Group types and groups are created under the tab "Groups" which you will find beside the "Functions" tab in the room list. To create a new group type, right-click on "Groups" and select "New group type". You will now be able to assign a name to the new group type, for example "Climate zone". On the right of the screen, you will see two tabs. One is called "Room" and the other "Group type". Under the Room tab, you will see a list of the rooms which are linked to this group type. Under "Group type", you can add descriptions of the group type in the text field for "Description" and you can define the requirements to apply for this group type. When you click on "Change fields", you will see a dialogue box which allows you to choose the RDS fields to be included. You can choose to include entire tabs or individual fields by either double-clicking on the tab/fields or using the arrow in the middle of the dialogue box. Fields which have been included will be listed on the right-hand side. Once you have selected all relevant fields, you save your changes by clicking on the "Save" button. You have now defined the requirement fields to be included in this group type.

To create a new group, you right-click on the group type and select "New group", then give the new group a name. In the example below, two groups have been created under the group type "Climate zone" and named "Offices" and "Meeting rooms". On the right-hand side of the group window, there are two tabs; "Room" and "RDS". The room tab lists the rooms which are linked to this group. This tab also provides a number of options:

• Add room: Allows you to choose rooms which you want to link to the group. Ref. chapter 7.9 for rules/restrictions when using groups.
• Open: Allows you either to open RDS room core, equipment in room or finishes for the selected room.
• Print: Prints out all rooms linked to the group in Excel, Word or PDF format.
• Search: Allows you to perform searches in the room list. For more information on the use of the search function, ref. chapter 4.3.

Under the "RDS" tab, you will see the RDS fields you have selected for the group type in question. This is where you enter the actual values in the RDS fields.

Link groups to rooms

As previously mentioned, you can link rooms to a group directly from the "Room" tab under the group in question. Another way of performing this link is to go to the Rooms window and select the rooms you want to link to a group. In the room core, you can see the different group types which have been defined. The actual groups will be listed as options in the drop-down menu for each group type. You can also link rooms to a group by selecting one or more rooms and right-clicking and selecting "Add to group".

Once you have opened an RDS with requirements from a group, these fields will be marked in yellow. You cannot make changes to these fields uniquely for one room. If you want to make changes to these fields, you have to change/add values under the Group tab in the Rooms window.

Link room templates to groups

To link a room template to a group, go to the room templates window; Project->Room templates. The group types are listed in the core information for the room templates. Select a room template and choose a group from the drop-down menu beside the group type. If you want to link a room template to a group, the fields within the group have to be free of information in the room template. You therefore have to delete the information in the fields in the room template before performing the link.