A custom object is fully configurable. Its purpose and functionality is determined by your administrator. There are three main tabs that can be configured in the custom object as follows:


Custom Object

This tab consists of single-line text fields, multi-line text fields, single-select dropdown lists, multi-select dropdown lists, numeric fields, staff lists and date fields configured by the administrator. It may also contain links to related documents in the document management system. You can click on a document link to view the related document. A sample custom object is illustrated below:


Custom Table tab

This tab allows users to enter data in to a table configured by the administrator. Rows of the table can either be added by the end user or can be pre-defined by the administrator via the object configuration area.

A sample custom table is illustrated below:

Users can also upload data to custom tables via the data upload wizard functionality. Please refer the 'Data Upload Wizard' section for more information.


Custom Attachment tab

This tab allows users to attach documents to the Custom Object similar to the Attach Document object.


Sending a document/URL uploaded in Custom Attachment tab for sign off

When document sign off functionality is activated through the object editor area, a icon titled as ‘Sign Off’ will be available against each document/URL uploaded in the Custom Attachment tab.

Clicking ‘Sign Off’ button adjacent to a document/URL will display a pop-up as shown below;

  • The pop-up window will also show details of the attachment such as its title and reference.  You can select the relevant sign off authorities, and click on ‘Submit for Sign Off’ button to submit the document/URL for approval. An email will be generated to the respective sign off authority.  
  • Once applied for approval, the document/URL will be read only. Hence, you will not be able to edit or delete the document/URL until the sign off is completed.  
  • Upon receiving the sign-off request email, the ‘Sign Off’ Authority can then review the document/URL and choose to Approve or Reject it. Depending on the sign off settings determined by the admin, the Sign Off Authority may be allowed to provide a justification for the decision.  
  • This can be done by either clicking the relevant link in the sign-off email, or by navigating to the respective object and clicking on the relevant button. 
  • After the approval, a ‘Sign Off’ Complete email will be generated. 
  • When a document/URL is approved, it will be ‘read-only’ and will not be editable for any users, except for users who have the ‘Can Edit After Sign Off’ permission to the object and super permissions (IPM admin, Project Manager, etc.).
  • When a document/URL is rejected, it will be made editable so that users can make the amendments and re-submit for sign off, if required.  
  • Sign Off status will be displayed in the ‘Status’ column.
  • Document approval functionality is also available within the ‘Documents’ tab in Project Hub.


Data Upload Wizard functionality

  • The Data Upload Wizard is available within Custom Object > Custom Table tab, allowing you to upload data into the custom table from an Excel file.
  • Click on the ‘Data Upload’ icon on the toolbar in the Custom Table to navigate to the data upload wizard.

Note: Data Upload functionality will be available only when the rows are added to the Custom Table by the end user (i.e. when ‘Allow users to add rows’ tick box is selected in the object configuration area of the Custom Table). Hence, this functionality will not be available when the rows in Custom Tables are pre-defined by the administrator. 


How to upload data into a Custom Table via the Data Upload Wizard?

Step 1 – File Upload

  • You can either upload an Excel file to the wizard by using a pre-defined template or by using an Excel file you have already entered data in.
  • To download the predefined template, click on the ‘Download Template’ button. The template will be automatically downloaded to your device. 
  • Once you fill the data in the Excel sheet and the file is ready to upload, click on the ‘Select File’ button on the wizard.
  • Select the file which you want to upload the data from the file browser.

  • To upload the file to the system, click on the 'Upload' button which is located next to the ‘Select File’ button. Once the file is successfully uploaded to the wizard, you will be able to navigate to the next step.

Notes:

  • The format of the file which you upload to the wizard should be either xls or xlsx.  
  • Make sure that the column headers are added to the file which you upload since the first row of the data source will be considered as column headers.

 

Step 2 – Select Worksheet

  • Select the worksheet from which the data should be imported.
  • Select the worksheet (in the file which you uploaded in step 1) which contains the data that you wish to upload from the dropdown list. Once you select the worksheet, you will be able to navigate to the next step.

Step 3 – Select Custom Table

  • You can select the Custom Table in the project to which you wish the data to be uploaded via this step.
  • Expand the dropdown list and select the Custom Table which you will be uploading the data to.  
  • This dropdown list will display all the Custom Tables in the current project which you have edit permissions to, allowing you to upload data to a Custom Table in any phase of the project without navigating to the respective Custom Table. 

Step 4 – Data Mapping

  • Map data between the Custom Table and the selected worksheet.

  • The Data Mapping table will display the following columns:
    • Column Name: Will display all the column names in the selected Custom Table.
      Notes: 
      • Only columns that are set to visible and editable (from the object configuration area) will be shown here.
      • Cumulative columns (i.e. the columns that have the 'Is Cumulative' tick box selected in the object configuration area) and ‘Formula’ columns will not be shown here.
    • Column Type:  Will display the data type of each column.
    • Map to Excel Column: Will display all the columns in the selected worksheet in a dropdown. You can select a column header from the ‘Map to Excel Column’ dropdown for each column in the Custom Table. 

Notes: The system will automatically map the data between the Custom Table and excel, if the column name in the Custom Table exactly matches any of the column headers in the excel. You will be able update the column mappings which were done automatically by the system, if required.

 

  • Once you map the columns and finish the data upload process (Step 5), the system will automatically populate the data within the respective columns in the Excel to the mapped columns in the Custom Table. 


Step 5 – Finish

  • The final step will allow you to see a preview of the final output of the Custom Table after the data is uploaded.
  • If there are any data upload errors, you will be able to view them in the error log which is displayed below the preview grid.

  • If you are satisfied with the preview output, you can proceed with the data upload by clicking on the ‘Finish’ button.

Note

  • If the data was already present in the Custom Table at the time of the data upload, they will be automatically overwritten and replaced with the data in the selected worksheet.
  • If the data has errors, the system will auto change/correct them as given below, when the data is uploaded to the Custom Table;
  • If the column type is Numeric/Currency, they will be replaced with ‘0’.
  • If the column type is Text or Dropdown, they will be replaced with empty/null.
  • If the column type is Date, they will be replaced with empty/null.
  • If the column type is Period, they will be replaced with the next available month. 

 

Exporting the information in the object

You can export information in the object tabs to formats such as PDF, Word, Excel etc. by following the steps below;

  • To generate an export of the object, click on ‘Export’ icon on the toolbar.  

  • Upon clicking the ‘Export’ icon, you will see a preview of information within the object on a new browser tab.
  • Click on ‘Export dropdown menu’ icon and select the preferred export format from the menu to download the file in the selected format.