It seems like when it comes to the number of data fields that are available on PPO, our clients are always demanding more.  Over the years we have steadily increased this limit but it seems like it’s just never enough, especially in certain edge cases.

Well, we have some good news! We are pleased to announce the ability to add an UNLIMITED number of calculated fields to any entity. Previously, when adding a calculated field you had to sacrifice one of the custom data fields that are available on an entity.  Now, however, calculated fields are handled differently so that they can be added dynamically.

“That is awesome!” you may be saying “but what if I need more non-calculated data fields?” Fortunately with the new functionality you can take your existing custom calculated fields and migrate them to the new “virtual” calculated fields, thereby freeing up some custom fields that you can use as non-calculated data fields.

A note of caution though – if you are running out of fields, it should serve as a red flag.  Although there are legitimate business cases for having so many data fields on an entity it usually indicates that there is a problem with the configuration.

If you have a lot of fields of one type e.g. employee fields or RAG’s, consider splitting it out to a separate entity and “normalising” the data.  As a specific example, if you have ten employee fields on your project entity which designate stakeholders, consider rather implementing a separate stakeholder entity with one record for every stakeholder.

In addition, remember that the number of fields is inversely correlated with data quality and the ease of use.  The more data users have to capture the more likely they are to not do it properly and they will resent having to do it too!

Have questions?

If you are unsure of what this new functionality means for you or want to know how you can migrate your existing calculated fields, please contact us at support@go2ppo.com. We’d love to hear from you! For more information about calculated fields, you can read more in this Knowledge Base article.