Customizing Entities

In AASHTOWare Project, an entity is a piece of data, an object, or a concept for which data is stored (for example, a project, proposal or category).

You can customize many business functions and aspects of system entities to make the application perform in a way that is more useful to your agency. Examples of features you can customize include field labels, default field values, and zero fill character fields.

To customize an entity, you must change its business metadata. Metadata is essentially data that describes other data. Metadata in the system is presented in XML format.

The Entity Overview component provides access to the business metadata for all entities in the system. To access the Entity Overview, click the Entities link on the System Administration component.

To customize an entity, first locate the entity by typing criteria in the Quick Find search box or by clicking Show first 10. The system displays a list of rows for all the entities in the system that match your search criteria. Each record contains the Entity ID and Label.

When you locate the entity you want to customize, click the Entity ID link in the row. The system takes you to the Business Metadata Summary component, where you can edit the business metadata for the selected entity.

Note: Your agency can create its own entities and views to support additional business functions that might be required by your state or your agency's workflow. For more information, see Working with Agency Entities.