Just Launched! — Capture Essential Product and Marketing Data With Required Fields

“Do I have to set a due date?” “Which customer asked for this?” When you create new Aha! records, how do you know which fields matter? And if you are reviewing those records, it can be frustrating when the information you need is missing. Requiring everyone to enter the correct details drives consistency and ensures you are capturing the right data — so you always have accurate and complete roadmaps.

You can now set required fields when adding new records — so you can bring consistency to how your teams enter data in Aha!

This especially benefits large teams using Aha! — where the sheer volume of records may cause some people to miss critical fields. So, let’s start with how things worked up until today. You could already customize the modal to include fields of your choosing when new records were added.

You could always set required fields on ideas portal forms. But for all other Aha! records, users did not have to include essential details — outside of naming the record. With today’s update, you can now choose which fields on the modal should be required for products, goals, initiatives, releases, ideas, master features, features, and requirements.

It is worth noting that required fields do not apply to records that are imported, brought in through an integration, or added through the Aha! mobile app. This is also true for records that were added prior to this update. This feature is for convenience and general consistency — but it will not guarantee perfect data conformity.

You must be a customizations administrator in Aha! to create modal layouts and set fields as required. Product and marketing owners can then choose the layouts they want to use from the settings page in their product or workspace.

Here is how you can set required fields across your account:

Create a custom layout First, you need to determine which fields should be included in the initial modal when new records are created. If you already have custom layouts, go ahead and edit your existing layout and choose which fields should be required. For example, you could make important information such as assignee, due date, and the initiative required fields — so you will always capture the fundamentals when new features are added.

If you have an integration that depends on data from specific Aha! fields, set those fields to required so your integration always stays up to date.

Capture essential data After configuring or enabling the new layout, the modal will appear when you add a new feature. Now, it is clear which fields are required and which are optional. If a user attempts to add a record without completing a required field, they will be prompted to do so before the record can be added.

Gather the info that you need by requiring what you consider to be essential.

Use the new required fields option to drive consistency and ensure you are capturing the right data the first time. It is always better to capture essential information at the very beginning, when the ideas are fresh, rather than chase down the details later.

Sign up for a free Aha! trial — be happy Setting required fields is available to all Aha! customers. If you are not already an Aha! customer, you may want to sign up for a free 30-day trial or join a live demo to see why more than 250,000 users trust Aha! to build and market lovable products.