How to Create a Custom App - Part 1

FreeAgent CRM allows you to fully customize your experience so that it fits your process.

You'll have default apps in FreeAgent, however, you can customize them to fit your business. You can also create your own apps from scratch if the default apps aren't enough to meet your needs.  

We'll take you through the process of creating and setting up your own app from beginning to end. 

This tutorial will cover the following topics:

1. Create a New App
   • App Templates
   • Duplicate App
2. App Configuration
3. Form Builder
4. Form Rules

Create a New App

Out of the box, your Account includes the following applications:

• Contacts
• Accounts
• Opportunities
• Quotes
• Products
• Projects
• Tickets
• Tasks

To get started adding a new application simply hover over the "..." icon next to the Menu section name and select "Create New App".

You'll then be presented with the following screen. You have the option to create a new app based on a template or to duplicate an existing app. In both cases, you can still customize and edit the app after its creation. You should choose the option that gives you the best starting point depending on the functionality you want your app to have. 

You even have the option of creating a "Custom App" if you'd like to start from scratch. 

App Templates

Templates are a great option if you need a starting point for your app. You can still make edits to a template just like you can any other app but they come with form fields that are filled out and ready to go. 

As an example, here's the form layout for the "People" template:

You have multiple sections and all of the fields you would need to capture contact information for your organization. Any of these fields and sections can be edited or deactivated.

Duplicate App

This option allows you to create a duplicate of an existing application. This is useful in situations where an existing application is very close to meeting the needs of a new app you need to add to FreeAgent. 

Just like with new apps you can still customise and edit duplicate apps after they've been created.  

App Configuration

As soon as you hit 'Save' you should automatically be taken to the App Configuration section. If not you can get there by going to Settings > Apps > App Name.

1. General

If you haven't already, select an Icon for your App

The icon you select will be available in the Menu and in the Apps Home Page. You can add it to the Card Configuration as well.

Add a Description

Provides more information about your app and it is visible under the Apps Home Page.

2. Access Control

Enforce Individual Access

If this option is enabled it means that any user with an Individual Access Level will only be able to see the records assigned to them.

3. Form Script

Selecting yes will reveal a space for adding custom JavaScript to your app.

4. UI Preferences

Customize your App's title.

It allows you to customize the Name shown at the page level for your Apps. All you need to do is select from one of the available fields. Only Text & ID field types are available.

Note: This will also change the information displayed in the dropdown for the Reference fields to the App.

Choose a Custom Color

This color will be used to identify your App both in the menu and on the Apps Home Page. 

Enable Link Action

Enable Quick Add

If set to 'Yes' it will display an additional field where you can add custom code for the Quick Add logic. This will allow your team members to easily create new records for other Apps right from the Related List of the record's details. To learn more about how to configure Quick Add please visit the following tutorial:
Quick Add Configuration

Show Stage Progress

If you're using a Stage Field in your app checking this box will provide you a visual representation of the stages when viewing the details of a record. This is incredibly useful for Sales processes. 

5. Privacy Preferences

Allow private records

Will enable you to flag individual records as "Is Private" to control whether they can be accessed by the team or is confidential to the user.

Allowing Private Records will also enable an App Action button that will allow you to toggle between 'Make Private' and 'Make Public' when working with these records.  Records can then be set to be public or private by default.

FreeAgent recommends allowing private records only in Apps when a specific use case applies.  e.g. marking Emails as public or private.

Default Privacy Setting

6. Sort

Here you can add default sorting rules for your App. You can add more than one rule if desired. It is a great way to get, for example, a list of contacts sorted by First Name. If some contacts share their First Name, then you can add a secondary sort for the Last Name. 

And if for some reason, you have multiple contacts with the same full name, then you can add another sorting option to see them in the order they were first created. 

For each rule you add, you can set the sorting order to Ascending or Descending.

7. Unique Fields

Designating Unique Fields is a great way to ensure you don't have duplicates of specific field values when importing data or creating individual records. 

This is a good setting to revisit once you have all of your Fields created for your app. 

8. Search Preferences

Manage the fields used when performing searches in the search bar for each of your Apps. This will give you full control over the search function in FreeAgent as you can add or remove existing fields from this configuration to get the results you need. 

Search Preferences

Form Builder

After you create your new app it's going to look like this:

That's because we haven't added any records to it yet. Before we do we should create some Field Sections and then custom fields to put in those sections. Think of the fields as places to enter your information and the sections as a way to organize those fields.

1. What information do I need to record and have access to in my app?
2. How would I like to organize it?

Navigate to Settings > Apps, select your app, then click on the 'Form Builder' tab. From here we can start to organize and create all of our fields and sections. To learn more about how Form Builder works see the following article:

• Form Builder

First I created a new form section where I want all fields related to sketches and mind maps that I create to help flesh out a new idea.

Now I have a new section called called 'Sketches'.

Let's add a Field to our new section. Hover over the "..." icon next to the section name and click on 'Add Field'. Any new field created will live in this section. You can learn more about form fields and different types here.

The Field creation window will open. From here you can choose your field type and then customize the field settings to your needs. 

Form Rules

Gain full control of your Form Fields in each of your Apps by setting them as read-only, mandatory, or even visible to certain team members based on the state of each of them with Form Rules. You will also have the option to reset the value of a given field based on conditions.

Navigate to Settings > Apps, select your app, and click on the "Form Rules" tab. 

Create a Form Rule

To get started, click the 'Add Form Rule' button. Form Rules include 3 different sections:

Note: Only the Roles selected in the Form rule configuration will be affected by it. If no Roles are added, then the Form Rule will affect everyone.

Records that are coming from an import or an integration, need to be blank edited so the form rules can trigger as long as they meet the conditions. Every time a form rule is created, it impacts only the records that are manually created/edited after this rule takes place, as long as the new records/updated records meet the conditions of the form rule

Conditions

You can add multiple conditions for a single Form Rule. In order for the Form Rule to apply, all the set conditions have to occur.

Within the conditions, you have different options for the Operator according to the Field type. 

Form Actions for Fields

There are 5 Form Actions available for fields:

1. Mandatory
2. Read Only
3. Reset
4. Visible
5. Set Value

Each of the first 4 options in the list above has two possible values: True or False. If you want to make a field mandatory, read-only, visible, or reset its current value, select 'True'. On the other hand, if you are looking for the opposite, select 'False'.

For the 'Set Value' option, the possible values will vary according to the selected field. When the conditions are met, the value for the selected field will be automatically updated.

Form Actions for Sections

To create this type of Form Action, you just need to select the Section you want to show or hide. Setting the value to False will hide the section.

Form Actions for App Actions

If these are selected, you will need to specify if you want the App Action to be displayed for those of the selected Roles by selecting True or False. If you don't want a Role to be able to edit for example, just set the Edit App Action to False in your Form Rule.

Form Rules Order

You can add multiple Form Rules to any of your apps. In case multiple Rules have the same criteria, they will be executed according to the 'Order' shown in the order column of the Form Rules list. 

In order to Reorder your Form Rules, click the 'Reorder' button located right next to the left of the 'Add New Form Rule' button. Then simply, drag&drop the Form Rules in the desired execution order and click the Save button. 

Edit Form Rules

Select the "..." menu next to the form rule name and click the 'Edit' button. You can update all the elements of the selected form rule. 

Delete Conditions

You can delete existing conditions by clicking on the 'trash can' icon. 

Deleting Form Actions

You can delete form actions that you don't need, just click the trash can icon next to the action you want to delete. 

Deactivate/Activate Form Rules

You can Deactivate existing Form Rules when needed, just select the "..." icon next to the form rule name and click the 'Deactivate' button.

You can activate your Form Rules any time, just click the 'Show Deactivated' checkbox, select the Form Rule, and click the 'Activate' button.

Form Rules Examples

Mandatory fields when Opportunity is Closed Won

Whenever your team members are ready to change the Stage of an Opportunity to 'Closed Won', you want to make sure you have all the information for that Opportunity, especially for the fields used for reporting purposes. To make them mandatory all you have to do is create a Form Rule like the one below:

As soon as your team members select the Stage ' Closed Won' the fields specified will be mandatory, and they won't be able to save the Opportunity without filling them out.

How to Create a Custom App - Part 2