Managing Custom Fields

The Practice Settings Custom Fields function allows an FYI Admin to add and change the Client Custom Field and Job Custom Field definitions within FYI.

These can only be maintained in FYI by an FYI Admin who can add, edit or remove Custom Fields.

Notes on Practice Management Software

FYI as Practice Manager Source

In addition to the standard Custom Fields, the following Custom Fields can only be managed in FYI by practices on the Elite plan, with FYI set as the Practice Manager source. Refer to Practice Management Sync.

Time and Disbursements
Employee
Invoice

These Custom Fields are not available when using FYI integrated with any other practice management software.

Custom Fields are synchronised one-way from FYI to Xero Practice Manager. Refer to Synchronising with Xero Practice Manager where FYI is enabled for Primary Source of Client Data

Xero Practice Manager

For practices not on the FYI Elite plan:

Changes made to the Client or Job Custom Field definitions in FYI will sync to Xero Practice Manager within 15 minutes.
Any changes made in Xero Practice Manager to the Custom Fields values for a Client or Job, or to the definitions, will automatically sync to FYI overnight or during a manual synchronisation.
Note: When a Client or Job is marked as 'Pending Sync', custom field changes made in XPM will not be synchronised.
When a custom field is created in XPM, all updates/edits to this field need to be done from Xero Practice Manager, for example, adding additional values. Updating the custom fields in FYI will revert the changes during the next sync.
The Sync from PM can still be used to sync the values for Custom Fields selected for the specific Client or specific Job from Xero Practice Manager to FYI. The Sync from PM does not sync any changes to the Custom Field definitions. Refer to Client Custom Fields and Job Custom Fields.
When manually synchronising Job Custom Fields, at least one standard job field must be updated to synchronise Custom Fields, otherwise you will need to wait for the overnight synchronisation.
If you prefer that changes to Client and Job Custom Fields are only made in Xero Practice Manager, ensure that no users are given the Edit Custom Fields permission.
If you have any third-party apps updating Custom Fields within Xero Practice Manager, these are not synced to FYI automatically, and they would need to be manually updated. Refer to Sync from PM in Client Custom Fields and Job Custom Fields.

The automatic sync of Custom Fields can be disabled by setting the Sync Custom Fields From XPM option to "Off". Refer to Resetting your connection between FYI and Xero Practice Manager.

GreatSoft and Third-Party apps

Client and Job UDFs in GreatSoft are synced to FYI as a Custom Field definition. These are displayed in the Practice Settings Custom Fields.
Maintaining or adding Custom Fields in FYI will not synchronise with GreatSoft.
If you have any third-party apps updating Custom Fields within Xero Practice Manager, these are not synced to FYI automatically and they would need to be manually updated (refer to Sync from PM in Client Custom Fields and Job Custom Fields).

Editing Custom Field Values or Selections

An FYI Admin, or a user in a User Group with Permissions enabled for Edit Custom Fields, can edit the value or selection for a Custom Field in the following locations:

Client - Custom Fields tab. Refer to Client Custom Fields.
Job - Custom Field tab. Refer to Job Custom Fields.
Employee - Custom Fields tab. Refer to Employee Custom Fields.

Custom Fields are not linked. For example, if you wish to filter on a custom field value in a Client List, that field must be available in the Client List. This is the same for Job Lists, where the column must be available as a Job Custom Field.

If you prefer that changes to Client and Job Custom Fields are only made in Xero Practice Manager, or by FYI Admins only, ensure that no users are given the Edit Custom Fields permission.

For practices on the Elite plan where FYI has been enabled as the Practice Management source, Custom Fields can only be maintained in FYI, and will synchronise one-way to Xero Practice Manager.

Displaying the Custom Field Definitions

Log in to FYI as an FYI Admin.
From FYI, click Settings in the top right-hand corner.
Select Practice settings from the drop-down, then select General.
Click on the Custom Fields tab.

A list of the Custom Field definitions displays. Custom Fields are displayed alphabetically by default, but can be reordered as required. Refer to Reordering Custom Fields below.

You can use the Search field to search in the Custom Fields.

The Custom Fields list displays as follows.

If you have enabled Custom Field Grouping, an additional column will be displayed with the assigned group. Refer to Grouping Custom Fields.

Adding a new Custom Field Definition

From the Custom Fields list, click Add.
Enter the Custom Field Name.
Checkmark where the Custom Field is Applied to.
Select a Group from the drop-down.
This field will only be displayed if you have enabled Custom Field Grouping.
Select the Type. This determines how the value can be entered or selected when a user is updating the Custom Field.

When the Type is selected as "Drop-down", you also need to enter the options that will be available for that Custom Field as in the following example.
Click Save.
The new Custom Field will be added to the bottom of the list. To change the order of the Custom Fields refer to Reordering Custom Fields.

Custom Field Types

Type	Details	Example
Checkbox	Creates a True/False toggle.
Date	Used to track the calendar date of an event. The date can be either manually entered or selected from the displayed calendar. Note that the date will be displayed in the following format: 1 Dec 2023.
Decimal	A number with decimals.
Email	Used to enter an email address.
Drop-down	Creates a list to select a value from.
Number	A whole number (no decimal).
Text	A free text field for capturing relevant information. Text will become a clickable link if a URL is entered into the field in a supported format. Refer to Creating Web Links below.
URL	Website address
User	Displays a list of active Internal Users to select from.

Changing a Custom Field Definition

Click on a Custom Field in the list. You can make changes to the Name or to what it Applies to.

You cannot change the Type. If a Custom Field has been set up with the incorrect Type it would need to be removed and added as a new Custom Field. You can include the Custom Field column in the Clients and Jobs list to check if it has already been used for a Client of Job.

You can add or delete Options for a Drop-down type Custom Field. If you delete an option in a Drop-down type Custom Field, this will not remove it from any Clients or Jobs it has already been selected in but it will not be available to be selected in any others.

Reordering Custom Fields

The display order of Custom Fields can be adjusted in the Custom Field drawer, available once the Custom Field has been created. This allows practices to reorder the Custom Fields to their preference.

Click on the Custom Field to display the Custom Field Drawer. The arrows are displayed in the top left corner.

Click the Up arrow to move the Custom Field higher, and the Down arrow to move it lower.

To display the numerical order, add the Order column to the Custom Fields list in the same way as when adding columns to Documents, Jobs or Tasks Lists. Refer to Adding, Removing and Moving Columns in the Documents Lists

The updated order of Custom Fields will be displayed in:

Clients - Custom Fields
Jobs - Custom Fields
Employees - Custom Fields
Setting a Custom Field, for example when creating an Invoice, Time, or a Job

Grouping Custom Fields

Custom Fields in the Clients, Jobs, and Employees Custom Field tabs can be grouped together, to reduce the size of the list and allow users to easily find the required Custom Fields. For example, when grouping Custom Fields by Business Division.

Refer to Grouping Custom Fields.

Deleting a Custom Field Definition

Custom Fields created in FYI can be deleted if no longer required.

Note: Practices where FYI is the Primary Source for Client Data will be able to delete Custom Fields with any source, for example, fields created in Xero Practice Manager and synchronised to FYI. Refer to Enabling FYI as Primary Source for Client Data

Select the Custom Field in the list and click Delete and confirm.

If the Custom Field has been used, it will be removed from any relevant Clients or Jobs. The deletion is synced to Xero Practice Manager.
If the Custom Field is used in any Automation Processes, a notification will display confirming the custom field cannot be deleted. The custom field will need to be removed from the Automation Process before it can be deleted.

Using Custom Fields as a Merge Field

To use Merge Fields to insert Custom Fields into your documents, refer to the following articles:

Custom User Roles

As well as the Custom Field Types available in your practice management software, there is an additional type of user which is used to add Custom Fields in FYI that are Custom User Roles for Clients and/or Jobs.

This allows a value for a Custom Field to be selected as one of the active users in FYI user so that customised user roles can be set up. A Custom User Role can be used to record the user assigned to additional categories such as Accountant, Bookkeeper, Team Coordinator, Supervisor, etc.

Custom User Roles can only be added and maintained in FYI.

When the Type is selected as "User", the Custom Field is added in the same way as other types.

Note: When adding a Custom Field with the Type of "User" in FYI, this is synced to Xero Practice Manager with the Type set as "Text".

Custom User Roles can then be used in the same way as Partner and Manager in Client and Job lists to sort and filter. They can also be selected in Automations when creating a Task as the Assignee and in the Workflow as the Owner or Approver.

If the Custom User Role is enabled for both Clients and Jobs, when creating a job using the + Create button, the job will automatically inherit the Custom User Roles selected for the client.

Refer to Custom User Roles.

Note: Unlike other Custom Fields, the Sync from PM function on the Client - Custom Fields or Job - Custom Fields tabs will not update any changes if these are made to a Custom User Role in Xero Practice Manager.

Creating Web Links

To display a clickable link on the Client or Job Custom Field tabs, you will need to create a Custom Field with a Type of URL or Text.

When entering a website address into a Text Custom Field on the Client or Job Custom Fields, the link must be entered using one of the following formats:

https://webaddress.com
https://www.webaddress.com
www.webaddress.com
webaddress.com

You cannot combine multiple links, or text with a link, otherwise the field will not be clickable. For example, entering "www.mycompany.com and www.mybusiness.com" will not become clickable.

Features