Cumulus 7.5 makes it possible for standard catalogue field values to be calculated by a formula. Formulas can be complex, but they can also be very easy and will have you wondering how you ever got along without them! A formula can be as simple as the concatenation of two field values into a single string, or as complex as "if-then" decision making.

Formulas can be assigned to record and category fields. Values for existing records and categories are calculated (or recalculated) when the record or category's metadata is saved after an edit. Formulas are executed during cataloguing operations for newly created asset records and categories.

Field formulas offer many significant benefits including:

Metadata display versatility: Used in conjunction with "display only" metadata fields you add to your catalogues, field formulas enable you to provide users with data displays formatted in more meaningful ways. An example of this may be rounding a video's "Duration" field which may contain the value "25.566." A simple field formula can round that value and display it with adjacent text that provides more concise information: "Length: 26 seconds."

Calculations Fields: Values can be calculated to provide useful, searchable metadata values that would not otherwise exist in your catalogues without manual data entry. Let's say you have a field for Cost Per Use. Another field, Times Used, tracks how many times you've used the particular asset. A third field, Total Cost of Use, uses a simple multiplication formula to offer a sum of the total costs associated with the asset.

Workflow monitoring and guidance: Field formulas can also set values in asset records that are later used as "flags" by managers, Live Filtering or Scheduler actions for further consideration. An example of this may be where individual fields for named approval users are created. An "Overall Approval" status field calculates if all approval user fields are set to approved and then sets the status to "Approved".