Custom fields

Every record in the system also carries fields you define. No code, no new release: a field added here appears on the record, and — if you asked for it — in the table, the filters, the saved views and the exports too.

The screen is Settings → Custom fields. It serves the same engine for servers, systems, equipment, databases and the five infrastructure families; the entity-type selector is at the top.

Three panes

Pane	What is in it
Group tree	The entity type's groups and fields, drag-reorderable — and every drag has a button equivalent
Preview	The real record, built from the definitions as they are edited, with each field's fill rate beside it
Field definition	Four sections: identity · behavior · required and visibility · sources

The fill rate — "filled on 3% of records" — sits on every row rather than in a separate report. It is the number that makes an administrator delete a field instead of adding a sixth.

To edit on the record itself, where it is read, see screen design.

Field kinds

Kind	Note
Text	One line, up to 400 characters
Long text	A paragraph, up to 4000 characters
Number	With optional unit and precision
Currency	A number with a currency code
Date · Date and time	Displayed DD/MM/YYYY
Yes/no
Single select · Multi select	From a shared option set, each option with its own tone
Record reference	Points at a record of another type
Person	Identified by employee id — the same identity the system uses
IP address · Address range
Link
File	Points at a document in the documents tab
Computed	An expression over other fields, evaluated on the server only
Repeating group	A table of child records, network interfaces for example

The key is set once

At creation you may set the field's key, or let it derive from the name. After creation there is no way to change it, and no disabled button hinting that there is.

Required, weight and visibility

Required is never retroactive. It applies on each record's next save and on status transitions. When the switch changes, the screen states how many existing records do not meet the condition — and says explicitly that they stay valid. The number before the save is the difference between a policy and an accident.

Beside it:

• Completeness weight — required / recommended / optional / informational. A weight of zero takes the field out of both sides of the ratio: it neither lowers the completeness percentage nor inflates it.
• Who sees it and who edits it — by role.

Appearing outside the record

Three separate switches, because these are three different questions:

Switch	What it does
Show in table	A full column in the list — with filter, sort, saved view and both exports
Include in global search	The value is findable in search (⌘K)
Include in export	The value goes into CSV and Excel

"Show in table" is capped in number per entity type: the values ride on the inventory read itself, so every extra field here is a cost every screen pays, including the screens that do not show it.

The quick filter is derived from the field's kind rather than configured separately: select and yes/no get a value list, multi select gets tokens, number and date get a range, and free text gets no quick filter at all — a rail listing every serial number individually is the column again, in disguise.

Server-side filtering

An extra switch on a field that is already in the table: it makes filtering and sorting across the whole inventory fast instead of scanning every row. It is capped per entity type, and the screen says how many remain.

Some kinds cannot take it — long text, multi select, link, file and repeating group — and the screen explains why for each, rather than leaving a switch that does nothing. The operation does not touch the values: you can turn it on and off with no risk to data.

Removing a field — three degrees

Degree	What happens
Hide	The field stops appearing. The definition and the values stay exactly as they are and come back in full the moment it is shown again
Retire	The definition goes out of use. The values are kept and the field can be restored from the "Removed fields" panel
Delete completely	Like retiring, and in addition the values are erased from every record. There is no way back

Permissions and offline

Writing on this screen requires the custom-fields permission. Reading is deliberately not gated on it — the field schema is a layout contract every screen needs on load, and a user whose table could not draw a column an administrator added would simply have a broken page.

With no database connection the screen works in full, changes are held in process memory only, and a banner says so.