Custom Fields

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Learn how to create and configure custom fields in Targetprocess, choose the right field types, and use them in views and reports effectively.

Custom fields allow you to extend the standard Targetprocess data model by adding additional attributes to entities. These fields can store different types of data and can be used in views, filters, and reports. There are static fields that you set manually and calculated ones that are automatically updated by Targetprocess.

Each custom field is associated with a specific entity and process.

Examples of Custom Fields are Text, Rich Text, Drop Down List, Multiple Selection List, Number, URL. Full list of types can be find below. Custom Fields allow you to expand Targetprocess business model in many, many ways.

Accessing custom fields

To access the custom field:
  1. Log in to Targetprocess.
  2. Click System Menu > Settings.
  3. From the left navigation menu, select Custom Fields.

This page provides a list of all custom fields in your system and the following details about each field:

  • Order: Displays the drag handle for reordering fields
  • ID: Shows the unique identifier of the custom field
  • Name: Displays the custom field name
  • Process: Indicates the associated process
  • Entity: Shows the related entity type
  • Type: Displays the field type (for example, CheckBox, Number, DropDown)
  • Max Text Length: Shows the maximum allowed text length
  • Specification: Displays additional configuration (for example, dropdown values)
  • Units: Indicates measurement units, if applicable
  • Required: Shows whether the field is mandatory
  • System: Indicates whether the field is system-defined

Note: The custom field ID numbers are for reference only and should not be used to identify the custom fields in automation rules or detailed view configurations.

Search for a custom field
  1. Go to the Custom Fields page.
  2. In the Search by name text field, enter a keyword.
  3. Review the filtered results in the table.
Filter custom fields
  1. Click the Filter icon.
  2. In the filter panel:
    • Select an Entity type
    • Select a Field type
    • Select a Process
  3. Click Apply to filter the results.
  4. To reset filters, click Clear filters.

    filtering custom fields

Configure Visible Columns

You can customize the table layout by showing or hiding columns on the Custom Fields page.

  1. Click the icon to open the Visible columns panel.

    visible-columns

  2. Review the list of column options.
  3. Select a checkbox to display a column.
  4. Clear a checkbox to hide a column.

Changes are applied immediately to the table.

Add a custom field

To add a new custom field:
  1. Click the +Add New Field.
  2. In the Label field, enter a label for your field.
  3. (Optional) In the Description field, enter additional details. If you want to add a tooltip to explain the purpose of fields that might not be clear to team members, fill in the 'Description' field. The description appears next to the field label in the UI.
  4. In the Entity Type dropdown, select the primary entity (for example, User Story).
  5. (Optional) In the Create/Update the same field for the following entities, select additional entities such as:
    • Task
    • Bug
    • Feature
    • Test Plan
    • Request
    • Epic
    • Initiative
  6. Use Select All or None to quickly adjust selections.
  7. In the Process field, select one or more processes (for example, Hybrid). The custom field will be available only within the selected processes.
  8. In the Field Type dropdown, select the required type. Example shown: Drop Down List. The selected type determines the available configuration options.

    If you want to add the same field to multiple entities, you can check the other entities you want the field to also be created for. This simplifies the process of adding the same custom field across multiple entity types.

    You can add up to 100 custom fields for every entity in every process.

  9. (Optional) Set Max Text Length to define the maximum number of characters allowed.
    Note: Values longer than 4000 characters are stored but may not be available in certain APIs.
  10. Define field values (for dropdown fields). In the Values section, choose how to add values:
    • Add individually – enter each value separately
    • Add in bulk – enter multiple values at once

    If using bulk entry, enter each value on a new line in the text box.

  11. In the Default value field, enter or select a value. This value is automatically applied when no value is specified in new or existing entities.
  12. Check the Required field check box if you want your Custom Field to be a required (mandatory) field.
  13. Check the System checkbox field if you want to create read-only custom field.
    Note: System custom fields can be modified only by system users and system activities, for example by metrics.
  14. Click Save & Exit to view the newly added custom field.
Edit and delete a custom field
You can edit and delete custom fields.
  1. To edit a custom field, click the Editicon.
  2. To delete a custom field, click the Delete icon.

Entities that can have custom fields

The following Entities can have their own Custom Fields:

  • User Story
  • Task
  • Bug
  • Feature
  • Epic
  • Portfolio Epic
  • Time
  • Iteration (Sprint)
  • Team Iteration (global configuration)
  • Release
  • Portfolio (Project) (cross-process configuration) - starting from v3.6.6
  • Team (global configuration) - starting from v3.8.0
  • User (global configuration) - starting from v3.8.1
  • Test Case
  • Test Plan
  • Test Plan Run
  • Build
  • Request
  • Impediment
  • All the Extendable Domain entities

Custom fields on Views

You can display custom field values on cards by using the Customize Cards feature.

You can also use Advanced Filters to show, hide, or highlight items in Views and visual reports based on custom field values.

You can highlight custom fields on cards by manually setting conditions. For more advanced highlighting, you can enable the Custom Unit Colored Custom Fields mashup.

In Board views, you can organize cards into lanes based on values from custom fields such as drop-down lists, multi-select fields, or entity reference fields.

Custom Fields in Reports

Custom Fields can be included to a Tabular report when the report is based on single process. In reports based on "All Processes" custom fields are not supported.

A process is set of rules, terms and custom fields that your portfolio (project) follows. Name of the process is displayed in Info panel on detailed view of your Portfolio (Project).

Custom Fields are supported in Visual reports: your entities may be grouped, colored and labelled by Custom Field values.

Supported field types are Text, Drop Down List, Multiple Selection List, Number, Money, Date, Check Box, Calculated.

Calculated Custom Fields

It is possible to create your own metrics with a Custom Field based on a specified formula. To do so, create a Custom Field with a Calculated field type and specify calculation formula.

Calculated Custom Fields are not supported in Tabular reports. Metrics are recommended as an alternative solution when reporting is required.

Improperly defined Calculated custom fields may badly affect the performance of your system. We recommend using Custom Units and Metrics instead when possible.

Limits

You can have up to 100 different Custom Fields per Entity type within each Process.

By default, the length of any text stored in a Custom Field is limited to 4000 characters.

Starting with Targetprocess 2307.1, a new property is added to text based Custom Fields – MaxTextLength. This property is available for the following Custom Field types:

  • Rich Text
  • Text
  • Multiple Selection List
  • Drop Down
  • URL
  • Templated URL
  • Multiple Entities

By default, MaxTextLength is set at 4000 characters. The maximum value can be 30,000, and the minimum value is 1. All Custom Field values are validated against MaxTextLength.

The setting can be edited individually for each Custom Field on its configuration page.

What types of Custom Fields can I have?

There are more than 11 types of Custom Fields to choose from:

Text

Text-type fields are free-form, single-line text boxes. They are not intended to hold large amounts of text data. You can apply filtering by these fields, and they can be displayed on Cards and in Lists.

Rich Text

Rich Text-type fields are free-form, multi-line text boxes. Such a field can contain images and hyperlinks, and allows some basic formatting such as bold, italic, underline, superscript, etc. You can apply filtering by these fields. These fields are available on Cards and in Lists but cannot be marked as required.

Drop Down List

A Drop Down List-type field is ideal if users are restricted to a single choice out of multiple options. They are not free-form and require you to add each available option manually before such an option can be selected. Enter each of your available options in the Values box, putting each option on its own line. You can go back and edit these values at any time. Drop Down List fields are available on Cards and in Lists and can be filtered.

Multiple Selection List

Multiple Selection List fields are used if multiple options are available. Options are selected exactly as in Drop Down lists. These fields are available on Cards and in Lists, and they can be filtered by exact match.

Check Box

Check box-type fields are simple fields intended to hold a boolean (true/false) answer to a particular question. They are the simplest of all custom fields, as there are only two values available, and these values cannot be edited. However, their simplicity makes them ideal for classifying and filtering. These fields are available on Cards and in Lists.

URL

URL-type fields are very similar to Text ones. URL custom values are broken up into two parts: a label and a URL. The URL is a standard Uniform Record Locator to a particular web page or document, and the label is a short free-form text. When these fields are displayed, the free-form text is displayed as a hyperlink to the web page or document. These fields are available on Cards and in Lists. You can filter items by URI and Description attributes of this custom field

Template URL

You can find this field useful if you need to specify similar links. A good example is your external application: instead of specifying almost the same link every time, you can save the common part as a template and just add the ID of an external item.

You can add multiple links at a time - just use the comma when adding the data:

Date

Date-type fields hold a date value and display a date picker when entering or updating their values. Date fields are particularly useful for holding information such as due dates or other important dates, especially since they can be filtered on. These fields are available on Cards and in Lists.

Number

Number-type fields are almost identical to Text fields, except for the fact that their input is restricted to numeric values. Decimals with up to 2 decimal places can be used as well. Number fields can be used in Filters and can also be shown on Cards and in Lists.

Money

The Money Custom Field enables you to customize the money format for Money Value custom fields (MVF) in Target process. It stores monetary values (such as costs, budgets, or rates) in Targetprocess.

You can use the Money field to:
  • Store currency values
  • Display numbers using preferred formats
  • Maintain consistent financial data across the application
Money fields are available in:
  • Filters
  • Cards
  • Lists

Targetprocess Entity

Targetprocess Entity is one of the most powerful custom fields. Targetprocess Entity field contains the pointer to another entity (User Story, Bug, Task, etc.) within Targetprocess. You can limit the types of entities that can be selected for this field. For example, you can add fields like "Found In" and "Resolved In" and limit the selection to Builds only. You can easily fill in the field using the look-up that opens once you hit the empty field.

When looking for a target item, you can search for the item ID, name (or its part), or use an advanced filter, similar to the View setup.

These fields are available on Cards and in Lists.

Multiple Targetprocess Entities

This type is similar to Targetprocess Entity, but you can specify several related items at a time. The main difference is that items will be displayed in a special tab, not in the default Custom Fields section:

There is another possible way to specify dependencies between items - using Relations Management that provide some additional functionality.

Mandatory Custom Fields

It is possible to enforce a Custom Field to require a non-empty input from a user. RequiredCustom Fields are displayed on the Quick Add forms. You cannot save the new Entity until all required values are provided.

to make a field Required.

The mashup makes a custom field required (non-blank) in either of the following cases:

  • Entity State Constraints: when an entity is moved to a specific workflow state;
  • Custom Field Constraints: when a specific value is selected in another custom field which can be Text, Drop-Down List, or Multiple Selection List.

Visibility in lists and ability to sort columns by Custom Field values

Manage Custom Field settings

Should you want to Add / Edit / Remove a Custom Field, read the following article for the online help.

Cross-process Custom Fields for Portfolios (Projects)

Instead of updating portfolio (project) custom fields in each Process separately, you can create a cross-process custom field for the Portfolio (Project) entity. When you add a custom field for the Portfolio (Project) entity, you can now choose the related processes. In this case, all the portfolios (projects) which run selected processes will use the same custom field, and you can edit it for all the portfolios (projects) in one place.