Admins: Custom user data: setup custom fields

Admins: Custom user data: setup custom fields


Intended Audience:  Administrators

Summary

Custom user data fields let you record additional user information in users' profiles.

Custom user data fields in Safety Made Simple:

  1. Provide criteria for filtering learners into groups for automated enrollments
  1. Let you filter learners for reports
  1. Support integrations like SSO SAML, Salesforce, Personio and BambooHR. You can set up Safety Made Simple fields to match data fields in other software platforms
By default each portal has 10 custom user data fields available. Contact support@safetymadesimple.com if you need more fields to manage your data.
Users can complete these fields themselves  when they log in for the first time. They can also access the fields from their user profile. An admin can fill in the fields, either one by one, or using a batch user upload.

You can make the fields optional, or mandatory. 

Field types improve the quality of your data: they limit what kind of characters the field accepts. Field types keep you and your users from entering the wrong type of data: for example, you can't enter decimal numbers in a field with Integer type.

The following screenshot shows a user's profile viewed by an admin. The profile shows a mix of sample custom user data fields. Non-editable fields, in gray, require an admin to complete. A red asterisk indicates a mandatory field.



Field types, in detail

When Field type is enabled, you set a field to accept:

  • String: text and/or numbers
  • Decimal: numbers only, with decimals allowed
  • Integer: numbers only, no decimals allowed
  • Date: YYYY-MM-DD required for batch upload, or upload through the API 
  • String Choice: words or numbers, from a list you provide - no free text
  • Decimal Choice: numbers with decimals allowed, from a list you provide - no free text
  • Integer Choice: whole numbers, from a list you provide - no free text

Note: the YYY-MM-DD format is required for custom user data fields than contain dates. This format supports integrations for Safety Made Simple like SSO SAML, and services like batch user upload and API automations.

After you select a field type and save it, you can't change its type completely - in particular, from String type to Date, or one of the numeric types and vice versa. For example:
  • you can change a String field to String Choice, but not to Decimal
  • you can change a field type within the numeric formats - so change Decimal to Integer or Integer Choice - but you can't change Decimal to String

The following screenshot shows the choices available for a numeric field type. This example is editable by users, but not mandatory.


Create a text user data field

  1. Navigate to Settings> Users > Custom User Data and select Create New Field.
  2. Enter a name for the field in Name. 
  3. Optionally:
    • select Editable to let users fill in their own data
    • select Mandatory to require a text entry, before the user can continue to their dashboard. This option is available only if you also select Editable
  4. Select Save to finish. 

The following screenshot shows a new field with Editable and Mandatory selected.

Create a drop-down user data field for a choice type field

  1. Navigate to Settings> Users > Custom User Data and select Create New Field.
  2. Enter a name for the field in Name. 
  3. In Comma separated values enter a list of options separated by a comma. 
  4. Optionally:
    • select Editable to let users fill in their own data
    • select Mandatory to require a text entry, before the user can continue to their dashboard. This option is available only if you also select Editable
  5. Select Save to finish.  

The following screenshot shows the entries which will appear as options in a String Choice field. The field is not editable by users.





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