Custom Fields

[Keith]

Are there plans for any custom fields to be added to the projects. I can already see that we would need some additional information. See screenshot of our current excel project portfolio.

Thanks

 

Keith

 

 

[Darren Rose]

You beat me to it, @Keith Our existing project portfolio is very similar and there is a requirement for some additional fields to be added to the project, and some custom fields would be ideal

Thanks

Darren 

[AlexTumber]

@Keith @Darren Rose thanks for your posts.

 

Custom fields were something that we talked a lot about internally during initial development and is something that we definitely have plans for including in the future. Watch this space...

 

Alex

[Keith]

Good to hear @alextumber

[Darren Rose]

Hi @alextumber

are there any updates on custom fields being available in the project? We're still having to partially manage a separate dataset outside of Hornbill and it would be good to have this information included in Project Manager.

Thanks

Darren 

[AlexTumber]

@Darren Rose what sort of information are you looking to store in these custom fields? Is the information generic across projects or is it more specific to each project you have?

 

Alex

[Darren Rose]

Hi, it's about different types of metadata for each report, the majority of which will be freetext but some will also be list.

[Darren Rose]

i.e we like to track our projects against business strategies that they support, so that would be a list that we would pre-populate and the PM's would select.

[AlexTumber]

@Darren Rose Would it be fair to say that 'business strategies' in this case are a form of project category? but with the notion that a project could be part of multiple different business strategies?

Would a useful feature for Project Manager be the ability to tag projects, much the same way that you can tag documents in Hornbill Document Manager?

[Darren Rose]

Tags could prove useful for some fields, definitely. Reporting against them is key so that we can visualise our portfolio using PowerBI. 

[AlexTumber]

@Darren Rose something like this that is currently available in Document Manager? 

[Darren Rose]

@alextumberthat would definitely help with some types of metadata, yes.

There are also other areas where having access to multi line text fields would enable us to add more complex information, such as benefits reviews etc... 

[Darren Rose]

@alextumber sorry, it's my friday catch up

This one is still a big request for us. Tagging projects with metadata will greatly improve our portfolio mgmt reporting 

[AlexTumber]

@Darren Rose this requirement is still towards the top of the development queue. I will pass on your feedback.

 

Alex

[Darren Rose]

Thanks, @alextumber

[Lyonel]

Any news on this topic? I would really need custom fields too against the project. The number of fields currently available is too limited...

 

[AlexTumber]

@Lyonel thanks for your post. Although the addition of custom fields is still in our plans, it would be great if we could offer specific fields by default that would be of use to multiple customers. This of course works out best for everyone. Can I ask what in particular you would use custom fields for on a project? Do you have fields that are specific to the types of projects you run or maybe fields that are specific to your organisation?

Alex

[Lyonel]

@AlexTumber here is a list of fields we would like to have (either custom, or by default). I do appreciate this list might be specific to us, but it could be useful to other customers too (I hope!).

• Priority [Dropdown | source = list ?]
• Group / Program [Dropdown | source = list ?]
• External reference [Textbox single line, similar to Service desk requests]
• Planned benefits [Amount textbox, similar to budget]

The next few fields are what would have in an ideal, perfect world. They could be custom fields:

• Reasons [Textbox multiline]
• Business options [Textbox multiline]
• Expected benefits [Textbox multiline]
• Timescale [Textbox single line]
• Business [Dropdown | source = list ?]
• Community [Dropdown | source = list ?]
• Cost Centre [Textbox single line]
• PAR / PO reference [Textbox single line]

All of the suggestions above are based on my knowledge of the current system we use (At Task) and Service Manager application (from a technical standpoint).

We could also do with 2 more tabs (like we already have for risks & costs): "Issues / Defects" and "Lessons"

More than happy to discuss it over the phone if need be. 

[Steven Boardman]

@Keith @Lyonel @Darren Rose the latest Project Manager update now includes the ability to use custom fields.   This uses the same form designer you will be familiar with from Service Manager and other apps.  As such you can add your custom fields, choose, control types, validation, drag and drop between sections etc etc. 

We have updated the details section, and if you have the form designer role you will see the option to manage the fields and add new.

We have started with 5 of each of the following type - Text, Varchar, Date/Time and Integer but can assess and increase as needed. 

Any custom fields you add will be global across all projects

There are also 3 additional default fields (Business Benefit, Reasons and Lessons learnt) which are in the details section but just not visible by default.  

Hope this helps

[Lyonel]

Fantastic news @Steven Boardman !! Thank you very much