Question
How do I setup custom fields?
Answer
Importance of Custom Fields
Pacific Timesheet's custom field capabilities are central to its superior flexibility. As opposed to overly-complex ERP applications, which might require that each field be configured specifically by data type, field size, etc., we allow for quick setup of custom fields using a large set of standard data types.
In short, this is an important article if you want to customize different areas of your system.
There are other articles on how to create custom fields using specific use cases that you might want to explore:
- Employees
- Equipment
- WBS items like jobs/project, phases and tasks
- Time entries
- Expense entries
- Activity entries
- Asset entries, and
- Log entries
To find these articles, click on the link above or search by the name of the object or use case and "custom fields." Example searches are "employee custom fields" or "equipment custom fields."
If specific use cases do not have documentation, use this article for general instructions and confer with an application specialist for help.
This article provides general step-by-step instructions on how to create and configure custom fields for any system object profile or entry.
Overview
You can customize any object profile in the application or any time, expense, asset or log entry by adding new data fields.
Objects are things like:
- Employees
- WBS items such as jobs/projects, phases and tasks.
- Billing codes, pay classes, W/C codes
- Any other kind of asset
Entries are things like:
- Time entries
- Expense entries
- Asset entries
- Any kind of log entries
Custom fields are fields you can add and setup such as a:
- Text string
- Date
- File attachment
- Photo, or
- Any other value as needed for your business-specific requirements.
Manage Custom Fields
With administrative security permissions, you can manage custom fields for objects and entries from the "Manage Custom Fields" link on the tools menu.
To find custom fields:
- Navigate to the tab or sub-tab for the area you want to setup.
- Two common examples are employee profiles and time entries.
- For employees click on the Employees tab, and for time entries, click on the System tab and then click on Templates.
- Then click on Tools. Each object profile profile and entry area tab or sub-tab has a Tools button, which looks like an upside down triangle and is always on the upper right side of the page next to the add/delete buttons.
- At the bottom of the list click on Manage Custom Fields
If you do not see Manage Custom Fields you may not have management permissions for this type of object - check your Permission Level in your employee profile to verify that you have the appropriate permissions.
Setting Up Custom Field Values
Custom field values can be set through the user interface for each object. However, it's more efficient to use use our data integration utilities to set these values. You can use our manual imports. You can also use our auto-import utility to sync custom field data values through scheduled secure imports from third party system. You can also sync data from third party system using web services. Remember that setting the values of custom fields will always be done with one or more key fields of system object records or entry records.
Reporting
With no additional setup, most custom fields are immediately available to include in as data fields in custom reports.
Notes on Deleting Custom Fields
If you need to remove a custom field from the system, you will need to remove it from timesheet templates, expense, asset or log entry templates, or custom report configurations. When you delete a any custom fields you will be warned that this will delete all custom field data values from the system. If you want to retain those values, you should not delete the custom field.
- Timesheet Custom Fields.
If the time entry custom field is a data field in a timesheet template, you will also get blocked from this deletion with an error message such as:
"Cannot delete custom field "xyz": In use by the following timesheet template(s): "ABC Timesheet". You will need to remove the field from the template(s) before deleting." - If the expense/asset/log entry custom field is a data field in an entry template, you will also get blocked from this deletion with a similar error message such stating that you need to remove it from the entry template before it can be deleted.
- Custom Reports.
If you created a report with a custom field, and then later delete the custom field from the system, the report will generate an error because a database column the report needs to generate is now missing. Edit the report and remove the custom field report column and the report will run correctly again.
Custom Field General Properties
Field Name
The name of the custom field. This is the name that will appear on the properties form, as well as in import/export files. This field is required and can be up to 80 characters.
Note: |
Type
The type of custom field, which can be one of the following:
Type |
Description |
Checkbox |
A field representing a true/false choice. |
Currency |
A number representing a currency amount. The value can be entered as an edit box or as a drop-down list. |
Date |
A date value. |
Date and Time |
A date and time value. |
Email Address |
A text field for entering and displaying an email address. |
Employee |
An employee selection. |
File Attachment |
Allows uploading and downloading of a file. Maximum size is limited to 250MB. |
Image |
Allows uploading and displaying of an image. Maximum size is limited to 250MB. Supported image file formats are PNG, GIF and JPG. |
List |
A text field allowing the selection of one or more choices from a list of choices. Note that the List type is only for lists of text items (Number and Currency type fields can also have lists but those are configured directly from their properties page). |
Number |
A numeric value, allowing an arbitrary number of decimal places of precision. The value can be entered as an edit box or as a drop-down list. |
Text |
A text value, entered via an edit box. |
Text Area |
A text value that allows line breaks. |
Time |
A time of day value. |
Web Link |
A text field for entering and displaying a web address. |
You can only specify the type when adding a new custom field. If you need to change the type of an existing custom field you need to delete the existing one and create a new one.
Position
The position determines where on the form the field will appear.
Start New Field Group
Checking this option will cause a horizontal line to appear immediately before this field. This is useful when grouping several related fields.
Description
A description of this field. This should be as brief as possible, but can be up to 255 characters.
Required
Checking this option will require a value for this field.
Default Value
Specifies the default value for the custom field.
Timesheet custom fields that are text (e.g. Text, Text Area, List, etc.) also allow you to default the value to an employee property by using the ${User.xyz} variable, where User refers to the employee object and xyz is the name of the employee property. For example ${User.lastName} would default the value to the employee's last name. If you had an employee custom field named "Pay Class" then you would use ${User.xPayClass}. You can learn how to pre-fill or auto-populate timesheet values by contacting your application specialist. See: How to pre-fill or auto-populate crew timesheet data field values.
Checkbox Properties
Checkbox Text
Text or label that appears to the right of the checkbox. This should be as terse as possible, but can be up to 80 characters.
Currency Properties
Currency
The currency symbol.
Decimal Digits
The number of digits to display after the decimal point. This can be zero if displaying an integer value.
Input Type
The type of input widget used, either an edit box or a drop-down list.
Minimum Value
If the Input Type is set to Edit Box, then you can specify the minimum value that can be entered. Leave this blank if there is no minimum value.
Maximum Value
If the Input Type is set to Edit Box, then you can specify the maximum value that can be entered. Leave this blank if there is no maximum value.
List Choices
If the Input Type is set to Drop Down List, then you can specify the numbers in the list. Enter each number on a separate row by pressing the enter key, for example:
1.00
2.00
3.00
...
The number format is entered in the locale of the administrator making the changes, but when the list is presented to employees the numbers will be reformatted as appropriate for their locale, as well as have the currency symbol added. For example, if the employee has the French locale and the currency was set to EUR then they would see the list formatted as follows:
€1,00
€2,00
€3,00
...
Image
Image custom fields allow you to upload an image, which will be presented as a smaller thumbnail that can be clicked to view at its native or full resolution. Supported image file formats are PNG, GIF and JPG.
Thumbnail Width
Thumbnail Height
The default thumbnail size if not specified is 500x500 pixels. You can specify your own size here, in pixels. Images whose native size is smaller than this will not be scaled up, but images larger than this will be scaled down, so the thumbnail size represents the maximum size shown to the user. The original image can always be viewed by clicking on the thumbnail.
List
List Style
The style of the list control, which can be either a drop-down menu or a list box.
List Box Height
The height of the list box, in rows.
Multiple Selection
Checking this option allows multiple selections. Note that multiple selections are stored in same field just like single selections, but with each selection being separated by a line break character.
List Choices
Enter your list choices here, with each choice starting on a new line.
Number
Decimal Digits
The number of digits to display after the decimal point. This can be zero if displaying an integer value.
Input Type
The type of input widget used, either an edit box or a drop-down list.
Minimum Value
If the Input Type is set to Edit Box, then you can specify the minimum value that can be entered. Leave this blank if there is no minimum value.
Maximum Value
If the Input Type is set to Edit Box, then you can specify the maximum value that can be entered. Leave this blank if there is no maximum value.
List Choices
If the Input Type is set to Drop Down List, then you can specify the numbers in the list. Enter each number on a separate row by pressing the enter key, for example.
1.00
2.00
3.00
...
The number format is entered in the locale of the administrator making the changes, but when the list is presented to employees the numbers will be reformatted as appropriate for their locale. For example, if the employee has the French locale they would see the list formatted as follows:
1,00
2,00
3,00
...
Text
Maximum Characters
The maximum number of characters that can be entered in this field. This can be up to 255 characters.
Text Area
Maximum Characters
The maximum number of characters that can be entered in this field. This can be up to 4000 characters.
Rows
The height of the text area, in rows.
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