Customizing Page Layouts

Many of the data entry pages and the sub tabs on the Bio tab can be customized so that the data reflects the needs of your organization. When you customize a page layout, you are doing several things:

  1. Selecting the built-in fields to include. Data in ExceedFurther is organized into tables containing pieces of information, called fields. Each table comes with a certain number of fields built in. These are the fields that many nonprofit organizations use in their work. However, you may find that some of this information is not relevant to your organization, and if so, you can remove those fields from the page. Note that some fields cannot be hidden because they are linked to other fields.
  2. Defining additional fields. There may be some information that is unique to your organization that does not fit well within the built-in list of fields. In that case you can define your own fields, called user-defined fields. These can be of any type.
  3. Determining how the fields appear on the screen. Each data screen contains up to three columns of information. You can decide which fields you would like to see in each column, and what order the fields should be.
  4. Setting some fields as required. If there are certain fields that must always be filled in, you can set those fields as required. When a user is adding or changing information on a screen with a required field, they will not be able to save the data without entering something into that field.

WARNING: Once you have customized a page layout, that layout is used throughout the organization for all users. Use caution when deciding to hide certain fields since they will be hidden from everyone. Fields should only be hidden if no one in the organization is going to use that piece of information. If the layout is for one of the Bio tabs, the same layout is used both to display the information on that tab and to add or edit the information.

The only exception to the warning above is Quick Gift Entry. For this window you can create any number of custom templates, each reflecting a different set of fields, layouts and requirements.

In addition to customizing your page layouts, you can also set default values for some fields. When you set a default value for a field, that value is automatically filled in whenever you add a new record containing that field. You can always change the value if you need to for a particular record. Setting defaults is intended mainly to save time in repetitive data entry.

To customize a page layout, do the following:

  1. Click on the "Hello" drop down on the far right top of the ExceedFurther window.
  2. Select Administration from the list.
  3. This opens the Admin tab.
  4. Select the Customize Page Layout sub tab.
  5. Select the page you would like to customize.
  6. If this is the first time your organization has chosen to customize this page, the fields will appear in the default order that comes with ExceedFurther.
  7. Drag any fields that you do not wish to see from one of the columns on the right to the "Do Not Show" column on the left.
  8. Click on Add User Defined Field to add a new field to this page.
    1. Note: when you add a User Defined Field to a page, you are associating that field with the table that underlies the page. For example, if you add a user defined field to a page containing gift information, that field is effectively added to the gift table and will be available not just on the particular page you are laying out, but also on any other pages, reports or mailings that include gift information.
  9. To change the order of the fields, drag them from one column to another and drag them up and down within a column.
  10. To set a field as required, click on the check box next to the field.
  11. Click on Save to save your new layout.