How to manage user data using User Attributes
In Lattice, you will see a few default user attributes that will help group data within your Review and Survey cycles. The default user attributes within Lattice are Birthday, Gender, and Start Date. You can also create custom attributes outside of the default attributes.
Accessing Default User Attributes
Step 1: Enter the "Admin" page from the discovery navigation and select "User Attributes."
Step 2: From here, you can see the Attributes, Visibility, and who the attribute has been assigned to.
Step 3: You can see the attribute settings by clicking on the attribute and viewing the attribute context panel.
Learn how to edit default attributes in Edit Default User Attribute Visibility and Manually Override the Default User Attribute Link to an HRIS.
Useful custom attributes to add
The custom attributes that you add should best fit your company's needs and allow you to gain additional insights from your survey responses. Some attributes that you might find useful are:
- Salary band (60k - 80k, 80k-100k, 100k-120k, 120k+)
- Office location (SF, New York, Dublin)
- Business unit
- Job level (Note: this attribute can only be used if your account has enabled Grow. If you have not purchased Grow, you may need to rename the attribute to successfully upload)
Note: Custom attributes are a great way to add an additional filter to Lattice analytics. However, our default grouping in reporting is based on our default department and manager attributes and not custom attributes. Therefore, we recommend not only relying on custom attributes to assign reporting structure and also using the department and manager attributes.
Setting up a custom attribute
To set up your first custom attribute:
Step 1: Navigate to the "People" section found on the "Admin" page.
Step 2: Click on the "User attributes."
Step 3: Click on "Create custom attribute."
From here, you can give your user attribute a name and set what choices the attribute should have.
For example, if you wanted to associate an employee with their location to compare survey results across different offices, you would name the attribute "Location" and set each office as a choice of that field.
Set the custom attribute visibility to be viewable by:
- Admin only
- Admin + manager
- Admin + manager + employee
- Everyone
If a user does not have visibility into the custom attribute, the attribute and its value will not appear within any employee profile.
Please note: Admins can import 2000 values for a specific custom attribute, however, are limited to 200 when manually adding values.
Editing a custom attribute
After you've created a custom attribute, you can change the choices by clicking View/Edit from the custom attribute management page. This will let you change the name of the custom attribute and remove choices. Removing a choice (i.e., removing an office location) will remove that option from all employees who had that selected on their profile. New users will also not be able to be assigned that choice.
Filling in user data
There are two ways to set values to User Attributes for an employee. On a one-off basis, admins can edit the value of an employee's custom attribute from the People section in the Admin page by finding an employee and clicking "Edit Profile."
To bulk change the custom attributes of many employees at once, admins can upload a CSV (also from the People page on the Admin Panel) by clicking Upload CSV. In the CSV, be sure to have a column for the custom attribute you want to change and that all of the values for each employee are a valid option for that custom attribute.
Attributes can also be synced using SFTP, SCIM or some HRISs. You'll want to make sure that the user attribute is created in Lattice first. For information on which HRIS you can import from as well as a guide on how to import please see our article that expands on this. When using a SFTP transfer you'll want to make sure that you create the attribute first and that the column header in your CSV file matches exactly what you have input in Lattice. For SCIM you'll want to again make sure the attribute is created first in Lattice and then you can map the attribute from your SCIM provider into Lattice from that point.
Note: Only admins can fill out user attributes. We are currently working on expanding this functionality soon!
Archiving User Attributes
If you no longer have use for a user attribute, you can archive it to avoid confusion while adding relevant attributes to employee profiles. Just click into the ellipsis next to the user attribute you are looking to archive and click "Archive."
Your archived attribute will now live in the "Archived" tab.
Note: You can only archive user attributes created by you. Lattice defaulted user attributes cannot be archived.
Unarchiving User Attributes
To unarchive a previously archives user attribute, start in the "Archived" tab. From there, click into the ellipsis to the right of the attribute you are looking to reset as active. Click on "Set to active," and that archived attribute will now live in the "Active" tab.
