System Admin - Managing your organisation's Data Fields

System Admins can manage the data fields they have displaying on their organisation's Upshot account.

Data Fields can either refers to the fields found on an organisations registration form, visible via People > Add New or the fields visible when collecting the data on a head count session. 

These are often a combination of Upshot default fields and an organisation's custom attendee data fields. Depending on the set up, this may also include any Facilitating Organisation fields as well if relevant.

In terms of good data practice, these fields should be relevant to what your organisation wants to report back on.  

Often the initial registration form (and as such the data fields displayed) have come through consultation with an Upshot team member and members of an organisations internal team at the set up stage.

Over time though things may change, different sets of data may need to be collected, other things may become irrelevant or additional options may need to be added, this guide aims to support System Admins in this process.

Configure attendee fields

To amend options regarding the existing data fields on an organisations account, System Admins can go to Admin > Configure Attendee fields.

The Attendee tab will display the current layout of the internal registration form (People > Add new) and the layout of information against an existing attendee profile.

Here organisations can choose to:

  • Move fields and sections around the form
  • Remove fields from the form
  • Create brand new sections
  • Rename existing sections

Customising the layout of this page can help to make this aspect more bespoke to an organisation, perhaps more closely mirroring an existing physical form. More detail on this can be found here

Fields can also be made required, or removed and left within the Available fields section on the right-hand side if not needed.

If any data fields are left off the form all the data that exists underneath them is still retained and can be reported on later if needed. If this does needs to be viewed and reported on later, the field would need to be re-added to the form.

Users can toggle to the Head count tab at the top of this page to make similar changes to the layout of any Head counts they record.

For any of an organisation's custom attendee fields, these can also be restricted to a particular project(s). This ensures that only users who have access to a particular project see the fields relevant to them on the registration form. Note that fields restricted to particular project(s) cannot then be made required. More information about this can be found here.

Note that any changes to the Configure Attendee fields options will not automatically be reflected in the Attendee sign-up form if used by an organisation, please revisit this under Admin > Attendee sign-up to ensure this is displayed as desired.

If relevant, any Facilitating Organisation (FO) Data Fields set by a Funder. These will not be available to be removed from the form. The organisation should contact their relevant FO if they feel these fields should not be displayed on their account.

Adding new custom attendee fields

Organisations may start collecting new sets of data as time goes on. It may be the case that a core field such as Ethnicity was originally not added to your registration form but now your organisation wants to start using and collecting this data, in this case just amend this by going to Admin > Configure Attendee fields and add to your form.

In other instances this may be something completely brand new, for instance as an organisation you might want to start keeping record of how people had heard about your services, and so want to add a field called 'How did you hear about us?'

Adding new fields can be done at any point.

  • Go to Admin > Custom attendee fields
  • On the right-hand side under Tools click Add a new attendee data field
  • Here the Label is the title of this field, e.g. 'How did you hear about us?'
  • Type of field - Here choose how this information is collected. Text area (free text, unvalidated), Single choice dropdown, Multiple-choice field, tickbox, date.
    • Note that only Single-choice and Tickbox fields can be displayed as head count fields.
  • Help text - Add any additional information that will help individuals complete this field. Note there is a character limit of 255 characters.
  • Project Restrictions - Custom Data Fields can be restricted by project(s), making these fields only viewable to users associated with that project. This can help to customise the length of your registration form and limit the number of users that can view and report on certain information. To find out more about this please click here. 
  • Once you have selected your options click Add.

These fields must then be added to the layout of your form. To do this, System Admins can go to Admin > Configure attendee fields and add the field from the Available fields area on the right-hand side to the relevant area in their internal registration form (People > Add new) or Head Count register.

Note, the new field will also need to be added to the Attendee sign-up form if necessary to be completed at this point. This can be done by going to Admin > Attendee sign-up form.

Managing attendee data fields

Organisations may choose to amend their existing attendee data fields, whether that is by renaming them, adding new options to a drop down, choosing to no longer display these fields or deleting them.

These changes can all be made by going to Admin > Custom attendee fields and clicking manage under the relevant field.

Renaming

After selecting the relevant field and clicking on Manage, the Label (Name of the field) will be displayed at the top, this is a text box where the amendment can be made.

Once the change has been made click update.

Note that it is always worth keeping data integrity in mind when making this change. It would not make sense to change the wording of the field to something very different to how it was originally created, as this may not truly indicate what existing attendees have submitted answers against.

Adding new options to a drop-down list

After selecting the relevant single-choice or multiple-choice field and clicking on Manage, users will see that they can Add another option at the bottom of the screen.

Additionally, the order of options can be changed, by using the icon to click and drag the field on the right-hand side.

Options within the field can only be deleted if they have no data against them. If the option is no longer in use, but it does have existing data, it can be better to rename the option and move to the bottom of the list. 

Restricting custom fields to projects

Custom Data Fields can be restricted by project(s), making these fields only viewable to users associated with that project. This can help to customise the length of your registration form and limit the number of users that can view and report on certain information. To find out more about this please click here. 

Removing / Hiding the field

Custom Data Fields can be restricted by project(s), making these fields only viewable to users associated with that project. This can help to customise the length of your registration form and limit the number of users that can view and report on certain information. To find out more about this please click here. 

Organisations may decide that a historic custom attendee field no longer needs to be displayed on their account for any new registrations. In these instances it can be removed from both the internal registration form and external Attendee sign-up form by going to Admin > Configure attendee fields and Admin > Attendee sign-up forms respectively.

Deleting

After selecting the relevant field and clicking on Manage can click on Available to delete? on the right-hand side under Tools.

Fields can only be deleted if there is no existing data associated to them. If the field is simply no longer used, it can be better to simply remove it from the form. This is done by going to Admin > Configure Attendee fields. This way the existing data is retained in case it is ever needed later, while also stopping additional data being added against it and removing it from the current registration form.

If the field does need to be deleted the associated information must be removed first. Please contact support@upshot.org.uk who will be able to assist with removing this information in bulk, allowing organisations to delete the field.

Upshot gives you control over your data, but it is important to understand that some actions can permanently change or remove information. These actions may be reversible but recovery can come at a cost. To understand what recovery options are available, and which actions may be irreversible, please see this guide.

Required Fields

Fields can be made required. This can be helpful for organisations to ensure they have data consistently added against attendee profiles.

The following fields are required by the system and cannot be changed:

  • First name or nickname
  • Gender

Note Gender has a 'Prefer not to say' and 'Not provided' option.

These fields are required as they serve a dual purpose in the system. Ensuring that every attendee has this information added to their profile allows the inbuilt duplicate checker to cross reference profiles added to the system. More information about duplicates and the duplicate checker can be found here.

Organisations have the flexibility to make attendee fields required on the internal registration form (People > Add new), head count register or external Attendee sign-up form as desired. 

It can be helpful to consider whether keeping some fields not required internally, whilst choosing to make them required on the external Attendee sign-up form.

This ensures that users can still add new attendees manually to the system if they do not have full information on the attendee from a paper registration form collected, while attendees completing the form electronically are required to submit all the desired information.

To amend the requirements on different forms, System Admins can go to Admin > Configure attendee fields and Admin > Attendee sign-up as relevant.

Restricting custom attendee data fields to certain projects 

Custom Attendee Data Fields can be restricted by project(s). 

Restricting Custom Data Fields in this way would mean that these restricted data fields are only visible to  users associated with that project. 
Users would then only be able to view and add/edit information against these restricted custom data fields if they are associated with the particular project. Similarly, users would then only be able to report on restricted Custom Data Fields for projects that they are associated with.
Restricting Custom Data Fields allows you to customise the internal registration form for different projects and can be helpful in reducing the number of fields, and thus length of your registration form. This can also help to hide potentially sensitive Custom Data Fields by restricting them to a project.
Example:
This means that you can have a data field such as “What is your favourite football club?” which might just be relevant to your “Sport Project” and is not relevant to your “Employment Project”. 
By restricting this field to the Sport Project this field only appears on a participant’s registration form if an Upshot user is associated to the “Sport Project” through the  Project Manager, Session Registrar or  Team Manager role. 
The same principle applies to the reporting on this field across the  People Report, Statistics Report, Attendance Report (including personal details), Survey Export (including attendee details) and  Attendee Report.
Note I: Restricted Custom Data Fields cannot be made required on the internal registration form or head count sessions.
Note II: The project restriction of data fields does not apply to the online attendee sign-up form or the bulk import template.
More information on this feature can be found here.

Custom Head count fields

If you would like to add detail to your head count reporting, organisations can create  Custom Head count Fields. These will allow you to split your head count by fields in addition to the Upshot default gender split and age range.

Custom Head count Fields can only be single-choice or tickbox fields. A single-choice field will allow you to enter figures against several options that add to a total up to, and including, the total number of participants, whilst a tickbox field is binary. This means that for a tickbox field the numbers submitted for the two options must always equal the total of participants.
Creating Custom Head count Fields follows the same process as setting up custom Attendee Fields.
More information on this feature can be found here.

Organisations can also amend the order of the fields shown within their Head count register via Admin > Configure attendee fields , more detail on this here.

'Searchable' Fields

When searching for attendees (using the search bar in the top right) or adding attendees to registers users often search by using the first three characters of either the attendee's first and/or last name but it is helpful to know there are other fields that can be used in these search areas to return the attendees you desire.

'Search' bar

In the top right-hand corner the search bar can be used to find attendees via either their First name, Last name, Nickname, Upshot ID, Identifying notes, and Membership Number.

The information displayed when searching will be the First name, Last name and Nickname (in brackets)

When adding attendees to registers either from the session itself or the grid view, the Add existing attendee search bar can be used to find attendees via either their First name, Last name, Nickname, Upshot ID, Identifying notes, and Membership Number.

The information displayed when searching will be the First name, Last name, Nickname, Age and Identifying information.

When selected and added to the register only the First name and Last name of the attendee will show.

Identifying notes and Membership Number

Organisations may not have these default fields currently displayed on their account. This can be amended by going to Admin > Configure attendee fields.

Please note that Membership Number does not only have to be a number. It can be any selection of characters organisations desire. I.e. this could be an actual 'number' or alternatively you might want to put in another reference point, such as 'Team' or 'Email address' that you also want to be able to search for attendees by.

Attendee sign-up form

It is important to note any changes to your Attendee data fields will not always be automatically reflected in the external Attendee sign-up form.

Amendments to the options within any existing fields (such as adding a new option to a single-choice field) will automatically be updated on the Attendee sign-up form.

For other amendments, such as new fields added, existing fields removed from the internal form, or a renaming of existing fields the following rules apply, and action needs to be taken via the Attendee sign-up form builder page accessed via  Admin > Attendee sign-up form.

  • New custom attendee data fields - These will be presented on the right-hand side under Available form fields and users need to drag and drop these fields into the relevant order of their form on the left hand side. At the top of the form users should then click Save. 
  • Existing fields removed from the Configure attendee fields - If the field is left within the Available fields on the Admin > Configure Attendee fields page and had previously been used in the organisation's Attendee sign-up form, the organisation will see it listed with the following message: 

As the message states, the field is no longer being displayed. Organisation's might find it helpful to remove this field from the list on the left-hand side to get a more accurate impression of what is currently being displayed. This can be done by clicking the cross highlighted above and then at the top of the form clicking Save.

  • Renaming of existing fields - If a field has been amended, in terms of either a rewording of the 'label' or a change to the help text, this will automatically reflect in the Attendee sign-up form.

Note: Any amendments to the external Attendee sign-up form will not alter the URL link for the form itself, ensuring that if the link has been shared previously it will still be relevant and the same one to use.

Key Terms

Attendee Data Fields:

These are extra custom fields, that your organisation wishes to collect information on. These will be presented on either your registration form for attendees or as additional fields on your head count register. Changes can be made to these by a System Admin.
Note extra fields created by your Facilitating Organisation may be also be present on your registration form and headcount register.
Data Fields can also be restricted by project, to find out more about this click here.
Attendee sign-up form:
This is an external registration form, which can be shared via a public form URL or by embedding on your own website. This allows attendees to register themselves onto your database. The attendees get no access to the Upshot account. 
For more information on this please refer to the External Attendee sign-up form guide or view the short video here.
Custom Head Count Fields:
These are additional custom fields defined by your organisation and will be presented on your headcount registers. These allow you to gain more information from your headcount sessions. The Upshot default for headcounts is total participants, age range and gender. A System Admin will be able to customise the fields presented.  For the full guide on Custom Head Counts fields click here.
Custom Headcount fields can only be single-choice or tickbox fields. A single choice field will allow you to enter figures that add to a total up to, and including, the total number of participants, whilst a tickbox field is binary. This mean that for a tickbox field the numbers submitted for the two options must always equal the total of participants. 
Data Fields can also be restricted by project, to find out more about this click here.

Facilitating Organisation:

In Upshot there are two platforms - one for facilitating organisations, often used by funders, and another for delivery organisation accounts, where the attendee and session information is inputted. Facilitating Organisations accounts can be thought of as an over-arching account linked to a number Delivery Organisation accounts. If applicable, information feeds through from the Delivery Organisation level to the higher Facilitating Organisation level for reporting purposes. However, this is not a necessity and delivery organisation accounts are not always linked to a facilitating organisation account.

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