How to Add a Custom Field (e.g., “New Laptop Required”) in the Service Portal User Profile?

[Sirri]

Hi All,

I want to add a custom field called “New Laptop Required” type yes or no to the User Profile page in the Service Portal.
This is the page users see when they click their name → Profile inside the portal.

The current User Preferences section shows fields like:

• Accessibility
• Enable Analytics
• Time Zone
  (please refer to the screenshot)
  

I want my custom field to appear in the same section and allow users to update the value.

Could someone guide me on:

1. Which Service Portal widget controls this Profile page?
2. How to add a new field inside that widget?
3. Where to store the value — sys_user or sys_user_preference?
4. Best practices to ensure this appears for all users.

Thanks in advance!

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@Sirri 

why would you want a user preference thing there?

💡 If my response helped, please mark it as correct ✅ and close the thread 🔒— this helps future readers find the solution faster! 🙏

[Mark Manders]

What's your use case? It doesn't really sound like this is the best solution. 

Be aware that you are now adding one field (for whatever reason) and next week someone else wants a different field and in 6 months nobody recognizes his/her profile anymore.

[Sirri]

@Mark Manders 

In one of our automation workflows, we are verifying whether a user’s laptop warranty has expired. Based on this, we are planning to provide a User Preference option—such as “New Laptop Required”. Using this preference, the system will automatically create the appropriate task for laptop provisioning. Since this is only required as a user‑specific choice within the workflow, we are not planning to add this as a field in the user profile. Instead, we want to offer it as a User Preference option and enhance the functionality accordingly. Could you please advise on how we can achieve this? Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Mark Manders]

This is just lifecycle management. Use your assets and notifications instead of creating technical debt on your instance.

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Sirri 

Including a laptop request option in the profile dropdown is not recommended. Users should access the catalog item form directly to request a laptop. From a process perspective, you should define the workflow—for instance, what happens if the user already has a laptop? Additionally, the user table can be referenced to determine if any laptop has already been assigned.