---
title: "Configuration Group: Employees"
slug: "configuration-group-employees-1"
updated: 2026-09-17T19:30:22Z
published: 2026-09-23T12:56:50Z
canonical: "wiki.cobblestonesoftware.com/configuration-group-employees-1"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://wiki.cobblestonesoftware.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Configuration Group: Employees

## **COBBLESTONE SOFTWARE**

*Contract Insight — User Guide*

## **Employees**

*Configuration Group: Employees*

**Note:** Each procedure in this guide begins at the Contract Insight homepage, so any section can be followed on its own. Some settings in this group depend on Optional Add-On Modules, so the exact list on any one system may vary.

---

# 1. Overview

The **Employees** configuration group holds the settings that control how employee records and employee task alerts behave across Contract Insight. It defines how the employee list is presented, the account lockout rules applied to employee logins, what appears in employee task email alerts and how often those alerts are sent, and how often survey notification links are checked and distributed.

Employees contains **18 settings**, organized under five subsection headings in the settings panel: **EMPLOYEES**, **FILTERING**, **GENERAL**, **TASKS**, and **TIMERS**.

**As with every configuration group, each setting is presented as a single row containing:**

- The **name** of the application setting
- A **description** of what the setting does
- An **editing control** holding the current value — a toggle, a text box, a dropdown, or an **Edit content** button for rich-text settings
- A **“Last changed”** line recording when the setting was last modified and by whom

Because the Employees group is maintained from the Administration area, only Application Administrators — or other users specifically granted the appropriate permission — can view and change these values.

# 

# 2. Accessing the Employees Configuration Group

The Employees settings are reached through Application Settings. To open them:

1. From the Contract Insight homepage, click **Administration** at the bottom of the left navigation menu.
2. On the Administration page, under **Configuration & Fields**, select **Application Settings**.
3. In the **CATEGORIES** rail on the left, click **Employees**. The category is highlighted, and the count beside it shows the number of settings it contains.
4. The settings panel on the right is headed **Employees** with its setting count, and lists the settings under the **EMPLOYEES**, **FILTERING**, **GENERAL**, **TASKS**, and **TIMERS** subsection headings.

A specific setting can also be reached without browsing the category, by typing part of its name or description into the **Search** box at the top of the Application Settings screen.

# ![](https://cdn.document360.io/e3626857-1fb5-4e27-b278-2d3fc5508be4/Images/Documentation/employees-overview.png)

# 3. EMPLOYEES Settings

The **EMPLOYEES** subsection controls how the employee list is presented and the account lockout rules applied to employee logins.

**The EMPLOYEES settings are:**

- **Employee List (table or View)** — Determines how the employee list is rendered. Classic (**view**) keeps the employee list as is; New (**table**) uses the employee table, which may include user-defined fields, and requires the user to set new column orders. Selected from a dropdown.
- **Inactive Login - days until lock** — The number of days an employee can remain inactive before their account is automatically locked. Set to **0** for no inactive locking. Entered in a text box.
- **Log-in Failures - Count** — The number of log-in failures allowed for an employee before their account is locked. Leave at **0** for unlimited. Entered in a text box.
- **Log-in Failures - Timeframe** — The timeframe, in minutes, over which log-in failures are tracked for an employee. Leave at **0** for unlimited. Entered in a text box.

**Note:** The two Log-in Failures settings work together: an account is locked once the **Count** of failed attempts is reached within the **Timeframe** being tracked. Setting either value to 0 removes that limit.

# 

# 4. FILTERING Settings

**The FILTERING subsection contains a single setting:**

- **Filter Purchase Items By Catalog And Employees** — Restricts the purchase items an employee can select to those in the catalogs assigned to them. This is a toggle, set to **On** or **Off**.

**Note:** This setting applies to organizations that have purchased the Purchase Order Optional Add-On Module. Where the module is not licensed, the setting has no effect.

# 

# 5. GENERAL Settings

The **GENERAL** subsection controls which links are included in employee email alerts.

**The GENERAL settings are:**

- **Display Link for Employee Record** — Displays a link to the employee record in the email alert. This is a toggle, set to **On** or **Off**.
- **Display Link for Employee Tasks** — Displays a link to the employee task record in the email alert. This is a toggle, set to **On** or **Off**.
- **Display Social Media Links for Employee Tasks** — Displays social media links for employee tasks in the email alert. This is a toggle, set to **On** or **Off**.

# ![](https://cdn.document360.io/e3626857-1fb5-4e27-b278-2d3fc5508be4/Images/Documentation/employees-tasks-settings.png)

# 6. TASKS Settings

The **TASKS** subsection controls the content and timing of employee task email alerts, and how tasks are presented on the task grid.

**The TASKS settings are:**

- **Email Body Beginning Text** — The beginning text for the body of employee task email alerts. Edited through the rich-text editor using **Edit content**.
- **Email Body Ending Text** — The ending text for the body of employee task email alerts. Edited through the rich-text editor using **Edit content**.
- **Email Subject Line** — The text appended to the subject line of employee task email alerts. Edited through the rich-text editor using **Edit content**.
- **Employee Tasks Email Timer** — How often employee-related task email alerts are sent, in minutes. Specify **0** to disable. Entered in a text box.
- **Employee Tasks Escalation Timer** — How often escalations to employee tasks are checked, in minutes. Specify **0** to disable. Entered in a text box.
- **Hide Auto Complete Tasks** — Hides auto-complete tasks on the task grid. This is a toggle, set to **On** or **Off**.
- **Include Email Info** — Displays employee information on all employee-related task email alerts. Edited through the rich-text editor using **Edit content**.
- **Include task complete buttons in email** — Adds buttons to the email that complete a task upon login authentication. This is a toggle, set to **On** or **Off**.
- **Reply To Address for Email Tasks** — The email address used as the Reply To on all scheduled employee-related task email alerts. Edited through the rich-text editor using **Edit content**.

The **Email Body Beginning Text**, **Email Body Ending Text**, and **Email Subject Line** settings together compose the employee task alert message — the subject line text is appended to the alert subject, and the beginning and ending text wrap the task details in the body of the message. Each displays a short preview of its current content beside the **Edit content** button.

# 

# 7. TIMERS Settings

**The TIMERS subsection contains a single setting:**

- **Survey Notifications Timer** — How often survey notifications are checked in order to send out survey email links. Entered in a text box.

# ![](https://cdn.document360.io/e3626857-1fb5-4e27-b278-2d3fc5508be4/Images/Documentation/employees-modifying-setting.png)

# 8. Modifying an Employees Setting

**Function:** Changes the value of an Employees setting for the entire system.

**Steps:**

1. From the Contract Insight homepage, click **Administration** at the bottom of the left navigation menu. On the Administration page, under **Configuration & Fields**, select **Application Settings**, then click **Employees** in the CATEGORIES rail.
2. Locate the setting by name under its subsection heading, and read its description to confirm what the value controls.
3. Change the value using the control on the right of the setting row — a toggle, a text box for numeric values such as the timers and lockout counts, or the **Employee List (table or View)** dropdown.
4. The setting is marked with a **CHANGED** badge, an **Undo** link appears beneath it, a dot appears beside **Employees** in the CATEGORIES rail, and a banner at the top of the screen reports how many changes are ready to save.
5. Click **Save changes** in the upper right to commit the change, or **Discard** to put every changed setting back to its saved value. **Undo** on the setting row reverts that one setting only.

**Caution:** The lockout and timer settings affect every employee in the system. A low **Log-in Failures - Count** can lock users out unexpectedly, and setting a timer to 0 stops the related alerts from being sent at all, so confirm the intended behavior before saving.

# 

# 9. Editing Task Email Text

The task email text settings store message content rather than a simple value, and are edited in a rich-text, Word-like HTML editor.

**Steps:**

1. From the Contract Insight homepage, click **Administration** at the bottom of the left navigation menu. On the Administration page, under **Configuration & Fields**, select **Application Settings**, then click **Employees** in the CATEGORIES rail.
2. Under **TASKS**, locate the setting you want to change — **Email Body Beginning Text**, **Email Body Ending Text**, **Email Subject Line**, **Include Email Info**, or **Reply To Address for Email Tasks**.
3. Click **Edit content** on the setting row.
4. A drawer slides out from the right, headed **EMPLOYEES** and the setting name, with the setting’s description beneath it and the current content loaded into the editor.
5. Edit the content using the editor toolbar, then click **Close** to return to the settings list.
6. Click **Save changes** in the upper right of the Application Settings screen to commit the new content, or **Undo** on the setting row to put it back to the saved content.

**The rich-text editor toolbar provides:**

- **Bold** (Ctrl+B), **Italic** (Ctrl+I), and **Underline** (Ctrl+U)
- A **Paragraph** format dropdown for paragraph and heading styles
- **Blockquote**, **Numbered List** (Ctrl+Shift+O), and **Bulleted List** (Ctrl+Alt+O)
- **Insert Hyperlink** (Ctrl+K) and **Insert Image** (Ctrl+Shift+I)
- **Code View** (Ctrl+Shift+H) for editing the underlying HTML directly
- **Undo** (Ctrl+Z) and **Redo** (Ctrl+Y)
- An **overflow** control at the end of the toolbar that reveals the remaining tools when the drawer is narrow
- A **widen** icon and a **close** icon in the drawer header, to expand the drawer to full width or close it

# ![](https://cdn.document360.io/e3626857-1fb5-4e27-b278-2d3fc5508be4/Images/Documentation/employees-edit-task-email-text.png)

# 10. Quick Reference Summary

| **Task** | **How to Complete It** |
| --- | --- |
| **Open the group** | Homepage → Administration → Configuration & Fields → Application Settings → Employees. |
| **Change the employee list style** | Employee List (table or View) dropdown — view for Classic, table for New — then Save changes. |
| **Lock inactive accounts** | Set the number of days in Inactive Login - days until lock (0 disables), then Save changes. |
| **Set login lockout rules** | Log-in Failures - Count and Log-in Failures - Timeframe (0 for unlimited), then Save changes. |
| **Filter purchase items** | Filter Purchase Items By Catalog And Employees toggle under FILTERING, then Save changes. |
| **Add links to alerts** | Display Link for Employee Record, Display Link for Employee Tasks, and Display Social Media Links toggles. |
| **Change task alert wording** | Edit content on Email Body Beginning Text, Email Body Ending Text, or Email Subject Line, then Save changes. |
| **Set task alert frequency** | Employee Tasks Email Timer and Employee Tasks Escalation Timer, in minutes (0 disables). |
| **Set the alert reply address** | Edit content on Reply To Address for Email Tasks, then Save changes. |
| **Set survey link frequency** | Survey Notifications Timer under TIMERS, then Save changes. |
| **Undo a change** | Undo on the setting row, or Discard in the upper right, before saving. |