Employee Directory
Professional Edition Documentation

Author: eMarket Design
Last Updated: 2018-09-24

Introduction

Concepts

The following is the definition(s) of the concept(s) covered in the context of Employee Directory app:

Last Updated: 2018-09-24

Employees

An employee is an individual who works part-time or full-time under a contract of employment to perform tasks within an organization.

Last Updated: 2018-09-21

Events

An Employee Directory event is a gathering that is sponsored by a business for its employees, business partners, clients and/or prospective clients. These events can be for larger audiences such as conventions or smaller events like conferences, meetings or holiday parties.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Content Access

Employee Directory provides access to content based on a user's role in your organization. A role defines a set of tasks a user is allowed to perform and is assigned to a user when he or she registers into the system. Please check the Roles and Responsibilities section of this document to see the available access roles and the functionality they have access to.

Last Updated: 2018-09-24

Quick Start

Getting set up and running with a new app is not an easy task, so we’ll guide you through Employee Directory Professional onboarding as fast and simple as possible.

Need Help?

There are many resources available in case you need help. You can search our knowledge base for the answer, browse through Employee Directory Professional articles or open a support ticket by following the steps below:

If you have an enterprise support license, please contact your success manager.

Live Demo Site

Feel free to check out our live demo site to learn how to use Employee Directory Professional starter edition. The demo site will always have the latest version installed.

You can also use the demo site to identify possible issues. If the same issue exists in the demo site, open a support ticket and we will fix it. If a Employee Directory Professional feature is not functioning or displayed correctly in your site but looks and works properly in the demo site, it means the theme or a third party plugin or one or more configuration parameters of your site is causing the issue.

If you'd like us to identify and fix the issues specific to your site, purchase a work order to get started.

Purchase Work Order

Installation, Configuration & Customization Service

Get the peace of mind that comes from having Employee Directory Professional properly installed, configured or customized by eMarket Design.

Being the developer of Employee Directory Professional, we understand how to deliver the best value, mitigate risks and get the software ready for you to use quickly.

Our service includes:

  • Professional installation by eMarket Design experts.
  • Configuration to meet your specific needs
  • Installation completed quickly and according to best practice
  • Knowledge of Employee Directory Professional best practices transferred to your team

Pricing of the service is based on the complexity of level of effort, required skills or expertise. To determine the estimated price and duration of this service, and for more information about related services, purchase a work order.

Purchase Work Order

Working with Employees

Using Employee Directory, you can create, modify, delete, and search employee records, associated taxonomies, or relationships.

Last Updated: 2016-12-29

Creating Employees

To create employee records in the admin area:

  1. Log in to your Administration Panel.
  2. Click the 'Employees' tab.
  3. Click the 'Add New' sub-tab or the “Add New” button in the employee list page.
  4. Start filling in your employee fields. You must fill all required fields. All required fields have red star after their labels.
  5. As needed, set employee taxonomies and relationships. All required relationships or taxonomies must be set.
  6. When you are ready, click Publish. If you do not have publish privileges, the "Submit for Review" button is displayed.
  7. After the submission is completed, the employee status changes to "Published" or "Pending Review". Users must have "publish" right to publish employees. Users who do not have "publish" right can still create employees; however, these employees must be reviewed and approved by a user with employee "publish" right. Check Roles and Responsibilities section of this document to see which access groups have employee "publish" right.
Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Modifying Employees

Employees can be modified by clicking on the "Edit" link under the employee title in the employee list page in the admin area. Make any necessary changes and then click Publish.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Searching Employees

In Employee Directory, users are only allowed to search employees they have access to. Users who have access to employees can search using the filter system in the employee admin areaor search forms in the frontend You can use drag-and-drop admin interface for sorting, creating/saving complex filters, and ordering columns in the entity list pages.

Administrators and users who have access to advanced Employee search page on the frontend can also utilize "Search operators" to drill down the result set without any limitations on access.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Scheduling Employees

To schedule Employees for publication on a future time or date in the admin area:

  1. Log in to your Administration Panel.
  2. Click the 'Employees' tab.
  3. Click the 'Add New' sub-tab or the “Add New” button in the employee list page.
  4. Start filling in your employee fields. You must fill all required fields. All required fields have red star after their labels.
  5. As needed, set employee taxonomies and relationships. All required relationships or taxonomies must be set.
  6. When you are ready, click "Edit" in the Publish area next to the words "Publish immediately". You can also change the publish date to a date in the past to back-date Employees. Change the settings to the desired time and date. You must also hit the "Publish" button when you have completed the employee to publish at the desired time and date.
  7. After the submission is completed, the employee status changes to "Published".
Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Password Protected Employees

To create a password protected employee in the admin area:

  1. Log in to your Administration Panel.
  2. Click the 'Employees' tab.
  3. Click the 'Add New' sub-tab or the “Add New” button in the employee list page.
  4. Start filling in your employee fields. You must fill all required fields. All required fields have red star after their labels.
  5. As needed, set employee taxonomies and relationships. All required relationships or taxonomies must be set.
  6. Click the "Edit" link next to Visibility in the publish box and select "Password protected".
  7. Enter a password that will be required to view that employee in the text field. The password is limited to 20 characters.
  8. When you are ready, click the "Publish" button (or "Update" if the employee is already published.)
  9. After the submission is completed, the employee status changes to "Published".

Only an Administrator and users with "publish" right can change the password set for your employee or modify visibility setting by clicking the "Visibility: Edit" link again.

When employee content is password protected, employee title displays the text "Protected: " before the employee Title and the content prints a password form with this text: "This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:".

If multiple employees have the same password, one will only have to enter the required password once. Only one password is tracked at a time so if you visit two different employees with two different password, you must re-enter the employee password to access content. WordPress saves passwords for maximum 10 days. After this period expires, one must reenter the password again to view the protected content.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Private Employees

Employees can be privately published to remove them from employee lists and feeds.

To create a private employee in the admin area:

  1. Log in to your Administration Panel.
  2. Click the 'Employees' tab.
  3. Click the 'Add New' sub-tab or the “Add New” button in the employee list page.
  4. Start filling in your employee fields. You must fill all required fields. All required fields have red star after their labels.
  5. As needed, set employee taxonomies and relationships. All required relationships or taxonomies must be set.
  6. Click the "Edit" link next to Visibility in the publish box and select "Private".
  7. Once you change the visibility to private, the employee status changes to "Privately Published".
  8. When you are ready, click the "UPDATE" button.

Only an Administrator and users with "publish" right for the employee can change visibility setting by clicking the "Visibility: Edit" link again.

Who can publish and see private employees?

Only users with "publish employees", "edit private employees", "read private employees", and "delete private employees" authorization permission levels can create and see private employees. Users who have the same access level with the author but have a relationship-limited access of a private employee can not view the content even if they have access rights to the content. User who have access to the content but not limited by a relationship can still see and modify private employees.

Check Roles and Responsibilities section of this document to see which user roles can privately publish employees.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Previewing Employees

To preview employee content press the "Preview" button - a button directly above the “publish” button - in the publish box before officially publishing or sending for review.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Draft Employees

To create a draft employee in the admin area:

  1. Log in to your Administration Panel.
  2. Click the 'Employees' tab.
  3. Click the 'Add New' sub-tab or the “Add New” button in the employee list page.
  4. Start filling in your employee fields. You must fill all required fields. All required fields have red star after their labels.
  5. As needed, set employee taxonomies and relationships. All required relationships or taxonomies must be set.
  6. When you are ready, click "Save Draft" button in the publish box.
  7. After the submission is completed, the employee status stays at "Draft".
Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Employee Author

Once the employee is published the user who created the employee is assigned as the employee author. Employee authors can view and edit the employee. One can change the employee author from the author box. The author box drop down is limited to the users who have employee "publish" right.

Last Updated: 2017-07-13

Linking Direct Reports

You can create connections between Employees and Employees by clicking on "Create Connection" link in the "Direct Reports" box and then clicking on "Plus" sign adjacent to the record title you would like to connect. Optionally, you can create new record. If you create a new one, the record is created as a draft. You must publish all connected draft records to make the connections valid.

After the connection created, set the values to: Title(dropdown). Take a look at the glossary section for dropdown values available. Now, you can update or publish your employee. You can create at most one connection.

Last Updated: 2016-05-24

Creating Custom Fields

Employee Directory Professional supports creating of custom fields. Creating of custom fields provides a quick way to allow you to extend the content with key/value pairs also known as meta data. Custom fields store arbitrary extra information about employees.

To create a custom fields for your employees

  1. Edit any employee or create a new one in the admin area. You will see the Custom Fields metabox. if you do not see it, enable it from Screen options.
  2. Creating a custom field requires a key and a value. The key is constant, but the value can change for each employee. Click on Enter New link or select a key from the dropdown list.
  3. Enter a value and click Add Custom Field button
  4. Repeat the steps above for creating more fields

You can create as many custom fields as you need. If your custom field key may have multiple values, create a new field and use the same key with different values. You can use HTML code in the value box. Employee Directory concatenates each value separated with a space character. By default, WordPress shows 30 custom fields in the dropdown list.

Once you create employee custom fields, they are displayed in the frontend. The custom fields are available to be for your forms too. You can enable or disable them in the form layouts from EDirectory Pro menu > Settings page > Forms tab . By default all custom fields are disabled.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Setting Certifications

Certification can be set by typing the desired option in the empty text field and clicking "Add" button in "Certifications" box and updating/saving the employee. Setting a value for Certification is optional. Certification is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Certification value to another.

Certifications do not have preset values.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Setting Departments

Department can be set by clicking on the desired option in "Departments" box and updating/saving the employee. Setting a value for Department is optional. Department is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Department value to another.

Departments do not have preset values.

Last Updated: 2015-12-14

Setting Employment Types

Employment Type can be set by clicking on the desired option in "Employment Types" box and updating/saving the employee. Setting a value for Employment Type is optional. Employment Type is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Employment Type value to another.

Employee Directory comes with a preset Employment Types defined in detail in Glossary section of this document. Administrators can always add/remove/modify the list based on your organizational needs. Some widgets created upon installation are based on predefined Employment Types.

Last Updated: 2015-12-14

Setting Genders

Gender can be set by clicking on the desired option in "Genders" box and updating/saving the employee. Setting a value for Gender is optional. Gender is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Gender value to another.

Employee Directory comes with a preset Genders defined in detail in Glossary section of this document. Administrators can always add/remove/modify the list based on your organizational needs. Some widgets created upon installation are based on predefined Genders.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Setting Groups

Group can be set by typing the desired option in the empty text field and clicking "Add" button in "Groups" box and updating/saving the employee. Setting a value for Group is optional. Group is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Group value to another.

Groups do not have preset values.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Setting Job Titles

Job Title can be set by clicking on the desired option in "Job Titles" box and updating/saving the employee. Setting a value for Job Title is optional. Job Title is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Job Title value to another.

Employee Directory comes with a preset Job Titles defined in detail in Glossary section of this document. Administrators can always add/remove/modify the list based on your organizational needs. Some widgets created upon installation are based on predefined Job Titles.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Setting Languages

Language can be set by typing the desired option in the empty text field and clicking "Add" button in "Languages" box and updating/saving the employee. Setting a value for Language is optional. Language is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Language value to another.

Employee Directory comes with a preset Languages defined in detail in Glossary section of this document. Administrators can always add/remove/modify the list based on your organizational needs. Some widgets created upon installation are based on predefined Languages.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Setting Locations

Location can be set by typing the desired option in the empty text field and clicking "Add" button in "Locations" box and updating/saving the employee. Setting a value for Location is optional. Location is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Location value to another.

Locations do not have preset values.

Last Updated: 2015-12-14

Setting Marital Statuses

Marital Status can be set by clicking on the desired option in "Marital Statuses" box and updating/saving the employee. Setting a value for Marital Status is optional. Marital Status is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Marital Status value to another.

Marital Statuses do not have preset values.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Setting Skills

Skill can be set by typing the desired option in the empty text field and clicking "Add" button in "Skills" box and updating/saving the employee. Setting a value for Skill is optional. Skill is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Skill value to another.

Skills do not have preset values.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Displaying Employees

Displaying Employee archives can be done by creating a link in the Appearance Menus Screen in the admin area.

Alternatively, if you'd like to display a specific Employee, you can select the link from Employee metabox and add it to your menu. If you don't see Employee metabox, check the Screen Options to ensure it is set to display.

To create a custom link for Employee archives:

  1. Goto Appearance in the admin menu and click on Menus link
  2. On the right hand side, pick the menu you’d like to include from Select a menu to edit dropdown
  3. Under Links menu navigation item, type in /employees to the URL field
  4. Type in Employees or another label describing the custom link URL in the Link Text field
  5. Click “Add to menu” button to add the item to the menu
  6. Pick “primary location” under “Menu Settings” below the menu
  7. Save your menu
  8. Go to the frontend and click on the link you created to access Employees. Employee archive page content is only displayed to the authorized users who have access permissions.
Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Locking Employees

In Employee Directory, Employees are locked during editing, preventing other users from accessing and modifying the Employee.

If a user clicks to edit one of the Employee records that's currently locked they are presented with three options in a pop-up dialog:

  1. Go Back - Return to the Employees listing.
  2. Preview - Preview the current state of the Employee that's being edited.
  3. Take Over - Lock out the current editor of the Employees and begin editing. (The other user will receive a notification)

The user that has been locked out receives the following dialog, and is no longer able to edit the Employee. It can take up to 15 seconds for the current Employee editor to be notified that another user has taken over.

Working with Events

Using Employee Directory, you can create, modify, delete, and search event records, associated taxonomies, or relationships.

Last Updated: 2016-12-29

Creating Events

To create event records in the admin area:

  1. Log in to your Administration Panel.
  2. Click the 'Events' tab.
  3. Click the 'Add New' sub-tab or the “Add New” button in the event list page.
  4. Start filling in your event fields. You must fill all required fields. All required fields have red star after their labels.
  5. As needed, set event taxonomies and relationships. All required relationships or taxonomies must be set.
  6. When you are ready, click Publish. If you do not have publish privileges, the "Submit for Review" button is displayed.
  7. After the submission is completed, the event status changes to "Published" or "Pending Review". Users must have "publish" right to publish events. Users who do not have "publish" right can still create events; however, these events must be reviewed and approved by a user with event "publish" right. Check Roles and Responsibilities section of this document to see which access groups have event "publish" right.
Last Updated: 2016-03-24

Uploading Event Pictures

Event Pictures image file can be linked to Events using the admin backend when creating a new event. You can upload unlimited number of Pictures.

After the event is created. Only the users who has "publish" right can upload Pictures using the event edit screen.

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Modifying Events

Events can be modified by clicking on the "Edit" link under the event title in the event list page in the admin area. Make any necessary changes and then click Publish.

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Searching Events

In Employee Directory, users are only allowed to search events they have access to. Users who have access to events can search using the filter system in the event admin area. You can use drag-and-drop admin interface for sorting, creating/saving complex filters, and ordering columns in the entity list pages.

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Scheduling Events

To schedule Events for publication on a future time or date in the admin area:

  1. Log in to your Administration Panel.
  2. Click the 'Events' tab.
  3. Click the 'Add New' sub-tab or the “Add New” button in the event list page.
  4. Start filling in your event fields. You must fill all required fields. All required fields have red star after their labels.
  5. As needed, set event taxonomies and relationships. All required relationships or taxonomies must be set.
  6. When you are ready, click "Edit" in the Publish area next to the words "Publish immediately". You can also change the publish date to a date in the past to back-date Events. Change the settings to the desired time and date. You must also hit the "Publish" button when you have completed the event to publish at the desired time and date.
  7. After the submission is completed, the event status changes to "Published".
Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Password Protected Events

To create a password protected event in the admin area:

  1. Log in to your Administration Panel.
  2. Click the 'Events' tab.
  3. Click the 'Add New' sub-tab or the “Add New” button in the event list page.
  4. Start filling in your event fields. You must fill all required fields. All required fields have red star after their labels.
  5. As needed, set event taxonomies and relationships. All required relationships or taxonomies must be set.
  6. Click the "Edit" link next to Visibility in the publish box and select "Password protected".
  7. Enter a password that will be required to view that event in the text field. The password is limited to 20 characters.
  8. When you are ready, click the "Publish" button (or "Update" if the event is already published.)
  9. After the submission is completed, the event status changes to "Published".

Only an Administrator and users with "publish" right can change the password set for your event or modify visibility setting by clicking the "Visibility: Edit" link again.

When event content is password protected, event title displays the text "Protected: " before the event Title and the content prints a password form with this text: "This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:".

If multiple events have the same password, one will only have to enter the required password once. Only one password is tracked at a time so if you visit two different events with two different password, you must re-enter the event password to access content. WordPress saves passwords for maximum 10 days. After this period expires, one must reenter the password again to view the protected content.

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Private Events

Events can be privately published to remove them from event lists and feeds.

To create a private event in the admin area:

  1. Log in to your Administration Panel.
  2. Click the 'Events' tab.
  3. Click the 'Add New' sub-tab or the “Add New” button in the event list page.
  4. Start filling in your event fields. You must fill all required fields. All required fields have red star after their labels.
  5. As needed, set event taxonomies and relationships. All required relationships or taxonomies must be set.
  6. Click the "Edit" link next to Visibility in the publish box and select "Private".
  7. Once you change the visibility to private, the event status changes to "Privately Published".
  8. When you are ready, click the "UPDATE" button.

Only an Administrator and users with "publish" right for the event can change visibility setting by clicking the "Visibility: Edit" link again.

Who can publish and see private events?

Only users with "publish events", "edit private events", "read private events", and "delete private events" authorization permission levels can create and see private events. Users who have the same access level with the author but have a relationship-limited access of a private event can not view the content even if they have access rights to the content. User who have access to the content but not limited by a relationship can still see and modify private events.

Check Roles and Responsibilities section of this document to see which user roles can privately publish events.

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Previewing Events

To preview event content press the "Preview" button - a button directly above the “publish” button - in the publish box before officially publishing or sending for review.

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Draft Events

To create a draft event in the admin area:

  1. Log in to your Administration Panel.
  2. Click the 'Events' tab.
  3. Click the 'Add New' sub-tab or the “Add New” button in the event list page.
  4. Start filling in your event fields. You must fill all required fields. All required fields have red star after their labels.
  5. As needed, set event taxonomies and relationships. All required relationships or taxonomies must be set.
  6. When you are ready, click "Save Draft" button in the publish box.
  7. After the submission is completed, the event status stays at "Draft".
Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Event Author

Once the event is published the user who created the event is assigned as the event author. Event authors can view and edit the event. One can change the event author from the author box. The author box drop down is limited to the users who have event "publish" right.

Last Updated: 2016-05-24

Creating Custom Fields

Employee Directory Professional supports creating of custom fields. Creating of custom fields provides a quick way to allow you to extend the content with key/value pairs also known as meta data. Custom fields store arbitrary extra information about events.

To create a custom fields for your events

  1. Edit any event or create a new one in the admin area. You will see the Custom Fields metabox. if you do not see it, enable it from Screen options.
  2. Creating a custom field requires a key and a value. The key is constant, but the value can change for each event. Click on Enter New link or select a key from the dropdown list.
  3. Enter a value and click Add Custom Field button
  4. Repeat the steps above for creating more fields

You can create as many custom fields as you need. If your custom field key may have multiple values, create a new field and use the same key with different values. You can use HTML code in the value box. Employee Directory concatenates each value separated with a space character. By default, WordPress shows 30 custom fields in the dropdown list.

Once you create event custom fields, they are displayed in the frontend.

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Setting Groups

Group can be set by typing the desired option in the empty text field and clicking "Add" button in "Groups" box and updating/saving the event. Setting a value for Group is optional. Group is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Group value to another.

Groups do not have preset values.

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Setting Locations

Location can be set by typing the desired option in the empty text field and clicking "Add" button in "Locations" box and updating/saving the event. Setting a value for Location is optional. Location is also not organized hierarchically meaning there's no relationship from one Location value to another.

Locations do not have preset values.

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Displaying Events

Displaying Event archives can be done by creating a link in the Appearance Menus Screen in the admin area.

Alternatively, if you'd like to display a specific Event, you can select the link from Event metabox and add it to your menu. If you don't see Event metabox, check the Screen Options to ensure it is set to display.

To create a custom link for Event archives:

  1. Goto Appearance in the admin menu and click on Menus link
  2. On the right hand side, pick the menu you’d like to include from Select a menu to edit dropdown
  3. Under Links menu navigation item, type in /events to the URL field
  4. Type in Events or another label describing the custom link URL in the Link Text field
  5. Click “Add to menu” button to add the item to the menu
  6. Pick “primary location” under “Menu Settings” below the menu
  7. Save your menu
  8. Go to the frontend and click on the link you created to access Events. Event archive page content is only displayed to the authorized users who have access permissions.
Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Locking Events

In Employee Directory, Events are locked during editing, preventing other users from accessing and modifying the Event.

If a user clicks to edit one of the Event records that's currently locked they are presented with three options in a pop-up dialog:

  1. Go Back - Return to the Events listing.
  2. Preview - Preview the current state of the Event that's being edited.
  3. Take Over - Lock out the current editor of the Events and begin editing. (The other user will receive a notification)

The user that has been locked out receives the following dialog, and is no longer able to edit the Event. It can take up to 15 seconds for the current Event editor to be notified that another user has taken over.

Last Updated: 2016-03-24

Using Event Calendar

Using Event Calendar, one can

  • Set allowed calendar views:
    • Month
    • Basic Week
    • Basic Day
    • Agenda Week
    • Agenda Day
  • Set the default calendar view
  • Enable or disable jQuery UI Theme

Click on calendar menu link under EDirectory Pro menu to access configuration options.

Widgets

Widgets provide a simple and easy-to-use way of displaying content and features on your sidebars or dashboard.

Sidebar widgets can be added, removed, and rearranged on the WordPress Administration Appearance > Widgets panel. Dashboard widgets can be enabled or disabled using Screen Options tab in your app dashboard page. All widgets have drag-and-drop functionality.

The following sections list the Employee Directory widgets:

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Employee Search sidebar widget

Employee Search is a integration sidebar widget. It shows latest 10 published records without any page navigation links.

Last Updated: 2016-05-24

Employee Search WO Opt sidebar widget

Employee Search WO Opt is a integration sidebar widget. It shows latest 10 published records without any page navigation links.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Featured Employees sidebar widget

Featured Employees is an entity sidebar widget. It shows latest 10 published employee records without any page navigation links.

Last Updated: 2018-09-21

Get to Know sidebar widget

Get to Know is an entity sidebar widget. It shows latest 1 published employee records without any page navigation links.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Recent Employees sidebar widget

Recent Employees is an entity sidebar widget. It shows latest 5 published employee records without any page navigation links.

Last Updated: 2016-05-24

Recent Events sidebar widget

Recent Events is an entity sidebar widget. It shows latest 5 published event records without any page navigation links.

Last Updated: 2017-09-25

This Month\'s Anniversaries sidebar widget

This Month\'s Anniversaries is an entity sidebar widget. It shows latest 10 published employee records without any page navigation links.

Last Updated: 2018-09-21

This Month\'s Birthdays sidebar widget

This Month\'s Birthdays is an entity sidebar widget. It shows latest 10 published employee records without any page navigation links.

Last Updated: 2017-09-25

This Week\'s Anniversaries sidebar widget

This Week\'s Anniversaries is an entity sidebar widget. It shows latest 10 published employee records without any page navigation links.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

This Week\'s Birthdays sidebar widget

This Week\'s Birthdays is an entity sidebar widget. It shows latest 10 published employee records without any page navigation links.

Standards

Standard views display a single type of content in a custom format and can be used in place of archive views. Administrators can display standard views using their shortcodes by choosing the name of the view you want to display from the WPAS component list after clicking on the WPAS toolbar button on any page.

The following sections list the Employee Directory standard views available:

Last Updated: 2018-09-21

Alphabetical Search

"Alphabetical Search" is a standard view which displays -1 Employee records per page with a post status of publish in descending order by menu_order. Page navigation is disabled. If you choose to install setup pages during plugin activation, a WordPress page is created with a title of "Alphabetical Search". You can visit this page to access the view. To display it in another page or post, use [alpha_employees] shortcode or select the view name from the WPAS component list after clicking on the WPAS toolbar button.

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Employee Circle Grid

"Employee Circle Grid" is a standard view which displays 10 Employee records per page with a post status of publish in ascending order by menu_order. Page navigation is enabled. If you choose to install setup pages during plugin activation, a WordPress page is created with a title of "Employee Circle Grid". You can visit this page to access the view. To display it in another page or post, use [employee_circle_grid] shortcode or select the view name from the WPAS component list after clicking on the WPAS toolbar button.

Last Updated: 2016-05-24

Employee List

"Employee List" is a standard view which displays -1 Employee records per page with a post status of publish in ascending order by menu_order. Page navigation is disabled. If you choose to install setup pages during plugin activation, a WordPress page is created with a title of "Employee List". You can visit this page to access the view. To display it in another page or post, use [employee_list] shortcode or select the view name from the WPAS component list after clicking on the WPAS toolbar button.

Last Updated: 2017-07-13

Employee Search Grid

"Employee Search Grid" is a standard view which displays -1 Employee records per page with a post status of publish in ascending order by menu_order. Page navigation is enabled. If you choose to install setup pages during plugin activation, a WordPress page is created with a title of "Employee Search Grid". You can visit this page to access the view. To display it in another page or post, use [employee_grid_search] shortcode or select the view name from the WPAS component list after clicking on the WPAS toolbar button.

Last Updated: 2017-09-25

Stacked Events

"Stacked Events" is a standard view which displays -1 Event records per page with a post status of publish in descending order by date. Page navigation is disabled. To display it in another page or post, use [stacked_events] shortcode or select the view name from the WPAS component list after clicking on the WPAS toolbar button.

Last Updated: 2018-09-21

Std Anniversary

"Std Anniversary" is a standard view which displays -1 Employee records per page with a post status of publish in descending order by meta_value. Page navigation is disabled. To display it in another page or post, use [std_anniversary] shortcode or select the view name from the WPAS component list after clicking on the WPAS toolbar button.

Charts

Charts provide a perfect way to visualize data. You can use Employee Directory charts to better understand large quantities of data and the relationships between parts of the data.

The following sections list the Employee Directory charts you can use:

Last Updated: 2015-08-08

Organization Chart

"Organization Chart" is a org chart. If you choose to install setup pages during plugin activation, a WordPress page is created with a title of "Organization Chart". You can visit this page to view the chart. To display the chart in another page or post, use [employee_orgchart] shortcode or select the view name from the WPAS component list after clicking on the WPAS toolbar button. This chart comes with a full width container. All charts adjust to the browser window size changes.

Integrations

Integration views combine interrelated views of your content in one page to provide a summary or to highlight essential information.

The following sections list the Employee Directory integration views:

Last Updated: 2015-11-13

Events Calendar

"Events Calendar" is a combo report. If you choose to install setup pages during plugin activation, a WordPress page is created with a title of "Events Calendar". You can visit this page to access the view. To display it in another page or post, use [events_calendar] shortcode or select the view name from the WPAS component list after clicking on the WPAS toolbar button.

Forms

Forms allow users to enter data that is sent to Employee Directory for processing. Forms can be used to enter or retrieve search results related to your content.

The following sections list the Employee Directory forms:

Last Updated: 2016-05-24

Mini search emp wo opt

"Mini search emp wo opt" form is used for searching employee records from the frontend. You can use [mini_search_emp_wo_opt] shortcode to display it in a page or post of your choise as well.

The following are the fields used in the form:

  • Email (text)
  • Full Name (text)
Last Updated: 2015-08-08

Mini search employees

"Mini search employees" form is used for searching employee records from the frontend. You can use [mini_search_employees] shortcode to display it in a page or post of your choise as well.

The following are the fields used in the form:

  • Email (text)
  • Full Name (text)
Last Updated: 2018-09-24

Search emp wo operators

"Search emp wo operators" form is used for searching employee records from the frontend. You can use [search_emp_wo_operators] shortcode to display it in a page or post of your choise as well.

The following are the fields used in the form:

  • First Name (text)
  • Last Name (text)
  • Employee No (text)
  • Phone (text)
  • Extension (text)
  • Email (text)
  • Full Name (text)
  • Direct Reports (select-only single selection allowed)
  • Groups (select-multiple selection allowed)
  • Locations (select-multiple selection allowed)
  • Departments (select-only single selection allowed)
  • Languages (select-multiple selection allowed)
  • Skills (select-multiple selection allowed)
  • Certifications (select-multiple selection allowed)
  • Job Titles (select-only single selection allowed)
  • Genders (select-only single selection allowed)
  • Marital Statuses (select-only single selection allowed)
  • Employment Types (select-only single selection allowed)
Last Updated: 2018-09-24

Search employees

"Search employees" form is used for searching employee records from the frontend. You can use [search_employees] shortcode to display it in a page or post of your choise as well.

The following are the fields used in the form:

  • First Name (text)
  • Last Name (text)
  • Employee No (text)
  • Phone (text)
  • Extension (text)
  • Email (text)
  • Full Name (text)
  • Direct Reports (select-only single selection allowed)
  • Groups (select-multiple selection allowed)
  • Locations (select-multiple selection allowed)
  • Departments (select-only single selection allowed)
  • Languages (select-multiple selection allowed)
  • Skills (select-multiple selection allowed)
  • Certifications (select-multiple selection allowed)
  • Job Titles (select-only single selection allowed)
  • Genders (select-only single selection allowed)
  • Marital Statuses (select-only single selection allowed)
  • Employment Types (select-only single selection allowed)
Last Updated: 2018-09-24

Roles and Capabilities

The following table shows the capabilities and the access roles available in Employee Directory app. "Red" color means the users who belong to the corresponding role do not have the capability. "Green" color means the users who belong to the corresponding role have the capability.

CAPABILITYAdministratorEditorAuthorContributorSubscriberEmployeeEmployee Manager
Edit Employees
Delete Employees
Edit Others Employees
Publish Employees
Read Private Employees
Delete Private Employees
Delete Published Employees
Delete Others Employees
Edit Private Employees
Edit Published Employees
Manage Operations Employees
Set Author Employees
Edit Events
Delete Events
Edit Others Events
Publish Events
Read Private Events
Delete Private Events
Delete Published Events
Delete Others Events
Edit Private Events
Edit Published Events
Manage Operations Events
Set Author Events
Create Employees
Limit by Author Backend Employees
CAPABILITYAdministratorEditorAuthorContributorSubscriberEmployeeEmployee Manager
Manage Groups
Edit Groups
Delete Groups
Assign Groups
Manage Locations
Edit Locations
Delete Locations
Assign Locations
Manage Departments
Edit Departments
Delete Departments
Assign Departments
Manage Languages
Edit Languages
Delete Languages
Assign Languages
Manage Skills
Edit Skills
Delete Skills
Assign Skills
Manage Certifications
Edit Certifications
Delete Certifications
Assign Certifications
Manage Job Titles
Edit Job Titles
Delete Job Titles
Assign Job Titles
Manage Genders
Edit Genders
Delete Genders
Assign Genders
Manage Marital Statuses
Edit Marital Statuses
Delete Marital Statuses
Assign Marital Statuses
Manage Employment Types
Edit Employment Types
Delete Employment Types
Assign Employment Types
CAPABILITYAdministratorEditorAuthorContributorSubscriberEmployeeEmployee Manager
All Relationships are open to public.
CAPABILITYAdministratorEditorAuthorContributorSubscriberEmployeeEmployee Manager
All Widgets are open to public.
CAPABILITYAdministratorEditorAuthorContributorSubscriberEmployeeEmployee Manager
All Forms are open to public.
CAPABILITYAdministratorEditorAuthorContributorSubscriberEmployeeEmployee Manager
All Views are open to public.

Notifications

Notifications are email alerts Employee Directory sends when new modifications, additions or changes occur.

Notifications tab can be accessed from Settings > Employee Directory Settings page in the admin area. Using Notifications tab you can:

  • Enable or disable notifications
  • Choose where the notification will be triggered from
  • Customize email content or subject using tags
  • Include CC, BCC, Reply to
  • Choose who will receive notification either by changing Send to address or selecting appropriate relationship checkbox.

For notifications to work, you must be able to send emails from the server Employee Directory enabled. The following sections list the notifications available for Employee Directory:

Last Updated: 2017-07-13

Employee Profiles

When any Employee record:

  • added from backend
  • changed

The following get notified:

  • Employee Email
  • Reports To

Administration

Plugins are managed from the Plugins screen in the Administration Screens of your WordPress site. All Plugins listed on this screen are found in your wp-content/plugins directory. Each Plugin has a description in its header section of what it does, an author and website to refer to, and a version number. Find Employee Directory from the list.

Last Updated: 2016-10-10

Installation

To install your Employee Directory Plugin using the built-in plugin installer:

  1. Download Employee Directory Plugin to your desktop.
  2. Go to Plugins "Add New".
  3. Under Upload, click "Browse".
  4. Find the employee-directory-professional-VERSION.zip file.
  5. Click Install Now to install the Employee Directory Plugin.
  6. A popup window will ask you to confirm your wish to install the Plugin.
  7. Click Proceed to continue with the installation. The resulting installation screen will list the installation as successful or note any problems during the install.
  8. If successful, click Activate Plugin to activate it, or Return to Plugin Installer for further actions.

Replace VERSION in instructions with the version number of Employee Directory you want to install. After the activation, the Employee Directory plugin setup may display notification asking if you if you'd like to install setup pages or skip setup page installation, click the appropriate button.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Uninstallation

To uninstall your Employee Directory Plugin using the built-in plugin installer:

  1. Go to Plugins screen.
  2. Find the Employee Directory Plugin you wish to deactivate and uninstall.
  3. Click Deactivate.
Last Updated: 2016-08-30

Plugin Updates and Upgrades

WordPress auto-update system displays notification in the Admin Bar and also on the plugins page when new version of the Employee Directory is available.

To install the new version, simply hit the "Update automatically" button. WordPress will automatically download the new package, extract it and replace the old files. No FTP, removing old files, and uploading is required.

Upgrading your plugin

We offer different plugin editions to better match your needs. If you purchased a different edition of Employee Directory, follow the steps below to upgrade your plugin:

  1. Go WordPress plugins page and deactivate and optionally delete the current Employee Directory Professional edition.
  2. Install the new edition based on the instructions in WordPress Codex
  3. Activate the new edition
  4. Go to Plugin Settings page and save settings

Upgrading Employee Directory Professional edition does not have any impact on your existing data but it is always a good idea to back up your WordPress database as a rule of thumb before any changes.

Using Plugin Extensions

Employee Directory Professional edition is configured to work with many plugin extensions. Most plugin extensions work regardless of the edition unless specified specifically in the plugin page.

if you purchased a plugin extension, follow the instructions in WordPress Codex to install and activate your plugin extension like any other WordPress plugin.

If your extension comes with a license key, you must save and activate your license key to get software updates and support.

Maintaining your plugin

Keeping your plugin up-to-date is very important. At emdplugins.com, we regularly update our products to offer plugin or WordPress related bug fixes, product enhancements, patches for security vulnerabilities and more. Ability to receive these updates is critical to maintaining your software and site in working condition.

To be able to see the update notifications and receive updates, you must have a valid, activated license at all times. If your existing license is expired, you must renew it manually if you opted out of automatic renewals.

Please also note that you must have a valid license to get support for your plugin.

To activate your license:

  1. Go to EDirectory Pro > Licenses page
  2. Enter the license key you receive in your purchase receipt
  3. Click "Save Changes" button
  4. Now, you will see, "Activate License" button and "INACTIVE" right next to your license key
  5. Click "Activate License" button to activate your license
  6. If you see "VALID" message in place of "INACTIVE", you should be able to get your plugin updates.

If you followed the steps above and still are not able to get the plugin updates, there could be additional configuration needed for your site.

Last Updated: 2016-08-30

Import/Export/Reset Content

Administrators can import/export from/to CSV files or reset Employee Directory entities, taxonomies and relationships by clicking on Operations button in entity list pages. You must be able to get a backup of your content and files before starting importing/exporting or resetting. Operations page is divided into Import, Export, and Reset tabs.

Importing

Import tab is used to visually import existing records into an entity, its taxonomies and relationships. Each fields to be imported must be mapped to the app design.If you have custom fields in your CSV files, these fields can be imported as well. By default, custom fields are not mapped and they do not have a mapped label. You need to specify custom field's label in the corresponding textbox to import it correctly. The imported custom fields are created for every record with the corresponding value specified in the CSV file.

In you import large files with a lot of images or files attached, your server may be temporarily unavailable and return a white screen. This is due to the extended time needed by WordPress to process and create image thumbnails. If you get a white screen, open up a browser screen and monitor the activity in Media library. If you see images getting created, wait until all activity stops. After image or file addition stops, check if all your records are imported correctly. As a sanity check, you can do the import again but this time checking the Update existing data based on unique field(s) option.

Updating and syncing with external systems

Update option checks the existing records against the CSV file and see if there is a change. If there is a change, it finds the difference and updates the record. For example, if an image is added, the new image is added. If the incoming record does not include an existing image, the existing image which is not included in the incoming record gets deleted. All deletions are permanent. If the incoming record is not there, new record is created. You can use the update option to sync your existing records with external systems.

Exporting

Export tab is used to export the content of an entity as a CSV file. If an entity has relationships, they must be exported separately from the main entity. You will see additional export buttons if this is the case. When you export records, all custom fields are exported as well.

Resetting

Reset tab is used to permanently delete the content of an entity including all the attached images and files. You can also choose to delete all entity content, relationships, or taxonomies. Make sure you have a backup of your content, attached images and/or files before any reset action.

You can take a backup of your content to CSV using export tab. However, you need to take a backup of your attached files manually. In addition, if you need to re-import after the reset using the exported CSV, you must modify the URLs of your attached images to the new or backup location to import them back correctly.

Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Modifying Form Fields

Administrators can show, hide, and resize form elements by clicking on the Settings page under EDirectory Pro menu. In addition, form captcha element can be set to "Visitors Only","Always Show", or "Never Show".

Required fields can not be disabled however you can change the column size. The optional fields can be enabled, disabled, or modified to occupy more or less space in the form layout.

Make sure to save your changes after any modification otherwise your changes will not take effect.

Last Updated: 2018-09-21

Setting Global Options

Administrators can set global options available for Employee Directory. After logging in as administrator, click Settings page under EDirectory Pro menu. Modify the ones you want to be changed and click Save button to make changes active. The following lists the available options:

Hide Last Modified By
Hide Last Modified By text in employee pages when checked.
Advanced Search Link
Type in any text or link which will be displayed in the first row of employee search widget.
Change JobTitle Label
Changes the Job Title label on the front end
Disable Org Chart Job Title Link
Displays job titles in organization charts as text when checked.
Hide Org Chart Photo
Hides employee photos in organization charts when checked.
Hide Employee No
Hides the employee number column of employee list view when checked.
Hide Employee Extension
Hides the employee extension column of the employee list view when checked.
Disable Org Chart Tooltip
Disable tooltip in organization charts when checked.
Employee Search Grid Default
Enter the comma separated values to be displayed in the employee search grid view. Make sure there is no space between the comma separator and the values. The values must match the taxonomy values. If left blank, employee search view will show all the employee regardless of the tags associated. You can enter any value from Locations, Departments, Employment Types or Groups. For example; Miami,Marketing.
Employee Search Type
Inclusive: Search employees matching any of the selected tags. Exclusive: Search employees matching all of the selecting tags. Single: Only allow one tag at a time to be selected and show the employees that match that tag.
Alphabetical List All text
Set the text in alphabetical list navbar for the button displaying all employees
Alphabetical List No Match text
Sets the text to be displayed when there is no employee to show.
Alphabetical List Initial Letter
Set the letter to used for filtering initially
Alphabetical List Search By
Set the list to be indexed with. Accepted values; Name, Department, Job Title
Last Updated: 2016-08-30

Changing Entity Base Slug

The default entity base slug can be changed within entity tab of settings page in EDirectory Pro menu. After you update, make sure to refresh your site's Permalinks under Settings. You can only change base slug if post name based permalink structure is selected.

Last Updated: 2016-12-29

Resolving theme related conflicts

For the most part, Employee Directory templates will integrate nicely with most WordPress themes. However you may run into issues when the default Employee Directory content wrappers do not match your chosen theme or your theme's CSS rules overwrite Employee Directory CSS rules.

Theme related issues manifest themselves by;

  • Breaking your layout on Employee Directory pages and shifting your sidebars into incorrect positions
  • Some random text getting displayed in header or footer of your site
  • Some sections in plugin pages not getting displayed as in the plugin's demo site.

Theme related issues can potentially affect all single, taxonomy, archive and shortcode pages because Employee Directory uses templates of its own to display these pages and it’s impossible for eMDPlugins to know exactly what markup or CSS rules your theme uses.

The following is a Developer level documentation. If you’re unfamiliar with code/templates and resolving potential conflicts, we strongly suggest to hire us or a developer to complete the project for you. Please also note that our complimentary support team is unable to assist with customization per our Support Policy.

There are three methods to resolve theme related issues;

  • Copying and modifying your theme's header.php and footer.php
  • Copying and modifying your theme's page.php
  • Adding custom CSS rules

Modifying header.php and footer.php

  1. Go to your theme's folder -- wp-content/themes/YOURTHEME/
  2. Copy header.php of your theme as header-emdplugins.php
  3. Copy footer.php of your theme as footer-emplugins.php
  4. Remove the conflicting code from header-emdplugins.php and/or footer-emplugins.php.
  5. This will make Employee Directory use these newly created header and footer instead of your theme's default header and footer. Save the files. You’re done.

Copying and modifying your theme's page.php

If the issue can not be resolved through simply modifying the header and footer templates, you need to modify your theme's page.php.

Please note that this approach eliminates Your ability:

  • To set page templates for single, archive and taxonomy pages
  • To remove page navigation from archive and taxonomy pages.

from EDirectory Pro, settings page.

To set up this template page:

  1. Duplicate your theme’s page.php file, and name it empd-pro.php. This file should be found like this: wp-content/themes/YOURTHEME/empd-pro.php.
  2. Open up your newly created empd-pro.php in a text editor, or the editor of your choice.
  3. Next you need to find the loop (see The_Loop). The loop usually starts with a:

    <?php if ( have_posts() ) :

    and usually ends with:

    <?php endif; ?>

    This varies between themes. Once you have found it, delete it. In its place, put:

    <?php empd_pro_content(); ?>
  4. This will make your theme use Employee Directory’s loop instead. Save the file. You’re done.

Adding CSS rules

You add custom CSS rules in the Custom CSS field of Tools tab under EDirectory Pro menu, settings page to overwrite your theme's default CSS. The custom css rules added in the settings are not deleted when your plugin gets updated.

You can learn CSS language by completing the tutorials at w3schools.com

Last Updated: 2016-06-26

Localization(l10n)

Employee Directory can be translated into any language by editing empd-pro-emd-plugins.pot and empd-pro.pot files.

  • empd-pro-emd-plugins.pot file is for the components used in Employee Directory.
  • empd-pro.pot file is for the Employee Directory specific strings that need to be translated.

Follow the steps below to fully translate Employee Directory into the desired language:

  1. Copy empd-pro-emd-plugins.pot as language specific .po file such as empd-pro-emd-plugins-tr_TR.po.
  2. Copy empd-pro.pot as language specific .po file such as empd-pro-tr_TR.po.
  3. Use your favorite PO file editor and complete translation strings in the .po files you created.
  4. When translations are completed, create .mo file of each .po file.
  5. Create wp-content/languages/empd-pro directory
  6. Put translated .mo files and .po files in the directory above to protect them from getting deleted during plugin updates.
  7. Change the language to the translated language from Settings > General > Site Language.
  8. Repeat the process until you get all strings translated
  9. .
Last Updated: 2015-08-07

Screen Options

Screen Options is displayed as a hanging tab under the toolbar. Click on the Screen Options tab to expand the options available for a particular Screen, check (or uncheck) the desired options, then click the Screen Options hanging tab to collapse the Screen Options. Each screen may have a different set of Screen Options.

Edit page screen options allow the user to decide the edit boxes ,such as taxonomies, relationships or specific boxes such as authors, are presented in the edit area. You can turn on and off the ones that are not needed for a particular edit session.

List page screen options allow users to set the number of records displayed in the list table.

Creating Shortcodes

Shortcodes are small blocks of reusable code that can be inserted in a page to generate dynamic and often complex functionality. There is no limit in number of shortcodes that can be created and used. Multiple shortcodes can be used in the same page.

Examples

The following shortcode creates a Employee List page with employees of Certifications category.

[employee_list filter="tax::certifications::is::YOUR TAXONOMY VALUE;"]

The following shortcode creates a Employee List page with employees of Certifications category.

[employee_list filter="attr::emd_employee_firstname::is::YOUR ATTRIBUTE VALUE;"]

The following shortcode creates a Employee List page with employees of Certifications category where First Name is emd_employee_firstname .

[employee_list filter="attr::emd_employee_firstname::is::YOUR ATTRIBUTE VALUE;tax::certifications::is::YOUR TAXONOMY VALUE;"]

The following shortcode creates a Employee List page with the published employees of Certifications category where First Name is emd_employee_firstname in descending order by comment count, displaying 15 employees with no pagination.

[employee_list filter="attr::emd_employee_firstname::is::YOUR ATTRIBUTE VALUE;tax::certifications::is::YOUR TAXONOMY VALUE;misc::post_status::is::publish;misc::order::is::DESC;misc::posts_per_page::is::15;misc::has_pages::is::false;misc::orderby::is::comment_count;"]

Note: Replace YOUR ATTRIBUTE VALUE with the value stored for that attribute and YOUR TAXONOMY VALUE with the slug of the corresponding taxonomy value.

Last Updated: 2016-05-24

Using Visual Shortcode Builder

Employee Directory Professional comes with Visual Shortcode Builder(VSB) module which allows creating advanced custom shortcodes without manually writing code. To use Visual Shortcode Builder:

  1. Create a new page
  2. Click on WPAS button right next to Add Media button
  3. Find and select the view or form you'd like to use a base from the drowdown list
  4. Modify the shortcode by adding filters from taxonomy, attribute, relationship or misc categories
    • Don't forget to click + icon every time you add a filter
    • You can create as many filters as you need in the same shortcode
  5. When you finished, click Insert Shortcode button. The shortcode will be inserted to the page
  6. Update or publish the page to see the shortcode result
  7. Repeat the same process for all your shortcodes
Last Updated: 2016-12-29

Customizations

Employee Directory offers extensive customization options from plugin settings, settings page. The following customizations can be done without changing your theme's template files:

  • Enable or disable all fields, taxonomies and relationships from backend and/or frontend
  • Set any entity and/or archive base slug
  • Set the page template of any entity, taxonomy and/or archive page to sidebar on left, sidebar on right or no sidebar (full width)
  • Hide the previous and next post links on the frontend for single posts
  • Hide the page navigation links on the frontend for archive posts
  • Display or hide any custom field
  • Display any side bar widget on plugin pages using EMD Widget Area
  • Set custom CSS rules for all plugin pages including plugin shortcodes

If your customization requirements are more complex and can not be resolved through the list of options provided above, you need to implement advanced customization techniques.

Advanced Customizations

Note:The following is a Developer level documentation. If you’re unfamiliar with code/templates/localization and resolving potential conflicts, we strongly suggest to hire us or a developer to complete the project for you. Please also note that our complimentary support team is unable to assist with customization per our Support Policy.

Employee Directory advanced customization can be done on 3 different areas;

  • Look & Feel - changing layout and overall presentation of content
  • Functionality - adding, deleting or modifying existing plugin functionality
  • Strings - changing the field names

Plugin customization can be implemented by using 4 different methods:

Customizing functionality

If you'd like to modify the functionality, you need to modify the plugin design (sold separately) using WP App Studio ProDev API access (sold separately and monthly development plans are available).

Customizing look & feel

If you like to customize how HTML elements are to be displayed on screen, you can add custom CSS rules with higher specificity to your theme's style.css file.

If you'd like to customize layouts of Employee Directory, Please follow the steps below:

  1. Create "emd_templates" directory under your theme's directory.
  2. Copy the layout files that you want to customize into "emd_templates" directory which you created in step 1 from PLUGIN-ROOT/layouts directory
  3. Modify the file based on your needs

The layout files you added in the "emd_templates" has always precedence over the plugin's layout files. If the customized files get deleted, the layouts which came with your plugin are displayed. We recommend that you create a child theme if you'd like to minimize the risk of accidental deleting of the "emd_templates" directory because of theme updates.

The following layout file types can be customized:

  • Single view page
  • Archive view page
  • Taxonomy view page
  • Search form result page
  • Standard list page
  • Integration page
  • Org chart record and tooltip layout page

Customizing strings

Employee Directory labels and messages can be customized to better match your needs through language files. The customization is very similar to localization but recommended for US English users only. If your language is different than US English, you should localize instead of customize. The customization can be done for the strings included in empd-pro-emd-plugins.pot and empd-pro.pot files.

The following steps cover the string customization of labels and messages.

  • empd-pro-emd-plugins.pot file is for the translatable strings of components used in Employee Directory.
  • empd-pro.pot file is for the Employee Directory specific strings that need to be translated.

Follow the steps below to fully customize Employee Directory labels and messages:

  1. Copy empd-pro-emd-plugins.pot as language specific .po file such as empd-pro-emd-plugins-en_US.po.
  2. Copy empd-pro.pot as language specific .po file such as empd-pro-en_US.po.
  3. Use your favorite PO file editor or plugin and complete customization of strings in the .po files you created.
  4. When customization are completed, create .mo file of each .po file.
  5. Create wp-content/languages/empd-pro directory.
  6. Put customized .mo files and .po files in the directory above to protect them from getting deleted during plugin updates.
  7. Repeat the process until you get all strings customized. If you do not need a string to be customizes, leave it as it is.

All customization can be done by yourself or emarketdesign.com. Open a support ticket, if you prefer us to do the customization for you.

Glossary

Below is the list of attribute and taxonomy definitions.

Last Updated: 2018-09-24

Employee

An employee is an individual who works part-time or full-time under a contract of employment to perform tasks within an organization.

First Name
First Name is filterable in the admin area. First Name does not have a default value.
Last Name
Last Name is filterable in the admin area. Last Name does not have a default value.
Photo
Photo of the employee. 250x250 is the preferred size. Photo does not have a default value.
Employee No
The unique identifier for an employee Employee No is a required field. Being a unique identifier, it uniquely distinguishes each instance of Employee entity. Employee No is filterable in the admin area. Employee No does not have a default value.
Featured
Sets employee as featured which can be used to select employees in available views using Visual Shortcode Builder and Featured employee widget. Featured does not have a default value.
Hire Date
Date the employee is hired Hire Date is filterable in the admin area. Hire Date does not have a default value.
Birthday
Birthday is filterable in the admin area. Birthday does not have a default value.
Phone
Phone is filterable in the admin area. Phone does not have a default value.
Extension
Extension is filterable in the admin area. Extension does not have a default value.
Mobile
Mobile is filterable in the admin area. Mobile does not have a default value.
Email
Email is filterable in the admin area. Email does not have a default value.
Mailing Address
Primary mailing address of an employee Mailing Address does not have a default value.
Map
Displays employee primary address in a map. Map does not have a default value.
Status
Brief status on your current availability. For example, At a conference all day, checking emails. Status does not have a default value.
Facebook
Facebook does not have a default value.
Google+
Google+ does not have a default value.
Twitter
Twitter does not have a default value.
Linkedin
Linkedin does not have a default value.
Github
Github is filterable in the admin area. Github does not have a default value.
Bio
Bio does not have a default value.
Full Name
Full Name is a required field. Full Name is filterable in the admin area. Full Name does not have a default value.
Excerpt
Excerpt does not have a default value.
Reports To
Allows to display and create connections with Employees. One instance of Employees can associated with only one instance of Employees. The relationship can be set up in the edit area of Employees using Reports To relationship box. After a relationship is setup by pressing the plus icon, you may fill out relationship fields to complete connection creation.
Direct Reports
Allows to display and create connections with Employees. One instance of Employees can associated with many instances of Employees. The relationship can be set up in the edit area of Employees using Reports To relationship box. After a relationship is setup by pressing the plus icon, you may fill out relationship fields to complete connection creation.
Title
Enter the title of the supervising employee. For example, Manager, Supervisor, Lead etc. Title is an attribute of Reports To relationship and can be set after the connection created. Title has a default value of "Manager".
Last Updated: 2018-09-21

Event

An Employee Directory event is a gathering that is sponsored by a business for its employees, business partners, clients and/or prospective clients. These events can be for larger audiences such as conventions or smaller events like conferences, meetings or holiday parties.

Pictures
Pictures does not have a default value.
Venue
The place where the event will be happening Venue is a required field. Venue is filterable in the admin area. Venue does not have a default value.
Start Date
Start Date does not have a default value.
End Date
End Date does not have a default value.
Location Address
Location Address does not have a default value.
Location
Location does not have a default value.
Companywide
Companywide is filterable in the admin area. Companywide does not have a default value.
External URL
External URL is filterable in the admin area. External URL does not have a default value.
Event Name
The name of this event. Event Name is a required field. Being a unique identifier, it uniquely distinguishes each instance of Event entity. Event Name does not have a default value.
Event Description
The description of this event. Event Description does not have a default value.
Last Updated: 2018-09-21

Globals

Global attributes can be set in the Settings page, Global tab under EDirectory Pro menu.

Hide Last Modified By (checkbox)
Hide Last Modified By text in employee pages when checked.
Advanced Search Link (wysiwyg)
Type in any text or link which will be displayed in the first row of employee search widget.
Change JobTitle Label (text)
Changes the Job Title label on the front end
Disable Org Chart Job Title Link (checkbox)
Displays job titles in organization charts as text when checked.
Hide Org Chart Photo (checkbox)
Hides employee photos in organization charts when checked.
Hide Employee No (checkbox)
Hides the employee number column of employee list view when checked.
Hide Employee Extension (checkbox)
Hides the employee extension column of the employee list view when checked.
Disable Org Chart Tooltip (checkbox)
Disable tooltip in organization charts when checked.
Employee Search Grid Default (text)
Enter the comma separated values to be displayed in the employee search grid view. Make sure there is no space between the comma separator and the values. The values must match the taxonomy values. If left blank, employee search view will show all the employee regardless of the tags associated. You can enter any value from Locations, Departments, Employment Types or Groups. For example; Miami,Marketing.
Employee Search Type (select)
Inclusive: Search employees matching any of the selected tags. Exclusive: Search employees matching all of the selecting tags. Single: Only allow one tag at a time to be selected and show the employees that match that tag.
Alphabetical List All text (text)
Set the text in alphabetical list navbar for the button displaying all employees
Alphabetical List No Match text (text)
Sets the text to be displayed when there is no employee to show.
Alphabetical List Initial Letter (text)
Set the letter to used for filtering initially
Alphabetical List Search By (select)
Set the list to be indexed with. Accepted values; Name, Department, Job Title