Create a Data Structure

Data structure allows you to design user-friendly data entry forms with various types of fields and questions

With data structure, you can design the report structures users will use to enter data into the system. You can think of these reports as forms with fields or questions of different kinds.

Table of contents

1. Create a Report
2. Report Properties
   
3. Creating Simple Report Structures Using Different Field’s Conditions
   
4. Creating Advanced Report Structures

Create a Report

Go to Admin > Data > Data Structure

This will open up a table containing all the report structures in the system, with their titles and the number of fields they each contain.

1. To add a new one, click the + button in blue in the top left corner;
2. This will open a new tab where the screen is split into three sections:
   • On the left-hand side, you have your field options, which you can drag and drop to the middle section of the report - read more about them here;
   • On the right-hand side, you have your report properties or settings.
3. Fields go into sections in AKTEK iO. To begin, you must therefore first add a section. To do so, write a title on the default Section option on the top center of the screen and click Save underneath the field box.
   
   

4. To add our first field to the report, simply drag and drop a field option (e.g. Free text) from the left onto our newly designed section. This will open up the options for this new field. Once those are set, click the Save button underneath the field to save it.

5. Once the field has been saved, it will show in your section table, showing the field type, field name, and listing a few option buttons.
   
   

6. Click the trash icon to delete, the pencil icon to edit, the duplicate icon to duplicate the field (with all its configuration), and the X icon to move the field to another section (or create a new one). The same actions (except for the possibility to move) are available on the section level, where the duplicate will copy the whole section with all fields included.
   
   On the field level, there is also the table icon to show this field in the table view. Fields with the table icon green will appear in the table view when consulting data, and fields with the table icon gray will not appear in the table view but will be visible when viewing a full report entry.
   
   

7. Once you are done with your report, use the properties' panel on the right-hand side to set the Report Name and Description, choose its Location folder, and enter a Designation code - More details here;

8. You can review which fields will appear in the table view for that report using the Data Table menu. Use this section to reorganize which fields should show in what order by reorganizing them vertically using drag and drop;

9. Once you are satisfied with the report and its settings, click the Save button in green at the top.
   
   

Report Properties

To the right side of the report, you can define and update the following properties:

1. Report Name: mandatory. All other properties are optional.

2. Report Description

3. Location: folder where the report will be saved. By default, it will be saved on the explorer (home) page.

4. Designation: this is the prefix that will show before the ID of each record number

5. Data Structure Tags:

   • Pre-created tags will show in a dropdown and also be displayed as you start typing. You can always create a new tag by typing the new keyword and clicking on create, which will show as the first option in the dropdown.
   • After creating the tag, you need to find it again and select it.
   • The tags can be used to categorize your data structures. In the list view of all data structures, search by using a tag name, and all data structures having this tag will be displayed.
   • To delete a tag, please refer to the Company Settings page.
6. Allow tagging of records: When enabled, a "tag" column/field will be added automatically to the report, where the user can tag a record with an existing or new tag.
7. Mandatory Field: Once you allow tagging of records, you can enable this toggle to make records tagging mandatory. When enabled, the "tag" field for each record cannot be empty.
8. Audit Records:
   • Once you enable the Store record change history toggle, you can check the history of each record of the data structure, from this moment and on.
   • A new button History appears, along with other actions that can be applied on the record level.
   • This toggle only shows if Audit Trail is enabled under the company license.

9. Custom icon or color: you can choose a custom icon or color for this report to visually categorize or differentiate your reports. 

10. Data Table: drag and drop to change the order of the columns in the report table view.

11. Features:
    • iQ Areas feature will be automatically enabled for data structures created or edited by iQ Areas queries (iQ Areas feature is subject to your license). When enabled, it will allow you to automatically create a Device Query from the map directly. (Check here for more details).
    • Time Series: when enabled, you will need to indicate the date/field from your data structure. This will unlock time series options on the map.
    • Geo Tagged: when enabled, you will need to indicate the name and the GPS field. 

Creating Simple Report Structures Using Different Field’s Conditions

1. In this case, we will create a simple report about Countries and some relevant pieces of information. To do it, we will begin by adding a Text field in order to add the “Name” of the Country.
   
   Making this field mandatory will allow us to make sure every user that enters a new row of data adds this basic information, you can do this by toggling on the Force the user to fill in this field? question.
2. We will also add an Image field to give the user an alternative to add a flag picture related to the Country in question.
3. Finally, you can add any relevant field for your report. In this case, we will add a Color field, to later use to help us color code the data based on the Country selected.
   
   

4. Now, we will create a new report to add information about “Cities” connecting them to different countries added to the report above;

5. Create basic fields, such as a Name field, following the steps mentioned above. To add one more variable to this simple report, we will drag a Natural Number field to allow users to enter data regarding their population.

   You can define the type of number you want the user’s to enter and a range in case you want to ensure data integrity;

6. Now, to connect this database of Cities to the respective Countries they are located on, drag and drop a Reference field, selecting the Countries report and the name as the Display Field.
   
   

Creating Advanced Report Structures

1. In this case, we will build an Employee database, creating a report structure to keep track of any status change and relevant employee information. Add a Text field to allow the users to include different employee names;

2. Then add a Reference field to later be able to connect your Employees to their Country of residence. Select Allow Create Button to be able to add new Countries in case your referenced table is not already included;

3. Now, use a Connected Reference to only show Cities based on the Country you selected for your Employee. In order to do this, Select Country as Connected Data Structure and then add your Cities data structure. This will only work if your two data structures are connected between each other. As explained in simple report.
   
   

4. Connect your Employees to other Employees, referencing the current Employee table and adding the Multiple Reference field to be able to select more than one person;

5. If you want to add any of your Employees to specific working groups to later on set up notifications or any type of task. Use the Application Field to be able to select existing Groups in AKTEK iO;

6. Finally, add an Automatic Field to allow AKTEK iO to register the current User or Time that enters a new row of data. For our example, we will add Current Time and Update this field when report is edited to see the last time any employee information was edited or changed.