RPM has the ability to use integration programs (Add Ons) to further enhance the functionality of the software. These integrations rely heavily on fields within the processes and changes made to those fields can often cause the integration to stop working.
Field protection "protects" fields from being edited or changed, ensuring integration programs will not be affected by any field changes.
Adding Field Protections
Field protections can be found in the Setup for the process, in the Fields tab.
To add a Protection, click +Add a protection
You will need to include the Title, the Owner of the Protection (who created the field protection and is responsible for it) as well as a Description.
Suggestions of what to include in the Description section include: why are the fields being protected, the name of the integration, what it does, as well as who is managing the field protections.
Once that is done, you can now add the fields from the process that should be included in the Protection.
When you click on + Add fields, you are given a list of all the fields on the form. You have the ability to add individual fields, table fields or the nested fields within a table field. As soon as you add a nested field from the table, the entire table is included in the protection. Table fields are bolded.
After a field protection has been created, it will be visible in the view such as the one below where you have the ability to make further edits or view the history of the protection.
How to Identify if a Field is under a Protection
In the Setup, the fields that are under a protection will be marked with a key symbol.
When you attempt to edit a field that is under a protection, a orange banner will indicate that it is under field protection.
Clicking on the linked protection will take you to the Field Protection page.
A field can belong to more than one protection.
Editing a Field Under a Protection
If a change is required to a field that is under a protection, notify the user that is managing that protection to advise and get direction. The field will need to be removed from the protection prior to the change being made. RPM Support must be made aware of the change to the field immediately so that the integration program(s) that use that field can also be updated ensuring that the changes are captured and the integration continues to work seamlessly.
If changes are made to a protected field and RPM is not notified, the integration program will break and the expected functionality will not work.