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About Fieldcode Dynamics
This specific feature set is only available for customers with an Enterprise plan.
Fieldcode Dynamics is a great way to extend Fieldcode by specific use cases, digitalize processes related to Field Service, or build fully featured solutions that are not or only partially related to Field Service, such as Asset Management, Contract Management, Partner Management, Surveys and Evaluations, Customer Self-Help processes, and other, almost unlimited, possibilities.
In this usage scenario, we want to demonstrate the range of functions, possibilities, and power of Fieldcode Dynamics by creating a Contract Management model together to get you more familiar with this exciting Feature.
Please be advised that adequate permissions must be set to access all the Fieldcode Dynamics-related features.
As usual, admins can access the full feature set by default, but you can configure access to your liking. Check the Permissions page for details.
Required Enterprise Permissions:
- Admin panel/Navigation menu/Dynamics
- Admin panel/Navigation menu/Automations
- Work place/Dynamics
Fieldcode Dynamics Scenario
You will learn how to:
- Create your own Object
- Configure the Contract Lifecycle and Contract Process
- Define the visual layout of the contract details
- Start to utilize your new contract model
- Explore additional settings
In the following sections, we guide you through the individual requirements and even additional steps you could pursue to cover a successful case of Dynamics. We will learn together how to model an object to a contract in Fieldcode and how to utilize it. In this guided scenario you will learn how to puzzle the pieces together to create your very first custom contract object.
1. Create your own object
To start working with custom objects, the first thing you need to do is create your object data model. The model defines the key characteristics of your custom object, the fields and potential relationships to other objects, and more. Later, you will define how these fields are populated and updated with values throughout the object’s lifecycle.
1.1 Add contract fields and relations
- Open the Admin panel and click on Models.
- Inside the Objects page click on the Plus button to configure your contract object.
- Enter the object name in the Parameters section and call it "contract".
- Enter "contractId" as a primary identifier.
- What we do now, is to start to add the fields by clicking on the Plus button inside the middle section.
- The fields you add should all be available inside the X-Pool and should all be searchable inside the X-Pool, therefore you activate both toggles.
The X-Pool is a custom component, which you will create later in the process (3.2). - Let's create our first field!
Enter "contractType" as a field name. - Enter "Type of contract" as a field label.
- Select "Text" as a field type.
- Select "Select" as an input type.
- Select the "Multi-select" checkbox.
- Add a "Limited" value.
- Add a "Permanent" value.
- (Optional) - If you want to go further, you can add more fields. For example, you could also add the fields on the right side as inspiration and make your model more robust. But you don't have to.
Tip: You can check the (2.1) picture to "preview" if you are doing well with the creation of your fields. - Click on Save. Congratulations! You have just successfully created your first object field! A contract, however, usually has many more fields, so for the sake of this scenario, we won't add all.
Note before saving: You can only remove or edit fields from your model before pressing Save. Once the model has been saved, field settings can still be adjusted, and new fields can be added, but as of now, existing fields cannot be removed.
Please note that after clicking on Save, the system automatically creates the following for each new model:
- Workflow: A basic workflow will be created with just one workflow node. You will need to continue configurations from there later on. For our scenario, the workflow name that will be created will be “CONTRACT_BASIC”.
- Workflow status field: There is no need to add a Status field to your model, it’s generated automatically and will be used by the workflow. They are not visible on the frontend.
- Project field: There is no need to add a Project field to your model, it’s generated automatically. They are not visible on the frontend.
- Default form (with “Action type: CREATE”): This form contains all your object fields and if you don’t create a custom form, this default form will open when you create a new object record.
2. Configure the Contract Lifecycle and Contract Process
We now have the contract object in the system, and in the next step, we’re going to configure what’s needed to process contracts in the system. The following requirements should be met, depending on the purpose you want to achieve:
- Being able to create contracts: The CREATE contract form shall be in place
- Being able to edit contracts: The EDIT contract form shall be in place
- Being able to process contracts, and update their status: Workflow Config
For illustration, we will configure the workflow with the following contract states and actions:
In the following steps, we’ll show you step-by-step how to configure the contract process.
2.1 (Optional) - Configure the Create Forms for your custom object
Fieldcode provides you with a default form for all your objects. This form contains all the fields you've added to your object, and unless you specify otherwise, it will open when you create a new object record.
This is what the Create form would look like for the contract object example - with all your fields added:
However, you can create your own "Create form" on the Forms page of the Admin panel, just as you can for tickets.
All you need to do now is add a new form inside the form creator, give it a name (yourname_create), load your object (yourname_contract), and select the "Create" action type. Your form will be pre-populated with your fields, and you can now adjust it. Then you simply save it, and it should appear in the forms list.
For example, for contracts, you may not want to have the "Termination reason" field on the contract creation form, so you could for example customize and remove this field from your already existing "Create Contract" form:
You would remove the termination reason with the trash button if you want to delete this field.
And you could additionally add a filter for signature-related information only if the signed is true:
As a result the "Create Contract" form is adapted properly and should look as follows after your changes:
If it is signed, the fields related to the signature would also be displayed:
2.2 Configure the Edit forms which are used by workflow buttons
The easiest and often most convenient way to edit data fields on your objects is to use “Edit” forms:
- You need to specify the edit form(s) and the list of data fields available for editing.
- And then use a workflow button that can open an edit form. If you want to be more specific about which fields are editable during the lifecycle of the object, you can create forms for each purpose (e.g. a specific edit form when the contract is in a new state with relevant contract details and limit field editing to e.g. contract cancellation data when the contract is already active).
In this scenario, for simplicity’s sake, we will only specify one contract “Edit” form, which will be accessible for all contract statuses except the status “Closed”.
As usual, you have to select the "Object" contract, which will bring you all the fields available under contract.
2.3 Configure the Contract Workflow
If you open the Workflows page, you will see that the CONTRACT_BASIC workflow has already been created, with only one simple node.
To continue from here and make own custom adjustments to the workflow, you will currently need to contact Fieldcode Support.
And this is how the workflow parameters for the basic contract look like:
The workflow we configured for the contracts scenario looks as follows in the system. Let's have a look on the list view and the tree view of the contracts workflow.
On this right side, you can check the list view of the contracts workflow.
On this right side, you can check the tree view of the contracts workflow.
3. Visual Configuration
When you work with Fieldcode, you will notice that we apply certain styling standards to our user interface, including color palettes, fonts, and more. We’ve introduced themes that allow you to customize the styling to your liking.
You will find the default Fieldcode theme when you open the Themes page.
You cannot edit the default theme, but you can create your own.
3.1 Create Inline Forms as building units of the layout
Inline forms provide the building blocks for the visual layout of your object records. An inline form is a unit of your object detail component (such as a tab/sub-tab or header layout).
Important notes when building inline forms:
- Form name: You can define the form name to identify the correct form later when you look at the list of your custom forms. For example, the name "ContractFirstprojectHeader" can work for the contract object header for the "Firstproject" project.
- Action type: Defines the purpose of the inline form's building block. For example, for a contract details header, the action type is "HEADER", for the signoff details, the action type is "SIGNOFF".
- Tags: Tags control the scope of the inline form. The first time you create an inline form under a specific action type for your object, you must leave the Tags untouched (empty), so that this is provided as the default layout. If you want to define a specific layout for a workflow or project, after you've created a default inline form, create another specific inline form with the same action type. This allows you to change the appearance even on a workflow or project level.
Visual concept for “Building the layout”:
Visual concept for a project-based form (building up on the default form):
Visual concept for another project-based form (building up on the default form):
Let’s jump back to our contract scenario:
When you think about how to structure the contract information on the UI, you may begin to realize the following building blocks are required:
- Header: The header should be added to the header of the Contract Details component. It will contain only the most important contract identification data.
- Overview: The overview should contain the general contract details.
- Sign-off: The sign-off should contain all around the contract signatures information.
Action type: HEADER:
Action type: OVERVIEW:
Action type: SIGNOFF:
SIGNOFF: Applicable field filters:
Field filters and field validation examples:
Field filter:
- Account name: It could indicate the partner account (company) with which you signed the contract. It doesn’t apply to employment contracts.
- More examples to follow with upcoming releases, stay tuned!
- More examples to follow upcoming releases, stay tuned!
3.2 Design the layout inside the custom Create component
To work with custom objects inside the Work place, we’ve introduced two brand-new components:
- X-Pool: It displays the object records with the columns made available in the pool in your model definition. To use the X-Pool component, you do not need to perform any additional tasks as it is provided out of the box.
- X-Details: It displays the details of the object. The component is made up of inline form building blocks. To view the object details, you must build it by creating a new component.
Open the Create component window, and select the contract object:
Then check out the Forms tab, you will see the list of inline forms already created for the contract.
Drag and drop them in the middle section to build your details.
In our example, we've prepared two separate inline forms for the Overview and Sign-off-related details, so we can arrange them here on two separate tabs. You can easily add tabs and subtabs as needed:
The History tab is provided by default and is an integral part of the component, you can't remove it, but you can reorder the tabs by simply dragging and moving them. On the right side, you can rename your tab to match its content.
This is how the Signoff tab could look for example:
3.3 Create custom view
If you’ve been wondering where and how to view custom object records in Fieldcode, here’s the answer. Inside the Work place View designer, you can add the X-Details and X-Pool components and create your own custom objects view. X-Pool and X-Details are generic components that act as a container for all your objects. Of course, the layout and data content of your view will vary depending on your previous model and component settings.
So how do you actually add these components to the Work place? Let’s take a look:
Open the View designer inside the Work place and create a new view:
Select X-Pool and then X-Details from the list of components:
We recommend the following setup, which can be adapted to your usual screen resolution and the amount of data to be displayed:
After you create the view, you should be able to select this view inside your Work place:
To see the records created for your custom object now, you have to select your model:
Since you’ve just configured everything, you won’t see any records yet, but everything is now in place to earn the fruits of your object.
4. Start to utilize your new contract model
It’s time to add object records and earn the fruits of the configuration efforts you’ve made up to this point -> 🍇 🍈 🍉 🍊 🍋 🍌 🍍 🥭 🍎 🍏
4.1 Create new records for your custom object
Simply click on the Create Object Record menu inside Work place:
It opens the CREATE form of the custom object. If you haven't configured a create form, it opens the default form with all the fields of your object. Select the object:
Select the project:
Now you can check again if you are satisfied with your custom Create form and start creating your first records if that's the case!
Let's check the results:
4.2 Process the contract workflow
Custom objects are also available on the Workflow Monitoring page, so if you experience unexpected workflow problems, visit this page and check issues.
Workflow Monitoring:
5. Explore additional settings
You can do even more with your objects, for example by integrating automated actions or system connections. Let’s take a short, exemplary look at exploring additional options.
Please note that for further fine-tuning, you can also always contact Fieldcode Support.
5.1 Integrate Automated Actions
Under Automated Actions, you can configure the specific actions that will be executed by the workflow, so you can send emails, SMS, or add an ‘info’ to your item. The automated action must be created on the Automated Actions page and will then be triggered in the workflow as it is set up.
For our contract example, let’s create an action that can automatically create info about the contract when it is signed. This way, later on in the contract history, we’ll be able to see the details related to the signature at the moment the contract was signed.
Open the Automated Actions page and create a new Custom Object Contract action:
Once you've selected the object, select the Create info action. Enter the name for your action and select the contract object from the dropdown.
Enter the details of the information you want to add. In our example we add the information by whom the contract has been signed. This info should be displayed as a ticket info inside the system, so model users understand that the contract has been signed.
Tip: You can use the '@' sign on your keyboard to add variables to the message.
Once you have saved your action, it will be available for the contract workflow to trigger the execution of the action. You will need to go to the Workflows page and add the action to the contract workflow.
Workflow before:
Workflow after:
After the workflow has been configured, an info will be added for contracts from now on whenever the SIGNED status is reached:
5.2 Integrate Dynamic Lists
You can automate data entry or reduce repetitive manual tasks by using lists.
Imagine that in the world of contracts, you often work with the same companies over time. You want to keep the company data consistent across multiple records, and if you’ve already filled in the company data once, you don’t want to fill it in again, you just want to reuse what you already have. Lists can help you achieve this. You would simply create a list of partner companies. Therefore you would prepare an Excel file and upload the data. Let’s check it out:
- Inside the Lists page click the Plus button and click on the Create list via excel upload button.
- Click on the Choose File button and select the companies list.
- Enter "CompaniesList" as a name.
- Enter for example "VAT_ID" as a unique column name.
- Click on the Save button.
This is how the imported list looks like if you use the above template:
Now that the list is imported, the only thing left is to make it available for use. Therefore, we need to add our dynamic list to our contract model:
- On the Objects page, select your model from the list, and click on the Add dynamic list button.
- Ensure that "Collection" is de-selected.
- Enter "companyName" as a Field name.
- Enter "Company Name" as a Field label.
- Select the "CompaniesDemo" list from the Related list drop-down.
- Select "Address" from the Display text drop-down.
This is how the field should be implemented inside your object:
Now you can also update your Edit form inside the Forms page and drag and drop the field to the spot where it makes the most sense.
