Configuring Custom Data Fields

This article describes the process of creating & maintaining Custom Data Fields within Gatekeeper.

 Restore Visibility

Estimated Read Time: 11 Minutes

Introduction

Custom data allows you to collect and organise unique data that is specific to your business.  Whether you're tracking materiality assessments, information security, or any other critical metrics, custom data gives you the flexibility and control to manage your data in a way that works best for you.

 

This article will cover:

  1. What is Custom Data?
  2. Where to configure Custom Data
  3. The structure of Custom Data
  4. Examples of Custom Data
  5. Creating a Custom Data Group
  6. Creating Custom Data Fields within a Custom Data Group
  7. Depends Upon Dropdown Custom Data Option
  8. Editing existing Custom Data Fields
  9. Deleting Custom Data Fields
  10. Deleting Custom Data Groups
  11. Troubleshooting when deleting fields
  12. Create Custom Tabs

Note: Creating and editing custom data can only be performed by users with sufficient access rights.

They require the 'Administrator' Role, the 'All' Permission, and the 'Configuration' Additional Permission to complete these steps. You can find more information regarding these definitions in this article.

If you require assistance, please reach out to your system administrator or Customer Support Manager.

1. What is Custom Data?

Custom data refers to any type of data that is specific and unique to your business. In Gatekeeper terminology, this is any data requirement that does not fall under our Core Data Model, but still requires additional fields.

Custom data can take many forms, such as materiality assessments, due diligence, commercial information, information security requirements, and much more. 

Because custom data is unique to each organisation or individual, it is highly valuable and can provide a significant competitive advantage when used effectively.

What Records can I create Custom Data against?

There are 4 main records that we can create custom data for:

  • Contract Data
  • Supplier Data
  • User Data
  • Project Data

In addition to these 4 options, we can also create custom data within our Spend and Risk Modules:

  • Spend Data
  • Risk Data

This article will discuss adding custom contract data though this method is applicable to all other custom data types!

2. Where to configure Custom Data

First, select Settings > Configuration

Then select Custom Data

3. The structure of Custom Data

Before adding custom data, we first must understand how custom data is structured in Gatekeeper. There are 2 key concepts within Custom Data, Groups and Fields.

The Group is a top-level header for the Fields to then sit underneath.

The Fields then make up the field requirements underneath the Group.

So, in the below example, 'GDPR & Infosec' is the Custom Data Group, while 'Has access to Personal Identifiable Information?' is a field within that group.

When creating Custom Data, the Group is created first, and then the Fields are added to the Group.


Note: The Custom Data fields can be reordered amongst themselves in the repository, but will always come below the Core Data fields.

4. Examples of Custom Data

Below are some examples of how custom data can be used within Gatekeeper:

Contract Custom Data

  Custom Data Group: GDPR & InfoSec
  Field Name Field Type Depends Upon
  1. Access to Personal Identifiable Information (PII) Dropdown List  
  2. Access to Sensitive Personal Identifiable Information (SPII)

Dropdown List

Show where 1 = yes

  3. Transfer or access data to or from outside of the EU/EEA Yes, No  
  4. Countries/Regions & Data Multi-line Text Show where 3 = yes

Vendor Custom Data

Custom Data Group: IT Vendor Accreditations
Field Name Field Type Depends Upon
1. ISO Certified Yes/No  
2. ISO Cert Attached File Show where 1 = yes

Custom Data Group: Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)

Field Name Field Type Depends Upon
1. Sustainability Program in place Dropdown List  
2. Sustainability Program

Attached File

Show where 1 = yes

3. Modern Slavery Supply Chain Policy in place Yes/No  
4. Modern Slavery Supply Chain Policy Attached File Show where 3 = yes

5. Creating a Custom Data Group

  1. Select Configuration > Custom Data
  2. We then create a Custom Data Group by selecting Add > Add Custom Group
  3. Once you’ve filled out the Custom Data Group Fields with your required information, select ✅ Save.

Remember, the Custom Data Group is the top-level categorisation of your Custom Data Fields.

Option Descriptions

Option Description
Title The name of the Custom Data Group
Allocated to Custom Data can be allocated to the various records within Gatekeeper. 
E.g. Contracts, Suppliers/Vendors, Projects, Users, Spend, & finally, Risk.
Type

We can also apply the Custom Data Group to specific Types.

E.g. Contract Types or Vendor Types. 

Description We can create a top-level description of this group and choose whether we want to display this description to our user base.
**Collapsed by default if selected, this metadata group will be minimised every time a record is opened by a user in the repository. Please note, the user can still expand this section of data to view records.
Editable in Repository If selected, this Custom Data Group will be editable via the Repository (Contract, Supplier, Users, etc)
Editable in Workflows If selected, this Custom Data Group will be editable via Workflows 
Editable via API If selected, this Custom Data Group will be editable when integrating with Gatekeeper via an API.

Editable in Repository, Workflows, & API cannot be changed after the point of creation. If you are unsure, please ensure that all of these are left ticked


** If "Collapsed by Default" is selected, users will need to click to expand the custom group to make the fields visible when browsing records in the Gatekeeper repository (see below contract example):

6. Creating Custom Data Fields

Once your custom data group has been created, you can create fields within that group.

Available field types:

Field Type Field Description
Single line text Up to 255 characters
Multi-line text Up to 20,000 characters
Integer Whole numbers (e.g. 0, 5, 100, -1)
Floating-point Fractional Numbers (e.g. 0.54, 5.33, 100.12, -1.2)
% Percentage E.g. 99.9%
Date E.g. 31-Dec-2022
Yes/No Dropdown with Yes/No options only
Attached File Standard File Upload
Attached file with Expiry Date File Upload with Expiration Date
Monetary E.g. 1000.00GBP, 500USD
Postal Address  
Country  
Website URL  
Dropdown list Allows to select a value from a list
Multi-pick Dropdown list Allows to select value(s) from a list

Steps


1. From within your custom data group simply select Add > Add New Custom Field

Option Descriptions

Options Description
* Depends Upon Please see the section 'Depends Upon' in this document for detailed information.
* Selected Value Please see the section 'Depends Upon' in this document for detailed information.
Label The Name of the field
Type The Type of field. See our Table here for further information
Description Choose whether to display a description against this field. Be sure to tick 'Description visible'!
Text Text will be displayed in an (i) Information Bubble next to the field
Link A website URL will be displayed in an (i) Information Bubble next to the field
Link Text Text to display over the top of the 'Link' setting above. Instead of displaying the URL, we can post the URL behind the Link Text. This will display in an (i) Information Bubble next to the field

2. You can now begin creating your Fields. See our examples here.

3. Once you are happy with the field parameters, select Save.

7. Depends Upon

Within a custom data section, when you have created a field with a type of 'Dropdown List' or 'Yes/No', all subsequent fields will have the option to use 'Depends Upon - Selected Value'.

This feature allows you to create fields of any type that depend upon (can only be viewed/edited) a selected value from a separate Dropdown Field or a Yes/No Field.

  • Depends Upon - Provides a list of Dropdown Options within the current Custom Data Section
  • Selected Value - When a Field Type of Dropdown has been selected as the Depends Upon, the selected value will provide all dropdown values associated with that field.

In the below example, the newly created field of 'Sensitive Personal Identifiable Information (SPII)' can only display when the answer to 'Process or have access to Personal Identifiable Information = Yes'

The Depends On functionality can only be used when you have an existing field with a field type of 'Dropdown List' or 'Yes/No' within the current Custom Data Section.

8. Editing existing Custom Data Fields

From the Custom Data Groups page, select the group that contains the field you would like to edit.

To edit an existing custom data field, including editing labels, or descriptions,

First, open the Custom Data Group, then select the Edit Icon for any custom data value. This will take you to a new screen allowing you to change the Label or Description associated with that field.

 

To conserve data integrity, you cannot change the Field Type


T
o add new values to an existing Dropdown or Multi-select Dropdown option:

If you want to add an additional value to an existing field of the type 'Dropdown' or 'Multi-Pick Dropdown' there is an additional step. Once you have selected Edit on the field, you then click on the Blue values next to Options


Select the Custom Data Group
Select the Custom Data Field > Select OptionsAdd > Add Dropdown Option

 

9. Deleting Custom Data

Deleting a Custom Field

Step 1) Head to Settings > Configuration > Custom Data

Step 2) Hover over the menu icon alongside the field

Step 3) Hit the Delete icon, then select Ok to confirm when you have read the warning


10. Deleting a Custom Group

Step 1) Head to Settings > Configuration > Custom Data
Step 2) Hover over the menu icon alongside the group
Step 3) Hit the Delete icon, then select Ok to confirm you have read the warning

 

NB. If you cannot see the Delete icon, it is likely one of 2 issues:

1) The custom group still contains Custom fields - these need to be deleted first

⬆️ See above steps for deleting custom fields ⬆️

2)  The custom group exists on a workflow form - ensure it has been removed from any workflow forms first:

You cannot delete the below Pre-Existing "Custom Groups"*

Contract Data

Contract Dates

Vendor Data

Vendor Dates

*"Custom Groups" is in "quotes" here because these will appear to your users like part of the core data model when viewing Contract & Vendor Records:

 

11. Deleting Fields: Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting: If the field has been populated 🤚

If the field has some data values populated in your repository, Gatekeeper will warn you before confirming that the field should be deleted

This is only a warning though. You can still proceed with the deletion

Deleting Custom Fields is permanent and cannot be reversed. By deleting a Custom Data Field, you will also be deleting the associated data within that field

 

Troubleshooting: If the field is "in-use" 🤚

Unlike with the above warning, these issues will prevent you from performing the delete action

The is because the act of removing the field from your data model could break key aspects of a process you may not have considered - generally this applies to the field being used in various configuration areas of a Workflow or other Form settings

Areas this applies - Simple Configuration

"Depends upon" rules

If another custom field in your group depends upon the field you wish to delete, you must remove that dependency

To do this, either (a) edit the other field to remove that dependency or (b) delete the other field too!

 

Workflow Forms & Workflow Triggers

If a field is being used for one of the above settings, Gatekeeper will let you know where and provide a link to the Workflow/Trigger so you can navigate there and remove it before trying to perform the delete again

 

Removing field from a trigger:

Removing a field from a form:

 

Areas this applies - Advanced Configuration

"Conditional Rules": Form Visibility / Transitions / Form Access / Approvals

 

The error messaging here will also tell you which workflow but not where exactly, so you will need to have some knowledge of the inner workings of these processes to find and delete any references to the field

If you do not recognise some of these or know where your field might be in use. We strongly advice reaching out to your Gatekeeper Administrator (or your CSM at Gatekeeper) for confirmation on how to proceed

 

11. Creating Custom Tabs

For a complete walkthrough of Custom Tabs visit the below article:

📖 Custom Tabs 

Restore visibility of your Contract and Vendor records like never before. With Custom Tabs, you have the power to build and customize your own tabs to be displayed at the top of your Contract or Vendor records.  Seamlessly organize and access vital information specific to your contracts and vendors, tailored to your unique needs. 

In the below example, we can see an ESG Tab has been created:

Then, within that tab, we can see that we have organised our ESG Questionnaire:

To get started with creating Custom Tabs

Step 1) Select Settings > Configuration > Custom Data

Step 2) Select Add > Custom Tab

Step 3) Provide a Title for your Custom Tab and allocate it to either a Contract or Vendor then select Save

Step 4) Follow the steps outlined here to create your Custom Data Fields

 

You can create multiple Custom Groups within a singular Custom Tab