BACKSTORY
Custom fields is a new feature in the application Distribution Cloud that allows users to add fields that are unique to their company to the system to use both for documentation and workflow condition purposes. Previously, users would need to work with a custom developer to add new fields to their company which is pricey and takes time. This feature puts the power in the user's hands. The technical process of adding a custom field has two main complexities that the user needs to understand.
PROBLEM 1
Creating a new custom field doesn’t mean it automatically appears in the system. The custom field needs to be “published” to trigger our system to download and then upload the custom field(s) the user created into their company.
SOLUTION 1
The status of a custom field is vital to a user’s understanding. To make the status clear, I designed an interface that separates custom fields into separate tables based on their status. Custom fields that have been created but not yet published are in a “x Custom fields are not published” table which has an action to “Publish”.
PROBLEM 2
The act of publishing custom fields is disruptive to a company’s day - users will all be logged out and need to log back in as the act of a published custom field is like that of a new extension.
SOLUTION 2
Users can schedule a publish to occur up to 24 hours after the current time. This allows users to schedule a publish after the work day is over to prevent users from being kicked out of the application while working. Custom fields that are scheduled to publish move to a separate table, and an action “Cancel” allows a scheduled publish to be cancelled.
SUMMARY
This design was tested with beta users. Users are excited to be able to add needed fields for their company themselves and use them to expand their workflow capabilities that help automate their business.
