It’s now easier to create stock groups based on postcodes in Community Insight

You can now create stock group areas based on postcodes where you don’t have stock.

Previously, you could only create stock groups based on your stock’s postcodes. We’ve expanded this feature to allow you to create stock group areas based on any postcode regardless of whether there is stock within it or not. 

The 3 main improvements are…

1) You can now create stock groups based on any postcode, not just postcodes in your stock list.

2) You can see the boundary line around your stock group area so that it is clear where data for that area derives from.

3) Your postcodes are validated on import so you can be sure they are accurate.

Create stock group areas based on any postcode

Previously you could only create stock group areas using postcodes that were already uploaded in your group’s stock list. Hence why they are called stock groups, as they were areas based on where you have stock. This limited the areas that you could create.

Now you can create stock group areas based on any postcode. For example, create an area where you are planning on adding stock and view data for that community.

See the boundary line around your stock group areas

Whereas previously, stock group areas created using this method displayed as stock icons on the map, now the areas display with clear boundary lines around the constituent regions covered, alongside any stock icons to represent the stock you have in that area. 

Data is still created for these areas in the same way, more on that below, but now you can see a more accurate depiction of the area you have created on the map. 

The image on the left shows how postcode stock groups previously displayed on the map. The image on the right shows how the same stock group area now displays on the map.

How Community Insight calculates data for stock group areas based on postcodes

Community Insight identifies all the Output Areas (OAs) covered by the uploaded postcodes and then calculates the data based on those component OAs. Community Insight then apportions data for that collection of OAs and their value is the value for your stock group areas.

Not sure what Output Areas are? 

Output Areas (OA) are standard areas that were primarily created for the publication of the Census. They are fairly homogeneous in terms of population size – ranging from 40 to 250 households. The number of postcodes per OA is always changing as new postcodes are added. There are roughly 11 postcodes per OA and no single postcode will cover multiple OAs.

Please note: Your existing stock group areas created using postcodes have been updated to display in the new format with a boundary line around the areas covered. 

Some historic stock group areas created, based on stock postcodes, may no longer show anything on the map. This will be the case if you updated your accounts’s stock list and in the process removed the stock postcodes used to create that stock group area. If you want to recreate these historic stock groups, we can support you to do this – please email support@ocsi.co.uk.

Going forward this issue will no longer happen as the stock feature has been decoupled from the postcode area feature. Therefore, any stock groups created based on postcodes will remain static, allowing you to see data for them regardless of the stock you have in that area.

Postcodes validated on import

When creating stock group areas based on postcodes you can either paste in a list of postcodes or upload a CSV.

In both methods, Community Insight checks the postcodes to ensure that they are valid. If there are invalid postcodes (e.g typos, postcodes from other countries), you will see an error message detailing the rows that have invalid postcodes. You can then go back edit those postcodes and reupload.

Reminder of how to create stock group areas…

To create a stock group area you must have Power User or Group Admin access.

Read our Help Centre for more support on creating stock groups in Community Insight.

Get in touch!

If you have any questions or feedback then get in touch with us on support@ocsi.co.uk or call us 01273 810270.