---
title: "Adding Common Data Elements"
slug: "adding-common-data-elements"
description: "This document shows how to add a common data element in Decisions. Common data elements are pieces of data used throughout the Decisions OS in reports, flows, forms, rules, and other locations. "
updated: 2025-01-10T16:09:49Z
published: 2025-01-10T16:09:49Z
---

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

# Adding Common Data Elements

## Overview

Common Data Elements are elements that are used all throughout the Decisions platform in Reports, Flows, Forms, Rules, and other locations. Common Data Elements include Assignment Roles, Contact Details and Document Types.

The following document discusses how to add Common Data Elements to Decisions.

---

## Example

This example will walk through creating a Document Type.

1. Navigate to **System****> System Data****> Document Types**.
2. Click the **ADD DOCUMENT TYPE**button.Users can add or edit the list of accepted Document Types.  
  
To edit a Data Element, select the Data Element's name in the folder data panel, and select **Edit** in the entity actions menu in the lower right.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/6ef8bcc1-6489-4486-9ad1-83acff7e5df0/Images/Documentation/2024-06-20_12h41_41.png)
3. In the Add Document Type pop-up, enter a file extension in the **Extension** field and a MIME type in the **MIME Type**field. Select **Save Document Type**.
4. Select **Open in Internal Viewer**to view the file type within Decisions.The new document type appears in the Folder Data panel.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/6ef8bcc1-6489-4486-9ad1-83acff7e5df0/Images/Documentation/2024-06-20_12h43_14.png)![](https://cdn.document360.io/6ef8bcc1-6489-4486-9ad1-83acff7e5df0/Images/Documentation/2024-06-20_12h45_09.png)