KC Groups Management

The plugin creates and handles groups of members. You set the "max possible members" numbers for each existing level. Then, the one who makes payments is the new Master. The Master in their "My account" (provided by s2Member under "Member Profile Modifications") can add, change and delete submembers. Sure, only with the same email domain as themselves - the company's domain (Pro version have much more options). When the membership of the Master expires (or s2Member demotes the Master because of cancellation, refund etc), all the group is demoted, so the membership expires for all.

Admin can do the same in "User account" - to create Masters, to add, change and delete submembers. Admin also can handle any submember's account as usual. The plugin removes the "role" dropdown for submembers (as their level is always the same as for their master). Possible scenario (initial manual handling): Create/choose the Master, set his access level etc. Then add submembers as "subscribers" (if they are new members). Then attach the submembers to their Master.

The plugin also adds a new column in"Users" admin page - "N# of submembers". For the Masters, it would show correct number of submembers. For submembers, it would show zero.

Please check this comparison table of both versions.

Runs as a generic installation from a ZIP file - upload it in your "Add new plugin" admin page, then activate it. Plugin will show as active, but will not be link to plugin's admin page in "Dashboard -> Settings" menu. A few more clicks later, in the Admin area at the top of the admin dashboard you will see a message from the plugin. The message contains an activation link to my website. Upon arriving there, you will see a form where you need to add your account, so the plugin can validate your license, check for new versions etc. After you add your info and submit, it may take a couple more clicks around the Admin area, while these tasks are running in the background. Then you will find the plugin in "Dashboard -> Settings" menu. Or you will see some guiding message - you miss something...

When ready, you should go to admin page (Dashboard -> Settings -> KC Groups Management) to set the max allowed submembers to each level, as  well as, the behaviour when a Master is deleted.

The Pro version has more available settings, please read more in the Pro section bellow.

First set max number of allowed submembers for each level. Also, set what should the plugin do with "orphans" (submembers, which master has been deleted). See screenshots 1 and 2 bellow. You might have done this in the installation already.

Ready, now all members should be created. In other words, all the submembers and their master should be members in your site already. Then the master makes a purchase. Actually, the act of purchasing is what transforms a certain account into a Master.  Now the Master can add submembers in their account, there will be a dropdown list with possible submembers (screenshot 4).

Also, the admin can add submembers to a master, manually, in "Edit user" page. This is not required, because masters can do it by themselves. But allows you to fix mistakes etc. Again, there would be a list with possible submembers (screenshot 3) for this particular master. If all the positions in the group are full, there would be no such list until the master (or admin) deletes some existing submembers. Also, if there aren't any existing possible submembers in the site, there would be no list well.

The "possible submembers" list contain all members, who:

1. fits email domain restriction
   1. Basic version: they have the same domain in the email address as the master;
   2. Pro version: there are several options, please read details in the Pro section bellow;
2. is not submember to another master.

Submembers can see who is their master (screenshot 5) in their profile.

Each submember have only one master. There is no way a member to be in two groups simultaneously.

The master (or admin) can add/delete/change submembers any time. When someone is no longer a submember they becomes a "subscriber" (Level0). A submember has all the rights of their master, except the ability to manage the group's submembers or to have their own submembers (Pro version have much more options). So if a master changes their level, the whole group changes the level, and everyone have the same rights. If the master is demoted to "free", the whole group becomes "free". When, later, the master pay for some level again, everyone in the group follow again.

It is possible for two and more masters to be on different levels, and each of their groups would have the rights for the exact level they are on. So submembers of different groups would have different levels (Pro version have much more options).

Generally, here is only one rule: All submembers have all the rights of their master (and once again, Pro version have much more options).

Exception: Both masters and submembers can have ccaps, allowing them something else. Ccaps are "private", only level is shared.

Q: Why my custom registration/profile fields don't recognize future submembers to their master?

A: This is a strange case of a misleading in s2Member® and limitations in my plugin. How to fix: "Unique Field ID" of custom fields in s2Member® must be all low letters and "_" char only, like "my_custom_field". Must NOT be "my-custom-field" or "MyCustomField". That is all the magic.

Q: I'm a little hesitant due to cost, especially since I may need the PRO version to accommodate for multiple email domains. I wish I could do a trial prior to purchase? if possible? If not, would a refund be an option if it doesn't work for me after a week or so?

A: Not a problem to refund you within 2 weeks after purchase, if you are not happy. But I think you will prefer me to set it (or fix it, if needed) instead. Me too - the plugin gets new features, which is good for everyone.

Ask me, I will answer any other questions.

Admin area - Pro version

Admin area - Basic version

User profile - admin

User profile - master

User profile - submember

With Pro version you have more features. First of all, most of the settings are "per level", so you can tune the plugin very fine to achieve your needs.

With "Masters can add submembers" (in "Submember's criteria" column) we unlock one of the limitations in Basic version. There the Master and all submembers must have emails with the same domain, for example "company.com". The Master cannot add submembers with an email from a different domain. In Pro version, on the other hand, you have several chooses. First option is the same as the Basic version - strictly the same domain for the whole group. Second option gives you (the Admin) the ability to set a list of allowed domains to each master. The Master's domain is allowed only if it is on the list. This way you can even "strictly exclude" master's domain, if this is what you need. Third option allows both the domains from yuor list and the master's one. So if you set a list for one master, but not for another, the first one can add submembers with domains from the list plus their own domain, but the second can operate in their own domain only. And the last option is to remove the "email domain" restriction at all.

You can set a second restriction: by s2Member custom field. For example, all the members in the group of each master must have the same "City" value. Different masters can have different cities, but their groups would have only their master's city.

Also, as you see in the screenshot, with the Pro version a master can have submembers in another level. Your masters at Gold level (per screenshot settings) would have 10 submembers at Bronze level. Moreover, the Bronze members (who may or may not be submembers of a Gold master) would have 5 submembers. So it is possible to have "domino effect" - when a Gold member expires, all their Bronze submembers expire too, and their (Bronze again) submembers (sub-submembers to the Gold member) expire too, so the whole "tree of members" will go to the free level. Or the other way around - when the Gold master purchase a new membership, all the submembers and sub-sub-...-members are set to their levels again. That's the real power of this plugin. Note that this comes with a price - free level cannot have submembers. Also, you must not do "dead loop" of sub-membership. Be careful.

Newest feature is the "User interface shortcode" ("kcgm_ui"). If you need to allow your members to set their own groups on a curtain page/post, place that shortcode there. This allows the same functionality as on the profile page.

Moreover, this interface allows the masters to create new submembers. In other words, the Master can create new site's users, and sign them up in their groups.

Another good feature: "Submember's email notification". When submember is added to a group, they will receive a mail (if you choose to set that). The text of this email is the same for all, but can be customized with the member's info, almost all possible fields are allowed. You will see some help text there, please read. This is not the usual WP "welcome email", this is plugin's own message and it's very flexible.

One last thing - you must add following row in your .htaccess file in main directory (the exact row will be seen in your Admin page):

Redirect 301 /wp-admin/profile.php http://your-site.here/?s2member_profile=1

This assures that your members will not see WP's standard backend but s2Member's protected profile page. Much safer for your site.

Sure, the same can be done in the Basic plugin too.

Please check comparison table of both versions.

See the comparison table, please.