Linked fields

Linked fields are associated with individual accounts and can significantly reduce the time and user input required to make a booking.

Linked fields can be amended/deleted by administrators who have adequate account/consol code permissions.

Key facts

•	When you have set up linked fields for a given account(s), a booker who wants to make a booking on that account just types the pre-defined key data/value in the nominated Reference or Department field and the system populates up to 10 other fields in the Booking screen with pre-set data.

•	You can set up as many instances of linked fields for an account(s) / consol code(s) as you want, providing each Key Field/Data combination is used once only per account. Each instance allows you to Link To a maximum of ten fields of booking screen data/values.

•	The same Link To:/Data combinations can be re-used as many times as required in different instances of linked fields for the same account or multiple accounts.

•	Individual Link To: fields can be associated only once with a given Key Field value. (Some accounts permit multiple email and SMS notifications to be linked to the same Key Field value.)

•	While it is possible to select a subset of accounts from different consol codes for each instance of linked fields, this kind of setup is likely to make the long term management of linked fields more complex.

•	Setting up the Linked Field feature involves three main steps:

a)	select the account(s) / consol codes that will use the instance of linked fields.

b)	define the Key Field (Reference or Department) and its data/value.

c)	select the Link To: fields and specify the data/value for each one (up to a maximum of ten fields).

Accounts	Key Field	Key Data	Link To field	Link To data
Accounts 111, 222	Reference	YY	Five SD-S-Collection items	A, B, C, D, E
Account 111, 222	Reference	QQ	Five SD-M-Collection items	A, B, C, D, E
Account 111, 222	Reference	ZZ	Five SD-S-Collection items & five SD-S-Delivery items	A, B, C, D, E and F, G, H, I, J

•	The data that the administrator enters as Key Field data and Link To data MUST conform to the constraints of the selected field even if the field has been renamed.

o	For example, if the Link To field is Postcode, then the data must be no longer than 20 characters and consist of a-z A-Z 0-9 and space. Refer to Linked fields constraints for details.

The Key Field and Link To lists use default field names, not customised, renamed or removed fields.

The values defined in Linked Fields will populate renamed fields.

Administrators should take care to only use Key / Link To fields that are available to each account.

o	Group settings may reduce the number of options available in the Booking screen for a given account. For example, Account X may offer one Booking Type only or have a fixed recipient.

o	Group settings offer a lot of flexibility in the naming of Booking screen fields. A single field in one account may be displayed with different labels depending on the logged-in individual's group settings.

o	Booking Codes are always specific to the account. (Renaming a Booking Code field through the group settings for a given account means that all groups that access that account will see the new field name in the Booking screen.)