Importing Custom Fields

By using custom fieldsYou can use custom fields to extend the range of standard data fields in the WorkflowMax database. These custom fields can then be used in custom reports - ensuring that you get maximum value from your reports. Custom fields can be added to any of the following data tables: Clients, Contacts, Jobs, Job Costs, Tasks, Leads, Suppliers and Time Sheets. you can extend the basic data fields provided in WorkflowMax data tables. For further details of field types, see custom fields.

Once you have defined one or more custom fields, you can include those fields when you import data into WorkflowMax.

When to create custom fields

Some data tables do not support the Update Existing? feature. This means they can effectively have data imported only once – usually during system setup.

So, if you wish to use custom fields on those data tables, you should add custom fields to them before you start creating or importing data.

The import instructions for each data table indicate whether or not Update Existing? is supported.

Field names

When you are setting up your import data file, the column header for each custom field must be in a specific format:

TableName.Fieldname

  • TableName is the name of one of the following data tables: Client, Contact, Lead or Supplier
  • Fieldname is the name of the custom field you have created.

For example, if you have set up a custom field named Birthday in the Client data table, the column header would be Client.Birthday. If the column header is not correct then that field will be ignored.

Any errors relating to a custom field value will not affect the core record being imported. It will only result in that specific custom field value not being imported and a warning will be displayed.

Data imports that support custom fields

Three data imports allow data to be imported into custom fields.

  • Client (can import client data and contact data for those clients)
  • Supplier (can import supplier data and contact data for those suppliers)
  • Lead (can import lead data and client or contact data for those leads)

Example custom fields import

Here's an example of how you might set up three custom fields:

  • Birthday – to be used for client contacts, supplier contacts and lead contacts
  • Industry – to be used for clients and suppliers
  • Email Response – to be used for leads.

To import data for these fields into specific data tables, you need to add the required dataTableName.Fieldname heading to the headings used in the import file. For example:

  • To set up the Birthday custom field to be imported as part of a Client import, you would need to add the heading: Contact.Birthday to the column headers used in the Client import file.
  • To set up the Birthday custom field to be imported as part of a Supplier import, you would need to add the heading: Contact.Birthday to the column headers used in the Supplier import file.

Contact custom fields will only be imported if a contact is actually created as part of the import, or if the contact already exists.

As Lead imports allow client, contact and lead data to be imported, you could import data into all three of these custom fields: Client.Industry, Contact.Birthday and Lead.Email Response when importing lead data.

The Lead import file headers would look like this:

Name,Client,Contact,Description,Estimated Value,Client.Industry,Contact.Birthday,Lead.Email Response,Address1,Address2,City,Region,PostCode,Country,PostalAddress1,PostalAddress1,PostalCity,PostalRegion,PostalPostCode,PostalCountry,Phone,ContactPhone,ContactMobile,ContactEmail

And an actual data record in the import file might look like this (notice the matching headings and data items in italic text):

Monthly accounts,Takapuna Taxonomy,Geof,,10000,Accounting,1/10/1960,Yes,11 Huron,Takapuna,Auckland,North Shore,6260,New Zealand,PO Box 87,Takapuna,Auckland,North Shore,6260,New Zealand,4806488,4806648,21553355,geof@tt.co.nz

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