Dropdown list with Ratings?

Question

I have a user request to track software skills for team members.

They want a list of items, for example software packages, in a drop-down list.

But - they also want a rating for each skill, from 1-5. So for example, they don't want to just know that John has experience with "QuickBooks" and "Xero" - they want to say he has "QuickBooks - Level 1 experience," and "Xero - Level 5 experience." And of course, they want to then be able to get a report of all team members with, for example, Xero experience level 3 and above.

The list of systems could have 20 or so items, and I'm thinking there must be a better way to implement this than to have 20x5 items in the dropdown. Is it possible to list the 20 software packages, then a separate 1-5 ratings field, and somehow combine them to get a complete list of software experience, with the correct ratings attached, for each person?

markshnier__you · Answer

You will want to set up a "Join Table".&nbsp; Also called a Many to many relationship.So One Employee has many Employee Software Experience records.One Software Name has Many Employee Software Experience records.&nbsp;If you do not use this approach, your reporting will be a nightmare.If you have a concern that the data entry is difficult to add many Employee Software Experience records, then we can dicsuss to make that process easier.&nbsp;Feel free to post if you have any questions about the setup of the Many to many relationships.

charlottem · Answer

OK, so in that case is this right -the M:M could look like:Employee ID&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Software&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Rating&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Formula-----------------------------------------------------------------------25&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Xero&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 5&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Xero-525&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; QB&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;3&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; QB-332&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; QB&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 4&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;QB-4&nbsp;And I could then pull Formula up into the employee table for reporting, using a text summary field.To do the data entry, I could have an editable report on a tab in Team Member, which would allow me to create the necessary number of records for each person, picking from single-choice dropdown lists for Software and Rating.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

markshnier__you · Answer

Yes you were on the right track. A couple of tips.&nbsp;&nbsp;Once you roll up the combine text summary field you can make it much more attractive for reporting on a report by doing this in a formula text field.SearchandReplace([My Combined text summary field]), " ; ", "
")That will make a nice clean vertical field.Also Grid Edit on New Form to add records does not work (ie to add children to the Team member record) .&nbsp; LMK if you need a work around to that.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Forum Discussion

Dropdown list with Ratings?