Adding your own fields to people records
Custom fields add something Learnient does not already hold, such as a locker number or a cost centre. They appear on the edit forms, in the API and in CSV templates, so a field you add here becomes a column your imports can fill.
Where they live
Section titled “Where they live”Custom fields are under Admin, then Workspace in the left-hand menu and Custom fields — not under People, even though most of them describe people.
Choosing which record the field belongs to
Section titled “Choosing which record the field belongs to”Four tabs, and picking the wrong one is the mistake worth avoiding.
| Tab | The field is answered |
|---|---|
| Users | Once per person |
| Courses | Once per course |
| Positions | Once per position, by whoever defines the job |
| Positions per user | Again for every person holding that position |
Positions and Positions per user are the pair people confuse. A field on Positions describes the job and is shared by everybody doing it. A field on Positions per user is asked again of each person, so two people in the same job can answer it differently.
Adding a field
Section titled “Adding a field”- Choose the tab for the record the field belongs to.
- Choose New field.
- Enter a Label. This is what people see on the form.
- Enter a Key. This is the name used in the API and as the CSV column heading, and it cannot be changed after saving.
- Add Help text if the label alone will not be enough.
- Choose a Type. The window describes each one as you pick it, so Text tells you it is a single line of up to 255 characters.
- Switch on Required if it must be filled in. That applies to the API and to CSV imports as well as to the form, so a required field will reject an import that leaves it blank.
- Switch on Available to rules if assignment rules and workflow conditions should be able to test its value. Only a field on the Users tab can decide who gets which courses.
- Choose where it appears under Show after, picking the field it should follow.
- Choose Create.
Take step 4 slowly. The key is permanent, and it is the name every integration and every spreadsheet will use.
The Type is close to permanent too. You can change it while the field is new, but once anybody has answered it the type is fixed, so a field you meant to be a date cannot be turned into one later.
Which tab for a field that should decide training
Section titled “Which tab for a field that should decide training”Course assignment rules can only test a field on the Users tab. A field on Positions describes the job and is shared by everybody doing it, but it does not target training. So if something like a region should decide who gets which courses, add it on Users, even though it feels like part of the job.
You can still fill a Users field in once rather than person by person: an import can set it, and a signup code can set it for everyone who signs up with it, under Set on signup. See Letting people sign themselves up.
What the list tells you
Section titled “What the list tells you”Required and Rules are the two switches above, shown back to you. Shown on is the placement, written as the form and the field it follows, such as “Advanced information › after Location”. A field with no placement reads Not on the form.
The counter at the top shows how many of your 50 active fields are in use.
Turning a field off without losing it
Section titled “Turning a field off without losing it”Switch Active off and the field stops being offered on the forms and is refused if anything tries to write to it, through the API or an import as much as the form.
Everything already answered is kept, and comes back if you make the field active again. That makes this the way to retire a field you no longer collect without discarding the history, and a safe thing to undo if you switch one off by mistake.
Show deleted brings removed fields back into view.