Custom Data Sets Part II: Creating and Editing Custom Data Sets

Custom Data Sets Part II: Creating and Editing Custom Data Sets

1. Custom Data Sets are fields that you can create in your system to capture data when there is no "out of the box" field for recording the information (for example, if you wanted to capture information on your contacts' educational background, pet ownership history, or favorite type of art).
2. Each data set is a "bucket" or group of fields centered around a common theme. For example, if we wanted to record information on individuals' educational background, we might create one data set called "Education" and within that dataset have fields for name of school, year graduated, GPA, and degree earned. We could, if we wanted, create two different data sets, one for secondary education (high school) and one for post-secondary education (beyond high school). Each data set might have the same fields, but we might want to separate the data/fields into two data sets to make it easier to find information on each type of schooling when viewing the contact record.
3. There are two types of custom data sets:
   
   • General Data Sets are ones in which every field can contain only one record. To update the information in each field, users must over-write the existing data. Birth date is an example of a general data set/field. Each contact can have only one birth date/birth date record and to update the information in that field, you must overwrite the existing information. Please Note: General Data Sets CANNOT be used with the Zapier custom forms integration.

     

   • Transactional Data Sets is one in which each field can contain several records. The Committee Member and Board Member data sets are examples of transactional data sets. Each contact could have multiple listings for committee participation - each person could be on several committees or could serve on the committee multiple times. To update the information in this data set, the user adds additional records, rather than overwriting the existing data. Please Note: Transactional Data Sets CANNOT be used with our CRM membership, event registration, and online donation forms.

     

4. To get started creating or editing custom data sets, from the Main Menu select Custom Data Sets. Please Note: your user role must have been given permission to View custom data sets in your accounts Application Roles setting to access the Custom Data Sets index screen. Please see our Custom Data Sets Part I tutorial for more information.
   

   

5. This will take you to the Custom Data Sets index page. Here you will find a list of all of your custom data sets.

   

6. There are several custom data sets that come with your system (system default data sets):
   • Gifts Additional Information (for donations),
   • Membership Additional Information (for Memberships),
   • Grants Additional Information (for grants),
   • Program Recipient, Committee Member Details, and Board Member Details (all for contacts).
   • For clients using the Meals Module or Mentoring Module, you will find some additional custom data sets here related to those modules as well.

   You can add fields to these data sets to customize these topical area by clicking the edit button to the right, but they cannot be deleted.

   

7. You can search the list of existing custom data sets by using the filter at the top of the screen.

   

8. Data sets can be secure or non-secure. Secure custom data sets have restricted access to who can see the DATA in those data sets when viewing and/or editing contact records. On the custom data sets index page, the blue lock (secure data set) or red unlocked icon (non-secure) will indicate each data set's security status. For any secure data sets, which users/user roles have access to the data within it will also display.
   

   

   

9. You can change the security settings for any data set (if your application role has been granted "Manage Security" rights for Custom Data Sets) by clicking the drop down to the right of the custom data set and selecting Edit or Manage Security. This will take you to Tab 1: Security within edit custom data set.

   

10. You can click the drop down to the right of any data set and select Edit to edit the fields in the data set or Delete to remove the data set completely. Please note: DELETE will delete all data saved in this data set/remove the data from contact records and the data is not recoverable. Also, keep in mind, your user role must have Edit and/or Delete permissions set for your user role to access the Edit and/or Delete functions. See our Custom Data Sets Part I: Custom Data Set Security tutorial for more information. Some data sets will not have the option to edit or delete even if you have edit/delete rights to custom data sets and this is because those data sets are system defaults and cannot be edited/deleted by users.
    

    

    

11. To create a new custom data set, click the blue Add New button in the lower right OR by clicking the drop down to the right of any data set and selecting Copy to copy and then modifying the copy an existing data set.

    

    OR

    

12. If you have permission to set custom data set security in your application role's permissions, you will see two tabs at the top of the screen and you will start set-up with Tab 1: Security. If you do not have permission to set custom data set security, then you will only have Tab 1: Basic. If you have permission to manage security but not edit custom data sets, you will only have Tab 1: Security.
    

    

13. If you are starting with Tab 1: Security, complete this data set's security by following the steps in our Custom Data Sets Part I tutorial. Click the blue Next button in the lower right. Please Note: system admins will NOT have access to data within secure custom data sets by default. They must manually be given access through each data set's security settings.

    

14. On the Basic tab, you can return to Tab 1: Security by clicking the Previous button in the lower right. To return to the Custom Data Set index screen, click the blue "Back" arrow in the lower left. Please Note: Until you give the data set a name, select a type, and fill out the "applicable to" field, you cannot save the data set and all changes will be lost if you return to the custom index screen.

    

15. Start by giving the data set a name (the theme or topical area covered by the data set, such as "Education" or "Pet Ownership"). This is required.

    

    

16. Next, select the Data Set Type (see steps 3 above for definitions) from the drop down. This is required. Keep in mind that ONLY General data sets can be used on forms such as event registration forms and membership forms. ONLY Transactional data sets can be used with the Zapier custom forms integration.

    

    

    

17. Provide a Description (optional) of what the data set is for.

    

18. In the Contact Type field, you can select one contact type (or contact type toggle pair) to tie this custom data set to. If you tie the custom data set to a contact type then only contacts that have that contact type assigned will have the custom data set available on their record. For instance, you might be creating a custom data set to collect more information on people you have identified as donor prospects (who you have flagged with the contact type donor prospect). As these custom data set fields won't be relevant to all contact records, you may wish to have them appear only on records for which you have added the contact type "Donor Prospect" to the record.
    
    • Custom data sets tied to a contact type will appear on their own sub-tab on edit contact. Custom data sets NOT tied to a contact type appear on the "Custom Info" subtab of edit contact. See our Custom Data Sets Part III tutorial on adding data to custom data sets for more information.
    • For Members/Membership: if you want custom data set fields to appear on the membership form, in the membership directory, and/or in the contact's public profile on your website (for those using our membership WordPress Plug-In), you MUST associate the contact type "member" with the data set.

    

    

19. Please Note: IF YOU ASSOCIATE A CUSTOM DATA SET WITH A CONTACT TYPE, ONCE YOU ADD DATA TO THAT CUSTOM DATE SET ON A CONTACT RECORD, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REMOVE THE CONTACT TYPE FROM THE RECORD. For example, let's say you have the contact type "donor prospect" with an associated custom data set. Once you assign a contact the "donor prospect" contact type, the "donor prospect custom data set" will become available for you to enter data into on that contact's record. If, on a contact's record, you enter information into the donor prospect custom data set (for example the date they became a prospect and the reason they have been identified as a prospect), you will not be able to unselect the contact type "donor prospect" from the contact type without first deleting all the data in the custom data set. The contact type becomes grayed out in the Add Contact Type pop up box on Edit Contact. In our screen shot below, the "Student" contact type is grayed out, even though it's a user-defined contact type, because we have added data to the Education custom data set which is tied to the Student contact type. Now the student contact type can't be removed from the record unless we first delete all the data in the custom data set.

    

20. When you configure contact types (Main Menu: Contacts: Configurations: Contact Types), you can create "toggle pairs" - mutually exclusive pairs of contact types that can share custom data set information. For example Board Member and Ex-Board Member are a "toggle pair" of contact types. They are mutually exclusive - one cannot be a current board member and also an ex-board member simultaneously - but can share the "board member details" custom data set, such that:
    • If contact is set to contact type "board member" and user selects the "ex-board member" contact type, the "board member" contact type is automatically unchecked, AND
    • the board member details custom data set information remains on the record but is transferred to the ex-board member sub-tab.
    • See the tutorial on configuring contact types for more information on how to set up toggle pairs.

      

21. If you assign a contact type to a custom data set and the contact type is part of a toggle pair, you will see the name of the second contact type that becomes auto assigned to the custom data set below the contact type field.

    

22. Please Note: only one contact type or one contact type toggle pair can be assigned to each custom data set. If you wish a custom data set to apply to more than one contact type, then you will need to create copies of the custom data set (keeping in mind that the data will not transfer between regular contact types, only toggle pairs).
23. Next, after selecting the contact type, if any, select whether the data set is Applicable To/is relevant to (and should appear on) Individual contacts and/or Organizational contacts. This is required/you must select at least one of these options.

    

24. To add fields (the actual fields that will be filled out/store data) to the custom data set, click the blue Add New Field button in the right hand panel.

    

25. Please Note: If this is a transactional custom data set the Transaction Date field be added by default and cannot be removed/is a required field for this data set type.
26. A pop up window will open for you to configure your field.

    

27. Start by entering the Field Name (example: School Name). This is required.

    

28. Next, select a Field Type from the drop down menu. Please note the instructional text at the top of the screen that states certain field types do NOT work on forms and/or in custom reports.
    

    

    

    

29. There are a few limitations to keep in mind:
    • it's very hard to write reports on text fields, so if this is something you want to group on, avoid using a text field for the data;
    • if this is a field that you'll want to use with our CRM membership forms or event registration forms or with the Zapier custom form integration, you CANNOT use a campaign, contact, program, or Matrix field type;
    • you cannot write reports on a Matrix field type;
    • you cannot use a Matrix field in a transactional custom data set;
    • if this is a field you will want to group or sort by in reporting, do NOT use a multi-select list (checkboxes) as all values selected will be stored in one field and separated by commas. It's then impossible to sort or group by discrete values in that comma separated list inside of Exago/reporting.
30. Also keep in mind that you will not be able to change the field type later - if you create a text field and enter data into it and then later want to change it to a drop down list or check box field, you cannot. You would have to create another field then manually move your data from the text box field to the new field and then delete the text box. It is best to create the fields, enter test data, and then try creating any reports or forms that will use the custom data set to ensure you have the right type of field for your needs.
31. If you select field type Dropdown, Radio Button, or Check Box, the option to configure the answer options will appear in the lower half of the window.

    

    • enter the first item to appear in the drop down list into the options field (for instance, in this example, we are creating a drop down list of local colleges. We enter our first school name in the options field) and then click the + button to add it. Keep adding options in this way until you have the entire list of choices entered.

      

      

      • You can remove any items from your drop down list by clicking the trashcan to the right of the item.

        

      • You can re-order the list items by dragging and dropping them using the gray arrows to the left of the field name.

        

    • For a matrix field:
      • Once you select type as Matrix, the Configure Matrix Data pop up box will appear.

        

      • Name the field (if you didn't on the previous step) and decide if you want to see the field when viewing a contact record (see #24 below for more details).
      • The items in the Options are the ROWS of the matrix. For instance, let's say we only want to know about educational attainment in certain fields of study. We might list the fields of study as the row headers and the degrees that can be obtained as the column headers (we could do it the other way/vice versa just as easily in this example. Often which you choose as the row and which as the column is dictated by which arrangement will result in less horizontal or vertical scrolling.

        

      • As with a checkbox, dropdown, or radio button list, you will add a row option in the field provided and then click the + button to add it. Continue adding options in this way. You must have at least one row.

        

      • Next configure the columns by clicking in the Add Matrix Column text area to open up the field for editing.

        

      • Give the column a name (required), indicate what type of data the user will enter into the intersection of the row and column (in this case, we are simply going to have the user check a Yes/No box to indicate if the contact has received a degree in the topic. We could have entered a date field instead, in which case, the user would have to write the date the degree was obtained in the intersection of the column and row.

        

      • Indicate if the field is required or not by checking the Required box.

        

      • Continue adding columns in this way until you have added all needed columns.
      • Click Save & Close when you are done.
      • This is what a matrix field looks like when you are doing data entry into it.

        

32. After configuring the field type of your custom data set, indicate if the field is Required by checking the box. This means that the field will be required on every single record that uses this custom data set - you will need to fill out this field to save any data in the custom data set for each contact for whom you fill out ANY information in the custom data set.

    

33. If it is a general Custom Dataset then by default, all custom data sets fields are viewable on Edit Contact and viewable on View Contact. But if it is a transaction type custom dataset, then If you want to be able to see the custom data set field when viewing a contact record, check the Display on contact view screen check box.
    Note- Display on contact view screen check box works only for transactional CDS. The box does nothing for general CDS.
    

    

34. After configuring your field, click Add New to add another field to the custom data set, Done to save and finish, or Cancel to cancel creating the new field without saving (your custom data set has been saved already so this won't delete/cancel creation of the entire data set, just the new field).

    

35. After saving you will see the field in the list of fields above the Add New Field button/in the Fields section of the page.

    

36. You can go back and edit any field by clicking the Edit button in the drop down to the right of the field name. You can also delete any field (and all it's associated data) by choosing Delete from the drop down.

    

37. When you are done adding fields, click the blue Save button in the lower right to save all changes. Your custom data set is all configured and ready to go. You can begin adding data to it via Edit Contact, by following the instructions in our Part III tutorial.