Capturing Large Data Strings in Accolade

Accolade provides the following ways to capture large pieces of data as free-form text within a project.

Long String Metrics

Long string metrics act the same as String metrics, but have a 2 GB data limit if Rich Text is enabled or a 2000 character limit if Rich Text is not enabled. Long String metrics can provide data and status and are available for inclusion in forms, reports, templates, matrices, quick grids, and other places within the application.

These metrics can contain rich text formatting to format text with elements such as bold, italics, and into lists. Like other metrics, these metrics can be associated with a process model for display and updating within a project, and be included in quick grids added to deliverables and activities.

See Creating Metrics for information about creating Long String metrics.

Extended Project Data Fields

To capture data strings that exceed 2000 characters in length, enable one or more Extended Project Data fields within the metadata in a process model. These fields are available to add to forms, reports, templates, quick grids, and other places within the application. However, they are not available to a matrix, matrix grid, or reference table. Use these fields for areas where you require additional characters, such as an extended description or as part of a layout for an idea campaign.

Process Designers enable and name the Extended Project Data fields in each process model. Each process model can have up to ten fields enabled, and each has a configurable display name and the ability to set where the field is available and editable in a project.

As you implement Extended Project Data fields in templates and other places, understand that a large number of fields with a large amount of data in a project can affect system performance when loading and saving information. In addition, external applications (such as Word or Excel) and network configurations may have their own size limits as well.

See Assigning How Select Metadata Displays in Projects for information about enabling these fields in a process model.