Configuring Attributes

Attribute Types

When you create an attribute, you start by selecting the attribute's type. The type determines what kind of data value the attribute field will accept and store (e.g. numbers, text, dates, etc.). Each type is also associated with a specific user interface (UI) element. Users use this UI element to set a value for the attribute when they create or edit an activity Any targeted action or measure taken by a company to promote its products or services, attract customers, or increase sales..

The following attribute types are available:

Date

Data Type: Single date values in the format MM/DD/YYYY.

UI Element: Date picker that displays a calendar. Users can click on a date in the calendar to set the date value, or enter it manually into the input field.

Drop-Down List

Data Type: Predefined options.

UI Element: Drop-down list that displays the predefined options. Users can click on a single option in the list to select it. Users can also type a keyword into the field to filter the options list.

Multi-Select List

Data Type: Predefined options, optionally with user-customizable percentages.

UI Element: Drop-down list that displays the predefined options. Users can click on one or multiple options in the list to select them. Users can also type a keyword into the field to filter the options list.

If the percentage allocation feature is enabled, users can also enter a percentage value for each selected option (see Percentage Allocation Setting for more information).

Number or Metric

Data Type: Numeric values.

UI Element: Input field that accepts values containing only numeric characters (0-9). Values that include non-numeric characters are rejected.

Text or Reference #

Data Type: Alphanumeric values.

UI Element: Input field that accepts values containing any combination of letter characters, number characters, and special characters.

Note:

The Text or Reference # attribute type supports characters from the Unicode Basic Multilingual Plane. This includes characters for all modern languages, such as diacritics (e.g. umlauts, accents, etc.), logographs (e.g. characters for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.), and various other symbols.

Attribute Settings

You can configure an attribute's settings when you create a new attribute, or when you edit an existing attribute.

For instructions on how to configure an attribute's settings, see Creating an Attribute and Editing an Attribute.

Basic Settings

All attribute types have the following basic settings:

Location (required): Sets where the attribute will be displayed.
- Always set to Details Panel A UI component in the Plan and Spend modules that displays and allows editing of information for a selected item (activity, investment, line item, etc.). It includes various attributes, metrics, and other relevant data specific to the selected item. It is the central location for viewing and managing comprehensive information about individual elements. by default. This is currently the only available location for attributes, so the setting can't be changed.
Type (required): Sets the attribute type.
- Set during attribute creation, and can't be changed later.
Name (required): Sets the display name of the attribute. This name is also used as the label for the attribute when a user is creating or editing an activity.
- By default, this is set to "New Field" for all newly created attributes.
Help Text (optional): Sets the text that is displayed in the attribute's tooltip.
- If configured, a tooltip icon is displayed next to the attribute label, which reveals the tooltip text on hover:
- If not configured, the tooltip icon is not displayed.

Note:

All attribute types also display a Date Range setting. This setting is currently not used in the system. As a result, we recommend that you do not configure it for any attribute.

List Options

Attributes Specific properties are assigned to activities, investments, or other system elements. These can include dates, text, drop-down options, or numeric values. They help categorize, describe, and analyze marketing efforts and can be customized to meet an organization's unique needs and reporting requirements. with the types Drop-down list and Multi-select list have additional settings. These settings configure the predefined set of options that a user can select from the list.

You can add list options, rename them, change their display order, or remove them from the list.
You can also manage list options in bulk with the export and import features.

Add and Manage List Options Individually

To add and manage list options for a Drop-down list or Multi-select list attribute, follow these steps:

When you create or edit a Drop-down list or Multi-select list attribute, click Edit Options in the Attribute Details panel:

Note: For instructions on how to create or edit an attribute, see Creating an Attribute and Editing an Attribute.
In the Edit Options dialog that appears, type the name for an option into the text box and click + Add. The option is added to the list of options:
Repeat the previous step to add additional options.
To rename an option, hover on it and click Edit, then type the new name into the field. Click anywhere outside the field to save the new name.
To remove an option, hover on it and click Delete. The option is removed immediately.
To change the alphabetical sort order of the options, click Sort A-Z or Sort Z-A:
To manually set the sort order of the options, click-and-drag the handle beside the name of an option you want to move. Drop the option where you want to place it (a horizontal line shows where in the order the option will be placed):
When you have finished configuring the list options, close the Edit Options dialog. Your changes are saved automatically, and will take effect immediately.

You have successfully added and managed list options for a Drop-down list or Multi-select list attribute.

Add List Options In Bulk With Import

You can also import list options to create them in bulk (rather than individually). The import feature is designed to be used together with the export feature, which lets you copy an existing list of options from any list-type attribute.

To add list options in bulk using the export and import features, follow these steps:

Open the Attribute Details panel for the existing Drop-down list or Multi-select list attribute from which you want to export (copy) the list options.

Note: For instructions on how to open the Attribute Details panel for an existing attribute, see Editing an Attribute.
Click Edit Options:
In the Edit Options dialog that appears, click View as text. The View as text dialog appears.
The current list options for the attribute are displayed in plain text, with each option on a separate line. Select all of the options and copy them to the clipboard.
Close the Edit Options dialog.
In the list of attributes, find the Drop-down list or Multi-select list attribute to which you want to import the list options you just copied. Open its Attribute Details panel, then click Edit Options.
In the Edit Options dialog that appears, click Import. The Import dialog appears.
Click into the text field and paste in the values you copied from the other attribute, then click Import. The Import dialog closes, and you are returned to the Edit Options dialog.
In the Edit Options dialog, the imported list options now appear in the list of options configured for the attribute. You can now make any changes to the options as needed, such as changing the order or renaming options.

Note: If the attribute already had existing list options before the import, the new list options will be added to the end of the list.
When you have finished configuring the list options, close the Edit Options dialog. Your changes are saved automatically, and will take effect immediately.

You have successfully added list options in bulk using the export and import features.

Note:

You can also use the import feature by itself to manually create multiple list options quickly. To do this, skip the export step and go directly to the target The amount of money that marketing plans to spend on a specific scope, usually given in quarterly amounts. attribute. Instead of pasting the list options you want to add into the Import field, just type them into the field directly (make sure to put each list option on a separate line).

Percentage Allocation

The attribute type Multi-select list has an additional setting to enable the percentage allocation feature. When this feature is enabled for a Multi-select list attribute, users can specify a percentage value for each of the options that they select from the list. You can use the percentage allocation feature for attributes where you want to record the relative weighting or contribution of each selection.

EXAMPLE

Some example use cases for setting percentage values on multi-select attributes:

Quantify how much each selection contributes to an overall objective A goal or aim that activities are designed to achieve, often organized at company, marketing, and team levels. or target, e.g. how much a tactic contributes to different funnel A model that represents the theoretical customer journey towards the purchase of a product or service, often visualized as stages from awareness to purchase. stages
Specify how the overall value or quantity that the attribute represents should be split up between the selections, e.g. how to split up the total time spent between various actions

Functionality Notes

When percentage allocation is enabled for a Multi-select list attribute, the system initially sets the percentage values automatically:
- As the user adds selections, the system calculates and adjusts the percentage value of each selection to maintain an equal distribution.
- For example, if there are four selections, each will be automatically assigned a value of 25% (1/4 of 100%).
After making all selections, users can manually enter percentage values for each selection as needed:
- The sum of all specified percentage values must always total exactly 100%.
- If the sum of the percentage values totals more or less than 100%, the system will display an error message. Any changes to the selections or their percentage values will not be saved until the user adjusts the percentage values to total exactly 100%.
- Users can enter percentage values as decimals, and can specify as many decimal places as they want. Decimal places are also taken into account for the requirement that all percentage values must total 100%: if a decimal percentage value is specified for one selection, at least one other selection must also have a decimal percentage value with the same number of decimal places to sum to a whole number.
- Users can enter a value of 0% for any selection, including for multiple selections (provided the values of all selections still totals 100%).
After they are set, the percentage values are displayed beside the label of each selection wherever the attribute field is displayed (e.g. in an activity's Details Panel, or in Analytics and BI exports, etc.).
The percentage values for attribute selections can also be used by the Impact Modeler A feature that projects expected revenue from marketing activities based on demand-generation goals. feature. For details, see Impact Modeler.