1. Nicoka Support
  2. Administration & Paramétrage

Calculate a field with a formula

A custom field with the Formula component is not filled in by hand: Nicoka calculates it from other fields of the record. It gives you, for example, a cost, a margin, an amount to invoice or an average score, without any manual calculation.

In this article, we use the job as an example: a "Coût employeur estimé" (estimated employer cost) field calculated from the job's Salary Max and a "Taux de charges patronales (%)" (employer contribution rate) custom field. Creating the custom fields themselves is described in Create a custom field.

Records that support formulas

Formula fields are calculated on the following records:

  • ATS: candidates, jobs, candidates' temporary work contracts;
  • employees;
  • CRM: opportunities;
  • sales: quotations, orders, invoices;
  • purchasing: suppliers;
  • and also tickets.

The Formula component is also offered in the settings of other records, but its value is not saved there: only use it on the records in this list.

Creating the formula field

  1. Open the Custom fields screen of the record. For a job: in the side menu, open Customizing > Store, click Customize on the ATS card, then, in the left-hand menu, expand Jobs and click Custom fields.
  2. First create the fields the formula will use that do not exist yet. Here, "Taux de charges patronales (%)", with the Float UI component.
  3. In the section you want, click Add a custom field, enter the Label and choose the Formula UI component.
  4. Click Create.
Create a new custom field window: Coût employeur estimé field, Formula UI component

On the custom fields screen, the field shows the Formula type and a flask icon: this icon opens the field's formula.

Budget section with the contribution rate field and the Coût employeur estimé formula field, with its flask icon

Writing the formula

  1. Click the field's flask icon. The formula window opens: the formula on the left, the items to add on the right.
  2. Build the formula by clicking the items in the order of the calculation. Each click adds the item at the end of the formula:
    • the fields of the list on the right, grouped by record: first the record's own fields, then its custom fields;
    • the operators +, -, * (multiply) and / (divide), and the brackets ( and );
    • 1-9: adds a number. Type it, with a decimal separator if needed, then press Enter. To change a number already in the formula, click it.
  3. Click Save.

In our example, the formula is Salary Max * ( 1 + Taux de charges patronales (%) / 100 ): for a salary of 50,000 and a rate of 42, the estimated employer cost is 71,000.

Formula window of the Coût employeur estimé field: the formula on the left, the numbers, operators and job fields on the right

A formula field can reuse the result of another formula field of the same record: it also appears in the list.

The result on the record

The formula field is shown on the record with the other fields of its section. It is greyed out: its value cannot be typed in. It is updated while you fill in the form, as soon as you change a field used by the formula, even before saving. It is saved with the record when you click Update.

Budget section of a job: the contribution rate has just been set to 42, the estimated employer cost shows 71,000 before saving

Good to know:

  • Existing records get their value the next time they are saved. The same applies after the formula is changed.
  • An empty field counts as 0 in the calculation. A division by an empty field or by 0 leaves the formula field empty, without blocking the save.
  • When the formula uses a field of another record, the value saved on that other record is used.
Were this information helpful?

 Summary