Custom User Roles

Custom User Roles, another "User" field, allows for a value for a Custom Field to be selected for active users in FYI user. This enables customised user roles can be set up for Clients and/or Jobs. For example, a Custom User Role can be used to record the user who is assigned to additional categories such as Accountant, Bookkeeper, Team Coordinator, Supervisor, etc.

Custom User Roles Overview

Custom User Roles can only be added and maintained in FYI. Refer to Managing Custom Fields.

Users must be either an FYI Admin or a user in a User Group that has Permissions enabled for Edit Custom Fields. Refer to Managing User Groups.

Custom User Roles can be used with:

Clients
Jobs
In Lists to sort and filter
In Automations when creating a Task as the Assignee, or in the Workflow as the Owner or Approver

For practices integrated with Xero Practice Manager, if a Custom User Role has been created at a Client or Job level, a corresponding field will be created in Xero Practice Manager at the same level.

Any changes to the Custom User Roles in FYI will sync to Xero Practice Manager within 15 minutes.

Note: Unlike other Custom Fields, changes to the Custom User Roles in Xero Practice Manager will not be synchronised back to FYI. These fields should be maintained directly within FYI.

Displaying and Adding Custom Field Definitions in FYI

For information on displaying and adding Custom User Role definitions in FYI, refer to Custom User Roles in Managing Custom Fields

Editing a Custom User Role for a Client or Job

For general information on editing a Custom Field in the Client - Custom Fields and Job - Custom Field tabs, refer to Editing Client Custom Fields in Client Custom Fields and Job Custom Fields.

For a Custom User Role, the drop-down displays a list of all the active users in FYI for you to select one. The following is an example of selecting a value for a Custom Field "Accountant" - a Custom User Role (a Custom Field with the Type "User").

Custom User Roles in the Clients and Jobs Lists

You can include a Custom User Role set up for Clients (such as for Accountant, Bookkeeper, Team Coordinator, etc) in the Clients or Jobs lists for sorting or filtering.

Refer to:

Custom User Roles in Custom Processes

Custom User Roles can be selected in Automation Processes. They are used in a similar way to selecting the relative Partner or Manager in Process steps. Refer also to Update Client and Update Job in Process Step Details - Updating Clients, Creating and Updating Jobs.

Workflow in Steps

Owner
Where Custom User Roles have been set up, they can be used to set the Owner in the Workflow of a step. This retrieves the user that has been selected for that Custom Field as relevant for the relative Client or Job.

If no user has been assigned to the relevant Client or Job for that Custom User Role, it adds the Owner of the process as the Owner of the document created.

Approver
In the same way as above, a Custom User Role can be used to set the Approver in the Workflow of a step to retrieve the user that has been selected for that Custom User Role as relevant for the relative Client or Job.

If no user has been assigned to the relevant Client or Job for that Custom Field, no Approver is set for the workflow when the document is created.

Task in Steps

Assignee
Where Custom User Roles have been set up, they can be used to set the Assignee in the Task of a step. This retrieves the user that has been selected for that Custom Field as relevant for the relative Client or Job.

If no user has been assigned to the relevant Client or Job for that Custom User Role, no Assignee is set for the Task that is created.

Create Email Step

In a Create Email step in an Automation Process, a Custom User Role can be selected as the Sender or as a Recipient.

Sender: a Filter must be selected in the automation process to select a Custom Field for a sender.
Recipients: the only supported custom field types are "Email".

Refer to Create Email - Recipients and Create Email - Send in Process Step Details - Creating Documents and Tasks.

Summary Notification

In a Summary Notification step, a Custom User Role can be selected in the Notify User field.

Note: Custom User Roles can only be notified when using Jobs and Client views for Automation Processes. Other views do not have Custom User Roles available for selection.

Custom User Roles as Merge Fields

Custom User Roles can be used as Merge Fields in Email, Word and Spreadsheet templates as well as for Email Signatures and Word Stationery.

Custom User Roles as Merge Fields in Email Templates and Signatures

Custom Fields and Custom User Roles that have been added in FYI are included with any other Custom Fields in the Email Editor for the Template or Signature, in the XPM group. Refer to Merge Fields for Custom Fields that are Maintained in FYI in Including Merge Fields in Email Templates and Signatures.

Important note: Currently, when selecting a Merge Field that has been added in FYI, you need to manually change the prefix of "XPM" to "fyi" (lowercase).

Custom User Roles must be added to the Template or Signature using curly braces, {{ and }}, following the format of code_custom_rolename. For example, the Custom User Roles "Bookkeeper" would appear as:

{{ fyi_custom_Bookkeeper }}

Merge Fields in Draft FYI Emails

Certain Merge Fields, such as those that relate to the Author, Attachments, or Custom User Roles, are only applied when the final details and sender of the email has been determined. These will only be merged into the email when it is sent or if the email is saved as Draft in Outlook and these do not display when editing the email in the Editor in FYI.

When creating an email using a Template or Signature that includes a Custom User Role, if you have selected Draft in FYI, you can check how the Custom Field will populate in the email when sent using the Preview button in the Email Editor. Refer to Previewing the Draft in FYI Email in Creating an Email in FYI.

Custom User Roles as Merge Fields in Word Templates and Stationery

Custom Fields and Custom User Roles that have been added in FYI can be added to Word Templates and Stationery. Refer also to Merge Fields for Custom Fields that are Maintained in FYI in Including Merge Fields in Word Templates and Stationery.

Important note: When adding a Merge Field that has been added in FYI, you need to add the prefix "fyi" (lowercase).

Custom User Roles must be added to the Template or Signature using « and » following the format of code_custom_rolename. For example, the Custom User Roles "Bookkeeper" would appear as:

« fyi_custom_Bookkeeper »

Custom User Roles as Merge Names in Spreadsheet Templates

Custom Fields and Custom User Roles that have been added in FYI can be added as Merge Names in Spreadsheet Templates. Refer also to Adding FYI Custom Fields to Excel Spreadsheets as Merge Names in Including Merge Names in Excel Templates.

Important note: To use Merge Names for Custom Fields that you have added in FYI, to indicate it was added in FYI, in the Name, the "XPM" in the Merge Field needs to be changed to "fyi", so the Merge Name needs to be entered as "FYI_fyi_custom_customname".

For example, for a Merge Name in a Spreadsheet Template, a Custom User Role "Bookkeeper" is entered as:

FYI_fyi_custom_Bookkeeper