Rollup and Roll-Down Custom Fields

Applies to: Office 2010 | Project 2010 | Project Server 2010 | SharePoint Server 2010

Custom field rollup in Microsoft Project enables summary tasks to display the calculated subtask values of most task custom fields. Custom field roll-down is from resource or task custom fields to assignments. An assignment roll-down means that an assignment custom field automatically gets the value of the related task or resource custom field.

This article includes the following sections:

• Rollup Custom Fields for Summary Tasks

• Assignment Roll-Down Custom Fields

Rollup Custom Fields for Summary Tasks

You can use Project Web App to configure all task custom fields except those of type Text to roll up to summary tasks. You set a custom field for rollup in the Calculation for Summary Rows section of the Edit Custom Field page, and then choose the type of rollup (Table 1).

Table 1. Custom field rollup types

Figure 1 shows several test values for task custom fields and the rollup to the T2 summary task. For example, the Test Task Cost field rollup type is Sum. The Test Task Date and Test Task Duration rollup types are Maximum. The Test Task Flag rollup type is AND, and the Test Task Number rollup type is Count First Sublevel. The Test Task Text field cannot have a rollup value.

Figure 1. Custom field rollup values in a summary task

In the Task Usage view (Figure 2), the task custom field rollup values come from the subtask values, not the resources assigned to the task. For example, if you use Project Web App to change the Test Task Cost rollup type to Minimum, then the T2 value would be $20.00.

Figure 2. Custom field values in the Task Usage view

Assignment Roll-Down Custom Fields

You can set task and resource custom fields to automatically roll down to task assignments and resource assignments. On the New Custom Field or the Edit Custom Field page in Project Web App, in the Calculation for Assignment rows section, click Roll down, unless manually specified. Figure 2 shows the results when the Test Task Cost field is set to None in the Calculation for Assignment Rows section.

You can add task custom fields to the Task Usage view in Project Professional (Figure 2) to see the custom field values for assignments. Similarly, you can add resource custom fields to the Resource Usage view (Figure 4) to see or edit the custom field values for assignments there. Figure 3 shows the Resource Sheet view with several test values for resource custom fields.

Figure 3. Resource custom field examples

Assignment custom fields are Project Server entities that are also available in Project Web App and the Reporting database. You can add custom fields to the My Tasks and My Timesheet views in Project Web App, create custom views in Project Web App (see Add or change a view on the Office Web site), or add enterprise custom field columns in Project Professional views.

Figure 4 shows the Resource Usage view in Project Professional with a column added for a resource custom field named Resource Location, which uses the Company Locations lookup table example described in Creating Lookup Tables and Enterprise Custom Fields. Although the ResourceLocation value that is set in the Edit User page in Project Web App rolls down to the assignment for task T2b, Figure 4 shows that you can manually change the value for an assignment. You can also create a task custom field that uses the same lookup table, and add the task custom field column to the Task Usage view.

Figure 4. Setting an assignment custom field in the Resource Usage view

See Also

Concepts

Creating Lookup Tables and Enterprise Custom Fields

Using Formulas and Graphical Indicators with Custom Fields

Other Resources

Add or change a view