Service Design Specification - Object Design for announcement

workforceos-announcementmanagement-service documentation

Document Overview

This document outlines the object design for the announcement model in our application. It includes details about the model’s attributes, relationships, and any specific validation or business logic that applies.

announcement Data Object

Object Overview

Description: A company announcement created by admin/manager for company- or department-wide communication. Supports scheduled (future) or immediate send, rich-text content, explicit audience assignment, and visibility expiry.

This object represents a core data structure within the service and acts as the blueprint for database interaction, API generation, and business logic enforcement. It is defined using the ObjectSettings pattern, which governs its behavior, access control, caching strategy, and integration points with other systems such as Stripe and Redis.

Core Configuration

Properties Schema

Display Label Property: title — This property is the default display label for records of this data object. Relation dropdowns and record references in the frontend will show the value of this property as the human-readable label.

Property Type Required Description
creatorId ID Yes auth:user.id - Creator of the announcement
title String Yes Announcement subject/title (short display name).
body Text Yes Announcement content body (markdown/HTML string).
targetDepartmentIds ID[] (array) No Department userGroup IDs (auth:userGroup.id) to target recipients. Null/empty means all departments. Used for scoping announcements to groups.
audienceUserIds ID[] (array) No Explicit user IDs (auth:user.id) to target (optional, null=all applicable). Used for targeting specific individuals only if needed. Supercedes departments if set.
sendTime Date Yes Scheduled send time for the announcement (UTC). Immediate if now/past, future means scheduled/pending delivery. Used for status logic.
visibleUntil Date No Optional. Announcements are visible until this date (expiry). If null, visible for a platform-defined default duration (e.g., 30/90 days, or forever).
status Enum Yes Announcement status: scheduled (future, unsent); sent (visible/delivered); cancelled (withdrawn by admin/manager); status changes control delivery/event publishing.
companyId ID Yes An ID value to represent the tenant id of the company

Array Properties

targetDepartmentIds audienceUserIds

Array properties can hold multiple values and are indicated by the [] suffix in their type. Avoid using arrays in properties that are used for relations, as they will not work correctly. Note that using connection objects instead of arrays is recommended for relations, as they provide better performance and flexibility.

Default Values

Default values are automatically assigned to properties when a new object is created, if no value is provided in the request body. Since default values are applied on db level, they should be literal values, not expressions.If you want to use expressions, you can use transposed parameters in any business API to set default values dynamically.

Constant Properties

creatorId companyId

Constant properties are defined to be immutable after creation, meaning they cannot be updated or changed once set. They are typically used for properties that should remain constant throughout the object’s lifecycle. A property is set to be constant if the Allow Update option is set to false.

Auto Update Properties

title body targetDepartmentIds audienceUserIds sendTime visibleUntil status

An update crud API created with the option Auto Params enabled will automatically update these properties with the provided values in the request body. If you want to update any property in your own business logic not by user input, you can set the Allow Auto Update option to false. These properties will be added to the update API’s body parameters and can be updated by the user if any value is provided in the request body.

Enum Properties

Enum properties are defined with a set of allowed values, ensuring that only valid options can be assigned to them. The enum options value will be stored as strings in the database, but when a data object is created an addtional property with the same name plus an idx suffix will be created, which will hold the index of the selected enum option. You can use the index property to sort by the enum value or when your enum options represent a sequence of values.

Elastic Search Indexing

creatorId title targetDepartmentIds audienceUserIds sendTime visibleUntil status companyId

Properties that are indexed in Elastic Search will be searchable via the Elastic Search API. While all properties are stored in the elastic search index of the data object, only those marked for Elastic Search indexing will be available for search queries.

Database Indexing

companyId

Properties that are indexed in the database will be optimized for query performance, allowing for faster data retrieval. Make a property indexed in the database if you want to use it frequently in query filters or sorting.

Secondary Key Properties

companyId

Secondary key properties are used to create an additional indexed identifiers for the data object, allowing for alternative access patterns. Different than normal indexed properties, secondary keys will act as primary keys and Mindbricks will provide automatic secondary key db utility functions to access the data object by the secondary key.

Relation Properties

creatorId targetDepartmentIds audienceUserIds

Mindbricks supports relations between data objects, allowing you to define how objects are linked together. You can define relations in the data object properties, which will be used to create foreign key constraints in the database. For complex joins operations, Mindbricks supportsa BFF pattern, where you can view dynamic and static views based on Elastic Search Indexes. Use db level relations for simple one-to-one or one-to-many relationships, and use BFF views for complex joins that require multiple data objects to be joined together.

The target object is a sibling object, meaning that the relation is a many-to-one or one-to-one relationship from this object to the target.

On Delete: Set Null Required: Yes

The target object is a sibling object, meaning that the relation is a many-to-one or one-to-one relationship from this object to the target.

On Delete: Set Null Required: No

The target object is a sibling object, meaning that the relation is a many-to-one or one-to-one relationship from this object to the target.

On Delete: Set Null Required: No

Session-sourced Properties

creatorId

These properties have source: 'session' — their values are read from the authenticated session at create/update time and cannot be supplied in the request body.

CustomData-sourced Properties

status

These properties have source: 'customData' — every create/update API on this data object declares the value via apiOptions.dataClauseSettings.customData[]. Refer to the per-API documentation for the concrete value each API writes.

Filter Properties

creatorId title sendTime status companyId

Filter properties are used to define parameters that can be used in query filters, allowing for dynamic data retrieval based on user input or predefined criteria. These properties are automatically mapped as API parameters in the listing API’s that have “Auto Params” enabled.