Have you ever felt like something was missing in your Sourcing Event from Scout? Now you can add it!

We want to put the power of metadata in your hands and enable you to track and report on the information that your team needs in order to be successful. No coding, no consultants - you have the power!

Read on to learn more about Event Custom Fields: what they are, why you should use them, and how to set them up.

What are Event Custom Fields?

The Custom Fields feature allows you to add unique fields to the RFxs you draft: everything from having Stakeholders upload required documents, to including names and dates, adding budget amounts, and more!

We recognize that Sourcing Event types, strategies, and KPIs of Scout users change drastically from industry to industry (and from company to company!). The Event Custom Fields feature allows users who are Company Admins to add fields that are critical to their company and process, and then be able to track the data that was entered into those fields through their Scout Reports. To learn more about running Reports in Scout, click here. 

Why Use Event Custom Fields?

Custom Fields enable you to gather and utilize metadata in Scout. We see companies utilize Custom Fields in many different ways, however, here are typical uses we envision for our customers:

• Create Workflows. Build text fields ("Finance Approver") and currency fields ("Budget") that Stakeholders are required to complete as part of a light approval flow process.
• Identify Regions. Create dropdown menus to identify business regions (i.e. Global, AMER, EMEA, APAC, South America).
• Track Business Cycles. Add dates and deadlines that are outside of the standard sourcing process (i.e. "Project Start/End" date, "Contract Start/End" date, etc.)

Plus, track performance! Build unique fields to track KPIs, SLAs with your business, and much more - then report on them. All Custom Fields that you create are available in our Reports tool, making your metadata both easily searchable and exportable.

How to Create Custom Fields

Creating Custom Fields is as easy as 1-2-3!

1) Select Settings on the navigation bar:

2) Click Event Custom Field from the Settings list:

You can then go to Event Custom Fields in the main panel where you have the option to add new Event Custom Fields:

All of your Event Custom Fields that you add will appear in this section as well. 

3) Enter a Custom Field name and select its type, then click the green Add Field button to save it.

Using Custom Fields

After following the steps above, you can find the Custom Fields you've created in the Internal Data section of any Events that you are drafting:

Also, after your team has completed Events in which Custom Fields have been used, you and your teammates will be able to pull those fields into your Scout Reports. Here, you will be able to choose filters and columns that you want shown in your Report:

Click here for more articles about Company Settings