Data-Dependent Mandatory

The Data-Dependent Mandatory feature allows you to define a set of fields (the target fields) that will become mandatory only when another set of fields (the driver fields) are set to specific values. Until the appropriate values are set in the driver fields, the target fields will remain optional.

(This feature is sometimes also called "suggested mandatory" because it is implemented via a set of suggestion rules. For more information, see Suggestions Administration Overview.)

In order to set up the data-dependent mandatory feature, there are three specific configuration tasks that must be completed. These tasks are described below.

Defining Mandatory Set Codes

Mandatory Set Codes are just standard category codes. Each Mandatory Set Code will be used in the next step to group a set of target fields together. Use the standard procedure for adding new codes to this category. For information on how to add a new code, see Adding and Deleting Codes.

Tip: You may want to define your mandatory set codes so that the names give some sort of indication of how the fields in the set are related to one another.

Defining Mandatory Sets

The purpose of the Mandatory Set is to define what categories will be grouped together under a single Mandatory Set Code, and to indicate the mandatory type for each category: Save Mandatory, Close Mandatory, or Highlight Important. (For a description of each of these types, see Mandatory Fields Overview.)

Mandatory Sets are a special type of suggestion rule. There is normally only one defined on a system. Though it is technically possible to define multiple mandatory sets, no more than one set can be activated at a time. (The system will prevent you from activating a second set. However, if two users make changes at the same time from different machines, there is a small possibility that two sets could be activated at the same time. Users should be careful to avoid this situation.)

To create the mandatory set, you simply need to add codes to the suggestion rule using the standard procedure. (For details, see the Suggestion Codes section in Defining Suggestions.) When you add new codes, you will be selecting a Mandatory Set Code (defined in the previous step), and one or more target categories that will be part of this mandatory set. Once the codes are added to the display, you can set the mandatory type for each category individually.

Defining Mandatory Rules

These are the actual suggestion codes that will activate the mandatory sets. Mandatory rules are set up and defined like standard suggestion rules. (For more information, see Defining Suggestions.) But you should note the following information.

You can define either one or two driver categories for the suggestion. The driver categories are typically either case (B-codes) or issue (C-codes) categories.

When you add codes to the suggestion rule, you will select the specific codes from the driver categories that will activate the rule. You will then specify one or more mandatory set codes as the target codes for the suggestion. (Remember that in the previous step you defined which individual categories make up each mandatory set code.