To define an entity characteristic type

Integral to all asset management activities are those individual entities - asbestos assessment, equipment, service type, survey replacement, and the like - that provide structure and focus to the recording, tracking and reporting of key information, and these can be described further using a series of custom characteristics. So, for instance, when logging items of equipment, the supporting characteristics could be defined as, say, 'year of manufacture', 'supplier product code', 'heat capacity', etc.

The procedure to define an entity characteristic type is as follows:

1. Navigate to Quick Menu > System > Entity Configuration > Characteristics. The Configure Characteristics window is displayed.
2. Click on New Characteristic. All fields are activated ready for data entry.
3. Enter a Description for the new entity characteristic type into the field provided 1.
4. Using the Entity types drop-down field, select an appropriate entity focus area against which newly-created records will be linked i.e. Actual Work, Asbestos Assessment, Asset, Equipment, Survey Replacement, etc.
5. Where applicable, use the Sub types drop-down field to select the desired classification component within the entity focus area against which custom characteristics will be defined 2.
6. Using the Data type field, select a parameter value that matches the required entity characteristic value - Date Only, Date Time, Decimal, Field Specific Lookup, Integer, Lookup, Multi Lookup, Text, Time Only, True or False. The corresponding criteria fields are activated.
7. Enter the required data type criteria, range or user defined table to control the entity characteristic value 3.
8. Using the Display order field, enter a numeric value to specify the relative position of the characteristic type, as displayed within a linked entity 4. The Up and Down arrows are available to increment or decrement the value, as required.
9. Choose an Effective from date for this characteristic type i.e. the date on which it came into effect 5.
10. Choose an Effective to date if the characteristic type is to be time bound; a blank field means the characteristic type will never expire.
11. Using the Companies drop-down field, multi-select all companies for which this characteristic type is relevant, or choose the All option, as required 1.
12. Where the characteristic type is to be included on the summary pane of the entity record, activate the Show in summary tick box provided.
13. Click on Save. The new characteristic type is displayed in the alphabetical list 6.

Tip

1 Where only a small number of parameter values are not required, activate the All tick box first and then deselect individual items from the full list, as required; the All tick box will be automatically removed once an item is deselected.

Note

1 System validation rules ensure that the description entered for each new characteristic type is unique for the effective period.

2 The range of sub types available for selection is automatically filtered based on the entity in current focus; where no additional classification is relevant, the drop-down field will remain empty.

3 No additional criteria is required for data types Date Only, Date Time, Time Only and True or False.

4 Where no Display order value is recorded, the entity characteristic types will be displayed in their order of entry.

5 The Effective from date defaults to the current system date and cannot be left blank.

6 To amend the details of an existing characteristic type, expand an entity heading and select an entry from the alphabetical list, or type its name into the Search Characteristics field. By default the list is filtered to show Current characteristic types. An alternative filter can be applied using the Select view drop-down field: Expired, Future or All. Only a limited number of fields can be updated once a record has been created.

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To define the asset characteristic types