Add Columnar Custom Fields to Wrike Analyze

TL;DR

Columnar custom fields give each field its own Wrike Analyze dimension, enabling multiple filters, blank-value reporting, linked widget filtering, and date formulas. Ask Wrike Support to add fields to the task and/or folder/project columnar tables (up to 500 columns). Prioritize nonnumeric and date fields, and note special behaviors for multiselect, checkbox, database-linked, and user-profile fields.

• Overview
• How Columnar Custom Fields Work
• Add Custom Fields as Columns
• Use Columnar Fields in Reports
• Add Several Custom Field Filters
• Report on Blank Values
• Build Formulas With Date Fields
• Choose Fields to Add
• Field-Specific Recommendations
• Multiselect Fields
• Checkbox Fields
• Database Fields
• User Profile Custom Fields
• What’s Next?

Overview

Columnar custom fields let you add each custom field as a separate dimension in Wrike Analyze. Use them to work with date fields, combine several custom field filters, report on blank values, and connect filters across widgets.

How Columnar Custom Fields Work

Wrike Analyze stores standard custom field data in shared columns, such as the custom field name and value. Columnar custom fields use a different structure:

• Each custom field has its own column.
• Each task, folder, or project appears in one row.
• You can add fields directly from the data browser without filtering by field name.

Wrike Analyze provides separate tables for each item type:

• Task Custom Field (Columns)
• Folder/Project Custom Field (Columns)

Add Custom Fields as Columns

By default, the columnar custom field tables are empty. Wrike Support must add fields to them.

1. Make a list of the custom fields you want to add.
2.  
3. Contact Wrike Support and ask to add the fields to the relevant columnar custom field tables.
4. After Support adds the fields, refresh the Wrike Analyze data and find them under Task Custom Field (Columns) or Folder/Project Custom Field (Columns) in the data browser.

Use Columnar Fields in Reports

Add Several Custom Field Filters

You can use several fields from the columnar tables as filters in one widget. You can also use a pie chart based on a columnar field to filter other widgets, including widgets that already use custom field filters.

Report on Blank Values

Columnar fields store blank values as N/A. This lets you analyze items where a custom field isn’t populated.

At least one columnar custom field must contain a value on the item for Wrike Analyze to include that item.

Build Formulas With Date Fields

You can use columnar date fields with Wrike Analyze’s date and time functions, just as you would use system date fields.

Choose Fields to Add

Adding many fields can affect report performance. If your account has many custom fields, prioritize nonnumeric fields.

You can often handle numeric custom fields with formulas, while nonnumeric and date fields benefit more from the columnar structure.

Field-Specific Recommendations

Multiselect Fields

Columnar multiselect fields store all selected options in one cell.

This format works well in pivot tables. In other types of charts, however, each combination of selected options appears as a separate value rather than as individual slices.

Use the standard custom field table for charts that need to show each option separately.

Checkbox Fields

Checkbox fields can contain three types of values:

• True: The checkbox is selected.
• False: The checkbox was selected and then manually cleared.
• N/A: The checkbox has always been blank.

To report on all items where the checkbox isn’t selected, filter for both False and N/A. Standard, noncolumnar checkbox fields don’t support this option.

Database Fields

You can’t report directly on Datahub database records in Wrike Analyze. However, you can report on database values linked to tasks, folders, or projects:

1. Create a custom field linked to the database.
2. Use the field on workspace items.
3. Ask Wrike Support to add the field to a columnar custom field table.
4. Build reports from the linked values.

Values include the ID that uniquely identifies each Datahub database record.

For large databases that you can’t replicate with workspace items, export the data through Wrike API, and analyze it with a third-party tool.

User Profile Custom Fields

Wrike Analyze can’t report directly on custom fields from user profiles. As a workaround:

1. Create tasks that represent users.
2. Create matching custom fields on those tasks.
3. Enable Use as assignee requirement for the relevant user fields.
4. Add the same values to the corresponding tasks.
5. Ask Wrike Support to add the task fields as columns.
6. Use the task data in your report.

What’s Next?

• Formulas in Advanced Reporting
• Using Formulas in Advanced Reporting Widgets