Introduction
User additional fields allow you to collect information about your users, besides the standard data needed for user creation (Username, Name, Surname, E-mail, User Level). Additional fields can be either filled by the platform administrator or by the users themselves. This article explains how to create and manage additional fields for users.
Use case scenarios
If your company wants to provide a dynamic and custom experience for their various types of users, as a Superadmin you need to identify specific user segments in the platform to target an audience for various Admin actions such as course enrollment, course catalog visibility, page/menu visibility, reporting and notification delivery.
In order to identify specific user segments, you can configure several different User additional fields that capture important user attributes. These fields may include information such as Job Title, Hire Date, Department, Location, Manager, Product, Employee Status, or anything else that may be valuable to track within the platform. With these attributes tracked for each user, you can set up groups with an automatic assignment to automate the process of identifying a user segment. You can set up broad-reaching groups that contain only one rule (for example: The “Sales” group should contain anyone whose job title contains the word “Sales”), and also narrow groups with multiple rules (for example: The “Los Angeles Sales Team New Hires” group should contain all users whose Location is Los Angeles, Job Title is Sales, and Hire Date is after x date). By creating multiple groups, you as a Superadmin can easily target various user segments for use in the platform.
Creating a user additional field
In order to create additional fields for users, log into your platform as the Superadmin. Access the Navigation menu. In the People (people icon), press the Users item. Press the ellipsis menu in the upper right corner of the page, then press Related sections and the Additional fields button that appears. On the next page, press the Plus button.
First, give a name to the field. You can translate the field name into multiple languages by pressing the globe icon, and then selecting your preferred language from the list.
In the Field type section, select the type of additional field you want to create:
- Dropdown field: Configure a dropdown field to offer the possibility to select predefined options from a dropdown menu. You can configure up to 500 elements per dropdown.
- Text field: Use a text field to input and store short to medium-length textual information for the content, such as supplementary comments or notes providing additional context or instructions for your learners. You can configure the field to define a maximum character limit and apply validation criteria, such as accepted character types, to ensure data consistency. These validations automatically verify the accuracy of the input at the time of entry, preventing inconsistencies and enhancing reporting and analysis effectiveness.
- Iframe: This feature allows for the integration of multimedia content or external applications seamlessly, enhancing the richness and interactivity of the learning experience without leaving the platform.
- Fiscal code: Use this type of additional field to collect the users' fiscal codes.
- Country: Use this type of additional field to collect the users’ Country of provenance.
- Date: Use dates to manage time-sensitive information other than that already available in the platform.
- File: Use the file upload field to collect documents such as IDs, signed authorizations, portfolios, assignments, or certificates needed for enrollment.
- Yes/No: Use Yes/No fields to quickly collect binary responses, such as consent to terms, confirmation of prerequisites, agreement to policies, or willingness to participate in certain activities.
- Text area: Use this field type to input longer, unstructured text entries. This field offers flexibility in capturing detailed information without constraints on text length or format.
Finally, manage the field settings:
- Mandatory field. This field will be a mandatory field for a user profile. When this option is flagged, the user must fill in this field upon his or her next login to the platform. This option is not available when the selected additional field is Iframe.
- Invisible to the user. This field will not be visible to the user when he or she views his or her own profile. Please note that this field would be invisible to Power Users as well, even if they have permission to edit the user's profile. The field will only be visible to Superadmins.
When you have finished, press Confirm.
Please note. You can create up to 50 user additional fields.
Managing user additional fields
Once an additional field is created, find it in the list of all additional fields. When you hover your mouse over the field's row, the edit and delete icons will appear at the end of the row. Use the search bar at the top to search for specific fields.
You can also organize the order of these additional fields by dragging and dropping the additional field row in the list. The order will be reflected in the Additional Fields tab of the User Management panel when the user is created or edited, and in the self-registration procedure.
If an additional field was added after creating or importing your users, the field will automatically be assigned to the master data file present in the platform. However, in order to update this content, you need to import a new CSV data file for the new field, or you must create a request that prompts users to fill out the new field (if marked as required).
You can do so from the Advanced settings menu (Navigation menu > Configuration (spanner icon) > Platform setup and tools > Advanced settings > Users tab). In this tab, flag the Upon sign in, users are prompted to fill in the mandatory fields related to their profile option.
Please note that if your platform integrates with Salesforce, all users will be associated with the sfdc_user_type and the sfdc_id additional fields, even before running the first synchronization. These additional fields can neither be edited nor removed, since they are used to handle the synchronization process between the two systems.
Remember that user additional fields are also available as tags in the configuration of certificate templates.
Customizing additional fields visibility
If you don’t want to use the same additional fields for all users on the platform, you can customize the visibility of additional fields based on branches of the organizational chart . This makes it possible to have different additional fields depending, for example, on the learner’s country, office, role or other hierarchical category.
Enable additional field visibility based on branches
To enable this option, select Navigation menu > Configuration (spanner icon) > Platform setup and tools > Advanced settings > Users tab. In the Options section, select the check box Apply additional fields visibility based on branch nodes.
Customize the fields for each branch
Now you can set which additional fields you want to have for each branch. Select Navigation menu > People (people icon) > Users to open the Users page.
- In the branches panel on the left, locate the branch you want to configure. Hover your mouse over the branch, click the ellipsis icon that appears and select Set additional fields visibility.
- A panel will open with a list of all the configured additional fields. Select the check box next to each field that you want to apply for users assigned to this branch, and click Confirm.
- Repeat the operation for each branch of the organizational chart as needed.
Each user will now have only the additional fields that you selected for their organizational branch.
Inheritance of additional field visibility
Sub-branches inherit the field visibility of their parent branch. This means that:
- When you set a user additional field as visible for a given branch, its sub-branches will automatically gain visibility of that field.
- Similarly, when you deselect an additional field’s visibility for a given branch, its sub-branches will also lose visibility of that field.
Priority of branch visibility
Branch additional field visibility always takes priority over additional field visibility that is not applied from branch assignment.
- If you place a user in a branch with specific additional fields assigned, and then try to assign that user extra additional fields that are not set for the branch, the user will only see the additional fields set for the branch.
- This also applies when importing or updating users via CSV or SSO.
Superadmin view of user additional fields
As a Superadmin creating or editing users, you will be able to assign users to any branches and view all additional fields.
When editing a user, in the Edit User panel the Additional fields tab will show two sections:
- Additional fields that are associated with the branches to which the user has been assigned: These are the additional fields available for that user, and depend on the branch in which you placed the user.
- Additional fields that are not associated with the branch to which the user has been assigned: These are the remaining additional fields that are not available to that user.
In this way, you can quickly see the additional fields customization for each branch.
Power User view of user additional fields
As a Power User creating or editing users, you will be able to assign users to any branches assigned to you as a resource, and have visibility only on the user additional fields set for the branches assigned to you as resource.
However, there are some exceptions to this rule, set out below:
Power User with no branches assigned:
If a Power User has no branches assigned as resource, when creating or editing a user the Additional fields tab will show all the user additional fields defined in the platform.
Branches with no additional fields assigned:
If a Power User has:
- a branch assigned with no additional fields
- plus a branch assigned with at least one additional field
Then they will see all additional fields when assigning a user to the branch with no additional fields set.
→ note that this will not happen if all the branches assigned have no additional fields.
Therefore, to avoid unexpected visibility of additional fields, ensure that each Power User has at least one branch assigned as resource and that either: i) all assigned branches have no fields set OR ii) no assigned branches are without fields (ie they all have at least one).
Moving users between branches
Please Note: When moving users between branches, some additional field visibility may change, and users may be moved to a branch with mandatory additional fields, meaning that the users will be prompted to complete these additional fields before accessing their platforms again.
Be cautious when performing this action as a Power User or when the Extended Enterprise app is active, as it may restrict the visibility of some branches or additional fields.
Additional user field types
In your platform, multiple field types are available for user additional fields. The field types dictate the format in which the field is populated.
- Dropdown field - This field allows you to create a list of options that can be selected as the additional field value. The maximum number of items that can be included in a dropdown field is 500.
- Text field - This field allows you to add free text (in a single string, including spaces) to populate the additional field value. There is a 255 character limit.
- Iframe - This field allows you to iframe an external web page (as long as the page allows it to be iframed).
- Fiscal code - This is a text field that can be populated with a string of characters, for example to insert a code such as a tax ID or social security number. (It was originally created for the Codice Fiscale for Italian customers).
- Country - This field allows you to populate from a preset list of countries (ISO 3166-1 standard), as the additional field value.
- Date field - This field allows you to add a date as the additional field value. Users will select from a calendar a date to populate the field.
- File field - This field allows you or your users to import a PNG or JPG file to the user's profile. An example may be a user's ID card or license. Please refer to the Best Practices section below for additional information.
- Yes/No field - This field allows you to populate a "Yes" or "No" response as the additional field value.
- Free text (Text area) field - This field allows for population by free text (including spaces and blank rows) as the additional field value. There is a 65,000 character limit.
Additional fields are used to create rules to populate users into groups. Learn more in the article Managing Groups.
Creating an iframe additional field
To create an Iframe additional field, select the Iframe option from the Field Type dropdown menu when creating a new additional field. Then, enter the field name, Iframe URL, Iframe height, salt secret, and Oauth2 client.
The URL and Iframe height are the only mandatory fields, but it’s suggested to enter all of the fields to ensure proper configuration. Flag the field settings (see the previous section if you need more information), then press Confirm.
Some sources of external content may have security mechanisms in place. If this is the case, you may be required to utilize an OAuth client that you have set up in a previous step. You can switch the Advanced Settings toggle to add a Salt secret and Repeat secret for the iFrame. Then, select the OAuth Client from the dropdown menu, if necessary. By providing the salt secret, you are adding a checksum to the data, ensuring that the credentials for this access are maintained securely. If you do not add the salt secret, the iframe content will be launched from your platform without any additional parameters that may be required by the provider of the content. More information on salt secrets (opens in a new tab).
Please note that when a user opens this Iframe in the platform, the username and user ID will be passed to the iframe via POSTMESSAGE. For learners, the Iframe will appear in the Additional Fields section when editing their profiles.
Please note that the Iframe additional field cannot be set as a mandatory field.
Best practices
Choose your fields carefully Remember that user additional fields are primarily used to obtain additional information for reports, creating dynamic groups, and enrolling groups of users automatically to courses.
Keep them updated Make sure that the information for these additional fields are updated and easily retrievable in order to avoid messy platform and user management. For example, if you use a system integration such as ADFS, be sure that all of the additional fields that you want to pass to your learning platform are present. This also applies to CSV updates. Keep your databases consistent.
Visibility By allowing your users to change some user additional fields that visible to them, you can allow them to automatically move from an automatic group to another, and even change which catalogs are visible to them. For example, you could create catalogs divided by different lines of products, roles, or even user seniority (Rookie, Normal, Advanced, Expert), and so on.
Branch additional fields By applying the additional fields to branches based on a domain of the Extended Enterprise, users can see the additional fields that are relevant to their branch only. As the Superadmin, you have the assurance that only the fields necessary for that particular branch are shown and completed by the user.
Stay organized When viewing user additional fields in the User Management area of the platform, you can use filters and various views in order to hide or filter the info you see. This may help you narrow down the info that you're viewing
Watch out for manual entry by learners In some cases, some user information may be difficult to track down in your platform. In this case, set the field as mandatory and grant visibility to the user. At the first login, he or she will be forced to fill in the information to proceed. In order to reduce entry typos, avoid text fields, and use a field where users don’t have to type in responses manually.
Notes about File field additional user field type This additional field is accessible to the user from the My Profile section for editing. A new file can be uploaded only here. To download the existing file, the user can access it from the My Activities widget and then the Additional Info section. Clicking on the file link will download it locally.
As a Superadmin, you can access the file by selecting the user from the Users page in the People (people icon) of the Navigation menu and choosing to edit a user profile. In the Additional Fields step, you will see the fields and you can click on the file link to upload a new file, overwriting the existing one. As an option, you can download the file by accessing the User Personal Summary from the All Users page, by clicking on the ellipsis menu at the end of the user row, and selecting the related option, then moving to the Additional Info tab.
Examples of additional fields Please find below a list of examples of additional fields:
- region
- country
- city
- job title
- company seniority
- role seniority
- performance management
- date of recruitment
- end of contract (expiration date)
- department
- job level
- sex gender