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Configure Common Configuration Tasks

Updated

Configuration tasks in SmartSimple include variable syntax, formulas, workflows, custom fields, and system settings. For configuration syntax, see Configuration Syntax Rules and Order of Operations Reference.

Who: System administrators 

When to Use Common Configuration Tasks

Use common configuration tasks when:

  • Handling empty or null variable values in formulas and conditions.
  • Setting up scoring calculations, bulk data uploads, or workflow-driven field updates.
  • Configuring portal pages, invitation templates, or SSO assertions.
  • Locating field IDs, applying custom field validation, or using system-level features such as System Calls.

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Handle NULL or Empty Values in Conditional Checks

When running conditional checks on fields using SSLOGIC(), IF(), or CASE statements from within the variable syntax helper or Template/Type Formulas, use the following pattern to handle NULL or empty values:

if("@level1.fieldName.value@"="", 0, @level1.fieldName.value@)

This example returns 0 when the @level1.fieldName.value@ variable returns an empty result. Replace fieldName with the appropriate field name for your environment.

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Calculate Total Scores from Radio Button Fields

To calculate a total score from a set of radio button (single-select) scoring questions using a Level 1 Type Formula:

  1. Click the System Administration gear in the upper navigation bar, and then select Tracking Applications from the drop-down menu.
  2. Click the edit [pencil] icon next to the Submission Manager.
  3. Click the Level 1 tab.
  4. Locate the General Settings section and click Types.
  5. Click the edit [pencil] icon next to the record type that includes the scoring questions.
  6. Click the Process tab.

  7. Click the Level 1 Formula field and enter the following syntax, replacing the variable names with the correct field names used in your environment: 

    @level1.TotalScoreField@=@level1.1stScore@+@level1.2ndScore@+@level1.3rdScore@
  8. Click Save.

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Bulk Upload Budgets to Budget Manager

To add a large number of budgets (for example, 60 new budgets for different branches) to the Budget Manager:

  1. Use an Autoloader to bulk upload all budgets using a CSV file. This is the recommended approach for bulk budget creation. See Configure an Autoloader for setup steps.

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Remove Spacing Between Sentences in a Grant Invitation

To remove the extra space between sentences in an Invitation email, replace the <p> (paragraph) HTML tags with <br> (single line break) tags in the email template body.

  1. Click the System Administration gear in the upper navigation bar, and then select Tracking Applications from the drop-down menu.
  2. Click the edit [pencil] icon next to the Submission Manager.
  3. Click the Level 1 tab.
  4. Locate the Features and Options section and click Invitation Templates.
  5. Click the edit [pencil] icon next to the applicable template.
  6. Click the Email Templates tab.
  7. Locate the Invitation Email section, click the Invitation Email Body field, and replace the <p> tags with <br> tags where the spacing occurs.
    • For example: Your signature here, <br>Administrator
  8. Click Save.

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Remove the Pending Agreements Section from a Portal

To remove the Pending Agreement section from a Portal:

  1. Click the System Administration gear in the upper navigation bar, and then select Global Settings from the drop-down menu.
  2. Click the Users tab.
  3. Locate the General Settings section and click Portals.
  4. Click the edit [pencil] icon next to the Common portal.
  5. Click the edit [pencil] icon next to the Portal Page that is specific to the applicable role.
  6. Click the Remove [X] icon next to the Pending Agreements item.
  7. Click Save.

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Attach a PDF to a Confirmation Email

To attach a PDF to a confirmation email:

  1. Click the Menu icon in the upper navigation bar, and then select Workflows from the Tools drop-down menu.
  2. Click the edit [pencil] icon next to the applicable workflow.
  3. Click Tasks in the left navigation.
  4. Click the applicable email acknowledgement task.
  5. Click the Message Template tab.

  6. Click the File attachments field and enter the custom field ID variable that stores the PDF using the following syntax: 

    @#123456789#@
    • Replace 123456789 with the actual custom field ID that contains the PDF file.
  7. Click Save.

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Configure OKTA SSO New User Assertions

If OKTA SSO is configured with the Create New User on No Match setting enabled, and newly created users are missing their email address, first name, or last name, verify that the OKTA Assertion Attributes are correctly configured.

The following assertion attributes are required for new user creation:

  • First name
  • Last name
  • Email

Ensure these attributes are present and correctly mapped in the OKTA configuration before testing new user creation.

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Automatically Rename Level 2 Activities

To set the Level 2 Activity standard field Subject equal to the Level 1 standard field Application Name:

  1. Click the System Administration gear in the upper navigation bar, and then select Tracking Applications from the drop-down menu.
  2. Click the edit [pencil] icon next to the applicable UTA/module.
  3. Click the Level 2 tab.

  4. Locate the Features and Options section, click the Formula field, and enter the following syntax: 

    @level2.subject@=@level1.name@
    • Replace subject and name with the appropriate field names if different in your environment.
  5. Click Save.

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Locate the Internal ID of a Custom Field

To locate the internal ID of a Custom Field:

  1. Click the System Administration gear in the upper navigation bar, and then select Tracking Applications from the drop-down menu.
  2. Click the edit [pencil] icon next to the applicable UTA/module.
  3. Click the applicable Level 1, 2, or 3 tab.
  4. Locate the General Settings section and click Standard Fields or Custom Fields depending on the type of field you want the internal ID for.
  5. Locate the ID field.

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Create a City or Town Selection Custom Field

Creating a city or town selection Custom Field requires two parts: first define the list of selectable options as a System Variable, then reference that variable in a new Custom Field.

Create a System Variable for City or Town Options

To create a System Variable that stores the list of selectable city or town options:

  1. Click the System Administration gear in the upper navigation bar, and then select Global Settings from the drop-down menu.
  2. Click the System tab.
  3. Locate the System Configuration section and click System Variables.
  4. Click the New System Variable [+] button.
  5. Click the Name field and enter a name for the System Variable.
    • For example: cityList
  6. Click the Value field and enter all selectable options separated by a semicolon.
    • For example: City 1;City 2;City 3
  7. Click Save.

Add the System Variable to a Custom Field

After the System Variable is created, reference it in a new Custom Field so the city or town options appear as selectable values:

  1. Click the Menu icon in the upper navigation bar, and then select the relevant UTA/module from the Applications drop-down menu.
  2. Click the Configuration Settings gear.
  3. Click the applicable Level 1, 2, or 3 tab.
  4. Locate the General Settings section and click Custom Fields.
  5. Click the New Field [+] button.
  6. Select Lookup – Autocomplete Options from the Field Type drop-down menu.

  7. Click the Predefined Options field and enter the following syntax: 

    @system.cityList@
    • Replace cityList with the name assigned to the System Variable.
  8. Click Save.

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Calculate the Difference Between Two Dates in Hours

Use the datediff() function within a custom field to calculate the difference between two date fields in hours:

datediff([startdatefieldname],[enddatefieldname],'H')

Replace startdatefieldname and enddatefieldname with the actual field names used in your environment.

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Trigger a Save Action from a Browser Script

To trigger a save action from a Special - Browser Script custom field, use the following syntax, replacing 2947 with the ID of the submit button for your form:

document.getElementById('submitbutton_2947').click();

To find the correct button ID, inspect the form in your browser or consult your system configuration.

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Validate Business Days with Conditional SmartCheck

The following example checks whether the EventDate field is at least 45 business days from today when the FinancialSupport field is set to Yes, and returns an alert message if it is not:

if(form.getStr("cf_FinancialSupport") == "Yes"){
  if(ssConvertDate(form.getStr("cf_EventDate"),"@dateformat@","yyyy-mm-dd") < "<!--@sscalculation(SS_FUNC.addbusdays('@date(currentdate)@',45))-->") {
    result.isPassed=false;
    result.addMsg("cf_@EventDate.id@","Event Date must be at least 45 days away");
  }
}

Replace cf_FinancialSupport and cf_EventDate with the actual custom field references used in your environment.

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Generate a Dynamic URL for a Level 1 or Level 2 Record

To generate a dynamic URL for a Level 1 or Level 2 record, first locate the unique UTA/module ID:

  1. Click the System Administration gear in the upper navigation bar, and then select Tracking Applications from the drop-down menu.
  2. Locate the Application ID column and find the application ID for the applicable UTA/module.

  3. Use the following URL and replace appid=xxxxxx with the unique UTA/module ID: 

    https://alias.smartsimple.com/Apps/app_editevent.jsp?appid=xxxxxx&eventid=@opportunityid@

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Retrieve a Sum of Level 2 Activity Field Values

To retrieve the total sum of all Level 2 Payment Activity Amount Paid values with a status of Paid from within a Level 1 record, use the following syntax:

[#(?object=activity::criteria=typeid=67382 && statusid=67400::groupfunction=sum)$amountPaid.value$#]

Customize this syntax as follows:

  • Replace typeid=67382 with the ID value of the target Activity Type.
  • Replace statusid=67400 with the ID value of the target Activity Status.
  • Replace $amountPaid$ with the target Level 2 Custom Field Name. The .value suffix retrieves the stored value.

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Update a Level 2 Date Field with a Date Calculation

To update a Level 2 date field (dteScheduledDate) using a Workflow Task, setting it equal to 3 years after the parent Level 1 Start Date (dte_ProjectStartDate):

  1. Click the Menu icon in the upper navigation bar, and then select Workflows from the Tools drop-down menu.
  2. Click the Tasks tab.
  3. Click the edit [pencil] icon next to the applicable workflow task.
  4. Click the Update Field and set it to the target Level 2 date field.

  5. Click the Update to Value field and enter the following syntax: 

    <!--@sscalculation(DATE_ADD("@parent.dteProjectStartDate@", INTERVAL 3 YEAR))-->
    • Replace dteProjectStartDate with the target start date field name.

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Format a Custom Date Field

To format a custom date field as YYYY-MM-DD using sscalculation:

<!--@sscalculation(DATE_FORMAT('@dateField@','%Y-%m-%d'))-->

Replace dateField with the field name of the target date field. In this format, %m is the month as a two-digit number, %d is the day as a two-digit number, and %Y is the four-digit year.

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