System Customization
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Contents |
Overview
>> Quick Menu > Custom Fields
The system customization feature was designed to allow each of Tracker's clients to customize the entire user-interface to their unique needs. Since our clients come from a range of diverse industries, we've responded with a system that looks and feels custom-built for each agency. All clients of Tracker Products share one basic need: to track the movement of items. The type of items clients track and the way those items are entered in the system or move around can be vastly different. In police and law enforcement, items are typically evidence or property. In the law field, they may be documents. In forensic analysis, they could be anything from arson items to computer media. Tracker's software determines the type of information collected about these items based on one thing-the client's needs. System customization allows each user to modify the interface to collect information that is most applicable to them.
In basic installs of our system, some clients have 10 to 20 custom fields. Some clients have chosen a more elaborate install with as many as 800 to 900 custom fields. For most software programs, this would mean countless hours of updates to the system before it could be ready for an install. With Tracker, close to 1000 custom fields have been built in a matter of hours or a few days. The bulk of this time is spent not in the creation of customized fields, but in the planning and communication necessary to figure out an organization's needs. Tracker's software was built to make it so easy to customize that it's virtually impossible to make a mistake. Bottom line: You get a system that works the way you need it to work.
The Tracker interface contains three main sections: Case Info, Person Info & Item Info. The customization feature allows you to modify any existing field or add a new field to any of these sections. Through system customization, you can perform the following functions…
- Change the name (label) of an existing field
- Create an unlimited number of new fields (Text, Text Area, Drop Down, Radio, Date, Checkbox and Time)
- Set field requirement
- Set max and minimum characters on text fields
- Create On-Change Java scripting when necessary
- Select default values
Getting Started
To start the system customization feature, click the “Custom Fields” button on the quick menu or go to ‘File -> Setup -> Custom Fields Setup’.
When you enter the system customization feature, you are presented with a screen that shows four tabs (Case # Fields, Persons Fields, Items Fields & Misc. Fields) and default case level information. As you click each tab, you are presented with fields that relate to that tab. You are seeing case level fields by default because the case tab is the default option.
As you click on each tab, you are not only presented with fields relating to that section but you are also presented with basic information about each field currently in the system.
- Field Name – The label that is displayed to the user in the site
- Field Type – How the field will display (text, text area, drop down, etc.)
- Required – Is the user required to fill in the field to proceed
- Active – Is this field active or in-active in the system.
- Delete – Can this field be removed from the system.
Modify the properties of an existing field
To modify the properties of a field that already exists, click on the ‘Field Name’ of the field that you want to change.
In this example we will click the field titled ‘Citation #’
After clicking on the field you will see the properties of that field. Many of the properties can be modified.
- Field Name – This area will allow you to change the label of that field.
- Field Type – What type of field it is. This property is not modifiable.
- Group Type – What section this field belongs to. This property is not modifiable.
- Required – Place a check box in this field to make it required.
- Max. Characters – The maximum # of characters that this field will accept.
- Display Width – The length of the field as displayed in the user interface.
- Default Value – Any value placed in this field will be pre-filled on the interface.
- OnChange Javascript – This is a more advanced feature used by high level users.
- Any javascript placed in this field will execute when the field is activated.
In this example the field name has been changed, the checkbox to make the field required has been removed, and there is now a value in the default value field. When done, click the ‘Update Custom Field’ button to submit the changes. Changes will be made immediately. When creating a new case, these updates are now visible.
This is a snapshot of the new case section of the site. You can see that the field now has the new label, default value, and is not required.
Modifying the properties of a drop down
We have now modified a text field but how do you modify the properties of a drop down menu or the values in a drop down?
For this example, here are the options in the 'Offense' field drop down in the case section of a default install.
Return to system customization and click on the ‘Offense’ field name. You will be presented with the following screen. For this example, everything after Drug Offense and before Robbery has been removed.
As described in the previous section, you can change the field name and whether or not it is required.
To add a new value(s) to an existing drop down menu, click the ‘Add Items’ link.
You will be presented with a text box where you will type the new values one line item at a time. In this example, you can see that four new options will be added. Make sure that each new item is on a line of its own. After each entry, hit the enter key on your keyboard and you will be ready to add a new option. When you are done entering options, click the ‘Submit’ button and all items will be imported into the drop down.
Removing options in a drop down Tracker software includes a number of safety measures within the customization process that eliminate most errors. Tracker does not allow users to delete options in a drop down menu if they are being used by the system. Notice that the screen shot above has (3) options without a checkbox to the left and (2) options that have those check boxes. The top 3 options are used in the system and can’t be removed. The last 2 have not been used and may be removed. To remove the option(s), put a check in the available check box field and click the ‘Delete Checked’ option at the bottom. All options selected will be removed.
Change the order of a drop down In some cases you will want to change the order in which your options are displayed in the drop down. To change the sort order, click the ‘Edit Sort Order’ option at the bottom of the options page.
To move an option, click on the option to be moved, and then click the ‘Move Up’ or ‘Move Down’ button depending on which order you want the option to be moved. When finished, click the ‘Submit’ button.
Creating new fields
One of the primary benefits to the customization feature is the ability to create an unlimited number of new custom fields. If you need a new field, you can create it.
To begin, click the ‘Add New Custom Field’ button on the main page of system customization.
You will be presented with a screen that gives you the options for creating a new field.
- Field Name – What is the display name of this new field?
- Field Type – What type of field are you creating?
- Group Type – What section is this new field being placed in?
- Required – Is this a required field?
Fill in each field value and click ‘Add Custom Field’. This will create a new field in that section.
Creating submenus
One of the most powerful features of the Tracker system customization is the ability to create submenu options that are based on parent options. The Item Category drop down menu in the items section is one of the most important and central drop down menus in the system. This drop down menu is used to categorize all items that come into an evidence / property room. In the police world, the three most used categories include:
- Drugs
- Currency
- Weapons
These three options are clearly distinct categories, but they are very broad. That is, if you brought in 6oz of Marijuana in a drug raid, the category ‘Drugs’ does not say enough about that item. With subcategories, you can record a 2nd or even 3rd level of information.
This screen shot shows the options for the ‘Item Category’ drop down menu. When ‘Drugs’ are selected, you are presented with nothing more than a ‘Description’ option. There are currently no “sub-location” options for drugs. Let’s add them.
Go to (System Customization -> Items Tab -> Category Name)
To add a submenu option under ‘Drugs’, click the ‘Add Sub-menu’ link
You are presented with the options to create a new field. To start with, let’s create a drop down menu for drug type and list several drug types.
When done, click the ‘Add Custom Field’ button. This will create the new drop down with the five values. It's also possible to create additional new sub-menu options for ‘Drugs’ called ‘Drug Unit’ and ‘Drug Quantity’.
And…
Here are the results of creating these three new sub-menu’s.
When ‘Drugs’ are selected from the ‘Category’ drop down, there are now three new fields.
Here is a screen shot with the ‘Drug Type’ drop down menu selected.
Creating sub-categories is extremely easy. Users can create as many sub-category options as needed to make their system as efficient and streamlined as possible.
Note: There is no limit to the number of fields that can be created using the Tracker system customization feature. If needed, 1,000 custom fields could be created in all three sections. Most, if not all users, would definitely not want to do this, but the option is there!
Example Sub-menu screen shots
Here are some examples of the many creative and useful ways clients have customized their systems:
Java scripting helped this customer create fields for each type of currency collected. With a little help from Tracker Support, this client created a ‘Currency Total’ field to sum up all the currency values and generate a sum total. In this screen shot you can see that the total of all currency is 1,210.00. Imagine the time saved now that manual calculation is no longer needed!
This screen shot shows the ‘Firearm’ drop down menu. Notice that ‘Make’ and ‘Model’ are text boxes. This customer did not want to spend the time populating those fields since there are thousands of possible options. ‘Serial Number’ is often a better identification method.
This customization is one of the more advanced customizations that can be done. This customer is in the computer forensic analysis field and they created several sub-menus to categorize computer hard drive drop down value.
Miscellaneous Custom Options
There are several other customizations that are possible outside of the case, person and item fields. The fourth tab in the custom fields section is the ‘Misc. Fields’ tab. This section contains more fields in the system that have customizable properties.
Customizable Chain of Custody Fields The first two fields on the ‘Misc. Fields’ tab are the ‘Issued To / From’ and ‘Checked Out Reason’. These two fields are found in the Chain of Custody section of the site. When you check out any items in the system, you will see the screen shot below. There are only two fields which are ‘Issued To’ and ‘Reason Checking Out’.
The customization section allows you to perform two functions on these fields. First, you can change either field from a text to a drop down or a drop down to a text. In this example, Issued To is a text field. In some agencies (very few) you already know every option available for who you could issue an item to. If you are in this situation, you may want this field to be a drop down. When you change to a drop down, you will then want to populate every option in this drop down. The Checking Out option will show the same list.
Customizable Disposition Fields
The next 7 fields in the Misc. Field tab are related to the disposition screen. When disposing of an item there are many more options than when you change custody on an item.
This section does not explain the purpose of each option but focuses on that fact that you can change the properties of each of these sections. Customization allows you to change the label on each field and add / remove options to existing drop downs.
Creating Property Room Locations / Sub Locations & Temporary Locations
The final two options at the bottom of this page allow you to add / remove options to the property room locations and temporary locations drop down.
Every user of the Tracker system will have property room locations and many will use temporary locations. As with every other customizable field, you can add / remove options from this drop down.
