Who:

System Administrator

Why:

LPG provides standard fields that appear on Orders and Matters. Company-specific fields (Attributes) may be create and then applied to Orders and Matters by a User who has the System Administrator role if the standard fields do not capture all the information that the organization requires. Various types of Attribute can be created such as drop-down lists, date fields and text fields. (The System Administrator defines the values that are available in drop-down lists).

Before you begin

• Only Users with the System Administrator role can add or edit attributes.

Procedure

1. Select References > Attributes from the LPG menu.

The Attributes screen appears. New Attributes are added in the Add Attributes section.

2. Select where the Attribute will appear from the Applies To drop-down list.
For example, if Orders is selected, this new Attribute will appear as a field on all new Orders. Attributes created by customers can be added to Orders, Matters, Service Requests and Order Items. Attributes created by Providers can only be added to Orders and Service Requests. In the following example, an Attribute is being applied to Orders.

3. Type a name for the Attribute.

IMPORTANT – This is the label that will appear next to the Attribute on new Orders. It cannot be edited after it has been created so it is important to choose a meaningful label and check the spelling prior to saving the Attribute.

 

4. A Description of the Attribute can optionally be added.

5. Tick the Banner checkbox if the Attribute needs to be displayed in the banner of new Orders.

6. Select the Format of the Attribute.
This defines what type of data the User inputs into the Attribute field (Currency, Date, List, Number or Text). Attributes of the format “List” allow you to define a drop-down list that the User must choose from. The steps to populate the list are described later in this topic.

7. Select from the Display Level whether the Attribute will be displayed at the top of new Orders (Header) or below the standard fields on the Order (Body).

8. Tick the Mandatory checkbox if this will be a required field that the User cannot leave blank when filling in a new Order.

9. Tick the Restrict Contracts on Order checkbox if this attribute is to be used to restrict which Providers the Order can be allocated to.
For example, if you defined a “language” Attribute, you could use it to restrict only Providers who spoke Chinese to be available for a particular Order. See topic Restrict Provider Allocation based on Attribute for more details.
NOTE:  This option is only available if the Customer has been profiled to allow this functionality.

10. Tick the Write Once checkbox if, after the Order is created, the data in this field should no longer be editable.

11. Select from the Viewable By drop-down list who can see this field on new Orders (Customer, Provider, Both).

12. Select from the Editable By drop-down list who can edit this field on new Orders (Customer, Provider, Both).

13. Select Yes under the Active heading to make this Attribute visible on new Orders.

Selecting No means the Attribute is deactivated and will not be seen on new Orders .

 

14. Click the Add button to create the Attribute.

The new Attribute is appended to the list of Attributes. (The list is displayed below the Add Attribute section of the Attribute screen.)

If you defined the Attribute as a List format (List was selected in the Format field), you now need to define the values that will appear in the list:

15. Find the Attribute in the Attribute list and click the Attribute Values
(You may need to scroll across the screen to the right to see the Attribute Values link. See topic Edit User-Defined Attribute for details on searching for Attributes.)

The Attribute Values for [attribute name] screen appears. In this example the name of the Attribute  is FWG Attrib 2.

16. To add values to the list do the following:

a. Fill in the Attribute Value and Description and select Yes (to make it Active).

IMPORTANT – Once the Attribute Value is added to the list, it cannot be edited. It is therefore important to choose the Attribute Value carefully in order to avoid creating a list with meaningless values.

 b. Click the Add

The value is added to the list. In this example, a list of vehicles is being created.

17. Repeat step 16 to add as many values as are required to the list.
The list is displayed in alphabetical order. In this example four values have been added. 

In the above example an Attribute named “FWG Attrib 2” was created which applies to Orders. It is a list with 4 options for the user to select from (4 types of vehicle). When a new Order is created the Attribute will appear on the order as shown below.

Tips & Troubleshooting

See topic Edit User-Defined Attribute for information on: Removing Attributes from Orders, Service Requests, Matters and Order Items. Removing values from a user-defined list. (Attribute of type “List”)

 

When adding new Matter attributes, you can specify whether the Matter attribute is displayed on the banner of all Orders belonging to that Matter.