Sometimes you’ll want to store information about an organisation beyond the standard fields. If splitting organisations into sub-directories won’t do it, you can add your own custom fields to a directory.

Add a custom field

1. Open the Organisations tab and choose ‘Change the organisation notes available for the [directory name] directory’.
2. Choose ‘Add another field to the group’. You’ll be asked to check the field doesn’t already exist; this prevents duplicates, so look carefully before continuing, then confirm the data isn’t already present.
3. Fill in the field’s properties (below) and click ‘Add new note’.

The field options

• Field user type: set to organisation for a field about the organisation itself, or staff role for one about its staff.
• Field data type: the kind of data the field holds, such as a date.
• Sensitive field: only visible in the web office to administrators holding the Sensitive Fields permission.
• Can be updated by editors of organisations: lets organisation editors fill this in themselves; it then also appears on the organisation registration form.
• Mandatory on user-side: makes the field required (only available if editors can update it).
• Visible via directory listings: shows the field in the directory listing on your site.
• Text Options: validation options that vary with the data type, to keep entries in the right format.

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Good to know

• Choose the field data type carefully. It can’t be changed once data has been entered, so to correct it you’d need to add a new field.
• Mark a field sensitive if it holds anything you wouldn’t want every administrator to read. An ordinary custom field isn’t protected, so the tick is what does the work, not the fact that it’s a custom field.