Automating Entity Tag Updates with OpenAir Scripting

OpenAir’s reporting capabilities allow users to access a wealth of data. However, most data only shows the current value, not previous changes over time. This is where OpenAir’s entity tags come in handy for tracking historical data that may be needed not only for reporting but for analysis and business processes as well.

What are OpenAir Entity Tags?

Entity tags, on their surface, are a simple concept – they are tags within user profiles in OpenAir that allow you to track different types of data. This could be data such as job title, job function, job code, employment status, department, etc.

What makes the entity tag unique and powerful from other fields is that entity tags allow you to maintain historical data. This is done by assigning start and end dates when the tag value was active.

The Challenges

While the entity tag has many benefits, it comes with challenges. For example, many organizations have an HR system that is integrated into OpenAir. When employee data, such as a job title or department, is updated, that data is automatically fed through the integration and updated in OpenAir. However only the standard data is updated. Suppose there is an entity tag associated with that information. In that case, the entity tag remains unchanged, and any reporting or analysis done on the information in those entity tags will be inaccurate – unless of course someone also updates them manually.

Another common challenge is that it’s also easy to overlook updating entity tags when values change infrequently. Those responsible may forget or not realize the tags need updating too. This results in inaccurate reporting and analysis.

Automating the Solution

The good news is this is an easy problem to solve. Top Step created an OpenAir script that monitors the appropriate standard OpenAir field. When that standard field changes, the script will automatically update the corresponding entity tag with the current date.

Entity tags add immense value by enabling historical reporting. But they must stay current to be useful. Since entity tags can’t be updated via integrations, organizations either need to manually update them or use a script to automate them.

The entity tag script has benefited dozens of clients who need to retain historical data. If you’re looking for an easier and more consistent way to keep your entity tags up to date or have other OpenAir scripting or automation questions, contact us, Top Step is here to help.