Custom Fields
Blink. And custom fields are making their app debut!
Updated over a week ago
Profile Fields Introduction
Blink has historically offered 15 out-of-the-box user profile fields that help you to identify and manage users. With our new custom fields feature, you can now set-up new fields to manage users and their Blink experience.
Custom fields can be created and managed in the ‘Profile Fields’ page in the Admin Panel by Org Admins.
This is the first step to introducing custom fields to all our features, so that Blink truly reflects the rules and terminology you use.
The new Profile Fields page is available to Org Admins via the Admin Panel, where you can add, edit, manage, and delete custom fields. Any newly created field will show on a user’s profile in the Admin Panel under a new Custom Fields section.
A custom field can take one of the following formats:
Text field
Date
Single select
How to create a custom field
From the Admin Panel, open the new Profile Fields page
Scroll down the page to the Custom Fields section
Press the Add Field button:
Selecting Add Field will prompt a slide-out tray where the Org Admin can create a new field. There are three required fields to complete and one optional field.
Name (required) - The name of the field will be displayed above the field where it is used in the rest of the UI.
Type (required) - Select the field format: text field/date/single select.
Identifier (required) - This is the unique identifier that marries the custom field with a field in a third party system.
Description (optional) - Add an optional description to describe what the field is for
Admins should populate descriptions when it will add value to other Admins. E.g. If TransitMasters, a bus company, created a custom field for ‘preferred route’. They might add the following description to encourage Admins to populate this field where possible: "We try to assign preferred routes to all our drivers at least four times a month."
Once the fields have been completed, the new field can be created by clicking Add:
Populate a custom field
There are currently four ways in which an Org Admin or Team Admin can edit a custom field (Team Admins can only edit it against users in their teams), however, we will be adding further sync options in due course (SCIM, bulk import, csv, etc.)
Manually on the user profile
Manually on the user profile
An Admin can manually update the custom fields on the user profile (providing they do not have a user sync enabled). They need to enter the data according to the field format and then click Save changes.
Bulk import
Bulk import
In the Users page, go to Bulk Update > New Update > Update Users. Select the teams you want to export to update, and then select Next > Download Excel. This will download an excel spreadsheet of your targeted users.
The file will contain a column for each custom field, where the Admin can populate the field against each user:
The Admin needs to save the updated file to their desktop and then import the updated file back into Blink by completing update name > upload file > Upload:
The new custom field data will then be populated against the user profile in the Admin Portal.
Azure
Azure
The fields can be populated and synced via Azure.
Create your custom fields in Blink via the steps above
Map the Azure field to the custom field
Sign into your Azure AD account
Go to Provisioning
Navigate to Edit Attribute Mappings
Select Mappings and click on the Users option
This will open a view with Blink attributes and the Azure attributes associated with it. This view will allow you to edit which fields map to which values.
For more information on how to set up Azure mappings, Microsoft has this resource.
Add the appropriate data and run the provisioning
If provisioning is successful, the information will populate in the appropriate fields in Blink.
Okta
Okta
The fields can be populated and synced via Okta. Instructions coming soon!
SFTP Sync
SFTP Sync
Create your custom fields in Blink via the steps above
Create a column in your SFTP upload that corresponds to the custom field using the name of the field as it is entered in Blink. This will need to mapped for your Blink sync, see this article for assistance with mapping profile fields.
Add the appropriate data and upload the file/run the sync
If the sync is successful, the information will populate in the appropriate fields in Blink.
View a custom field
The custom field is visible in the Admin Panel against the user profile.
Manage or delete a custom field
Once an Organization Admin has created a custom field, it can be managed or deleted in the Profile Fields menu.
Select the 3 dots to the right of the field name
Select Manage to edit the custom field
Select delete to delete the custom field
The Organization Admin will be requested to confirm deletion by typing the name of the field. They should then select the Remove Field button to remove it.
Hide or Show profile fields on users profile & in app
For each custom field, organisation admins have the ability to decide if they'd like a field to be 'Hidden' from the owner and others in Blink. Admins can find this option within the 'Manage' option.
If a field is set to Hidden:
It will not be shown to the user on their profile
It will not be seen by any other user in Blink
If a field is not set to Hidden:
It will show on the users personal profile
Other users will also be able to see this information about the user
Admins can decide if the field should also be editable by the owner (Note: users will only be able to edit profile fields on desktop for now. mobile fields will be read only. The 'edit' option is not available for fields managed via SCIM)
Using custom fields across the app
The first appearance of custom fields in a Blink feature is in the account claim micro-app. This enables customers to use a custom field to support their user activation. A few examples of unique identifiers that could be used as a custom field in the account claim micro-app are payroll number, national security number, national insurance number, NHS number.
To set this up, please contact our support team.
FAQs
Who can create custom fields? | Org Admins can create custom fields. |
Who can edit custom fields? | Org Admins and Team Admins can edit custom fields against a user’s profile. |
How does the single select field work? | It’s initially a free text field and the entered data becomes an option from a list that users can single select from. Admins can continue to add to the list by typing in the field. |
Is there a character limit in the text field? | The maximum characters supported in each field is 191. |
How does the date field work? | A date picker will pop-up, but that can be closed for the user to type the date into the field. |
What happens if I select a field type that doesn’t match the format of the data I am importing or syncing? | The system will throw an error |
When will custom fields be introduced to other features? | Custom fields can be used to define dynamic teams roles. |
How do I know if my identifier for mapping data from a third party system is working / broken? | If there's an issue with the mapping, the field will not populate/update on the user profile as expected and/or you may receive an error message when running a sync. |
Can I view my custom fields on a user profile in the main app? | Yes. Custom fields can be hidden or public. If public they are viewable by the user and others. |
Can I see and populate a custom field at the point of inviting a user? | Not yet. The fields do not show on the invite user slide-tray. |
Do my custom fields appear in exports? | Yes! The data is in the exported excel file. |
Can I edit or remove the default fields in Blink today? | Not at the moment, but it’s something we may explore in future |
Can I re-order how they appear on a user’s profile? | Not at the moment, but that functionality may come in future. |