Ability to disable fields

Description

Introduce a capability that allows administrators to disable custom fields without deleting them. A disabled field would be fully inactive across the platform, preserving historical data while preventing future use through the UI, views, reports, and APIs.

Problem Statement

Today, there is no supported way to retire a field that is no longer relevant without deleting it. Deletion is not a best practice because it permanently removes historical data and can negatively impact reporting, integrations, and audits.

The only alternative is to remove the field from the UI, which is insufficient because:

• The field remains available via API calls
• Users can still add the field to views and reports
• Integrations can continue writing data to the field unintentionally

This creates governance, data quality, and operational risks for customers managing mature and evolving configurations.

Benefits

• Preserves historical data while preventing future misuse
• Improves platform governance and configuration hygiene
• Reduces risk of accidental or unintended API usage
• Simplifies administration and lifecycle management of fields
• Aligns with enterprise best practices for data retention and deprecation

Enhancement Details

• Add a new Disabled state for custom fields, configurable by administrators
• When a field is disabled:
  • It is not visible in the UI (forms, entities, etc.)
  • It cannot be added to views or reports
  • It is excluded from API read/write operations
  • Existing historical data remains intact and query-able only if the field is re‑enabled
• Disabled fields can be re‑enabled by administrators if needed
• Field deletion remains a separate, irreversible action and is not replaced by this capability
• Clear visual indicator in the admin configuration indicating a field’s disabled status