We figure people can deal with reporting on about 50-75 relationships at a time. More than that and it becomes hard to stay focused. So what happens if you’re mapping a group of hundreds (or even 1,000+ as we sometimes do)? How can we help people put their focus where it matters most, manage overwhelm, and take it at their own pace?

That’s where ‘Segments’ come to the rescue. Segments allow members to filter by sub-segments of the whole population, so they can focus on a single group at a time.

How it works in the Member View:

Set segments in your spreadsheet

Define segments by separating your list into groups most likely to know one another. Such as schools, neighborhoods, organizational affiliations, geographical regains – whatever makes sense for your group.

Create ‘segments’ by adding the subgroup label to each person in the segment column in sumApp.

Import Your Spreadsheet!

Or input segments manually

Share the video with your members to let them see how easy it is to filter a big list down to a manageable amount, and encourage them to take it a reasonable chunk at a time.

sumApp was designed to be iterative, allowing your map to emerge as engagement increases. We believe that if you make it possible for them to start small, and share the map as it develops, they’ll be more motivated to go back in and add more information as the see the value of it.

Coming soon: you’ll be able to create a second ‘segment-like’ filter, based on information gathered in the sumApp survey – for when you don’t already know what you need to know to segment them best.