Application UDFs

The Application UDFs page allows you to create or edit user defined fields (UDFs). These fields allow you obtain and store additional information from users. For example, in the Property module, you could create a numeric "Parking Spaces" UDF that allowed you to store the number of parking spaces associated with a property. Most UDFs are module-specific, therefore UDFs created for the Incident module cannot be reused in the Event module. However, UDFs can also be created for Regions to track region data across all modules or for Users to allow administrators to track specific user data.

You must have the appropriate security rights to create or edit UDFs.

To open the Application UFDs page:

  1. Open the Administration Menu page.

  2. Under the ADMIN heading, click Application UDFs.

ClosedCreate a New UDF

To create a new UDF:

  1. In the Application field, select the module you are creating the UDF for.

    Note:

    Currently, UDFs have been implemented for the Asset, Property, Incident, Event, Floor, Space, and Utility modules, for Work Order Forms within the Logbook module, for Regions, and for Users. While the system does not prevent you from creating UDFs for the other modules (for possible future implementation), they will not be displayed and cannot be accessed by users.

  1. In the New UDF Display Name field, enter a name for the UDF.

    This is the name that will be displayed on the page when using the UDF.

  2. In the Tab Order field, enter a numeric value.

    The Tab Order indicates the position, in menus, where this value will be listed. Lower numbered values are displayed toward the top of the list. Values will the same tab order will be sorted alphabetically.

  3. In the Drop List Box field, select Yes or No.

    Select Yes to define the UDF as a field where users are required to select a value from a list. If you select Yes, the list of values can be defined in the Drop List Values pane, after you click Add to create the UDF.

    Note:

    To create a UDF that provides a Yes/No choice, do not define it as a drop list box. Yes/No values are created by selecting the Yes/No data type. The system will not allow you to define a UDF that is both a Drop List Box and a Yes/No data type.

    Do not set Drop List Box to Yes with the Date data type. Doing so will override the inherent behavior of the data type and convert it to a text string.

  4. In the Data Type field, select one of the following values indicating the type of date that will be entered into this field.

    The system enforces the data type you select. For example, if you define a value as a date, users must enter a date in a valid date format.

    • Currency – a monetary value

    • Date – a date value; if selected, a date-selector icon is displayed to the right of the field

    • Number – a whole number numeric value

    • Number, with Decimal – a numeric value that can include a decimal point

    • Text – any type of text value including alphanumeric characters and symbols

    • Text Area – a longer text value displayed as a large field with a scroll bar

    • Yes/No – a menu containing the values Yes and No

  5. In the Max Length field, enter the maximum number of characters that users are allowed to enter in the field, up to 4000.

    Although Max Length is required for all UDFs, it is only enforced for text values.

  6. In the Grouping field, select the UDF group that this field should be associated with.

    For more information, see Application UDF Groups.

    You can associate more than one grouping of UDFs with an application or with a certain type of entity. For example, in the Space module, associating multiple groupings of UDFs with a single space class causes a separate pane of UDFs to appear for each grouping on the View/Edit Space page.

    To view a list of all the UDFs associated with each grouping and each application, see Application UDF Groups.

  7. In the Required Flag field, select Yes or No.

    Select Yes to indicate that users are required to specify a value for the field. If you select Yes, a small red square will be displayed to the right of the field to indicate that a value is required.

  8. Depending on the application selected in step 3, additional fields may appear to allow you to indicate that this UDF should only be used only for a particular type of entity. Select the required values.

    For example, if you are defining UDFs for the Property module, you can select a property type. For the Incident module, you can select incident class, type, and subType. For the Space module, you can select a space class.

    For Region UDFs, you can select a Region Type, for example, Region or Site. If you do not select a region type, the UDF is associated with all regions, regardless of type.

    For User-based UDFs, you can select a Position so that the UDFs are only associated with users in a particular position (job). If you do not select a position, the UDF is associated with all users.

  9. Click Add.

ClosedDefine Drop List Values

If you defined a UDF as a Drop List Box, you can define the list of values in the menu by entering values in the Drop List Values for this UDF pane.

For each value you want to include in the menu, specify the following values:

  • Active/Inactive – Select a value to indicate whether the value is active or inactive. Inactive values are not deleted, but are removed from the menu so that they cannot be selected by users.

  • Item Name – Specify the value that users will see in the menu.

  • Item Value – Specify the value that will be stored in the system when the corresponding item name is selected. This allows the value that users see to be different from the value actually stored in the system. For example, you may want to display (Excellent, Good, Average, and Poor) to the user but store values of (4, 3, 2, and 1) in the system.

  • Tab Order – The Tab Order indicates the position, in menus, where this value will be listed. Lower numbered values are displayed toward the top of the list. Values will the same tab order will be sorted alphabetically.

  • Delete – Click this button to remove a value from the list. Once a value has been selected as the UDF value by a user, the Delete button is no longer available. You can only inactivate the value.

ClosedEdit an Existing UDF

Existing application UDFs can be edited, if needed. To edit a UDF:

  1. In the Application field, select the module containing the UDF you want to edit.

  2. In the User Defined Field field in the gray pane, select the UDF you want to edit.

    All defined values for the UDF are displayed.

  3. Modify the displayed values as required, following these guidelines:

    • Certain fields, such as Property Type or Incident Type cannot be edited. These fields appear as plain text.

    • You cannot change the data type of a UDF once it has been used. If you have created a UDF of an inappropriate type, you should create a new UDF of the appropriate type and inactivate the old UDF.

    • If the name of the item is changed, all historical values entered for the UDF remain unchanged, but will be labeled reflecting the new name.

    • UDFs that have been used cannot be deleted, they can only be made Inactive.

    • If you make a UDF inactive, all historical values entered for the UDF are retained but are not displayed.

  4. Click UPDATE.

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