Creating Your Own Custom Fields
One of the most powerful 'hidden' features in HR Partner is the ability to add a large number of custom fields against each employee.
For example, you might notice that we don't by default have a field to record the Annual Salary of an employee. Well, a lot of our customers don't want their HR staff to be able to see this, but some do.
For this reason, we leave it totally up to you which fields you wish to add on and have visible to your team.
Where Are Custom Fields Displayed?
Custom fields are shown on the main Employee profile page, in the center column:
Creating New Custom Fields
You can create your own Custom Fields by going to Setup > Configure > Custom Fields. Then click on the green Add A New Custom Field and a custom window will pop up.
Field Types
There are several field types available in HR Partner.
| Type | Description |
| Text | An alphanumeric field that can store free form text and numbers. Up to 255 characters can be stored in these fields. |
| Number | Round integer numbers can be stored in these fields. Useful for counters or purely numeric serial numbers etc. |
| Decimal | Can contain a decimal number. You can set the number of decimal places. |
| Currency | Similar to decimal fields above, but will display with your local currency symbol and formatting. |
| Checkbox | Shows you a tickbox that allows you to select true or false for the field. Useful for simple yes/no type questions you need to keep for an employee. |
| Date | Date entry field. These fields will pop up a useful calendar selector tool when entering date. |
| Time | Time entry field. These are useful for storing things like expected start/end times for your employees etc. Will pop up a useful time selector tool to make data entry easier. |
| Memo | This is a free form text entry field that can contain multiple lines. You can enter up to 8000 characters in these fields. |
| Selection | These fields can provide a selection list of choices from which you have to pick one answer. The selection list is completely customisable by you. |
Take a look at the example page for some samples of how you can set up your custom fields.
Field Attributes
When defining the fields above, you can also set some extra attributes for each field, such as:| Attribute | Description | Only On Field Type |
| Field Length | The maximum length of the field. You may want to restrict your users to only a certain number of characters | Text, Number, Decimal, Currency |
| Decimal Places | The maximum number of decimal places that the user can enter. | Decimal only |
| Entry Sequence | The order in which the field will appear on the employee edit and view screens. 1 means towards the top, and higher numbers mean towards the bottom. | All |
| Make Mandatory | Ticking this box will mean that the user HAS to enter a value into this field otherwise the edit screen will not save. Useful for critical information that you absolutely HAVE to have. | All |
| Selection Items | If you choose a 'Selection' type field, the you get to enter the individual selections that the user can pick from. Enter each selection on its own line. The very first selection will be the default one chosen. | Selection Only |
Once again, see the example section for how to configure custom fields that you create.
Is there a Limit to the number of Custom Fields an organization can have?
How many custom fields can you add to HR Partner? Well, in theory we don't really set a limit on how many fields you can add, but we strongly suggest you don't go over, say, 20 or 30 fields at the most.
While it is technically possible to add hundreds of fields, this will slow down your system when opening an employee record or printing reports, so we don't recommend that you overdo it.
Using Reports with Custom Fields
Custom fields are also taken into consideration when you print reports. When you print an employee report, the selection criteria will include your custom fields, so you can sub categorise your employees based on data in your custom fields too.