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Change the words your organisation uses

Rename the ten key terms so the website, tablet, emails and reports all speak the way your team talks.

Checked against the screens:

Every organisation can choose its own words for the people and roles it works with. When you are signed in, this guide uses your organisation’s words. Otherwise it uses the product’s own.

For admins. Managers can read this page, and can change words only if your admin lets them.

Steps

  1. Open Admin, then Words. The page is headed Your organisation's words.
  2. Find the card for the term you want to change. A badge says Our default or Your word.
  3. Type your word in each box: one, many, belonging to one, belonging to several. Pick a or an in the article box.
  4. Read the sample sentence under the boxes. It uses all five forms, so you can hear whether it works.
  5. Read any amber note on the card. The notes for two terms warn about what outside agencies see.
  6. Press Save. The change appears everywhere the service writes.
  7. To go back, press Reset to our default on the same card.

If it goes wrong

  • If Save is greyed, read the line under the boxes. It says which box needs fixing.
  • If someone else changed the word first, the card says so and offers Reload. Reload, check, then try again.
  • If you cannot save at all, ask an admin to change it or to let managers change words.

How it links together

Your words are stored once and read by every screen, email, PDF and the tablet. A rename takes effect for everyone as soon as it is saved.

Built-in field labels are separate. See the guides on customising record fields and on organisation details.

A word, saved once, used everywhereYou rename a term and every screen and document follows.
  1. You renameSave
  2. Website and tablet
  3. Emails and PDFsTo schools and families
  4. Help guidesUse your word too

The ten terms

Ten words can be renamed. Each is listed below, with what it stands for.

  • Young people: the people you support.
  • Mentors: staff who deliver the work.
  • Managers: the people who check and sign off.
  • DSLs: the lead for protection.
  • Admins: the people who run the organisation's set-up.
  • Safeguarding: protection work, as a subject.
  • ILPs: the learning plan.
  • Sessions: a single piece of work with someone.
  • Reviews: a periodic check.
  • Areas: a part of the service.

What a rename changes

A rename applies everywhere the service writes. That means the website, the tablet, emails and the PDFs that go to schools and families. Help guides use your words too.

It does not change the labels you set yourself, for example on custom forms. Those are your own wording and are edited where they live.

The five boxes

Each term has a word for one, a word for several, one for belonging to one and one for belonging to several. The fifth box is whether to say a or an before it.

A card that shows Your word has been changed. A card that shows Our default still uses the standard word. The card heading is the word itself and updates as you type.

Two terms need thought

Schools and local authorities know the lead for protection by a standard title. Emails, referrals and reports use your word, so choose one they will recognise.

The word for protection work is used in statutory guidance and by every agency you refer to. Renaming it changes what they see on referrals and reports.

Who can change the words

Admins always can. Managers can open the page and see what it would look like, but Save is disabled unless your admin switches on the option. That option is on the card called Who can change these.

Anyone else is told that renaming is an administrator's job and is shown nothing.

Field labels that still use the old word

A rename does not rewrite labels on built-in record fields. The card Field labels that still say our word lists them for reference. Change them by hand on Record fields if you want them to match.

Questions people ask

Will renaming a word change old records?

No record changes. Only the word used to describe it changes, everywhere it is shown.

Can I undo a rename?

Yes. Press Reset to our default on the card. The standard word comes back at once.

Why is the Save button greyed out?

Either a box needs fixing, which the line under the boxes explains, or you are a manager and changes are not allowed yet.

Who sees my new word?

Everyone in your organisation, and anyone who receives your emails and reports, including schools and families.

What does belonging to one mean?

It is the possessive form, as in the thing that belongs to one person. The sample sentence shows how each form is used.

A built-in label still shows the old word. Why?

Field labels are separate. Edit them on Record fields. They are listed on this page.