Custom fields let you capture extra project details (for example sector-style Project Type or State) and use them when filtering the Projects and Opportunities lists, showing list columns, filtering Insights, and exporting to Excel.
Create the custom fields
Open your profile menu and go to Settings.
Under Fundamental Data, open Custom Fields.
Click Create Custom Field.
Choose a field type. For reporting categories such as Residential / Industrial / Commercial, or Australian states, use Select and add each option.
Enter a clear field name (for example Project Type or State), then save.
You can optionally add helper text so the team fills the field consistently. Repeat for each field you need.
Attach them for Projects or Opportunities
Open your profile menu and go to Settings.
Under templates, open Project Settings to attach fields for delivery projects, or Opportunity Settings to attach fields for opportunities. Each link opens the account’s default template for that area.
Scroll to custom fields and choose Add Custom Field.
Select the fields you created.
Tick Primary field for each field you want as a filter and as a column on the matching dashboard, and as a column on Export Excel.
Save.
Adding a field here puts it on every existing project or opportunity in that area, including ones that are not active. You do not need Sync To Active Projects (or the opportunities version of that button). The field starts blank unless you set a default, so you still fill the value on each record.
Set values on each record
Open a project or opportunity and set the custom field values in the left-hand details (for example Project Type = Residential, State = NSW). Do this as records are created, or when you are cleaning up reporting data.
New records pick up the fields as you create them. Older records only show a value in list columns, filters and Excel once someone has filled that field (or you have backfilled it). An empty State column usually means the field exists but the value has not been set yet.
A dash you cannot click
On the Projects or Opportunities list, a primary custom field with no value is a dash you can click to choose an option. If the dash has no dropdown, open that list again so the row is on screen, and move through the pages if you need to. Drum adds the missing field for the rows you are looking at, and the cell becomes a dropdown. You still choose the value.
List columns and Excel export
Primary Select custom fields appear as columns on the Projects and Opportunities dashboards, and in Export Excel for those lists.
You cannot rearrange where those custom-field columns sit. They appear toward the end of the table. Export Excel still includes them, so you can reorder or hide columns in the spreadsheet if you need a different layout for a report.
Filter and export for reporting
Open Projects or Opportunities.
Use the filters for your primary custom fields (and any other filters you need).
Review the list, or use Export Excel when you want to count or pivot the results outside Drum.
The same primary custom fields can also be used as filters in Insights reports.
"Any Project Type" is not sector type
The Projects filter labelled Any Project Type refers to project templates (the delivery structure), not categories like residential, industrial or commercial. For sector-style type, use a Select custom field as above.
Video walkthrough
The loom below shows creating fields, attaching them via Settings and filling values. It also shows a sync to active records. You can skip that. Adding the field from Project Settings or Opportunity Settings already covers existing records. When you follow it for reporting fields, also tick Primary field so the fields filter, show as columns and export. Prefer Project Settings or Opportunity Settings rather than browsing the full templates list.
Custom fields do not link to a contact
Custom field types are text, long text, link, number, date, date and time, select, multiselect and files. There is no contact or company picker type, so a field such as Referred From stays free text and cannot point at a Contact record.
To record a referrer as a linked contact and/or company, use the built-in Referred By field in Project Details instead.
Related
Adding primary project roles (primary roles are separate from primary custom fields, but the reporting idea is similar)