User Defined Fields (UDFs)

Earlier we mentioned that a portfolio filter could be based on user-defined fields. These fields are custom items you can add to P6 to hold special properties that are not natively included with P6. For example, you could add a date at the project level to represent the year in which a facility was commissioned. Or you could add a field to hold a project number to use on reports. Or you could add a cost field to represent the initial estimated cost of the project.

The fields that come with P6 are designed to meet the needs of the majority of users. UDFs allow you to provide additional input that is specifically tailored to your company and your industry. The risk of using a UDF instead of built-in fields is that UDF fields are easily overwritten and there are no controls in place to ensure appropriate spelling or other mistakes. UDFs often are used to bring in data from another system through an automated integration script.

UDFs are not limited to projects. They...