Aha! Roadmaps | Custom fields

Custom fields capture data for you that is important to your business but not a part of Aha! Roadmaps by default. You can add any number of fields to suit your needs, and every field you add can be reported on through the various Aha! Roadmaps reporting tools.

To avoid cluttering the UI with unused fields, we suggest that you add only what is essential. You can create custom fields for expected revenue, priority, hardware supported, campaign engagement, committed customer dates, or any other information that will influence your work. And if you find yourself with a cluttered list of custom fields, you can always merge fields together or convert one type to another.

Adding a custom field is a three-step process that requires owner user permissions for the workspace you want to use the custom field in and customization administrator permissions to your Aha! Roadmaps account.

Click any of the following links to skip ahead:

• Add a custom field

• Customize your custom field

• Place the custom field in a custom layout

• Apply your custom layout to your workspace

• Search for custom field values

• Import data to custom fields

• Custom table relationships (Enterprise+)

Add a custom field

• Navigate to Settings ⚙️ Account Custom fields.

• Click on the tab where you want to add the field, and then click Add custom field.

• Select the type of field you want to add, and then click Next. If you are an Enterprise + customer, this list will include custom worksheet fields.

  • Note: Aha! Roadmaps record relationships are custom field types that allow you to associate records with other record types like workspaces, competitors, and personas. These are a tag type field that allows multiple selections. When configuring this custom field, you can use Filter field values to specify whether the selectable values should span the entire account or be isolated to a specific line or workspace. Further, users will only see values that they have permission to see.

  • Note: When you select an Editable choice list or Tags field for your ideas portal, users can choose existing values but not create new ones.

• Enter the field details and, if needed, enter an API key in the Key field. Depending on the custom field type you select, this step is also where you can bulk edit or assign colors to predefined field choices.

• Specify the custom layout where your custom field should appear by choosing Use in layouts and selecting the custom field layout in use by your workspace.

If your workspace does not yet have any custom layouts for this record type, then choose Use in workspaces. This will automatically create a new custom layout for your new field and assign that layout to the workspace that you have selected.

• Click Create to create your field.

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Customize your custom field

If you created a custom field with choices — such as choice lists or tags fields — then you can customize the color and order of the choices.

To do this, click your custom field in the list of custom fields.

• In the Choices section, click and drag to reorder the choices.

• Click Manage choices or Manage tag choices to open the Configure options page, then click Edit beside any choice to rename it or give it a specific Color. Click Save to save your edits.

You can add your predefined choice or tag field to your ideas portal as a custom filter. Then portal users can use the filter to narrow in on ideas that are relevant to them.

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Place the custom field in a custom layout

A record's layout is where you determine where you want fields (custom and standard) to display on the page for a record type.

There are two types of custom layouts — one for when the record is first created, and one for when it's viewed thereafter (on its details page or in a drawer). You can set a different layout for each type of view — the Record create layout and the Record view layout (in either drawer or detail). You may only want to require a few fields for a user to create a feature, for example. But once it has been created and progresses towards completion, your workflow might require many more fields.

Navigate to Settings ⚙️ Account Custom layouts to add your custom field to a layout. If you added your custom field to a layout while creating it, use this page to adjust where on a layout you want your field to appear.

On the Configure custom layouts page, first select the record type whose layout you would like to edit or create. Then:

• Click Add custom layout to open the custom layout builder and create a new custom layout.

• Click on an existing layout to open the custom layout builder and edit the layout.

Ideas have several different layouts available. When you add custom fields to your ideas layouts, be sure to choose the correct ideas layout.

In either case, use the Layouts dropdown to select whether you would like to modify the Record create layout or the Record view layout, then:

• Drag fields to add, rearrange, or remove them for each layout type — you can even create custom fields in the Record view layout!

• Click and drag tabs to the order that best fits your needs.

• In the Record create layout, you can mark individual fields as Required. Users will not be able to create the record using your layout until they enter information into all the Required fields.

• In the Record view layout, you can mark individual fields as Read-only. You can also toggle between Detail and Drawer views. Read-only fields prevent a user from editing them from the detail or drawer views of a record.

Read-only views can still be edited through integrations, reports, roadmaps, or the Aha! API.

• If you are editing an existing layout, click the Impacts link to see any workspaces using your layout.

• Click Save layout to save your changes.

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Apply your custom layout to your workspace

Now that you have your layout defined, it is time to determine which workspaces it will apply to. Go to Settings ⚙️ Workspace Configure. Scroll to the custom layouts section, and then select Use layouts inherited from [workspace line name] or Customize layouts.

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Search for custom field values

You can use Aha! Roadmaps search to search for custom field values for most types of custom fields. The following custom field types are searchable:

• Text

• Note

• Number

• URL/Email

• Predefined choice list

• Editable choice list

• Predefined tags

• Tags

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Import data to custom fields

After you create a custom field, you can populate it using the Import from CSV tool. Each custom field requires its own column. If you are using a custom field with a predefined list, make sure the data you are importing matches the options in the list.

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Custom table relationships (Enterprise+)

Custom tables are available to Enterprise+ customers. A custom table is a collection of records organized in a table with data defined by custom fields. With custom tables, you can capture key information and link it directly to your existing data in Aha! Roadmaps — expanding your use of custom fields exponentially.

These options are exclusively available to Enterprise+ customers who use custom tables.

• Many-to-many relationship: Allows linking multiple custom table records to a standard record or another custom table.

• Many-to-one relationship: Allows linking a single custom table record to a standard record or another custom table.

• One-to-many relationship: Create and edit custom table entries inline within a standard table or another custom table. Note: If you add a one-to-many relationship to a custom layout, it will appear in the record layout as its own tab, rather than a field within a tab.

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