Project Data Fields are a way to add unique information about your Projects. Create custom values such as client contact info, milestones, or GPS coordinates. Learn about the different kinds of Data Fields available in Ganttic and how to add them to Projects for more specific planning.
Must Know
- Use Data Fields to add custom information to your Projects.
- Only Owners and Admins can add new Project Data Fields, edit their titles, and add or insert field values.
- Users with Add/edit Projects or Edit Project rights can select or insert values for selected Project Data Fields.
- Use them to Filter out specific criteria in different Views, color code according to their values, or as away to add Project Milestones.
- Each Data Field's visibility and editability can be adjusted for selected Users.
- If you add a Data Field to one Project, the field will appear in all of the Project Edit Dialogs, but different field values can be selected for each project.
- You can apply a default value for each Data Field or force Users to select a value by making selected fields mandatory to fill out.
- Same types of Data Fields can also be added to Tasks and Resources.
Types of Project Data Fields
There are 9 different types of Data Fields.
- List - Create a field with a dropdown list of values, for example status, client, project manager, etc. List Data Field values can be used for Taskbar coloring.
- Multi-Select - Create a list where multiple values can be assigned. For example different skills, certifications, or qualifications.
- Check - A binary box that can be checked yes or no, for example active, invoiced, finished. Checkbox values can be used for Taskbar coloring.
- Text - A text box of different sizes. Insert any text, numbers or special characters about project numbers, contract type, or comments. Choose from 4 sizes: Single row, Multi-row small, Multi-row medium, and Multi-row large.
- Number - Only numerical data, for example budget counts, amounts. These will be used for generating report calculation labels.
- Autoincrement - Starts automatic numbering of the projects. With each new project added, this will automatically increase by one useful for Project IDs. This is calculated by the planner and cannot be changed manually.
- Date - chosen from a calendar, for example contract start and end date, or milestones.
- User - Link a User to a Project, for example a team’s supervisor, project's manager, site supervisor, product manager etc,
- Link - a link to a Google doc, map coordinates, etc.
Getting Started with Project Data Fields
There are 3 ways to open the Project Data Fields List and their Edit Dialogs.
- From the Project List.
Start from the Project List in the left Sidebar.
Then click Data Fields in the top toolbar of the Project List. - From a Single Project View.
Open a Project in a Single Project View. Then open the Project Edit Dialog by clicking the hamburger icon. You’ll find Data Fields in the Project Edit Dialog toolbar. - From a Task Edit Dialog.
Open a Task Edit Dialog, and choose a project from the Project drop down menu. Click Edit project details to open a Project Edit Dialog.
Click Data Fields at the top.
Creating New Project Data Fields
- There's 2 ways to start creating new Data Fields for your Projects.
From the Project List, select Data Fields from the Toolbar. On the Project Data Fields List that opens, click Add new.
OR
Open the Project Edit Dialog from any of your Projects, and click Data Fields. In the next Dialog that opens, click Add new. - Select a suitable Data Field type.
- Give the Data Field a Name and enter in a value, info, link, etc.
- Check the Required box if you want to force the Users to select a value for this Data Field. This is not applicable to Check or AutoIncrement Data Fields.
NB! Required Project Data Fields are marked with a * symbol. The Users can save the Project only if a value is selected from the required Data Field. Otherwise the Save icon will not work and the required field will be displayed in red. - Hit Save when this is finished.
- Data Fields values and names can be updated at any time by following the same workflow. Just click the existing Data Field to open via the Project Edit Dialog > Data Fields.
Adding Values to Project Data Fields
- Open the Project Edit Dialog - either from a Single Project View or via a Task Edit Dialog.
- Find the Data Field that was created and insert a value.
- Hit Save when finished.
Special Uses for Project Data Fields
Color options
In List and Check type Data Fields, you can choose colors for each value. These can be used for conditional coloring in Views.
Default Values
In List-type Data Fields a default value can be selected. Meaning this value will be applied to all Tasks unless manually changed
Project Milestones
Date type Data Fields can be used to add Milestones to your Projects. After Naming it, check the Show as milestone box.
Choose the date for your milestone from the Project Edit Dialog. Milestones will appear on the Gantt chart as a diamond symbol, a visual cue for when they’re set to occur.
Project Data Fields in Action
Data Fields for Clients
Use Project Data Fields to give info about your clients’ projects. Text-type Data Fields offer space to explain the project’s objectives to your team. Or add in some project prerequisites that they should be aware of.
See How Projects are Progressing
You can use List-type Data Fields for coloring Tasksbars and to report Project progress if the Data Field label is updated continuously. This gives supervisors a better picture of what still needs to happen before project delivery, and a more accurate timeline.
Next Steps
Discover more about using colors for better project management. Or how to get the most out of your project resource reports.