Using Records

Records are where business data and process converge to provide users the information they need to be successful. Unlike traditional records, or the records in your database, Appian records are a type of record from which you can see your business information from a number of different perspectives, and take action in the context of that information.

Getting To The Records

Users can access records from Tempo or sites.

Tempo

Click the Records tab to see a list of the available record types.

In the above image, you can see some common record types you might find in an office-supply business. To learn how to create a record type for your business, see Create a Record Type.

To browse the records for a particular type, click on the type. This will take you to the record list.

Sites

In sites, there is not a record type list like there is in Tempo because site designers can associate record types with site pages. When a site page is associated with a record type, the user sees the record list for the associated record type when accessing that page.

/SiteRecordTypePage

Records List

The records list is simply a list of all records associated with that record type. The record list may display in a grid or a feed view, depending on how it was configured.

In the below image, you can see the same set of records displayed as a feed (left) and a grid (right).

When the record list is in a grid, you can sort by clicking on the desired column, and page through results from the record selector at the bottom of each page.

When available, you may reduce the record results with filters, as described in the following section.

You will also see some buttons at the top of your record lists. These buttons allow you to export filtered record lists to Excel, manage filters, or refresh the record list.

Note: The Export to Excel button will only be displayed if you have enabled this button for your record list. To learn more about this configuration see Record Type Object.

Filtering the Records List

Record lists often come with filters to help you get to the records you're interested in. In the below example, our Orders record has two filters: Status and Order Total.

In either case, records can be filtered by clicking one of the filter options. Doing so will filter out all records that don’t meet the selected condition.

In the below example, the user selected Processing from the Status filter to see only in progress orders.

Record lists can have more than one filter applied to them. In the below screenshot, the user also selected $5,000 to $10,000 from the Order Total filter.

If you see a record you're interested in, you can click on any available links in its row. In a feed-style record list, you can click on the title of the record to view the record.

If you still don't see the record you're looking for, you can search for it by its title in the search box.

Once you find the filters you like, you can save the current search and filter selections by selecting Save filters as… from the filter menu.

Save Filters Menu

You can provide a name and choose whether to show the filter by default on load of the page. Then, these saved filters will display above the record list for quick access.

Save Filters With Tags Displayed

Record Views

Clicking on a record in a list takes you to a view of that specific record.

In the above Tempo example, you can see (A) the view tabs, (B) this view's related actions, and (C) the summary view.

The view tabs (A) in Tempo will always have at least Summary, News, and Related Actions views. In sites, the News view is an optional configuration for the site designer.

Summary

The Summary view is the default view for any record. In the previous image, the summary view shows us a selection of information about a particular order.

Different record types will have different information about that record presented in the summary view. For the record type in the previous example, we can see the actual items ordered, the cost, information about when the order was placed, its status, the customer, etc.

News

Clicking on the News view in a record shows the twenty most recent news events related to that record. In addition, users can collaborate on these news entries by adding comments.

Tempo

In Tempo, the news view is always available when viewing a record.

Sites

In sites, designers have the option to configure a site to show record news or not. When a site is configured to show record news, the news view will be available for all records being displayed in the site.

/sitesRecordNews

Users Record

The Users record is a special system record that provides details about individual users. This includes news associated with the user which is available on the news record view.

While the news view will show the twenty most recent news entries, the last news section will show the most recent five news entries associated with a user. This section is displayed based on a designer configuration at the bottom of the summary view.

/sitesUserRecordNews

Related actions allow you to initiate actions that are related to the current record. For example, if you're looking at an order record, you might have a related action called "Update Order Status."

You can see all related actions for a record by clicking on Related Actions tab.

Related actions may also be found as buttons in the upper, right-hand corner of a particular record view. In the below image, you can see two related actions that are available from the Summary view.

Clicking New Request in the above image would take us to a form that would allow us to submit a new service request for the customer that placed this order. Or, we could click Update Order Status to make changes to this order.

Other Views

In addition to the default views, some record types may have other views available. Appian allows designers to create multiple views to provide even more depth to records. To learn about creating another view for a record, see Create a Record View.

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