Auditing and Deleting Custom Fields - Best Practices

[LinnieCi]

I am auditing our custom fields and looking to retire the ones that aren't in use. In the Custom Fields tab in the Setup Area, I have a view that allows me to see which custom forms are using that field. I started by exporting that view in an excel file, then sorting the data to see fields that aren't currently applied to any forms. I'm inclined to just delete these, but I have a few concerns stopping me: -It is possible that these orphan fields were previously added to a form, collected data, and were then removed from the form. In this scenario, did the fields already lose their associated data when they were removed from the form? Or, do fields only lose their data when they are permanently deleted in Workfront? -If the latter, is there a way to generate a report to see counts of historical data/inputs associated with a field? I have yet to find a way to quickly do this - other than adding custom fields as columns in project/issue reports to see if anything shows up. We have about 3,000 custom fields, though, so I'd rather not do that. :) Would love to get some insight on this! Thanks. Linnie Ciepielowski Esri

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Hi Linnie, I just tested my long-standing belief and confirmed that once a custom parameter is removed from a custom form, its historic data is deleted (i.e. not even orphaned): even if you were to add back the same custom parameter, the old data does not come back. For your cleanup, this likely means "might as well" delete any custom parameter that's no longer in use. Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore Got Skills? Lend a hand! https://community.workfront.com/participate/unanswered-threads

[AllisonLi1]

There's a section of a support article that makes a suggestion of how to handle deactivated fields: "https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/216668948-Managing-Custom-Forms#deactivating%20a%20custom%20form">https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/216668948-Managing-Custom-Forms#deactivating%20a%20c... Allison Lippert Workfront allisonlippert@workfront.com

[LinnieCi]

Thanks Doug! I just ran a few tests myself and got the same results. Linnie Ciepielowski Esri

[LinnieCi]

Thank you Allison. I did see those suggestions. What I'm looking at the moment is a method to help me quickly determine which forms and fields ought to be retired. I figure the best criteria is usage of each form/field, but I'm struggling to build a report/view that provides this information. I know that there is a view in the Fields tab that allows me to see which forms those fields are being used on, which has been somewhat helpful. But I haven't found anything beyond that. Linnie Ciepielowski Esri

[JamieHi]

@Doug Den Hoed - would there be a clean way to handle swapping a field from one form to another without losing all existing data? Jamie Hill JLL

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Hi Jamie, To cleanly swap an existing custom parameter (My Textbox) from one custom form (Old Form) to another custom form (New Form) without losing any previosly entered data ("My Typing") on an existing object (My Project): Add My Textbox to New Form Save New Form Add New Form to My Project and every other such object with Old Form (typically using a bulk update, filtering first for Projects where My Textbox has data in it) At this point, My Project will have both Old Form and New Form Confirm that is the case, and that My Typing is showing in My Textbox on both Old Form and New Form Once ready (as ech of these action would otherwise cause My Typing to be permanently deleted), A) remove My Textbox from Old Form, and/or B) remove Old Form from the objects above, and/or C) delete Old Form Confirm My Typing was preserved on New Form Breathe deeply in relief, and consider what might have happened, had you inadvertently deleted My Typing Those are the basics. For bigger rewiring jobs and/or situations where you need to mitigate the risk of accidentally losing data, I invite you to consider our: "https://store.atappstore.com/product/populate-category/">Update Category solution to orchestrate such form manupulations using Excel "https://store.atappstore.com/product/excel-updater/">Excel Updater solution to move and/or recover such data from a previously exported Excel file as a "narrow" backup (or a frantic export from your preview environment as a "better than nothing" recovery) "https://store.atappstore.com/product/workfront-snapshot/">Workfront Snapshot solution to take a "broad" backup of all your Workfront data (including custom forms), Just In Case Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore Got Skills? Lend a hand! https://community.workfront.com/participate/unanswered-threads

[BrianMa2]

I am considering an audit of our Forms & Fields (after I tackle our Reports & Dashboards). Your post made me think of something.... I noticed that Forms can either be deleted or deactivated. Fields can only be deleted. To your point Linnie, I think it would be very useful to just be able to Deactivate a field across the board, which would thereby retain all historical data. I just added an idea for this, please vote if you agree! "https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360029047554-Ability-to-deactivate-fields"> https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360029047554-Ability-to-deactivate-fields Brian C. Mauger Bloomberg L.P.

[VicAl]

Upvoted!!!