Standard Networks allow you to organize users into groups that you define and manage. They are useful for creating relatively stable groups based on your organization's structure, such as departments, locations, teams, or business units.

Unlike Smart Networks, where membership is continuously determined by rules, Standard Network membership is generally managed directly. Users can join a Standard Network themselves, be added by a manager, or, in some cases, automatically join based on their email domain.

You can also use rule-based selection when adding members to a Standard Network. However, this creates a one-time snapshot of users who match the selected criteria. The Network will not automatically update when users start or stop matching those criteria. If you need membership to update automatically, use a Smart Network instead.

Standard Networks can also be organized into a hierarchy using parent Networks and subnetworks.

Learn more about the different types of Networks: Networks Overview

How Standard Network Membership Works

There are several ways users can become members of a Standard Network.

Depending on the Network's settings, users can:

• Join the Network themselves
• Join using a shareable link
• Be added manually by a manager
• Be selected using filters or Smart Selection
• Automatically join when they register with a matching email domain

When using Smart Selection, the selected users are added based on the rules at that point in time. The selection does not automatically update later.

This makes Standard Networks particularly useful for groups with relatively stable membership, such as departments, office locations, or teams.

Joining a Network

Users can join a Standard Network themselves when the Network's visibility and membership settings allow it.

For example, users may be able to find and join a public Network themselves. Private Networks cannot be found through search, but users can join them using a shareable join link. You can find out how to get this link in the article on how to Create a Standard Network.

Parent Networks and Subnetworks

One of the main features of Standard Networks is that they can be organized into a hierarchy. A Standard Network can be a parent Network with one or more subnetworks.

For example:

Commute Company

• Marketing
• Sales
• Engineering

In this example, Commute Company is the parent Network, while Marketing, Sales, and Engineering are subnetworks.

This structure allows you to organize users into smaller groups while still maintaining a connection to the larger organization. For example, you could run a company-wide program through the parent Network while also creating department-specific programs for individual subnetworks.

☝️ Smart Networks cannot have subnetworks.

How Membership Works in a Network Hierarchy

Users can belong to both parent Networks and subnetworks. However, there are specific rules for how membership works.

This means that a user cannot be a member of a subnetwork without also being a member of its parent Network.

However, a user can leave or be removed from a subnetwork while remaining a member of the parent Network.Depending on the setup, there may also be a setting that you, as a manager, can configure yourself so that when a user leaves all subnetworks, they are also removed from the parent network.

Example

John joins the Engineering subnetwork. CommuteHub automatically adds him to the Commute Company parent Network as well.

John is now a member of both Networks and can access content, programs, and challenges available through either Network.

If John later leaves Engineering, he remains a member of Commute Company.

☝️However, if John leaves Commute Company, he is automatically removed from Engineering as well.

What Does Standard Network Membership Affect?

Being a member of a Standard Network can affect a user's experience in CommuteHub.

Depending on your setup, Network membership can determine:

• Which programs and challenges a user can access
• Which Network-specific content a user sees
• Which Networks a user's activity is associated with
• Which challenges a user can participate in
• Which Network branding is displayed

A user can belong to multiple Standard Networks at the same time. For example, a user could be a member of:

• Commute Company
• Engineering
• Bike Commuters

The user's activity can be associated with all of these Networks, depending on how your reporting and programs are configured.

Primary Networks

Users can belong to multiple Networks, but each user has one Primary Network.

The Primary Network determines the branding and logo displayed for that user.

The Primary Network does not need to be a parent Network. For example, a user could be a member of both a company-wide parent Network and a department subnetwork while having the department Network set as their Primary Network.

We'll go into more detail about Primary Networks and branding in the article about creating Standard Networks.

Network Membership vs. Network Management

Being a member of a Standard Network and having permission to manage it are two separate things.

Network membership

Network membership affects what the user can access and how they interact with the Network. For example, it can determine which programs, challenges, and content are available to them.

Network management

Network management is controlled through roles such as Manager and Program Coordinator.

These roles give users permission to manage certain aspects of a Network through the Management Dashboard.

☝️ You don’t need to be a member of a Network to manage it.

Admins can manage all Networks, while Managers and Program Coordinators have access based on their assigned permissions. For example, a Program Coordinator can't manage users in the Network, but can manage its challenges and programs.

Management Roles in a Network Hierarchy

Network roles are also affected by the parent and subnetwork hierarchy.

Roles assigned to a parent Network

When a user has a management role in a parent Network, that role is inherited by its subnetworks.

For example, if Lisa is assigned the Manager role for Commute Company, she will also have Manager access to its Marketing, Sales, and Engineering subnetworks.

Roles assigned to a subnetwork

Users can also have a role in a subnetwork without having a management role in the parent Network.

For example, Tom could be a Manager for Engineering without having management access to Commute Company or any other department.

A user can also have a higher role in a subnetwork than they have in its parent Network. However, a user cannot have a lower role in a subnetwork than the role they hold in its parent Network.

For detailed instructions on assigning or changing Network roles, see Manage Members & Roles.

Network Visibility

Standard Networks can have different visibility settings that determine whether users can find and interact with them.

Public or Private

Public Networks can be searched for and joined by anyone.

Private Networks are invite-only. Users can join through a shareable join link, through an associated email domain, or by being added manually by a manager.

☝️ This feature is not supported with Smart Networks, only with Standard Networks.

Visible or Hidden

Visible means that users in your organization can see that the Network exists, whether it is public or private.

Hidden Networks do not appear in users' Network management screens or as options for carpool sharing and searching.

Users cannot leave a hidden Network themselves because they are not aware that they are in one. They must be removed by a Network Manager or Admin. The same applies when adding users to a hidden Network.

Hidden Networks can be useful when you want to organize or segment users without making the Network visible to them. For example, you may want to use a hidden Network for reporting or internal segmentation.

Standard Networks and Reporting

Users can belong to multiple Networks, which means their activity can appear in the statistics of more than one Network.

However, a trip is not counted multiple times in overall platform statistics.

For example, John may belong to:

• Commute Company
• Engineering
• Bike Commuters

If John logs one bike trip, that trip may appear in the statistics for all three Networks. However, it is still counted only once in the overall platform statistics.

This allows you to analyze activity across different groups without duplicating the underlying trip data.

Now it’s time to create your first Standard Network.