What is Data Type?

Every one must have experienced to fill out a form online in one way or another: signing up for a newsletter, a government online application, and so on and so forth. While doing such an activity, we sometimes encounter a warning message telling us that the input is not valid.

For example, let’s say you are required to provide a valid email address to login as shown in the image below.

The system is expecting an input of an email address such as username@domain.com. When this condition is not satisfied, the system refuses to accept the input until the issue is resolved.

Since inLOGIC also consists of a set of relational data tables as a whole, it works the same as any other application in terms of interpreting data. So, it is important for you to have the basic knowledge of various data types and how differently they can be utilized in order to maximize the performance of the system.

Required Field vs. Non-required Field

Required Field

As the term explains itself, a Required Field cannot be blank/empty in order to complete the task, or to proceed to the next step of the task. Required fields are indicated by a red asterisk (*). At the configuration stage, you can define a field as either Required or Non-required.

Besides its mandatory aspect, the Required Field also plays a couple of important roles within inLOGIC. One of them is when a field is set as Required, the field can be further defined as Unique. Also, values stored in required fields would likely be used in compensation rule writings since those values are possibly considered as commissionable factors.

Non-Required Field

You may store data that are relevant but not commissionable as one of your internal measures using a Non-Required Field. This, however, is still accessible, if any, in compensation rule writings unless the value in the field is null.

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Unique Field vs. Non-unique Field

Unique Field

If you define the field Unique, it becomes a primary key of the table, and the primary key can be used to update the entire table without affecting or duplicating existing data especially when importing large numbers of data from spreadsheets.

Only and if the field is required, it can also be unique, and the unique field prevents users from entering duplicated data.

As briefly mentioned above, a unique field is acting as a primary key of the given table, and it pivots the table when there is a mass update applied to the data table. As shown in the example below, users can select one of the unique attribute, if more than one, to update the table without causing data duplicate. If any changes or adjustments are detected in the unique fields, the system will overwrite the value accordingly updating its “Version.” The history of any changes to the data will remain in the system, and you can always review them.

It is worth noting that any changes in commissionable data will also affect the amount of commission payable according to the changes.

Non-Unique Field

The data that have no unique characteristics are subject to being overwritten and duplicated.

Each sales event has their unique Transaction ID in various types of forms varying one organization to another. Let’s say you chose not to assign the Transaction ID column unique. A new sales activity occurs, and the administrator didn’t realize the Transaction ID that has already been entered was used. Since the column is not uniquely defined, the system will allow the new event treating it as a different event which happens to have the same Transaction ID with the existing one.

Field Searchable, Or Not?

When adding a data field, you will have an option to make the values in your system Searchable.

Using a global search bar, you can easily look up values. It also allows you to narrow down the search parameter which makes it quicker and easier to search data within the specific entities like Payee, Transaction, or Reference.

Text Field

If you select Text, you are determining the field so that it can accept values within a broader range. A Text field will allow inputs like letters, numbers, and some special characters as well.

• Define Maximum Length of the field
• Type in Field Label
• Check off the Field Required box, if applicable
• Check off the Unique box, if applicable

• Check off the Field Searchable box, if applicable
• Leave a brief description of the field if necessary
• Define Field Help Text if necessary

• Click OK button

Decimal Number

The Decimal Number field can be defined as a field that represents currency, weight, commission rates to name a few. The numeric values saved in the decimal number field can also be used directly in commission rule writings.

When a New Field form opens:

• Determine the range of scale to display

For example, if you are to set a currency field displaying up to 2 decimal places, enter 2 in the Display Scale box.

• Select the appropriate currency symbol that most suits your business environment
• Check off 1000 Separator if applicable

The rest of the steps are identical as you have done when adding a Text Field. You can define the Decimal Number field Required, Unique, and Searchable whichever applicable.

Integer Number

Unlike decimal numbers Integer Numbers are expressed as a whole number that does not allow any fractions. It can be either negative or positive numbers like {-n,…, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3,…, n}.

Date

When creating a Date Field, you can decide the date format for your convenience using one of the following format:

• MM/dd/yyyy e.g., 01/01/2015
• dd MMMM yyyy e.g., 01 January 2015
• yyyy/MM/dd e.g., 2015/01/01
• yyyy-MM-dd e.g., 2015-01-01

The Display Format determines how the date value appears on the user’s screen.

Reference

One of the greatest features inLOGIC has to offer is the flexible relationship building capability between entities. The Reference is a good example for illustrating this feature. Similar to Payee and Transaction, Reference is another type of entity in which you can store data.

As the name tells you, Reference can be useful for referencing and retrieving data that are frequently and repeatedly referenced values. Such values could be:

• Various geo-locations
• Tax rates, or
• Product Codes

Picklist

Picklist is a very useful data field when there are multiple options to choose for the field. (e.g., product numbers, job titles, contract types, etc.)

Built-in

Built-in attributes have been added to save your time when adding commonly used fields such as First Name, Last Name, or Email Address. If you choose Built-in attributes, the field labels and field variables will be pre-populated. And the rest of the steps are the same.