term, click on "Actions" at the end of the row and choose "Add value". Put in the term code that you want to add in the "Value to add" field. If you would like to add multiple terms, they should each be added as a new value by choosing "Add value" again.
      

   4. LISTSERV group membership changes in Grouper are pushed to each corresponding LISTSERV once a day, at 6:45 pm. In other words, if a new term is added in Grouper during normal business hours, updated memberships will appear in its LISTSERV by the next morning.

Managing Exceptions

Auto-populated student LISTSERVs may have membership exceptions. For example, a faculty member may request to be added to a student LISTSERV, or an existing member may ask to opt out of receiving LISTSERV emails. Exceptions should be handled in Grouper (not the LISTERV management software), as any changes made in the LISTSERV management software will be overwritten by Grouper.

To add or remove LISTSERV members from auto-populating LISTSERVs:

1. LISTSERV addition/removal is done by adding members to the Add or Remove group. These groups can be found in the Membership folder:
   
2. To add a member:
   1. Go to the Add group, and choose "Add Members."
   2. In the "Member name or ID" field, type the name of the person you'd like to add. You should see a spinning wheel followed by a menu of potential choices. Choose the person you'd like to add from the choices given. Optionally, include a start and end date, and click "Add."
      
3. To remove a member, you should add a member to the Remove group, using the same process outlined in step 2.
4. To view the full LISTSERV membership group, with additions and removals, go to the Final Membership group in the Membership folder.