Maintaining a tidy database is one of the keys to efficiency. It's just like keeping a tidy house. It's all about getting rid of what's no longer useful and organizing the stuff that you do have for easy access.
It's the same way with user-defined fields. Yes, they are very useful in helping to store useful data, but the more you have, the harder it is to find things. A lot of this comes from proper planning when initially creating the database. Mapping out your business processes first and planning your database around your business process is always a smart thing to do. But I'll let Byron tell you more about this in his blog.
One way to help alleviate the pain of wading through a sea of user-defined fields is to create a key fields list. Key fields are important user-defined fields. They are displayed on the basic information dialog box in the bottom left hand corner. Adding or modifying a value to a key field is the same as browsing to the user-defined field and adding or modifying a value. It just takes less searching and fewer clicks.
To create a key fields list:
- Go to Administrator.
- Go to file > preferences. Go to the key fields tab.
- To edit one of the displayed key fields, select the key field and select Modify. To create a new key field list, click Add.
If you edit or add a new key field, you will get to the key fields dialog.
Pretty standard stuff. Insert a name and description. Requested by is optional. Set the owner to something other than public if you don't want everybody to be able to use the list.
Here comes the tricky part: entry types.
There are 9 different entry types:
- Comany - Lead
- Company - Non-Lead
- Individual - Lead
- Individual - Non-Lead
- Contact - Lead
- Contact - Non-Lead
- Opportunity
- Campaign
- Customer Service
The list will only display the key fields corresponding to the type of entry that is currently open. For example, you can have a list called "Will's Key Fields" and have fields for customer service and non-lead contacts. So every time I open a customer service case, and select "Will's Key Fields" as the Key Fields list, only the customer service key fields will appear. Conversely, if I'm editing a non-lead contact, only the non-lead contact key fields will appear.
So select the entry type and add fields by selecting the field on the left and clicking add.
When you are finished, click OK.
The key field list should appear in the key field drop down in any entry type that you have specified fields for. So in my above example, "Will's Key Fields" will only appear in the customer service case and non-lead contact dialog boxes.