Evolution ERP Documentation

Every business captures something Evolution does not ship a box for — a fencing type, a height, a site access note, a colour, a council reference. Custom Fields is where you add those boxes yourself. You choose the name, the kind of answer, which screen it appears on, and whether staff are allowed to save the record without filling it in.

This screen is yours, not ours. Every custom field on your system was created by someone in your business — including any field your staff are being forced to complete. If a field is getting in the way, you do not need to raise a support request: an administrator can change it, stop requiring it, or switch it off from this one screen.

Where to find it

Go to Settings → Custom Fields. The screen lists every active custom field on your system, grouped by the screen it appears on.

Administrators only. Custom Fields is restricted to users with the Administrator flag. Anyone else opening the page sees a permission message and nothing more. See Setting Permissions.

Settings → Custom Fields — one row per active field. Force Required is the column that decides whether staff can save without answering.

The list has one row per field:

Column	What it shows
Name	The label your staff see above the box.
Status	`1` = active. Only active fields are listed here.
Target	The screen the field appears on — see Where each field appears.
Type	The kind of answer: text, number, date or a list to pick from.
Options	For list fields, the available choices, separated by `::`.
Force Required	`1` = staff cannot save the record until this is filled in. `0` = optional.
Searchable	`1` = the field is offered in Advanced Search on the Project Register.

Status, Force Required and Searchable are shown as 1 and 0 rather than Yes and No. Read 1 as Yes.

Adding a field

Click the add_circle_outline button at the top right of the screen. You are asked for five things:

Field	What to enter
Target	Which screen the field should appear on. See Where each field appears below.
Name	The label staff will see, e.g. Fencing Type. Keep it short — it is used as-is on screen and on printed forms.
Type	The kind of answer — see Field types.
Options	Only used by the two list types. Type the choices separated by `::`, for example `Colorbond::Chainlink::Timber::Aluminium`.
Required	Yes forces staff to answer before they can save. No leaves it optional. See Force Required.

The Add Custom Field form — Target decides the screen, Options holds the :: separated list choices, and Required decides whether the field blocks the save.

Adding a Select Dropdown? The Add form only saves your :: option list when the type is Select Multiple. If you are creating a Select Dropdown, add the field first, then click its row and enter the options in the edit window — the edit window handles both list types correctly.

Field types

Type	What staff see	Uses Options?
Text	A single-line box. Anything can be typed.	No
Number	A numeric box.	No
Date	A date box with a calendar picker.	No
Select Dropdown	A dropdown list. One choice only.	Yes
Select Multiple	An open list box. Staff can pick more than one.	Yes

For the two list types, the Options box holds every choice separated by a double colon — 1.2m::1.5m::1.8m::2.1m gives four choices. Spaces are kept, so do not put a space either side of the :: unless you want it in the choice itself.

On the two “new record” screens — New Lead and New Opportunity — a Select Dropdown is presented as a plain text box rather than a list. It behaves as a proper dropdown everywhere else, including when the record is opened for editing. If a strict list matters at the point of creation, use Select Multiple instead.

Force Required — making a field mandatory

This is the setting that decides whether a field is a nuisance or a safety net, and it is entirely under your control.

Required = Yes — the box is marked required, and Evolution refuses to save the record until it is filled in. Use it for the handful of things that must never be missing.
Required = No — the box still appears on the screen, in the same place, and can still be filled in. It simply no longer blocks the save.

The usual case. A field like Fencing Type or Height makes sense on an install project and no sense at all on a supply-only enquiry. Rather than deleting the field — which would take it off the screen for everybody and orphan the answers already recorded against past records — set Force Required to No. Staff who want to record a fencing type still can; staff quoting supply-only can leave it blank and save.

To change it, click the field’s row on the Custom Fields list, set Force Required to No and save. The change takes effect immediately for everyone — no re-login, no support request. Records already saved are untouched.

Editing a field

Click anywhere on a field’s row to open it. The edit window shows everything from the Add form plus three settings that only exist here:

Setting	What it does
Status	Active shows the field on its target screen. Disabled removes it from the screen entirely without deleting any data already captured.
Default Value	For a Select Dropdown, the choice that is pre-selected on a new record. Staff can still change it. Leave blank for no default.
Searchable	Adds the field to Advanced Search on the Project Register, so you can filter projects by what was recorded in it. Only applies to fields targeted at Project.

The edit window, opened by clicking a row. Status, Default Value and Searchable exist only here — and Force Required is changed from here too.

Disabling is a one-way trip from this screen. The Custom Fields list only shows active fields, so the moment you set a field to Disabled and save, its row disappears and there is no way to bring it back from the list. If you only want to stop a field being compulsory, change Force Required to No and leave the status Active. Disable a field only when you are certain it is finished with — and if you disable one by mistake, raise a support request so it can be switched back on.

Renaming and re-typing. Answers already captured are stored against the field, not against its name, so renaming a field is safe — past records simply show the new label. Changing the type is riskier: answers recorded under the old type may not display under the new one. Where a field has a lot of history behind it, prefer adding a new field to re-typing the old one.

Where each field appears

The Target decides which screen your field shows up on:

Target	Appears on
CRM Leads	New Lead, and the Custom Fields panel when a lead is opened.
CRM Opportunities	New Opportunity, and the Custom Fields panel when an opportunity is opened.
Project	The Custom Fields button on a project. These are also the only fields that can be made Searchable.
Defect	The defect record.
Quote Items - Append	Quote line items — the answers are appended to the line’s description on the quote.
Shop Floor Order	New and existing shop floor orders in Manufacture.
Site Instruction	The site instruction record.

Two targets that do nothing. The Target list also offers Activity and Quote. Neither is read by any screen — a field created against either one is saved but never appears anywhere. They are left over from earlier development. Do not use them.

Custom field answers can also be placed on printed forms — quotes, works orders, site instructions — if your print templates are set up for it. Raise a support request if you want a custom field added to a form.

Searching on a custom field

Fields targeted at Project and marked Searchable appear under Advanced Search on the Project Register, letting you filter the register by what was recorded in them — every project of a given fencing type, for instance. Fields on other targets are recorded and printed but are not offered as search filters.

Advanced Search on the Project Register — the two Project fields marked Searchable appear as extra filters.

Practical advice

Be sparing with Required. Every mandatory field is a stop sign in front of a staff member who may legitimately have nothing to put in it. Reserve it for information the business genuinely cannot proceed without.
Use lists rather than free text where the answer is one of a known set. Typed answers drift — 1.8, 1.8m, 1800 and 1.8 metres are four different answers to a reporting tool.
Name fields for what they hold, not for the process around them. The name appears on screen and on printed forms exactly as typed.
Review the list once a year. Fields accumulate. If nobody can explain what a field is for, it is probably time it stopped being compulsory.

Setting Permissions — granting the Administrator access this screen requires.
Accounts & Contacts from an Opportunity — the New Opportunity screen custom fields appear on.
Projects — where Project custom fields and Advanced Search are used.
Product Attributes — the equivalent concept for inventory items.