This article describes how to create User Defined fields within Insight
User Defined Fields are bespoke fields that can then be populated on clients, matters, contacts etc, also known as UDF's
UDFs filled in at a matter level can be reported on within the Matter Listing report.
The types of UDFs available are:
- Date
- Text (this can include numbers, e.g. for references you wish to store on the system)
- Number (numerical values – these will show with commas for values of 1,000 or above)
- Boolean (tick boxes)
- Drop Down List
- Address
**Before adding any UDFs to the system, plan out the groups you wish each UDF to fall within and the types of UDFs you need to add. UDFs cannot easily be removed once added to the system, so this planning stage is vital. For example, you might choose to make a group called “Conveyancing UDFs” for all conveyancing UDFs to fall within, or you may choose to split them into separate groups for sales, purchases etc**
Setting up UDFs
-
To setup the UDFs, go to System >User Defined Fields
-
Add a group for your UDFs. To do this, ensure User Defined Fields is selected and click Group
- The Group will need a unique Code and Name. You can also enter an Order value to dictate the order in which the UDFs appear when filling the fields in. This can be a combination of letters and/or numbers
**Please note that the fields are sorted alphabetically, meaning you will need to add leading 0s to your order numbers if there will be more than 9 (i.e. the Order numbers will go 01, 02, 03 etc.., rather than 1, 2, 3).**
- Select the area you wish to view these UDFs in. Select to decide whether it needs to be filled in at a Matter or Client level and specify the exact type of Matter that this UDF relates to
**If needed, you can tick a Matter Type instead of a Department by drilling down further into the list.**
- With the Group set up, Fields can be added
- Select a Group, click the button for the type of field you wish to add from the options at the top of the screen
Date
- Click Date at the top. Ensure you select the correct group first
- Enter the Name and Description, and enter the Order number
- Choose whether a future or historical date is required. If neither box is ticked, Insight will allow any reasonable date
Text
- Enter the Name and Description, and enter the Order number
- The Max Length field can be filled in to limit the number of characters users can input in a field. If you leave it as 0, no restrictions will apply
- The Accepts Return field will allow users to fill in multiple lines/paragraphs within that field by hitting the Enter key on their keyboard
- Value Generation should only be amended if you wish to set up a Unique File Number (UFN) field
- Enable Searching will allow users to search using this reference if they amend their search settings
Number
- Enter the Name and Description, and enter the Order number
- Choose the number of decimal places the number should have when filling in for each matter, as well as whether a minimum or maximum amount is needed
Boolean
- Enter the Name and Description, and enter the Order number
- You can choose to enable filtering using this field by ticking Search Filtering. This means that if you amend your search settings (e.g. in Case Enquiry or Matter Posting), you will be able to filter for Matters using this field
- Add multiple Boolean actions to create a tick list
Drop down List
- Enter the Name and Description, and enter the Order number
- The Enable Filtering field will allow users to filter on this field when searching for a matter if they amend their search settings accordingly
- To add the first option, click Add Item and fill in the List Item Name
**Click ‘Add Item’ to add the next item and fill in the name again. Once all items are listed, do not click ‘Add Item’ again, as this will add a blank line, and you will not be able to save unless it is removed**
If you add too many lines, select the item and click ‘Remove Item’ . Once saved, you will not be able to remove an option from the Drop Down options.
Address
- Enter the Name and Description, and enter the Order number
- Once you are happy with your UDFs, click Save in the top left
**Please note that the ‘Remove’ button at the top is only for use when you add a new UDF and want to delete it before you have clicked ‘Save’. Once saved, you cannot delete this UDF**
Filling in your UDFs
Client UDFs
- Go to Cases > Client to enter the Client Maintenance screen
- Search for clients using the Client Lookup
- Select the User Data tab at the bottom of the screen
- Click Save after any changes are made.
Matter UDFs
- Go to Cases > Matter to enter Matter Maintenance
- Search for the matter using the Matter Lookup
- Select the User Defined Data tab at the bottom of the screen
Document Register UDFs
- Go to Cases > Document Registers
- Use the Lookup to search for client and select
- Select a document from the Document Register
- In Related Matters select the User Data tab
- Right click to select either Tab, Edit or All data Views
Contact UDFs
- Go to Cases > Contact
- Use the Contact Lookup to search for contact
- Select the User Data section
**You would use this type of UDF for information you need to store against the contact that does not relate to a specific matter. These fields are not able to be pulled through into any Insight templates. Instead, you would need to use a Linked Contact UDF**
Linked Contact UDFs
**If you set up a Linked Contact UDF, you can input the information for this field within Case Enquiry as long as the contact has been allocated to the matter.
See our How to Assign a Contact to a Matter guide for more details**
Using UDFs with Templates
Client, Matter, and Linked Contact UDFs can be input into your document/email/FormEvo templates if you wish to pull this information through. These fields will be available to select/input within User Defined Fields groups.
- Go to System
- Choose Documents In Template Definitions
- Select the document you wish to add UDF fields to
For Client UDFs
- Within Documents go to the Fields section and click Client
- Select User Defined Fields
For Matter UDFs
- Go to the Fields section
- Select User Defined Fields
For Linked Contact UDFs
- Go to Fields' and select Contacts
- Pick the applicable type of Contact
- Select User Defined Fields
Reporting using UDFs
- Matter UDFs can be included on the Matter Listing report under Reporting > Matter Listing by selecting the column option User Data
- Choose the field you wish to view on the report
- Click once on the relevant UDF, and you may be given the option to filter using that field, depending on the type of field selected. If you do not wish to filter, leave the filter section blank and close the pop-up window
- When you run this report, the UDF will have its own column
Searching using UDFs
- Users can amend their search settings within the Case Enquiry and Matter Posting screens by clicking on the gear icon
- If you have enabled searching or filtering when setting up your UDFs, they will be available in the ‘User Data’ tab. You can select the fields you wish to search by and/or filter on
- Ensure you save once you are done
Unique File Numbers (UFN)
- If you set up a UDF for a Unique File Number (UFN), you can then generate the UFN for the matter within Matter Maintenance or Case Enquiry
- The UFN field will be shown in the User Data tab. Click on the gear icon to generate the number, and then click Save
- Once a UFN has been generated and saved against a matter, it cannot be removed and cannot be used again on another matter as the value must always be unique