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SPS AttributesTM The
Attribute Builder utility is an administrative program that can be found either
under the Contacts tab of the SPS Main Menu or incorporated into the Ticket
Builder program found under the Tickets tab.
Each instance of the Attribute Builder program pertains to the specific
requirements of the applications found in the SPS Main Menu tab under which it
is found. Attribute Builder – Contacts Found under the “Contacts” tab of the SPS Main
Menu, this program creates the custom database fields that appear under the
“Attributes” tab of the Contact
Manager detail screen. Attributes
are created specifically to relate to one or more contact categories. For example, attributes created for customer
data types may contain information that differs from those that relate to
vendors. Ticket Builder - Attributes Found within the Ticket Builder program under the
“Tickets” tab of the SPS Main Menu, this program creates the content of SPS Electronic Forms
(also known as “Tickets”). User
interfaces are created from a “blank page”, allowing complete customization of
nearly any information found in a paper form.
The extensive control of SPS attributes allows electronic forms to
contain many input controls, including fields that contain calculated values
(including date calculations). As a
result, company tickets can be used for a variety of functions such as shipping
orders, purchase requisitions, human resources forms, and more. A
key feature of the attributes function of SPS is the ability to create not only
custom database fields, but also the data-entry interface used to
collect data. In defining the
data-entry interface, various input controls and their graphical
representations may be defined. To
ensure the integrity of any data entered, restrictions may be placed upon the
input fields. For example, you may wish
to add an attribute to Customer contacts found in the Contact Manager
application in order to specify the “Initial Contact Date” of a customer. By defining the “Initial Contact Date”
attribute as an “Editable date” entry, you provide a date input field with a
pop-up calendar that restricts the entry of the field to the date format of
mm-dd-yyyy. The following portion of
this section describes the available attribute edit types used to design both
the user interfaces and the backend database structure in applications that
utilize attribute functionality. Controls Items
found in this section provide standardized HTML input fields such as
checkboxes, radio buttons, and drop-down (option) menus. Additionally, data grouping controls such as
HTML sections and tables provide a convenient way to organize all user input
screens. A
section creates an enclosed block of attributes. Much like other attributes, sections can be nested to further
organize data. For example, you may
wish to organize all attribute information related to the general details of
each customer into a section titled “Company Details”. From the Attribute Builder – Contacts
application, choose the Customers contact category to which to add this
attribute (this may be the default) and click New.
You
will receive the attribute entry screen.
Simply type “Company Details” as the Label of the attribute and choose Section
as the control. You may choose various
positioning options (discussed in the section below titled “Attribute
Positioning”) to place the section accordingly on the screen.
Apply
Only To Certain “Kinds” of Contacts Attributes
created using the Attribute Builder – Contacts application (which appear under
the Attributes tab of the Contact
Manager detail screen) can be designated to only apply to a certain “kind”
of contact record. Since the customer
contact category may consist of either a company record or an individual
record, attributes may be designated to apply to either or all of these types
by choosing the appropriate radio button selection from the Attribute Builder
for the attribute selected. The Attributes
tab of the Contact
Manager will only display the attribute that pertains to that type of
contact record – meaning that when entering a company record, those attributes
that have been defined to apply to “Companies” will appear and not those which
are to apply to individuals. In the
example above, the “Company Details” section should only apply to company
records, not individuals.
Choose
Close to save and close the attribute entry screen. You will now return to the main screen of
the Attribute Builder. Notice from the
following graphic that the “Company Details” section now appears beneath the
Customers contact category.
To
add attribute input fields into the “Company Details” section, simply choose
“Company Details” from the tree and click New. You may also edit an attribute by choosing it from the tree and
clicking Open (or double-clicking the item in the tree). Deleting an attribute works in a similar
fashion. Please note that deleting an
attribute also deletes any child attributes of the parent record. Table Sections
may also be used as HTML tables in order to provide spreadsheet-type input
fields. See the section below for more
information. This
control may by used to indicate an item that represents a yes/no
value. For example, you may add a
checkbox within the “Company Details” section to designate whether a customer’s
account is active or not. Much like the
procedures used above to add a section, choose the “Company Details” section to
add the checkbox and click New.
From the Attribute Builder detail screen, provide the label, position
the attribute within the section, and designate this attribute as a checkbox
control.
If
you wish for the checkbox to appear checked by default, choose the “Default”
checkbox. Close and save the changes to
return to the Attribute Builder main screen.
The resulting screen (found in this case under the Attributes tab of the
Contact
Manager detail screen) would look like the following graphic.
Radio Button Group / Radio Button A
“Radio Button Group” allows the creation of a “section” of radio buttons in
order to collect data that requires the selection of only one item in a
list. For example, you could create an
attribute comprised of radio buttons that described the method used by the
customer to pay invoices. If you were
to add a radio button group labeled “Payment Method” to the “Company Details”
section, you could then add the radio buttons “Company Check”, and “Debit Draft
(EFT)” to that radio button group.
Choosing the Default checkbox in the Attribute Builder would result in the
specified radio button to be selected by default. The resulting screen of the Contact Manager
would look like the following graphic.
The
attributes that were created in the preceding example would be listed in the
following order in the main screen of the Attribute Builder.
A
“Menu” control creates a drop-down (option) menu that can contain an unlimited
number of choices as designated by the “Menu Item” control. For example, you may designate the menu of
“Product Purchased” and add the menu items of “SPS - Standard”, “SPS - HA”, and
“SPS - Enterprise” to that menu drop-down.
An item can also be designated as the default choice by checking the
“Default” checkbox in the Attribute Builder for the item that you wish to
appear selected in the menu. The order
that the menu item appears within the drop-down menu can also be arranged using
the Vertical Position drop-down menu.
The
following screen in the Contact Manager
would result from the above attribute menu.
User
inputs can be designated as “numeric” in order to (1) restrict data entry by
the user to only numbers (as opposed to letters or symbols), (2) provide a way
to automatically assign numbers to records (as serial values), and (3) provide
calculated results based on other attribute input fields (attribute
formulas). Numeric user inputs are
comprised of serial values, whole numbers, decimals, or calculated results
(formulas). If the desired effect is to
have a money value input, the “Two Digit Precision” should be used since “Whole
Number” does not allow any decimals to be entered. Serial Value In
order to provide an automatic method of assigning incremental serial values to
contact records or to tickets, you may choose to add a serial value attribute.
Whole Number, Two – Four Digit Precision Used
primarily to restrict user input capabilities and as a basis for formula
tabulation, numeric inputs can be added based on the number of decimal places
required. For example, you may add the
attribute of “Number of Lease Payments” as a whole number input and the
attribute of “Lease Payment Amount” as a two digit precise input.
Attribute
inputs that are to be used to calculate results must have a unique constant
defined for the attribute. This is done
in order to provide a system-wide reference for that attribute. For example, we can define a constant for
the number of payments called “NUM_PYMNTS” and a constant for the lease payment
amount called “LEASE_AMT”.
The
following screen in the Contact Manager
would result from the above numeric attribute inputs. As you can see, while input values will be restricted to only
numbers in both of the added fields, the Lease Payment Amount field limits (or
“masks”) input to two decimal places.
The
user can maneuver decimal places by typing a period to “jump” from the left
side of the decimal (much like a calculator or adding machine) to the right or
by simply using the left and right arrows. An
attribute can be defined to result from calculations performed upon other
attributes using the formula attribute type.
As you will see in other sections of this manual, formulas may be placed
upon different attribute types, including dates, radio buttons, menu items, and
user pop-ups. For this section, we will
simply discuss the attribute formula type based on numeric attribute types. For example, if you wish to calculate the
total amount of lease payments for the attributes created in the preceding
section, you could define a attribute called “Total Lease Amount” and define it
as a formula consisting of the multiplication of the number of lease payments
(using the previously defined system constant of “NUM_PYMNTS”) and the lease
payment amount (using the previously defined system constant of “LEASE_AMT”).
The
“NUM_PYMNTS” and “LEASE_AMT” attribute constants are used to refer to the
previously defined attribute input fields that are used to capture user input
from the Contact Manager screen (under the Attributes tab). All attribute constants MUST be placed
between brackets (“[“ “]”) in order to properly identify to the system
that you intend to use the result of that input field in the calculation. Standard mathematical symbols (“+”, “-“,
“*”, “/”) are used to denote various operations and the resultant value format
should be specified using the “Result format” drop-down menu. In
our example above, once a user completes the “Number of Lease Payments” whole
number input and the “Lease Payment Amount” two digit precise number input, the
“Total Lease Amount” input will be automatically calculated by the browser and
its result will be rounded based upon the Result format defined in the
Attribute Builder application. The
following screen depicts the resultant screen in the Contact Manager
based on the previous example.
Character
input attribute types create an input field that allows entry of both numbers
and characters, allowing only the restriction of the length of the entry. In addition to a free-form entry field, user
interfaces may contain a “State” drop-down menu that contains an alphabetical
listing of all U.S. states and Canadian Provinces. The “Country” drop-down menu option displays a listing of common
countries. Ten, Twenty, Thirty, Forty Wide Character Inputs This
input type only restricts the input length based on the number of
characters. For example, suppose we
have created a section in our previous example to store information related to
the billing function for our monthly lease payment. We could then create a twenty-wide character input to store the
credit card number to which the payment is to be billed.
Additionally,
we can also create a forty-wide character input to capture the name of the
cardholder. The resulting screen in the
Contact Manager
would look like the following (assuming that a section labeled “Billing
Details” has already been created and placed below the Company Details
section).
State and Country Drop-down Menus To
create a “State” drop-down menu which contains an alphabetical listing of all
U.S. states and Canadian Provinces or a “Country” drop-down menu option
displays a listing of common countries, simply choose the appropriate attribute
input from the Attribute Builder application.
In our current example, we can define a section within the “Billing
Details” section in order to capture the address found on the cardholder’s
credit card. We can use forty-wide
character inputs to define attribute input fields for the “Street” and “City”
of the address and a twenty-wide input for the “Zip Code”. The State and Country
drop-down menus are created automatically when the input screen is accessed
(such as the Contact
Manager).
Special
Inputs The
special section of the Attribute Builder edit types tab contains various
formatted input fields including dates, phone numbers, and social security
number. Selecting one of these input
types automatically creates the input field with special data and functions
much like the State and Country drop-down menus described above. Editable
date input types contain a calendar button which initiates a calendar pop-up
when clicked. This pop-up calendar
allows the user to choose the appropriate date by scrolling through the months
and years using the appropriate left and right arrows. Once a date is chosen by clicking on the
date (causing it to turn red), the OK button returns back to the prior
screen. In this manner, the proper date
format is always enforced by the user interface. Of course, the user may type the date in and the input will be
limited to the MM-DD-YYYY format. For
example, suppose we wanted to add to our “Billing Detail” section example above
a date input for the “Expiration Date” of the billing credit card. We could add the input in the Attribute
Editor as follows.
The
resulting screen of the Contact Manager would contain the “Expiration Date”
input field containing a masked input (in “MM-DD-YYYY” format) along with the
calendar pop-up button.
Clicking
the calendar button will open the Calendar pop-up with today’s date selected
(or the date found in the input if not zero).
Users may simply choose the appropriate date by clicking on it and click
OK to return to the previous screen.
The Clear button on the Calendar pop-up will zero out the
editable date input field from which the calendar was called.
Readonly and Current Date The
readonly date field is used to store a date in the database when performing
data import functions. This field’s
utility varies based on special considerations during the initial or subsequent
attribute setup procedures. The Current
date attribute creates a non-editable input field containing the current
date. This value is saved and becomes
readonly once the record to which this attribute is assigned is saved for the
first time. A good use of current date
would be to define the date that a record is created in the system, for
example, the date that the account billing of a customer should begin.
The
phone number attribute edit type provides a masked input that restricts entry
of telephone numbers based on the appropriate format of the country code. By default, the format of the United States,
“(000) 000-000”, is provided in the input area. For example, adding an attribute labeled “Cardholder Phone No.”
to the “Credit Card Billing Address” section of the preceding example would
result in the Contact
Manager displaying the following screen.
While
the default entry format is for the United States, users may change the format
of any phone input field by clicking the telephone icon next to the phone
input. You will receive the “Country
Codes” pop-up.
Choosing
the appropriate country will format the phone number field for which it was
selected. Please note that changing the
format of the input will erase any entry that existed in the phone number input
prior to the country code selection.
Social Security Number The
social security attribute edit type provides a masked input with the format
“000-00-0000” which can be used to capture social security numbers from an
entry screen such as the Contact
Manager Attributes tab. This
attribute type is handy when creating attributes and electronic forms relating
to employees or other human resources functions. The
“Contacts” attribute edit type section contains various input fields pertaining
to the contacts, users, or categories found within the system. Of course, each SPS implementation will
differ based on the specific data defined in the system. All of the contact edit types render an
input field that can only be completed by clicking the “people” icon found to
the right of the input field. This
results in a pop-up containing a variety of information based on the edit type
chosen. Category This
attribute edit type provides a pop-up containing the different contact
categories created by your SPS administrator. Any Contact This
attribute edit type creates an input field with a pop-up containing all
available contacts as created using the Contact Manager
application. This means that a user may
choose any contact found within any contact category as long as they have the
appropriate permissions to access that contact category. For example, to provide an input within the
“Company Details” section that specifies the re-seller company that markets
your product, you could create an attribute called “Re-seller Agent” as an “Any
contact” edit type. The resulting
screen of the Contact
Manager would resemble the following.
Clicking
on the “people” button would then produce the “Any contact” pop-up with a
listing of all contact categories and their associated contacts. Related Contact The
related contact attribute edit type provides a pop-up containing only the
contacts that are related to the contact selected within the Contact Manager
detail screen. As such, this edit type
is only available in the Attribute Builder related to Contacts (not
Tickets). We could expand the above
example by adding a related contact which depicts the “Primary Technical
Contact” of the company record we are viewing in the Attributes
tab of the Contact Manager detail screen as shown below.
Clicking
on the “people” button would then produce a pop-up with the names of the
contacts related to our current contact record.
Same Category The
same category attribute edit type provides a pop-up containing all of the
contacts found within the same category as the contact currently selected
within the Contact
Manager detail screen. As such,
this edit type is only available in the Attribute Builder related to Contacts
(not Tickets). SPS User SPS
system users are available for selection if the SPS user attribute edit type is
defined in the Attribute Builder application.
This edit type provides a pop-up containing all available SPS users from
which a selection can be made. The
users are displayed within the groups to which they belong. For example, we can define an input field to
display our company’s account manager for a given contact record. The following depicts the Contact Manager
detail screen.
As
previously mentioned, attributes can bind to user-defined categories such as
contacts or tickets as well as the SPS data category of groups. While categories are useful for a variety of
reasons, they are especially useful when creating attributes since an attribute
can bind to one or multiple categories.
In this manner, user interfaces can vary depending on the category. For example, the types of information that
you may wish to collect about a customer may include a sales history and a
listing of products purchased. In
contrast, an employee contact record may require information about the employee’s
job performance history. Attributes used
in conjunction with categories allow the customization of the Contact
Manager (and other applications that utilize attributes) so that the
appropriate user interface appears for each defined category. When creating a new attribute, you must
choose at least one category to which the attribute will apply. The Categories tab of the Attribute Editor
allows the modification of the categories that apply to the attribute.
The
attributes defined above relate to important information about a company’s
customer records. In order to apply
these defined attributes to the Customer’s contact category, we must assign the
attribute to that category within the Categories tab of the Attribute Builder
application. In this manner, records
contained in other contact categories (such as employee records) do NOT display
the previously defined attributes.
These records may in turn have specified attributes defined that relate
to their functionality. Ownership
rules allow the various groups created within the SPS to have access to
attributes that are assigned to that owner.
For example, you may wish for your customer service department (perhaps
found in a group called “Operations”) to be allowed access to an attribute
Section titled “Credit History”. You
may further wish to exclude your MIS department from viewing any information
regarding your customer’s credit. By
applying the ownership principals of attributes, you can specify which group
(of the groups that have been created by the administrator) has access to each
attribute defined in the Attribute Builder.
In this manner, further customization of user interfaces can be achieved
– this time by specifying which users (based on the group to which they belong)
can access which attributes.
Attributes
created in the Attribute Editor can be linked to custom-designed applications
through the use of constants. A
constant is simply a system-wide unique identifier assigned to an
attribute. This essentially becomes a
system-wide cross-reference to that attribute.
As discussed in the sections of this manual covering formula calculations,
attribute constants are vital in order to relate one attribute to another when
creating a formula.
Additionally,
you may be able to perform specialized system functions by utilizing the values
captured in the attribute builder or through tickets by defining an attribute
constant and linking that constant to an SPS custom application. The
above series of examples appear under the Attribute tree of the Attribute
Builder – Contacts application in a “tree-like” format. Any Section can become the parent of a group
of inputs if it is selected (causing it to turn blue) and the New button
is chosen. If a Section or other input
appears as the child of the top-level category (Customers in this example), it
will not appear under any other input.
While Attributes do not need to be organized into Sections, the user
interface appears more organized with the use of Sections. Certain
inputs must become the parent of other inputs. For example, Radio Button Groups must have Radio
Buttons as children. Additionally,
any Menu that is created must have Menu Items as children.
Attributes
may be nested so as to appear only if certain “true” conditions are met. For example, you may create specific fields
that appear only if a certain drop-down menu item has been chosen.
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