Manage the risk dropdown lists

The dropdown lists that risk analyses use, such as company, department or project, are managed in Risk management on the Admin tab, in the Dropdown section. There you add a list with Add new dropdown, rename it with the pencil, remove it with the trash icon, and click a list’s value box to add, edit, deactivate, delete or merge its values. Lists marked “(global)” are global fields shared with other modules; the others belong to Risk management only.

Before you start

Risk management appears in the left menu only if your company has the module and you have at least the Read right on its row. If you don’t see it, contact your user administrator. See The top bar and the left menu.
You need the Admin right on the Risk management row. The Admin tab in Risk management is shown only to users with that right. Your user administrator grants it; see Give a user access rights.
Global fields are shared across modules. Only users with the Admin level on the Super area row can rename or remove a global field or change its values; ask your user administrator. Other users see “You must have Super user access rights to modify Global Fields.” above the lists, and the values of global fields are read-only for them. Ask your user administrator if a global field needs changing.
None of these lists is required in a risk analysis. In the analysis information form each list is optional, and users can choose several values; only the title and the matrix are required.

Which lists you see

The Dropdown section lists every field assigned to Risk management, alphabetically by name, in two columns:

Global fields that have been added to Risk management, with “ (global)” after the name, for example “Department (global)”.
Fields that belong to Risk management only, without the suffix.

Each field is a row with its name, a value box (“Type here to search”), a pencil and a trash icon. The section is shown only when Risk management has at least one field.

Steps: add a list

Open Risk management and select Admin.
In the Dropdown section, click Add new dropdown. A menu opens with two choices.
To create a list that only Risk management uses:
1. Choose Create new drop-down. The Add new dropdown dialog opens.
2. Type the name. If the name needs separate English and Norwegian texts, switch on Translation and fill in English and Norwegian. With Translation off, the same name is used in both languages.
3. Click Create. It is disabled until the name is filled in. You see “Drop-down saved successfully”.
To add an existing global field to Risk management:
1. Choose Add from global drop-downs. The dialog lists the global fields that Risk management does not have yet.
2. Click Add to module next to the field. You see “Global drop-down has been added”.
3. Click Close.

Steps: rename a list

Click the pencil (Edit) next to the field. The Edit Field dialog opens.
Change Field name. With Translation on, change the English and Norwegian names.
Click Update, or Cancel to leave it unchanged.

For a global field the dialog warns: “Editing the value will affect all modules in which it is in use. Are you sure you would like to continue?” The new name then shows in every module that uses the field.

Steps: remove a list

Click the trash icon next to the field. The tooltip shows what happens:
- Remove on a global field takes it out of Risk management only. The field and its values stay available to other modules. The confirmation reads “Please confirm that you would like to remove this field from the module”.
- Delete on a Risk management field removes and deletes it. The confirmation reads “Are you sure you want to delete this field?”
Confirm in the Confirmation dialog. You see “Drop-down removed successfully” for a global field, or “Drop-down deleted successfully” for a Risk management field.

A field cannot be removed or deleted while any risk analysis has one of its values. You then see “Drop-down cannot be removed because it’s in use”. Remove the value from those analyses first.

Some fields cannot be renamed or removed; then the pencil or the trash icon is not shown.

Steps: manage the values in a list

Click the field’s value box (“Type here to search”) to open its list of values. The list works the same way as for global fields on the Global Fields page; adding a value, with or without translation, is described in Add a value to a global field, with or without translation.

What you want	How
Add a value	Click Add new, type the value (switch on Translation for separate English and Norwegian texts) and click Save, or Cancel.
Edit a value	Click the pencil (Edit) on an active value, change the text and click Update. On a global field, the row warns that the change affects every module where the value is used.
Deactivate or reactivate a value	Click Deactivate or Activate. A deactivated value is listed last with “[Deactivated]” after it.
Delete a value	Click Delete and confirm. For a Risk management field the confirmation reads “Are you sure you want to delete this value?”; for a global field it reads “Deleting the value will affect all modules in which it is in use. Are you sure you would like to continue?” A value in use cannot be deleted; for a Risk management field you see “Cannot delete record because it’s in use”.
Merge values	Tick the merge checkbox on each active value you want to merge, then click Merge …. In the Merge fields dialog, check the values under Fields to merge, choose the value that survives under Select a name, and optionally rename it with Use new name. The dialog warns: “Merging values will overwrite current value everywhere they are in use”. The other values are replaced by the surviving one wherever they are used. If the values are in use, a further dialog lists the modules before the merge is done.

Merging can be switched off for the ABMS installation your company uses; then the merge controls are not shown.

What you should see

A new or added list appears in the Dropdown section, and its values are offered in every risk analysis’s information form, in the index columns and in the index filter. A removed list disappears from them. If the Dropdown section does not show the change after you add or remove a list, reload the page.

Good to know

Deactivating a value that is in use. A risk analysis that still holds a deactivated value keeps it. When someone opens that analysis’s Information form, the field is flagged and Save stays disabled until the deactivated value is removed from the field. Deactivate rather than delete when the value should stay on old analyses but not be chosen again, and tell the facilitators.
Global changes reach every module. Renaming a global field, or editing, deleting or merging its values, changes it in all modules that use it, not only in Risk management.
The whole Admin tab, including the matrix section, is described in The risk Admin tab.