Setup the staff directory Task

Setup plugins

The staff directory works in conjunction with the bbPress plugin. You’ll need to install and activate this first. The main search box also integrates Relevanssi Premium with the Search autocomplete plugin that comes with this theme. You don’t need Relevanssi to search from the staff directory page.

Once activated, in Settings, Forums, change the User Base setting to staff.

bbpress staff setup

Create teams

Add teams. You can add multiple layers of sub-teams.

Add grades to the Grades taxonomy, in Posts, Grades. (OPTIONAL)

User profiles

The staff directory works from regular WordPress user profiles which have been extended to add further information. Individual profiles will appear under /staff/user-name/. The staff directory uses the following fields:

  • Biography*
  • Job title*
  • Avatar photo
  • Telephone number*
  • Mobile number*
  • Key skills*
  • Working pattern
  • Grade
  • Team
  • Line manager

* searchable

Users with subscriber access or above will be able to fill out their profiles and assign their grade, team and line manager.

Staff directory page

Create a new page for your main staff directory. Make sure it has a slug/permalink of staff-directory. Assign it to the Staff directory grid template. You’ll then be able to include your new staff directory page in a menu.

Staff profile pages will show the profile information and a mini-organisation chart allowing visitors to browse up and down the tree.

Teams

Team information is available from the staff directory landing page and individual staff profiles. There is no need to setup any extra pages. Teams will automatically be displayed as /team/team-name/.

Search

To enable the user search functionality, go to Settings, Relevanssi Premium and change the following settings:

Custom fields to index: visible
Index and search user profiles: Yes
Index subscriber profiles: Yes
Extra user fields to index: user_telephone, user_mobile, user_job_title, user_key_skills, user_team