About WorkZone Client configurations

Important:
  • Before you change configurations for users, units, or the entire organization, ensure that you are aware of types, priorities, and merging rules of configurations. See About WorkZone Client configurations.
  • WorkZone Client configurations created in WorkZone Client 2017 or earlier versions are no longer possible to migrate, and they will be lost when you upgrade WorkZone Client to version 2023.1. This is a consequence of the fundamental dashboard improvement and new functionality introduced in WorkZone 2018 and later.
  • WorkZone Client configurations created in WorkZone Client 2018.0 can be migrated after an upgrade to a newer version of WorkZone, except the dashboard and navigation pane settings. This is a consequence of the multiple dashboard functionality introduced in WorkZone 2018.1.

Prerequisite: To manage and distribute configurations, you must have the CONFIGADM access code.

What is a WorkZone configuration

WorkZone Client configurations are collections of user-interface elements (dashboards, lists, widgets, etc) that can be customized and applied to either a single user, a unit or the entire organization. Organizational configurations are available to all users in the organization while Unit configurations are available to members (users) of that unit only. User configurations are only available to the user the configuration is applied to.

Typically, an administrator customizes the configurations and applies them to users, units and/or the organization, but users can customize their own configuration, with some limitations. Administrators can also reset configurations, removing all customizations and restoring a configuration to the standard configuration supplied by default during the WorkZone initial installation.

Configurations can be exported to a file, either to create back-ups or to transfer configurations from one WorkZone installation to another.

Users and administrators both can view all the changes applied to the configurations that are available to the current user. Changes to the configurations are listed by their type and by configuration type (User, Unit and Organizational). While mostly providing technical details, they can help understand the scope and depth of edits to a configuration that might affect the user.

Access rights and the configurations

The actions you can perform on a configuration depend on your access rights:

  • If you are not assigned the CONFIGADM access code, you can:
    • Create or edit your own WorkZone Client configuration.
    • Import someone else's configuration.
    • Reset your personal configuration.
  • If you are assigned the CONFIGADM access code, you can:
    • Create a new configuration or adjust an imported configuration.
    • Distribute a configuration to selected users, units, or to your whole organization.
    • Save configurations of all users to a configuration file.
    • Apply configurations to all users from a saved configuration file.
    • Withdraw configurations that were previously distributed to a user, unit, or organization.
    • Add custom fields to the case, document or contact detail pages.

What a configuration includes

When a configuration is customized, you create or change one of more aspects of the WorkZone Client user interfaces, for example when you add, remove, reorder, or resize the following elements:

  • Dashboard items
    • The default dashboard cannot be removed (meaning deleted from the configuration). You can chose not to display the default dashboard, but you cannot remove it.
  • Widgets
  • Lists (columns, order of columns, sorting)
  • Tabs
    • Filtered tabs cannot be removed (meaning deleted from the configuration). You can chose not to display a filtered tab, but you cannot remove it.
  • Panes and panels
  • Fields and drop-down lists
  • Case, document and contact detail pages
  • Ribbons
  • Custom fields and custom types

Configuration types and priorities

There are four types of WorkZone Client configurations, listed here by priority , highest to lowest:

  1. Private: A configuration that contains your filter settings and stored field values, much like a hidden layer of default field values. Private configurations cannot be opened or edited by other users but can be overwritten by another user's Private configuration (when you import configurations). The values in a Private configuration are only updated when a user updates default, filter, and/or search field values via normal operations in WorkZone Client.
  2. Personal: A configuration where you have applied your personal customizations to the elements listed above (Dashboard items, Widgets, Lists, Tabs, etc). You can import another user's exported Personal configuration, and either overwrite your own configuration or merge the imported configuration changes with your own configuration. Personal configurations can be edited by administrators.
    You can reset your personal configuration.
  3. User: A configuration that an administrator has customized and made available to a user. User configurations are also displayed in the user interface as Default configurations. The User configuration is identical to the Personal configuration, but also includes changes to fields in the detail tab pages.
    User configurations can be edited by administrators and can be overwritten with another user configuration.
  4. Unit: A configuration that an administrator has customized and distributed to an organizational unit. There are two types of unit configurations:
    • Unit configuration with inheritance for subunits: Will apply not only to the users directly in that unit, but also to the users from all subunits and sub-subunits down the hierarchy.
    • Unit configuration, no inheritance: Will apply to the users directly in the unit, but not to the users from the subunits or sub-subunits down the hierarchy.

      • The composition of a Unit configuration is identical to the User configuration. Unit configurations can be edited by administrators.

      Note: If more than one unit configuration applies to the same user, for example, a configuration of a unit, a subunit, and a sub-subunit, the configuration settings of the lowest hierarchy level will take precedence over the others. That is, in case of conflicts between settings of a unit, a subunit, and a sub-subunit configurations, the sub-subunit configuration settings will have the highest priority, and unit configuration settings will have the lowest priority).
  5. Organizational: A configuration an administrator has customized and distributed to the entire organization. The composition of an Organizational configuration is identical to the User configuration. Organizational configurations cannot be saved as a Unit or User configuration, but can be overwritten with another Organizational configuration.

Determining the configuration type

When you create or edit a configuration, you must select its type. The configuration type determines which configurations can be selected for editing.

Configuration names

WorkZone configurations are named automatically and cannot be renamed by WorkZone users.

  • Organizational configurations are simply named Organizational.
  • Unit configuration names consist of Unit ID, Unit name (Unit), followed by with inheritance for subunits or no inheritance, depending on the unit configuration type.
  • User configuration names consist of User Id, User name (Employee).

How configurations merge

When more than one configuration applies to a user or a unit, the configuration settings are merged.

  • If there are no conflicts between settings of applied configurations, all settings will apply.
    • If a user adds the Changed contacts list to the navigation pane, and an administrator adds the Followed contacts list to the same location, both lists will be displayed on the user's navigation pane.
  • If there is a conflict between settings of applied configurations, the settings of a configuration with a higher priority will be applied.

    • If widget size for the Open cases list has the following conflicting settings in applicable configurations:

    • Personal: Display 20 rows.
    • User: Display 5 rows.
    • Unit: Display 7 rows
    • Organizational: Display 10 rows.

    In this example, the Open cases list will display 20 rows, as Personal configuration settings will override the others. If the user resets the personal configuration, the settings with 5 rows will be applied (User configuration settings will override the Organizational and Unit configuration settings). If the administrator resets or clears the User configuration, the settings with 7 rows will be applied (Unit configuration settings will override the Organizational configuration settings). And, finally, if the administrator resets or clear the Unit configuration, the settings with 10 rows will be applied (as Organizational configuration settings will no longer have any conflicts).

  • The Saved search list is only visible to the user who created it. The search lists cannot be distributed or imported together with a configuration created by someone else.

What administrator and users can do

The actions you can perform on a WorkZone configuration depend on your access rights: