Use custom reporting fields to capture, analyse, and report on data that is not already included in the Contract Management, Procurements, or Vendors modules. This data can be captured against Contracts, Procurements, and Vendors. This article walks through setting up the fields and enabling them for use.
Prerequisites
Role: System Administrator.
Custom reporting fields can be set up for Contracts, Procurements, and Vendors.
Set up Custom Reporting Fields (Questions)
Custom reporting fields are configured as questions using the Questionnaire Builder, with one questionnaire per module (Contracts, Procurements, or Vendors).
Navigate to the relevant module (Contracts, Procurements, or Vendors).
Click on the Manage Module tab in the top right to open the module settings.
Under the General tab, click to expand the Custom Reporting Fields section.
Click the View / Setup custom reporting fields button. This will open the Questionnaire Builder which you will use to build out your list of questions.
Optional: You can choose to enable the use of Categories. If you are collecting various sets of data, you might like to categorise your questions to group all related questions together. Once enabled, you can define your list of categories and the order they will appear in.
To add a new question, click on the + button on the right-hand side of the Questions table.
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Complete the question details and requirements as per below:
Select a Category (if using).
Define the Question.
Select the Answer Type (how someone will answer the question) from the options available (yes / no, drop-down, etc.).
Select if you want to include Guidance Documents (if enabled, you can attach documents for the user's reference when answering the question).
Choose to Allow document upload (if enabled, users can upload documents as part of their response).
Choose to make a Response Mandatory (if enabled, users must answer the question to complete the contract setup, this is not applicable on vendor record creation).
Define the selectable Options (these are the options available for the user to select as their response; this is only applicable if you've selected one of the 'Drop-down', 'Tabstrip', 'Yes / No' or 'Range' answer types).
Click on Save and Close in the top-right corner to save your question. Repeat the same steps above to keep adding your questions.
Managing Questions
Under the questions table are two additional sections:
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Bulk Functions:
Show Export / Import functions: This reveals the export / import options which allows you to export a questions template which can then be updated and imported to create questions in bulk.
Show all question data: Reveals all the settings per question in the table.
Show delete all questions: Reveals a button to delete all questions.
Re-Synchronise questions: This will update all contracts with the updated questions (which doesn't happen automatically). Deleted questions are not automatically removed and will need to be done contract by contract.
Enable Custom Reporting Fields
After setting up your questions, you need to enable the use of the 'Custom reporting fields'. Once enabled, users can begin capturing data against these fields.
In the relevant module settings, under the General tab, click on the Custom Reporting Fields heading (where you setup your questions).
Check the box to Enable custom reporting fields.
Enabling for Contract Types
You can enable custom reporting fields for all Contract Types, or a selection of them.
To enable for all Contract Types: Click on the Enable on setup for all Contract types button.
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To enable for specific Contract Types:
While in the Contract Management module settings (selecting Manage Module from the Contracts Dashboard), click on the General tab.
Click on the Custom Reporting Fields heading to expand the settings.
Click on the Contract Type you want to enable custom reporting fields for. This will open the configuration settings for that Contract Type.
Under the Other setup details section, click to enable Custom Reporting Fields.
Click on Save and Close in the top-right corner. Repeat the same process for all contract types where you want to enable the custom reporting fields.
Enabling for Procurement Processes
You can enable custom reporting fields for all Procurement Processes, or a selection of them.
To enable for all Procurement Processes: Click on the Enable in planning for all processes button.
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To enable for specific Procurement Processes:
While in the Procurement Planning module settings (selecting Manage Module from the Contracts Dashboard), click on the General tab.
Click on the Custom Reporting Fields heading to expand the settings.
Click on the Procurement Process you want to enable custom reporting fields for. This will open the Process tab for that Procurement Process.
Under the Plan section, click on Additional Information to enable custom reporting fields. You can change the order where it shows up but it must be within the Plan phase.
Click on Save and Close in the top-right corner. Repeat the same process for all contract types where you want to enable the custom reporting fields.
Add Custom Reporting Fields to Tabular Reports
Each question included in your questionnaire represents a reportable field.
While viewing the Questionnaire Builder (see Steps 1-4 in Section 1 to access), click to open the question you want to add to your tabular report.
Under the Question, click on the Add to report heading to display a textbox which will include the 'code' you need to add this field to a report. Click on the field, which will highlight all of the text and copy the ‘code’.
Navigate to the tabular report you want to edit.
Open the profile properties by clicking on the window icon in the top-left corner.
Beside Columns click on the Edit button, which will open a pop-up with all existing columns.
Towards the bottom of the pop-up, click the Add Advanced button to add a new column and give the column a name.
Beside Column Definition Filter click on Edit, then select Advanced from the drop-down.
Paste in the ‘code’ you copied earlier.
Select Ok to finalise the new column details, then click to Save the tabular report.
Results / Validation
Viewing and Entering Data
Contracts: When a user is creating a new contract, and the Contract Type they've selected has the 'custom reporting fields' enabled, there will be an Other Details step included in the Contract Setup where they will be prompted to answer the questions. Once the setup of the contract has been completed and it moves into the 'management' phase, custom reporting fields can be found at the bottom of the Details tab when viewing a Contract.
Procurement: When a user is creating a new procurement plan and the Procurement Process they've selected has the 'custom reporting fields' enabled, there will be an Additional Details step included in the planning phase where they will be prompted to answer the questions.
Vendors: For a Vendor record, the custom reporting fields are also found at the bottom of the page.
Any data already entered can be viewed or edited here, and any new data can also be entered. To edit or add new data, click on the View/Edit Custom Reporting Fields button - this will open all questions in a pop-up. Make any necessary changes then click on Save and Close in the top-right corner.
What's Next / Related
Troubleshooting (Top Issues)
My new question is not showing up on existing Contracts: Custom reporting fields are not automatically updated on existing contracts. You must use the Re-Synchronise questions function in the Questionnaire Builder to update existing contracts.
I cannot delete a question from an existing Contract: Deleted questions are not automatically removed by the Re-Synchronise questions function and will need to be done contract by contract.
I don't see the custom fields when setting up a Contract or Procurement: Ensure you have completed both the Set up Custom Reporting Fields (Section 1) and the Enable Custom Reporting Fields (Section 2) steps.