Custom fields

Custom fields offer businesses a flexible, customisable tool for gathering employee information. You can utilise this tool within your platform in 3 ways: 

• To collect information from employees or potential candidates during onboarding. 
  • Some example use cases for this would include capturing:
    • Car registration details
    • Vaccination records (helpful if your organisation sits within the healthcare industry)
    • Additional medical questions
    • Pronouns
• To gather information from employees after onboarding and throughout employment.
  • Some example use cases for this would include capturing:
    • Uniform sizes
    • ID numbers and details for external software
    • Frequent flier details (helpful if your employees travel for work)
• To create additional fields that are hidden from employees, allowing admins to input or note down information visible only to other admin users. 
  • Some example use cases for this would include capturing:
    • Uniform or PPE provided to employees
    • Office access cards provided to employees 
    • Tech equipment or tools for work provided to employees

Custom fields allow you to capture any information you need. You can add, use, edit, or modify the captured fields to suit any purpose relevant to your business.

  Permission Reminder: You must have the 'Manage Custom Fields' permission enabled in your access to complete the following actions.

To create a new custom field:

1. From the main menu, navigate to Platform Settings > Custom Fields and select Add Custom Field. 

   

2. Use the Section Heading to title your Custom Field. 
3. Select a type of field to add from the dropdown menu, and you will then be prompted to enter a Field label. 
   
   The field label is the name of the field and should reflect the data you expect people to enter. Add as many fields as needed, just remember to select Add field after each choice. 
   
   The available field types include: 
   • Numeric Field - Allows the entry of numerals only. Suitable for capturing mobile or membership numbers. 
   • Text Field - Allows the entry of free text. This will display as a single line, making it ideal for short answers.
   • Long Text Field - Allows the entry of free text. This will display as a larger area than the previous and is suitable for longer responses.
   • Dropdown (Single) - Allows selection of one option from a drop-down menu.
   • Dropdown (Multiple) - Allows selection of multiple options from a drop-down menu.
   • Date Picker - Allows you to select a date. Dates can be in the past, present, or future.
   • File Upload - Allows the uploading of a file to be associated with the field.
     
       Hot tip: You can add the File Upload field multiple times to upload multiple documents. The maximum number of file uploads is 5. 
4. Optionally enable the following toggles:
   • Has Valid Till Date - This will add a date field to the custom field. Only a future date may be selected. 
   • Includes Financial or Sensitive information - Enabling this toggle will hide the information collected from admins who do not have financial permissions. 
     
       Hot tip: If this selection is enabled, the field is visible to employees (the option below). The custom field will be located in the Employee App under View Profile > Financial Details (safeguarded behind MFA). 
      

   • Visible In Employee Portal - Enabling this toggle displays the custom field to the employee in the Employee App under View Profile > Other, where they can edit the field as needed. 
     
       Hot Tip: Having this disabled will allow admins to leave information in these fields while keeping it hidden from the employee. 

     

5. Select Save Section to create your custom field. 

Edit a custom field

Your custom fields can be updated at any time to ensure the information you capture about your employees remains accurate and up to date. If needed, you can easily edit an existing custom field to reflect changes as they occur.

 Please note: Editing to add any additional fields will not automatically prompt employees to update their previous responses. We recommend utilising one of our communication tools to update your staff. 

To edit a custom field:

1. From the main menu, navigate to Platform Settings > Custom Fields. 
2. Select the edit pencil icon next to the custom field you wish to update. 
3. From here, you can easily edit and update the Section Heading and: 
   • Add additional fields
   • Enable or disable the toggles
4. Select the edit pencil icon next to any existing fields to edit, update, or delete the fields. 
   
    Please note: Custom fields can’t be reordered, so it’s best to plan any changes in advance. If you’re updating or removing fields or drop-down options, keep in mind that this will also remove the related data. To be on the safe side, you may wish to export your data first. For more guidance, see the Reporting secton below.
5. Save Section when done.

Custom fields may be deleted if need be. However, before deleting any custom fields, please be aware of the following considerations:

• Deleting a custom field will also delete any data associated with it.
• Deleting a field within a custom field will also delete the data associated with it.
• It is best practice to export your custom field data before deleting anything to preserve the record.

Check out our section below on Reporting on custom fields to learn more about how to export your custom fields to preserve a record. 
 

To delete a custom field:

1. From the main menu, navigate to Platform Settings > Custom Fields. 
2. Select the edit icon next to the custom field name. 
3. Select Delete Section.

Custom fields can be added to your employee onboarding process. This allows you to collect information seamlessly from your employees or prospective candidates directly during their onboarding. 

 Please note: If your platform is currently being built, you can reach out to your Implementations Manager to have these fields added. 

If your business is live and you are actively using your platform, you can reach out to our support team to have your custom fields added to your onboarding steps. However, before doing so, we recommend you take a moment to consider the following questions to ensure you provide the necessary details, so the field can be added to your onboarding correctly. 

• Which step of the onboarding journey do you want this custom field applied to?
• Is there an existing or new heading this field should sit beneath?
• Is this a mandatory field that must be completed?
• Should this field be visible to all employees or candidates who go through onboarding? 
  • If the answer to this is yes, the team will use Tags to determine who should be able to see the field. Please ensure you let the team know what tag(s) to assign here. 

  Contact us: You can reach out to our Support Team directly by either emailing help@foundu.com.au or submitting an online ticket from our form here. 

The GIF below shows an example of what a custom field could look like to an employee during the onboarding process. 

As an admin user, you can add, edit, or remove custom field data associated with your employees. This is possible for all custom field data, whether the custom field is configured to be editable by employees or not.

For the most part, if a custom field is visible to the employee, they can update its details in their Employee App. This can be done from 2 different places, depending on how the custom field has been configured:

• Profile > Financial Details - Custom fields with the toggles 'Includes Financial or Sensitive Information' & 'Visible In Employee Portal' selected will appear here. This menu is protected by MFA. 
• Profile > Other - Custom fields with the toggle 'Visible in the employee portal' selected will appear here.

  If you are looking for a guide to pass along to your employees on how to do this, we have a dedicated employee help guide here. 

  Permission Reminder: To add or update custom field data on behalf of an employee, you will need to have 'Edit Employee Details And Configuration' enabled in your user permissions. 
 

To add or edit custom field data for an employee:

1. Navigate to the employee profile > Employee Card > Custom Fields.
2. To update the custom fields, select the edit pencil icon next to Custom Fields.
3. Here, you can either:
   • Update the existing custom fields - Apply your changes to the available fields.
   • Delete the custom field - Select the red 'X' to remove them. 
     
      Please note: A warning will appear when you hover over the red 'X' to let you know that any employee data associated with that custom field will be deleted from the platform once the field is removed from the employee's profile. 
      
   • Add a new field - Select Add Field and choose from the list. 
4. To apply your changes, select Save. 

  Hot Tip: You can add employee custom field information in bulk using our CSV Import tool. You can learn more about how to action this in our dedicated section below!

If you have already collected information from your employees using your custom fields, there are 2 places you can view it:

• The individual employee profile by navigating from their profile overview to Employee Card > Custom Fields, or
• The People page CSV Export.

If you want to view this information across multiple employees at once, your best option is to run the CSV Export from one of the People pages. 

  Hot Tip: This export can also help you when using our CSV Import tool to bulk update existing employee information or import employee data you may have captured externally. You can read more about how to do this in the section below. 
 

To export custom field data:

1. Navigate to People > Approved or Pending People.
2. From here, you can optionally filter your employees to target a specific group or leave it as is to capture everyone in your export. 
3. Select Bulk actions > Export All Filtered, and from the Export CSV drawer that appears, find and select the Custom Fields you would like to view. You can select the field name to export all information, or alternatively select individual fields to export and view the information associated with only those specific items. Your fields will be listed with the term 'Custom Field' preceding them. 
   • For example, if your Custom Field name is 'Uniform Details, you will find it in this list as 'Custom Fields Uniform Details'. 
4. Additionally, to assist you with viewing this information once exported, select the following options: 
   • Employee ID
   • Full Name
     
       Hot Tip: Select Save as template to quickly and easily run this export again in the future if needed. 
5. Select Export CSV to gather your data. If you are exporting a lot of information, this may take a few minutes to complete. You can find and download your export by selecting the green tick in the top-right corner of your platform, next to your notifications bar. 

If at any point in your platform lifecycle you need to bulk update employee custom field information, it is super easy with our CSV Import tool. 

This tool is particularly useful for new businesses on our platform, as it will greatly assist you in bringing over existing information you may have captured. 

 Please note: If any of your custom fields contain file upload components, these components are not supported by this import feature. To upload any files to custom fields, this needs to be actioned individually, either by the employee in their Employee App or by an admin manually from the employee's profile.
 

Using the bulk import

Before using this import, you will need to gather your employee ID numbers. This can be done by using the export tool highlighted in the section above. We recommend you gather this information first, then return to this section and follow the steps outlined below. 

  Permission Reminder: To use this import, you will need to have 'Access CSV Import' enabled in your user permissions. 
 

To bulk import custom field information:

1. From your main menu, navigate to Import/ Export > CSV Import.
2. From the drop-down field, find and select Employee Custom Fields. 
3. You will need to know your custom field ID and component ID numbers. To gather this information, select Export Current Custom Fields. 
   • Additionally, you can also Download Sample, to view an example of what this export should look like. 
     
     

4. Download Blank File, and fill in the fields as required. 
   
    Please note: If your custom field has multiple components, you will need to add these as individual line items in your CSV File. You can see an example of how this looks in the CSV File below, using the custom field for Uniform Details, which has 2 components: Shirt Size and Boot Size. 

   

   

5. Once you have filled in your CSV File, save the document, but do not close it until your file has been successfully uploaded. 
6. Back in your platform, Choose file and select the CSV document you just completed. Select Import CSV. If the import is successful, a green bar will appear to indicate it. 

Data validation

When importing data into foundU, the data must be provided in the correct format. Below, you will find all the information you need about the included columns in this import and the accepted formats for editable data. 

 Please note: All columns in this import are mandatory and must be filled out when using it.