Why should I use fields?

Using fields when business modeling has a lot of benefits. By connecting metadata to models or objects in your repository using fields, you can, later on, create more specific selections of your material and therefore gain more from your business modeling. Below, we are going through some examples when using fields comes in handy:

Lists and matrices

When creating lists, you can filter a result based on fields and the field values you've added for objects and models. This way, you can get a more precise result in your lists. The lists can later be used to create matrices.

Example of a list: A list of every activity object in my repository with the field "Is personal data processed?" and the field value "Yes". We will then get a list showing all activities where we've chosen "Yes" for the field "Is personal data processed?".

Custom layouts in the web profile

You can create a custom layout in the web profile and use it to show selected information about objects or models in the custom layout. You can create more precise layouts if you've been using fields and field values on your models and objects.

Example of selections in a custom layout: All objects on the start page with the field "Open document" checked. This way, we've created a custom layout where we specify two objects with the filed "Open document" checked on the start page (start model). We can choose to "Follow link when clicking on objects" (a setting in the web profile) for this specific layout we just created. When we click on the two objects in the start model, the document link added to the objects will open immediately.

You can read more about custom layouts in this FAQ: How do I create a custom layout in the web profile?

Color Profiles Based on Field Values

Fields can also be used together with color profiles to assign different colors to objects based on their field values. This makes it easier to visualize important information directly in your models.

With color profiles, you can customize the colors of objects to match your organization's visual identity or to highlight specific types of information. In addition to defining default colors for different object types, you can also create special color variations that are applied when an object has a specific field value.

Example:
We have a field on applications called "Contains personal data?" with the values Yes and No. In the color profile, we can create a specific color scheme for applications where the field value is Yes. As a result, all applications that contain personal data are automatically displayed with a distinct color in the models, making them easy to identify.

This functionality works in a similar way to custom layouts in the web profile. You create a filter based on a field and its value, and then apply a specific color scheme to that selection.

Color profiles can also be configured at the server level, ensuring that the same color scheme is used as the default for all users working in the repository.

You can read more about color profiles in this FAQ: What is a color profile, and how do I create one?

Selection of models to publish

You can also select models to publish based on fields or field values. You can either choose to filter this result in the web profile under "Models to Publish", or by selecting a list of a selection of models to publish.

Example of a field for models to publish: We have created a field called "Publish". Next, we connect this field to models and select "Publish" for the models we want to publish. In the web profile, we can later choose to only publish the models with the field "Publish" selected.

Show information about objects and models

You can choose to show columns of fields in lists, which means you can access more information from a list.

Example: We have created a field with a dropdown where we have added field values of all the different business departments. We call the field "Departments". Next, we can set the correct department for all of our processes. Once we create a list of our processes, we can also choose to show the column "Departments" and see what process belongs to what department.