Feature Package Customization#

Overview#

This topic describes the components available for customization in Automate.

Automate makes use of components called models that can be added and modified.

The table describes the primary types of models:

Model Type	Description
Data Models	Used to capture and store data.
Device Models	These models represent components of available network devices.

Higher level admins can use the following mechanisms for customization:

Mechanism	Description
Field Display Policies	Admins can use field display policies (FDPs) to define how different attributes of a form are displayed: Visibility (hidden / visible / read-only) of attributes Field names Related help text Ordering, grouping, and layout FDPs are applied to different roles using menu layouts and dashboards.
Configuration Templates	Admins can use configuration templates (CFTs) to define how values for attributes are obtained: Fixed or default values Derived from data in the system; optionally combined with input from users or Device Model events using pre-defined macros. See Macros CFTs are applied to different roles using menu layouts, dashboards, and pre-defined workflows.

Mechanism

Description

Field Display Policies

Admins can use field display policies (FDPs) to define how different attributes of a form are displayed:

FDPs are applied to different roles using menu layouts and dashboards.

Configuration Templates

Admins can use configuration templates (CFTs) to define how values for attributes are obtained:

Fixed or default values
Derived from data in the system; optionally combined with input from users or Device Model events using pre-defined macros.

CFTs are applied to different roles using menu layouts, dashboards, and pre-defined workflows.

A high level administrator can follow these high level steps for customization:

Decide how an existing user input form should be customized.

In this case, inspect the input form to identify field name, visibility, order, and default values.
Identify the user/s requiring a modified input form.
Identify the user role and menu layout associated with the relevant user/s.
If the menu item to be customized shows a field display policy (FDP) and configuration template (CFT) associated with the item, then clone these to start their customization.

Note

There is a unique constraint on the name of the clone per hierarchy level, so the same name as the original can be used on another hierarchy, but a new name is needed at the same hierarchy.
Create, or modify the cloned FDP and CFT according to identified requirements to create new instances of these.

Note

Note uniqueness constrains per hierarchy on the names of the clones.
Associate the newly created FDP and CFT to the menu item in the user’s menu layout as specified in the user role. The menu layout may be created as a new menu layout that is only available at a specific hierarchy.