Harnessing the power of Smart Groups

 iOS  Mac
Smart Groups is the generic term for one of the most powerful features of LogTen.

Smart Groups refers to the overall term that encompasses Smart Groups, Limit Groups and Currency Groups. 

Even though they all work in a similar manner and have something in common (they are incredibly powerful and versatile), they have their differences and their individual purposes. In this article, we will cover what each of them are, and what each of them might be useful for.  See below the video for individual descriptions for Smart Groups, Limit Groups as well as Currency Groups.

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Smart Groups

Smart Groups will allow you to keep track of virtually any totals that you might need. These groups work by filtering the flights in your logbook that meet the criteria used to set them up, and displaying the appropriate totals. 

These can be very simple, such as "Overall Total PIC Time", but they can be a lot more complex. Here is a few examples:

  • Imagine that you wanted to track your total number of approaches, or your Tailwheel time, or even total of passengers flown? This can be achieved by means of a Smart Group.
  • A time criterion can also be added, so, following with the example above, you would be able to ascertain the total number of approaches in 2019, or in the 30 days for example. 
  • Every existing field in LogTen can be used to create a Smart Group, which means that you are able to use your Custom Fields, even Crew!
  • It is also possible to add multiple criteria to the group to, for example, find out how many flights were flown in the A319, during 2019, where you were the Pilot in Command. 

The possibilities are almost endless. You can find out more about Smart Groups in this Smart Group-specific article, and find some Popular Groups, prebuilt for you in our Downloadable Groups article found here.

Limit Groups

Limit Groups will allow you to know, at all times, how many hours you have "available" until a specific set Limit has been reached.

Once set up, a Limit Group will keep track of your flight data for you and will show you how long until the limitation has been reached. 

They are incredibly versatile in the way they can be set up, and therefore, the things that can be tracked with them. Here is a few examples of what they could be used for, of course, the combinations are almost endless!

  • With a Limit Group, you are able to track the number of flying hours, or duty hours within a specific period of time, to ensure that your flying is compliant with all the Local Authority's or Company's Regulations. (We have a section with pre-made Regional Limits, that you can download to your app, found here)
  • Do you want to make sure that you only fly a certain number of approaches each week? Once set up, the Limit Group will tell you, at a glance, how many approaches you have "left" for the current week.
  • Do you need to make sure that you do not perform a Landing more than X times a month? This is also possible.

It is also possible to use Custom Fields (your own created fields) to set them up, making Limit Groups an invaluable tool irrespective of the type of flying that you do.

You can find more information on Limit Groups in this Limits-specific article. 

Currency Groups

A Currency Group in LogTen will display a count down of the number of days you are still current.  

Once they are set up with the desired criteria (the criteria and the timeframe in which it has to happen so that you stay current), they will do the hard work for you, and display at all times an up to date countdown of how many days you have left until the criteria is not met, and therefore you are not current anymore. 

Just like Smart Groups and Limit Groups, they are super powerful, and will let you track almost any type of Currency. 

  • They are the perfect addition to your logbook if you are trying to track your IPC/BFR currency (you can read more in this article)
  • Or if, for example, you want to make sure that you have performed a certain amount of Landings in a certain amount of time. 
  • If, on the other hand, you want to make sure that you stay current for a particular airport that requires X amount of approaches in the last X days/months, a Currency Group will take care of it and let you know at all times how many days you have left until it expires.

You can read more about Currency Groups, and how to set them up in this Currency Groups-specific article.

Dynamic Date Range or Fixed Range Date

When a Smart Group, Limit Group or Currency Group, it is possible to set it up using:

  • Fixed Date Range
  • Dynamic Date Range

Fixed Date Range

It does what it says on the tin, whichever time period is selected is what LogTen will use to display flights (or parts of them if they span across midnight)

Dynamic Date Range

LogTen will constantly (to the minute) update the Group depending on how it has been set up The beginning and end of where a group's entries are populated from are between the "Flight is in the last" and "Flight is in the next:" times.

Here are the differences between Consecutive, Calendar, and regular time frames. Days will be used in the following examples but Hours, Weeks, Months, and Years work identically.

  • Days (regular) will look back in multiples of 24 hours from the current time. For example, if it's currently 15:13 BST, 1 Day will look back to 15:13 BST yesterday.

  • Calendar Days looks back to the beginning of the previous day, so 1 Calendar Day looks back to 0000 yesterday or "one calendar day ago", regardless of the current time. 0 Calendar days would be just the current day. For example, if it's currently 15:13 BST, "0 Calendar Days" will look back to the beginning (00:00h) of today, whereas "1 Calendar Day" will look back to the beginning (00:00h) of yesterday. 

  • Consecutive Days allows a group to specify a certain amount of time that will automatically reset the group to zero.

    Note: Consecutive Days should only be used for the reset functionality

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