Gnowbe Custom Attributes is a powerful feature that allows you to manage your users and their data in a much more efficient way. Please note that Custom Attributes is a premium add-on that is only available with Gnowbe Premium subscription. Contact your Gnowbe representative to add custom attributes to your subscription.
When will you need Custom Attributes?
Scenario 1
You want to centralize (and automate) your user administration. Instead of managing user administration for each group separately, you can manage the users (add them, remove them, assign them to groups) via a centralized panel, then Custom Attributes is the way to go. To take this to the next level, you can automate this process where user data from your source system (e.g. your HRIS) can be fed directly into Gnowbe via an API, without requiring the need for an upload. So all new employees are automatically added to Gnowbe and all departing employees will automatically be removed from Gnowbe!
Scenario 2
You need additional data fields for your users. Under Gnowbe Standard subscription Gnowbe dashboard allows you to add the following standard data fields for each user only
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email ID
- Employee ID
In case you wish to track additional data fields for your users (examples include Department, Job Title, Country, Gender etc.) then you can do that using the Custom Attributes add-on.
You can use custom attributes for any one (or both) of the above scenarios.
Getting Started
To get started, with Custom Attributes, you need to have Gnowbe Admin access for your organization. Next, you need to ensure that your organization is subscribed to Custom Attributes, you can check this easily by going to the 'Users' tab for your organization (not the 'Users' tab for any specific group). If you're subscribed to Custom Attributes you'll see the 'Integration' sub-tab under the 'Users' tab.
Add the Custom Fields You Want For Your Organization
Under the 'Integration' tab, you can add the custom fields. You can add a field by clicking the 'ADD' button.
On the add screen, you'll see the following fields.
- Name indicates what you want the field to be called. This is the name that will appear everywhere for this field, so choose a name that is clear. For example if you want to add department as a field, you can choose to indicate the name as 'Department' or 'Dept'.
- Primary Key is the field that will uniquely identify all your users. No two users can have same value for this field. Examples of Primary Key include ID, email etc. Fields like department and job title cannot be primary keys as multiple employees can hold the same job title and can be part of the same department. Gnowbe allows you to identify any one of the below two fields as the primary key, select the one which is appropriate for your organization -
- Email - Official (business) email of a user. No two individuals can have the same email.
- Employee ID - A unique ID to identify each user, can be numeric or alphanumeric.
- Type - This indicates which category does this field falls under, valid ones being First Name, Last Name, Email, Employee ID, and others.
- Value Type - Indicates the data type of this field, whether it's 'Text' or 'Numeric'. For alphanumeric fields, choose 'Text' type.
You'll have to repeat the process for each of the custom fields you require for your organization. Please also note that if you're using Custom Attributes, you don't need to add/redefine the standard fields (First Name, Last Name, Email, Employee ID), all you need to do is add the field which will be the primary key for your organization ('Email' or 'Employee ID').
Adding Users
One of the major differences in the way custom attributes work is that you add your users at the org level, rather than at each group.
Option 1 - Adding Users at Org Level
Upload a CSV file with all your users. Please ensure that your CSV file contains all the necessary headers for each of the custom fields. It should also have the fields for each of these headers populated. For example, attached in this article is a sample CSV that has custom fields 'Dept' and 'Job Role'. Once you upload, you'll see all these under the 'Invited' sub-tab under the 'Users' tab.
To check if you have uploaded all your users successfully, click on the 'Show Import Log' button on the 'Integration' tab. This Import Log feature allows Admins to track their user upload activities within Gnowbe Dashboard.
With this feature, Admins can easily view (see image below) the:
Setting Up Your Group Filters
This is where things get really interesting! Now, go to the 'Users' tab of any group, and go to the 'Invite' sub-tab. Under this sub-tab ensure that you've selected the 'External Attributes' option. Add filters to define the criteria for adding users to this group. So lets say, you only want people in the 'Sales' department to be a part of this group, so you need to define a filter where you specify this.
Once done, the users who fulfill this criteria will be automatically added to this group. Please note that this syncing of users from the org to the group takes about 10 mins.
To make the process efficient, we encourage you to define the criteria for each group first, and then upload your users at the org.
Option 2 - Adding Users at the Group Level
What if you want custom fields and you still want to add users at a group level? You can absolutely do that. Open your group, go to 'Users' tab and 'Invite' sub-tab, simply select 'Invitations'. This will allow you to add your users using invitations.
The best part is that Custom Attributes is versatile enough to let you add your users both using filters with your Custom Attributes for some groups and add users using invitations for others.
Exporting Data
If you have added custom fields for your organization, the Custom Attribute feature allows you to extract reports which include user data for each of those fields. Attached with this article is a sample report, which includes custom fields.
Things to Note:
When you're adding users at the org level and if you skip any users who were added previously, then these users will be removed from the organization after your upload. This is a great way to manage your user lists and remove users who have left the organization automatically but be careful not to accidentally remove users from your organization.
Some Dos and Don'ts:
- When adding an attribute in the Integration tab, fill in the attribute's name PRECISELY as how you named it on your CSV file's column header. The fields are case-sensitive, so it has to be the same.
- Do ensure that you are clear on which filters you would like to set for each group.
- Do be clear on which invitation mode you will be using. Choose from either the "Invitations" mode or "Custom Attributes" mode.
- If you choose to switch from the "Invitations" mode to the "Custom Attributes" mode at the group level, ensure that the filters set at the group level will allow all existing users to remain in that group.
- Do not switch between invitation modes at the group level unnecessarily. This will remove users from the group if the filters are not set up correctly.
- Do not remove filters from a group unnecessarily. This will also remove users from the group.