Creating Single and Multi-Select List Metrics

Create a metric that displays a list of drop-down items for selection, such as a metric used to define the difficulty of a project using a defined list with the values Easy, Average, and Difficult. Define list metrics for single or multiple selection of static list options that builds from selections in previous lists. To build a list with dynamic list options, see Creating Cascading List Metrics.

List metrics can also be defined to select a value based on a calculated expression. For example, you may have a cost metric that has list values of Under Cost, Actual Cost, and Over Cost. Instead of allowing users to select the value of that metric within a project, define the metric to use an expression that determines if a project is under, over, or at cost, and that sets the selection for the list metric. If the calculated value is not available in the list, it is added and set for that project only. The value is always set based on the calculation and is always read-only.

To create a list metric:

From the System menu, select Content Sources > Metrics.

To narrow the metric list, search by the metric name, system name, or category.

Do one of the following:

To add a new metric - Click Add New in the upper right corner of the page.
To edit an existing metric - Click the name of the metric to open it for editing.
To create a metric based on an existing metric - Click in the Copy column to create a copy that can be used as a base to build a new metric.

Create the basic metric, selecting one of the following options in the Data Type field:

List - Creates a list of options for a single selection.
Multi-Select List - Creates a list of options for multiple selections.

In the List Source field, select the method to use to define the list:

Method	Description
Defined List	Select this option to define the list manually, creating a static list of items. Enter each list item's data and click Add New to create a new item. Enter the following for each item in the list: Name - The item's display name, up to 500 characters long. A manually defined list can contain up to 2500 characters for the total of all the item display names. List item names cannot contain the pipe ( \| ) character. System Name - (Optional) The item's unique ID, up to 64 characters long. The system name must be unique within metrics, not within all of Accolade. A system name may be required if this metric is integrated with a 3rd party system. Order - The item's display order in the list. Color - If you are creating a list metric in Innovation Planning, assign a color for use in legends within a Gantt view.
Reference Table	Select this option to use columns within a reference table to populate the list of items. Only reference tables set as Available to Metrics are available for selection. Select the table and the column within the table that contains the list item selections, noting that list item names cannot contain the pipe ( \| ) character. Only columns set as strings are available for selection. The items in a list generated from a reference table column display in the same order as listed in the column within the reference table. To create a cascading metric using a reference table, see Creating Cascading List Metrics.
Query	Select this option to use queries and query codes to populate the list of items. Items in the list change as the data that the query references change in Accolade, creating a dynamic list. Each item in a list derived from a query has a 500 character limit. Example To create a list that contain projects that are part of a class called Marketing, use the following query: SELECT ProjectName FROM RVP_Projects WHERE (ClassName) = ('Marketing') Select an existing query from the list or select Add New Query to create a new query. Use the Edit and Preview options to modify and test the query. See Queries Overview for information about building queries.

Method

Description

Defined List

Select this option to define the list manually, creating a static list of items. Enter each list item's data and click Add New to create a new item. Enter the following for each item in the list:

Name - The item's display name, up to 500 characters long. A manually defined list can contain up to 2500 characters for the total of all the item display names.

List item names cannot contain the pipe ( | ) character.

System Name - (Optional) The item's unique ID, up to 64 characters long. The system name must be unique within metrics, not within all of Accolade. A system name may be required if this metric is integrated with a 3rd party system.
Order - The item's display order in the list.
Color - If you are creating a list metric in Innovation Planning, assign a color for use in legends within a Gantt view.

Reference Table

Select this option to use columns within a reference table to populate the list of items. Only reference tables set as Available to Metrics are available for selection. Select the table and the column within the table that contains the list item selections, noting that list item names cannot contain the pipe ( | ) character. Only columns set as strings are available for selection.

The items in a list generated from a reference table column display in the same order as listed in the column within the reference table.

To create a cascading metric using a reference table, see Creating Cascading List Metrics.

Query

Select this option to use queries and query codes to populate the list of items. Items in the list change as the data that the query references change in Accolade, creating a dynamic list. Each item in a list derived from a query has a 500 character limit.

Select an existing query from the list or select Add New Query to create a new query. Use the Edit and Preview options to modify and test the query. See Queries Overview for information about building queries.

To create a metric whose value is determined by a calculation, select the Calculated Formula and Events tab and enter the expression in the Calculated Formula field. See Calculated Metric Expressions Reference for guidelines when creating calculated expressions, and Scheduling Metric Calculations to define when the metric calculates.
Click Create to create the new metric or Apply to save changes to an existing metric.

Notes:

Administrators can view existing metric definitions, but cannot add or modify metrics.
If you modify the list items in the definition of a List or Multi-Select metrics, open and closed projects retain the currently selected list value, even if that value has been removed. However, if a list item is removed from the metric definition, that item is no longer available for selection in new and open projects.

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