Group Sessions: How to Upgrade Legacy Group Sessions to New Group Sessions

On August 26, 2024, support for the Legacy Group Sessions (Group Sessions 1.0) will be sunset and you will no longer have access to these group sessions and schedules. Prior to this date, please migrate all legacy group sessions to the new Group Session 2.0 functionality to prevent disruption to patient treatment as on 8/26/24, these sessions will be removed from your instance and patients will be dropped from all assigned Group 1.0 sessions and schedules. 

The upgrade process requires:

1. Documenting how the existing Group 1.0 Schedules are configured.
2. Converting the templates of Group Sessions 1.0 to Group Session 2.0 templates.
3. Combining occurrences of the same group into one Group Session template.
4. Recreating Group 1.0 Schedules using the new Group 2.0 Sessions.
5. Drop all current Group Sessions and assign the newly created Group 2.0 Schedules to patients.

Required Permissions: Super Admins and users with the Manage Templates or Manage Templates - Group Sessions feature can convert 1.0 Group Sessions and set up Group Session Schedules.

Conversion Timing Recommendations

We recommend completing this conversion in the morning prior to any groups being started or after all groups have ended for the day (and all Group Session notes have been started, they don't have to be complete). Switching in the middle of the day is not recommended and will likely result in some patients not populating correctly into the desired group while the transition is underway.

Step #1: Document Existing Group 1.0 Schedules

When a group is converted from 1.0 to 2.0 (as outlined in Step #2 below), the group will automatically be unassigned from any 1.0 Group Schedule. Prior to beginning Step #2, we recommend documenting the existing Group 1.0 Schedules to make them easier to recreate in Step #4. 

You can do this by: 

• Taking screenshots or printing the 1.0 Group Schedule Templates to see the groups assigned (Templates > Schedules)
• Assign all of the 1.0 Schedules to a patient so you have a record there to reference 
• Make a list on paper of everything that should be included so it is there as a reference 

Step #2: Convert Groups 1.0

Start by confirming that each group has at least one assigned location and then convert the existing groups.

1. Navigate to Templates > Group Sessions > Legacy Group Sessions.
2. Before migrating, ensure that each Group Session has at least one Location assigned. To verify, click on the Edit icon.
3. Check a minimum of one location and click Save.
1. Important: If your group session is assigned to multiple locations, the convert action will create a copy of the group session for each location. If your group session is not assigned to any location, you cannot convert it until you assign it to a location.
4. Once you've reviewed the Location assignments, click on Upgrade Legacy Group Sessions… button:
5. The next screen will show all your group sessions with days, times, and locations.
6. Select the groups you wish to convert. You can convert some of them, or all and then combine the necessary pieces together. For your convenience, options to Select All and Clear All are available. You don’t have to convert group sessions one by one.
7. Click Convert.

New Group Sessions templates are created. You can either stop at this step if you don’t have recurring groups or proceed to the next step to merge different occurrences to one template with multiple occurrences. You can also come back to Step #2 at any time.

Note: Once all Legacy Groups are converted, you will no longer see the Legacy Group Sessions tab under Group Sessions Templates.

Step #3: Combine Occurrences of the Same Group

In this step, you'll combine each individual occurrence (day/time) of the same group into a single template (e.g., combine all Body Image sessions into a single Group Template with multiple occurrences).

1. Under Templates > Group Sessions > Group Sessions, click on Combine Group Sessions…
2. On the next screen, select the group session templates you wish to combine into a single template. For your convenience, templates with the same name in the same location will be highlighted yellow.
3. Click Combine.
4. Once the groups are combined, you will have a single template for all selected occurrences. You can then make the necessary changes to the template, as needed.
5. If you forgot one of the occurrences, you can return to these steps later and combine the forgotten occurrence into the new main template.
6. Repeat these steps for each of the remaining group sessions. 

Step 4: Recreate Group Schedules. 

Use the template setup that you documented in Step #1 to rebuild your Group Schedules using the new 2.0 Group Sessions. Click here for instructions on building Group Schedules.

Step 5: Drop all current Group Sessions and assign the newly created Group 2.0 Schedules to patients.

Because the Group 1.0 Sessions are automatically removed from any 1.0 Schedules, any patient assigned to the 1.0 Schedule will no longer populate in the group (since the group is no longer part of the schedule). 

To resolve this, you will need to drop any existing assigned Group Schedules and assign the new Group Schedules created in Step #4 to each impacted patient. Click here for instructions.

Legacy Group Session Conversion FAQ

Why are Group Sessions 1.0 being sunset?

Legacy Group Sessions (1.0) are built on a legacy code base and are incompatible with the latest features being introduced into the Kipu EMR. To limit issues with incompatibility, we are asking that all legacy group sessions are converted by 8/26/2024. This will simplify the delivery of new Kipu EMR features. 

How long will this take?

This depends on how many legacy group sessions you have and whether Locations need to be assigned to the Group Session before completing the upgrade. We estimate it will only take about 3-5 minutes per combined Group.

What happens if I don't convert by 8/26/2024?

If you don't convert your legacy Group Sessions, you will lose access to all 1.0 Group Sessions and Schedules. Additionally, on 8/26 all patients will be unassigned from any 1.0 Group Sessions.