Fields and choices

Fields and choices let your organization collect information that is not already covered by FTE Tree’s standard structure. Add only information with a clear owner and purpose.

Before you begin

You need the Manage organization settings permission to maintain organization fields and shared choices. Position-specific field setup can instead use the Manage position setup permission where shown.

Choose the right record

Use position fields for position information, employee fields for authorized employee information, department fields for department information, and job code fields for the job catalog. A Currency custom field can record an ordinary organization-specific amount. Keep labor budget amounts and protected actual compensation in their dedicated areas rather than recreating them as custom fields.

Before adding a field, answer:

• What decision or report will use this information?
• Who is responsible for keeping it accurate?
• Which record owns it?
• Should people enter free text, a date, a number, or one choice from a controlled list?
• Is a custom field an appropriate place for this information?
• Is the field needed for future records only, or should earlier records also be completed?

Search the standard and custom fields first. A second field with the same purpose creates conflicting answers.

Understand the setup choices

Currency controls entry and display formatting only. A Currency custom field uses the same access as other custom fields on that record. It does not receive the separate protections used by actual compensation, calculate labor budget or employee cost, or supply a financial report or forecast. Use it only when everyone who can view the record or related request may view the amount.

Create a field or choice list

1. Choose the record type and field format.
2. Enter a clear label and guidance.
3. Decide whether it is required, available, and shown in lists.
4. Add choices when the field uses a controlled list.
5. Review order and save.

Use the help text to explain what belongs in the field, not how the page is built. Include a short example when users could reasonably interpret the field in more than one way.

Example: controlled choice instead of free text

An organization tracks workplace arrangement as On-site, Hybrid, or Remote. A choice list keeps those values consistent. A free-text field could produce variations such as “remote,” “Remote employee,” and “WFH,” which are harder to review in a report.

Create a new choice only when it represents a genuinely new meaning. Do not rename Hybrid to Remote after people have already used it, because earlier records would appear to mean something different.

Do not store passwords, MFA recovery codes, sign-in secrets, full payment-card numbers, protected employee compensation, or other restricted information in a custom field. Use only information your organization has approved for this purpose.

Manage choices safely

Make an old choice unavailable when it should remain in history but not be selected again. Rename only when the meaning is unchanged. Create a new choice when the business meaning changes.

The same principle applies to fields and statuses:

• Make unavailable when the established meaning remains part of history but should not be used for new work.
• Rename only to correct wording without changing meaning.
• Create new when the business meaning changes.
• Reorder to improve selection and display without changing earlier values.

Before making a field or choice unavailable, review forms, imports, reports, and existing records that use it. Earlier values remain part of the record history.

Understand status behavior

Employee status choices include Counts as active employee, which determines whether employees with that status count toward staffed assignment costs.

Positions use the fixed lifecycle choices Active, Suspended, and Archived. Change lifecycle through approved Suspend, Reactivate, or Eliminate actions; there is no configurable active-position status choice. See Suspend, reactivate, or eliminate a position.

Review the consequence before changing a status that existing records use. Choose a default for new records deliberately and make obsolete choices unavailable rather than changing their meaning.

Use Issues to review detected missing information. Issues do not require custom status choices.

Assignment types

Assignment types describe context such as regular, shared, backfill, overlap, or acting. They do not calculate staffing or override assignment rules.

For example, an Acting assignment type can explain a temporary responsibility, but the assignment dates and FTE still determine staffing. The type does not permit overlapping assignments when the organization assignment rule prevents them.

Test a new field

1. Add the field to one record type.
2. Open a representative create or edit page and read the label and help text as a user would.
3. Enter a valid value and confirm it appears in the intended detail view.
4. Confirm a missing value behaves correctly when the field is required.
5. If it uses choices, confirm ordering and unavailable choices.
6. Review a report or import that is expected to include the field.
7. Open Activity to confirm a setup change is understandable.

Common questions

Can we use a Currency custom field?

Yes, for an ordinary organization-specific amount such as an approved equipment allowance or a request estimate that everyone with access to the record may see. Do not use it for employee pay, a labor budget rate, or another amount that needs separate access. Use labor budget and actual compensation when the value needs their calculations, dates, reports, or protections.

Can I reuse an unavailable choice for a new meaning?

No. Create a new choice. Reuse would make earlier records appear to carry the new meaning.

Does changing display order change reports?

It changes the order on supported forms and detail pages. Review each report separately because report columns follow the report’s own purpose.