Want to trigger a task when a new hire hasn’t provided their National Insurance (NI) number or Social Security Number (SSN)?
Here’s why those fields don’t appear as condition options, and how to work around it.
Fields like NI (UK) and SSN (US) are considered sensitive and encrypted in Bob, which means they can’t be used directly as conditions in task lists.
Here’s a workaround that works for other customers:
1. Create a custom field (e.g. “NI/SSN Provided”) as a Yes/No dropdown
2. Manually update this field during onboarding once the info is received
3. Use this field as your condition in the task list
A few things to keep in mind when using fields in task conditions:
- Permissions: For a field to appear as a condition, you must have viewing access to it. Field-level permissions in Bob control visibility, so if you don’t have permission to view a particular field, it won’t be shown in the condition options.
- Field Type Compatibility: Not all field types are supported for conditions. For example, text areas or long-form fields often can’t be used in logic-driven task rules. The dropdown only displays field types that are compatible with conditional logic, such as dropdowns, dates, or short text fields.
- Newly Created Fields: When a new custom field is added, there may be a short delay before it appears in the condition list. This is because the system needs to refresh and incorporate the new field into the available options.
- Employee Reference Fields: If you're using employee reference fields (like "Manager" or "Buddy"), these may be tied to other fields behind the scenes. To use them in conditions, you need visibility into both the reference field and any connected fields it relies on.
Field Category and Encryption: Some default fields in Bob, particularly those under the Identification and Financial categories, are encrypted due to their sensitive nature. These encrypted fields can’t be used in task conditions. However, custom fields created within those same categories are usable for conditions, as they don’t carry the same encryption limitations.