Managing a User Defined Type (UDT)

What is a User Defined Type (UDT)?

Overview

WorkSight Flow provides many types of native data types for storing and managing your time data, including employees, users, occupations, and more. However, it can't provide every possible type of data object that your organization might want. For example, you might want to associate each new timecard with a machine in your manufacturing facility to get a better picture of what machines employees are using during their shifts. User Defined Types let you create a blueprint for a new type in WorkSight Flow, then create object records based on the blueprint.

A user defined object could be anything that is singular and unique - a work order, a deal memo, a piece of equipment, a contract, or even a vehicle. 

Similar objects can be grouped into User Defined Types. In turn, each individual object contains attributes: properties that contain detailed information about that object.

You can define relationships and hierarchies using User Defined Types e.g. Occupation is related to this machine, machine is related to this progression line etc.  From a relationship perspective you can define the object once and then use it many places e.g. on an employee and an occupation.

The article covers the following topics to add or manage a User Defined Type:

• To add a User Defined Type
• To edit/manage a User Defined Type 
• To add a User Defined Type to another Object
• User Defined Type Right Pane Options
• User Defined Type Navigation Pane Options

To add a User Defined Type

A UDT can be created or edited in Settings.

1. 1. In the Settings Navigation Sidebar>Manage,  click on (+) Add User Defined Type.
      The Add User Defined Type dialog will appear
      

   2. Enter the name of the User Defined Type and click Save
      The navigation pane displays the name of the UDT created,
   3. Click on the new UDT just created. The main pane displays the name of the user defined field and a (+) Add 'User Defined Type' button appears in the Main Pane toolbar. 
      
      
      
   4. Click on the (+) Add 'User Defined Type' button.
      A tile appears on the screen and the right hand pane displays the name of the User Defined Type and on the second line, Add 'User Defined Type' 
   5. Go to Step 3 of 'To edit/manage a UDT in Settings' section below.

To edit/manage a User Defined Type

1. To edit or manage a User Defined Type in Settings, click on the name of the UDT you wish to edit in the Navigation Bar. The Main Pane will now show a list of ‘cards’ for the UDT selected.
   Note: Existing UDTs appear below the Time Off Type entry in the Navigation pane, in alphabetical order.

2. To edit one of the UDT details, click on the pencil (edit) icon in the bottom left corner of the card.
   The Right Pane will now display the UDT: Editing UDT - detail name on the second line
3. Complete the fields:

   1. Name: The full descriptive name of the user defined type detail.

   2. Code: An abbreviated name for the user defined type detail.  You should limit this to 2-4 characters.  

   3. Tags: Enter any applicable Tags related to the user defined type detail.
      

4. To add a User Defined Field to the User Defined Type, Click on the More Options menu in the right hand pane: see Creating and Managing a User Defined Field (UDF)
   e.g. Address and Phone number added to the College details
   
5. Click Save or press Enter 
   FLOW closes the dialog and a message will appear in the bottom right corner, confirming that the UDT Detail was saved successfully.

To add a User Defined Type to another Object

In this example, we will add the Post Secondary Education UDT as a UDF to People. Three post Secondary Schools have been added to the UDT:

e.g., Add Education to the People Profile

1. In Settings>People, Right hand pane, More Options, Choose Add UDF.
   The User Defined Fields dialog appears.
2. Click on the (+) sign in the dialog to Add a UDF.
3. Type in a Name for the UDF (Education) and choose Reference as the Type
   The list of available UDF reference fields appear.  The UDTs are at the bottom of this list
   
4. Choose Post Secondary Education as the reference and click Save
   The UDF Education is added to the People profile
   
5. The Post Secondary Education schools created as UDT 'cards' appear in the Education UDF dropdown
   
6. Choose a school and click Save. The selections has been added to the people profile.
   

Note: Once the UDT has been added to the object as a UDF, it is available to be used wherever UDFs are active such as in all Sorts that reference UDFs, Filters, the Scheduling Tool, Rules tables, etc.

e.g., Filter:

User Defined Type Right Pane Options

1. Add a User Defined Field (UDF)
   See Creating and Managing a User Defined Field (UDF)
2. Delete (detail): If a custom field detail is created in error or is unnecessary, you can delete it.
   Note: Once a custom field detail has been used in the generation of a timecard, it cannot be deleted. It can, however, be archived.
3. Archive
4. Unarchive an Archived UDT

User Defined Type Navigation Pane Options

Rename User Defined Type

A user Defined Type can be renamed.  This will change the name on any object where the UDT has been previously referenced.

1. Click the three-dot icon next to the UDT in the Navigation Pane

2. Select Delete User Defined Type.
   The Rename UDT dialog box appears
   

3. Type in a new name for the UDT and click Save
   
   A Toast message appears that the UDT has been successfully renamed

4. The new name for the UDT appears in the Navigation Pane.
   

Delete User Defined Type

If you create a custom field detail in error or decide it’s unnecessary, you can delete it.
Note: Once a custom field detail has been used in the generation of a timecard, it cannot be deleted. It can, however, be archived.

1. Click the three-dot icon next to the UDT in the Navigation Pane

2. Select Delete User Defined Type
   A Toast message appears that the Custom Field Detail has been successfully deleted
   The name will no longer appear in the Navigation Pane list.