Data Objects

OVERVIEW

Important Note:

Custom Objects offer a newer, more scalable and overall superior solution to Data Objects by offering icons, detail views with dynamic property cards, full collaboration options (discussions, file attachments), field indexing, and overall better reporting experience which overcome the limitations encountered when implementing solutions using Data Objects.

The Data Object further enhances AdaptiveWork's configuration capabilities by allowing you to display new types of data in the system, either creating new objects or storing data on existing objects. Data Objects are a flexible repository that stores (for example, and not limited to) time-based snapshot and trend data and are populated only by workflow, API, or other automation.

The Data object stores as much log-type data as you need for your visualizations, charts and reports.

Data objects have no default workflow, business logic or user roles. No alerts or notifications are generated by the system for data objects and, by default, data objects do not affect any other AdaptiveWork behaviors or layouts.

How to Create A New Data Object

The Data Object being created in the example below is to track Cases (Issues, Requests, or Bugs) via a Workflow when a user changes an Issue, Request, or Bug's state.This is an example of a simple audit trail.

You could also use Scheduled Workflow Rules, Custom Actions, Interact, Data Loader and the API.

The example below describes capturing data every time the user changes the "State" of a Case, which means that if the state changes for Issues, Risks, Requests and Bugs it will be captured.

1. Go to Settings > Configure > Data
   
   
   
   
2. The Type picklist field is a standard field of the Data Object that can be editable so you can add data type labels to suit your data needs such as "State Changes", "Audit Trail", and "User Login".
   
   
3. Click on Type from Settings> Configure> Data> Standard Fields.
   
   
   
   
4. Description, Tooltip, Reading, Financial and Sort Order can be edited.
   
   
5. It is recommended that you use the Type Value field to distingush between logged and snapshotted data such as "Burn Down Chart", "User Analytics", "EV Graph", "Audit Trail".
   
   
6. Values can be entered individually or you can choose a file to insert a number of values.
   
   
   1. Type in a Value and click Add. This adds values to the Type picklist that can be retrieved in the Workflow, Custom Panel or Scheduled Workflow rules, Custom Actions, Interact, Data Loader and API.
      
      
   2. Each value can have an Image and/or Color to highlighting important information at a glance.
      
      

      Note:

      The Data Object is completely customizable. You can use any of the Data Object standard fields shown below in the Workflow Rule and Custom Panel as well as create new custom fields to suit your business needs.

      
      
      
   3. Create any Custom Fields you may want to use for the Data Object. These fields store data and can be defined in the Workflow Rule to be later displayed and used or visualized in the Custom Panel or Report. Below are the custom fields that were created for this Data Object.
      
      
      
      
7. In Settings> Configure choose the relevant Source Item type, in this example we will using Cases.
   
   
8. Click on Create New > Workflow Rule for Cases.
   
   Note:

   You can relate Data Objects to the relevant Source Object such as: Work Item (Project, Milestone, Task), Group (User Group and Discussion Group, Cases (Issues, Requests, Bugs), File, Expense Sheet, User, Customer, Expense, Topic, Folder and Report.

9. Type in the Name of the Workflow Rule.
   
   
   
   
10. Set the Run Time, in this example, to Every Time a Record is created or edited to capture the user action of either creating the "State" or Changing the "State".
    
    
    
    
11. Set the Evaluation Criteria to Run only when the following conditions are met when the state, isChanged(State). In this step you are determining when to execute the Workflow rule, so this rule will only run when the Case's state is changed.
    
    
    
    
12. Set Actions for creating a New Item (new record) in the System to run on the CurrentObject, which in this example is "Cases".
    
    
    
    
13. For NewObject1 = New select Data, since is is a new Data Object.
    
    
    
    
14. The $SourceObject is the CurrentObject() or the current record you are working on. In this example the Cases record that the User edited. This is a required field.
    
    
15. You can add standard or custom fields of the Data Object to the Workflow. These fields are defined in the Workflow and will be stored in the Data Object. These stored fields can be displayed for usage and visualization in Custom Panels and Reports. Below are the fields that were added to the "Cases" Workflow.
    
    
    1. DataObjectType, which in this example would be 'Case State Change', this value is stored in the Type field. This field was edited In the Report or Custom Panel and will be labeled as 'Case State Change'.
       
       
       
       
    2. Name is 'State Change', one of the Standard Fields.
       
       
       
    3. New Value of the object 'toString($State)' is a custom field that captures the New Value of the State change of the individual Case.
       
       
    4. Previous Value of the object 'toString(GetPreviousValue($State))' is a custom field that captures the previous value of the individual Case.
       
       
    5. SourceItemID of the Current Object is '$SYSID' or System ID. This will display the system id and it is a custom field.
       
       
    6. SourceItemType of the Current Object 'toString($EntityType)'. This is a custom field.
       
       
    7. Description of the Current Object will display in HTML table rows "From the previous state value to the new state value". This is a standard field.
       
       
       
       
16. Save your changes
    
    

Exposing the data object in the content layout

Administrators can create a custom field of the Data Object with a field type of Reference to Object and a Reverse Reference to the parent object. This custom field will reference the parent object and automatically display field values of the Data Object in the Related Panels of modules if added in the View Editor. Upon creation of this custom field, users can add, edit and delete field values of the Data Object in the Content Layout such as Projects, and Work Items modules. Administrators need to create a custom field with a field type Reference to Object.

See also Predefined Lookup Rules in Reference to Object Fields

How to Display The Data Object In A Report

A report can be created to view the field values of the new Data Object defined above. You should only see data that you have permissions on, which is determined by the View permissions on the Container object (Work Item, Group, Cases, File, Expense Sheet, User, Customer, Expense, Topic, Folder and Report).

1. In the Navigation bar click on Reports> New Report
   
   
2. Enter the Report Name, in this case Audit Trail
   
   
3. Select Data from the Report on dropdown
   
   
   
   
4. Alternatively you can select the custom field of the Data Object, in the example below a custom field of Login was created on the parent object, User
   
5. View of the Login custom field
   
6. Select the columns you want to display in the Report, note these are the same fields we defined in the workflow
   
   
7. Display of the Data Item Report for Cases
   
   
   

   Note:

   The description 'work was changed' was added to the Data object that was created so it is included in report

For more information see Creating Reports.

How to Create A Custom Panel Exposing Data Objects

Custom Panels uses stored fields in the Data Object to display data. The Custom Panel uses variables to “run on related” Data Object to generate tabular lists, aggregate data such as KPIs or Javascript (such as Google charts) Review more information on Custom Panels.

1. Go to Settings>Configure> Cases
   
   
2. Click on Create New> Custom Panel
   
   
3. Type in the Custom Panel Name, "State Changes" in this case
   
   
   
   
4. In the Permissions section select All Users
   
   
   1. You can select Allowed By then you will have to select the users to grant access
      
      
   2. Click on
      
      
   3. A dialog box will open for you to select the Users to access the panel. Note multiple selections can be inserted, you can choose from Roles, People, Groups, etc.
      
      
      
      
5. In Visibility Rules click Show without conditions, meaning no conditions are required to show the information
   
   
6. In Set Actions, Set a New Variable
   
   
7. Fill in the required field name of the New Variable to "statechanges"
   
   
8. Fill in the required fields, Type which is text and Value is null. This new field will be referenced in the HTML display table of selected fields.
   
   
   
   
9. Set the second Variable to run on the new Data Object and Filter Related Items on the Data Object Type of 'Case State Change'. This step will filter the Data Object Type for only records with 'Case State Change' in the Type field.
   
   
   
   
10. After the records have been filtered the following information will be appended to the statechanges variable: Date and Time, Created By and a description. The Value is written in HtML format so it will display each record as a row. You can specify the format of the date and time.
    
    
    
    
11. You can set the content in HTML format to display an HTML table. You need to specify the HTML table tags with the "statechanges" variable to display the data from the Data Object.
    
    
    
    
12. The Custom Panel will be displayed in Cases
    
    
    
    

    For more information see Custom Panels.

    Note:

    You can work with Third Party Charts in Custom Panels

    If you are using Google Charts you need to store your main data as text, so you can create a custom formula based text field
    
    
    
    

    You can use JsonObjects for a Custom Panel
    
    

Best Practices

• As with Notes and Discussions, if you delete the main object you lose the Data too as it has nothing to be attached to. If you need to persist the data after items are deleted, you can protect the main objects with Validation rules or link the Data to an item that will never be deleted.