LACES gives you the flexibility to customize many dropdown menus to better align with your program’s forms, terminology, and data tracking needs. One of the most impactful ways to do this is by modifying Choice Lists—the dropdown menus available across various screens in the system.
You can tailor dropdowns for a variety of fields, including but not limited to:
Keywords (Student, Tutor, Class, etc.)
Referral Sources
Goals
Comment Types
Tutor Locations
Donation Types
Social Services
🔹 Keywords are flexible, optional fields that you can define and use however you'd like. Just be sure you're selecting the correct category (e.g., TutorKeyword vs StudentKeyword).
Go to the Person Profile menu in the upper right corner of LACES.
Click on Agency Settings.
Select the Choice Lists tab.
(Wait for the list to load—it will display the first item like “Accommodation” when ready.)
Use the dropdown menu to search for and select the field you want to customize.
Click Add New Item.
Complete the following fields:
Display Order (choose numbers like 10, 20, 30, or 100, 200, 300 for easy future edits)
Short Description
Long Description (optional but helpful)
Visible (leave checked if you want the item to show in the dropdown)
Click Save.
Edit: Changes will apply retroactively to any record that already uses the item.
Hide: Uncheck the Visible box to remove it from the dropdown (won’t delete it from existing records).
⚠️ Note: You cannot delete choice list items. Hiding is the safest method to phase out outdated choices.
Edits can affect reports. Some fields are data-mapped to reporting functions. Renaming or using alternatives to default options may prevent data from appearing correctly in reports.
Only one person in your agency should manage choice list changes to ensure consistency.
Changes apply agency-wide, not just to the user making them.