How to Set Up User Defined Fields in ElderSuite

📝 Overview

Every center tracks a few details the standard client record doesn't cover. User defined fields give your center ten extra client fields that you name yourself, so that information has a home on the client record. You can hide the slots you don't need so staff aren't looking at empty boxes.

The names and show-or-hide settings belong to the whole center, not to individual clients. A change you make applies to the user defined fields on every client record, no matter which client you had open when you made it. Setup happens in the Client Center, and it's usually done when you first set up these fields or later, when a field needs renaming or hiding.

⚙ How It Works

Where User Defined Fields Live on the Client Record

User defined fields appear in the User Defined Fields group on the Other tab of the Client Information window. Only the fields your center has switched on are shown, each labeled with the name your center gave it. Until any are switched on, the group shows only the Manage Fields button.

Opening Manage Fields

You can only reach the setup window from a client record. Open a client from the Client Center, either an existing client from Client List or a new client with Add New Client (see How to Add a Client in ElderSuite). Then click Manage Fields in the User Defined Fields group. Its tooltip reads Configure User Define Fields. The Setup User Defined Fields window opens as a pop-up on top of the client record, and you can't use the client record again until you close the pop-up.

If you sign in with Limited Access, your employee record needs the Manage User Defined Fields permission, found on the Client Center tab of Manage Permissions. Without it, the Manage Fields button is grayed out. Full Access users can always use it (see How to Add Employees and Set Permissions in ElderSuite).

Naming Fields in the Name Column

The Setup User Defined Fields window has ten rows. Each row pairs a name box in the Name column with a check box in the Visible column. The rows are fixed: you can't add, delete, or copy them. If all ten are already in use, the only way to track something new is to rename and reuse an existing field.

Whatever you type in a row's name box becomes that field's label on the client record. For example, a center might use a row for a preferred nickname or a transportation note. Names can be up to 100 characters, and typing stops at that limit without a warning. You don't have to fill every row. Names can be left blank, and the window accepts any combination of names and checks without validating them.

The rows themselves have no labels; each row is identified by its position. To match a row to the field it controls, save a name and see which label changes on the client record.

Showing or Hiding Fields With Visible

When a row's Visible box is checked, the client record shows that field's label and entry box. When it's cleared, both are hidden. Hiding a field doesn't erase anything already typed into it on client records, and you can show it again later by checking Visible and saving. The check boxes have to be clicked with the mouse because the Tab key skips them.

Saving, Canceling, and When Changes Take Effect

The window has no close button in its title bar. You leave it with Save or Cancel.

• Save stores the names and Visible settings for the center and closes the window. A please-wait indicator shows while the settings are saved. Text you've only partly typed in a name box is included, so you don't need to click away first. If the save doesn't go through, the window stays open with your changes on screen so you can try again.
• Cancel closes right away if nothing has changed. If there are unsaved changes, it asks Would you like to save your changes? in a Save Changes prompt. Yes saves and closes, No closes and discards your changes, and Cancel keeps the window open so you can keep editing.

After a successful save, the open client record updates as soon as the setup window closes, with no need to reopen it. New names appear as labels, and each field is shown or hidden according to its Visible setting.

If you click Yes on the save prompt and that save fails, the window still closes and your changes are lost. If an earlier save has already failed, use Save instead, because it keeps the window open when a save fails.

Entering Values for a Client

Staff fill in user defined fields like any other client detail. On the client's Other tab, type the entry into the labeled box in the User Defined Fields group and click Save & Close. Each entry can be up to 50 characters, and typing stops at that limit. The values belong to that client. Only the names and visibility are shared across the center.

Getting User Defined Fields Onto Paper

Fields marked Visible print on the client information form, Contact Information Assessment - Form ES1000, each with its name and that client's entry. Fields with a cleared Visible box are left off. You can print the form for the client on screen with Print on the Client Information window, or for several clients in a batch from the Report Center (see How to Print the Contact Information Assessment (Form ES1000) in ElderSuite). The Report Center batch includes active clients only, so print an inactive client's form from that client's record. If a field is missing from the printout, check Visible on its row, save, and print again.

The Customize option on Client Roster - Form ES1200 is a separate feature. It adds existing client columns to a roster printout and doesn't create new fields (see How to Print the Client Roster in ElderSuite). Its lists do include user defined fields, but under internal names such as UserDefinedData1 rather than the names your center gave them, and the printed column heading uses that internal name too. Form ES1000 prints them with your center's names.

⚠ Renaming a Field Changes It on Every Client Record

Your center shares its field names across all clients. Renaming a field changes that label on every client record, and changing a Visible box shows or hides that field for every client. Before you rename or reuse a field, check how your staff are already using it.

💡 Need More Help?

For step-by-step instructions, click Ask Eddie from within ElderSuite.