Custom fields in Productive allow you to tailor information to your specific needs. They can be set up for various categories and areas of Productive, including employees, deals, budgets, projects, and more.
By organizing data with these fields, you can ensure smoother workflows and better reporting.
Below are some best practices and ideas for utilizing custom fields effectively across different categories.
Accessing Custom Fields
To access and set up your custom fields, navigate to Settings > Custom Fields.
The employee custom fields are located in Settings > Employee Fields.
Employees
Best Practices: Use employee fields (Settings > Employee Fields) to track essential HR details like employment type, seniority, and skill sets.
Employment Type: A single-select field for Full-time, Student, Internship, Contract.
Skills: For example, a multi-select field for Frontend development, Backend development, UX Design.
Frameworks: A multi-select field for applicable technologies in software development.
Certificate Obtained: A text or multi-select field to track qualifications.
Date Joined: A date field to monitor tenure.
Target Utilization: A percentage (number) field to set productivity goals.
Equipment: Track items issued to employees, such as laptops or headsets using the text field type.
Birthday: Date field.
Pay Raise Approved: Date field.
Seniority: A single-select field for Intern, Junior, Senior or other levels.
Department: A single-select field for the departments in your organization. Learn more about using employee fields for department allocation here.
Budgets
Best Practices: Use custom fields to define budget types, statuses, and financial expectations.
Budget Type: A single-select field for Retainer, Project, Fixed, Time & Materials.
Additional Budget Specification: For example, a single-select field for Maintenance, R&D, Hosting, Onboarding.
Budget Status: A single-select field for Active, Paused, Ready for Invoicing.
Expected Profit Margin: Use a number field for percentage-based profit goals.
Expected Delivery Date: Track deadlines with date fields.
Projects
Best Practices: Manage project timelines, health, and responsibilities with custom fields.
Start Date & End Date: Ensure clear project timelines with date fields.
RAG Status: A single-select field for Red, Amber, Green to monitor project health (you can select the field colors as well).
Status: A single-select field for Active, In Progress, Paused, Delivered.
Product Team: A dropdown field (single or multi-select) to assign project delivery teams.
Description: Text field for additional project notes or context.
Main Contact: A text field for the contact's email address and name.
Companies
Best Practices: Categorize and manage companies efficiently.
Company Type: A single-select field for Client, Supplier, Vendor, Partner.
Industry: A multi-select field for Tourism, Finance, Education, etc.
Account Manager: Assign a person custom field for clear ownership.
Region: EU, AS, NA, SA (single or multi-select field), for tracking geographic locations.
Deals
Best Practices: Use custom fields to track deal stages, sources, and contract details.
Type: A single-select field for Retainer, Project, Support.
Discount Applied: Use a number field to track percentage discounts.
Expected Start & End Date: Date fields for deal timelines.
SoW Signed Date: Track contracts with a date field.
Source: A single-select field for Referral, Social, Outbound.
Lead ID: Number field for unique deal tracking.
Additional Contacts: Text field for emails of other stakeholders.
Applying TAX: Single-select field (Yes/No).
Proposal Sent: Date field to monitor proposal submissions.
Invoices
Best Practices: Simplify approval and tracking processes with custom fields.
Status: A single-select field for On Hold, Ready for Invoicing, Ready for Accounting.
Exported to Accounting Date: Date field to track financial processes.
Approver: Person custom field to assign responsibility.
Approval Date: Date field to track approval.
Expenses
Best Practices: Categorize expenses for better tracking.
Type: A single-select field for Software, Equipment, Utilities, Travel.
Approval Date: Use a date field to streamline expense reviews.
Approved By: Assign a person custom field.
Services
Best Practices: Track assignees, delivery dates, and seniority.
Person/Assignee: Person custom field for task responsibility.
End/Delivery Date: Ensure deadlines are met with date fields.
Seniority: A single-select field for Lvl1 Support, Junior, Senior Developer.
Tasks
Best Practices: Manage task priorities, types, and approvals with custom fields.
Priority: A single-select field for Critical, High, Medium, Low. Learn more about task prioritization with custom fields here.
Complexity: A single-select field for Low, Medium, High.
Client Approved: A single-select field for Yes, No or Submitted fro Approval, reflecting the communication with the client.
Dropbox/G Drive Link: Use text fields for file storage links.
Task Type: A single-select field for Bug, Story, Feature, Improvement.
Platform/Framework: A single or multi-select field, ideal for software development teams to categorize and track platforms or frameworks used in their projects.
Learn more about setting up and managing your task custom fields here.
Bookings
Best Practices: Prioritize bookings effectively.
Priority: A single-select field for High, Medium, Low.