What are Plan Fields and what are they used for?
Plan fields can be used to specify a custom attribute per plan, which can then be used in Plan Naming Conventions. They differ from regular fields as they can only be filled in the Plan Setup and not in the actual Sheet View.
In other words, this means that there can only be one value per Plan Field per plan, whereas a regular field in the Sheet View could have many different values depending on the line item/row.
⚠ Please note that admin access to Parent (Global) level is required to make any changes to the Plan Fields.
Plan Field Section
You will find the Plan Field section within your Settings on your Parent account. This is where you will get an overview of all the Plan Fields in your account.
Plan fields are displayed by name and can be in one of four possible states:
Default
In use
Inactive - indicated by the ‘Delete’ icon
Required
Default
'Default' fields cannot be deleted
In Use
'In use' fields are fields that are used as part of the current plan naming convention. These plan fields cannot be deleted unless they are removed from the current plan naming convention.
Inactive
'Inactive' fields are fields that are NOT used as part of the current naming convention. They can be deleted. However, just because a field is not used in the convention doesn't necessarily mean that it does not contain values. So, make sure you are 100% certain you want to delete a field before doing so because all values contained within that field will be lost.
Required
If a plan field is marked as 'Required', it must be filled out when creating the plan shell.
Create a Plan Field
To create a field, follow these steps:
Navigate to Plan Field: Locate the 'Plan Field' option under the 'Settings' in your parent account.
Select Field Type: Choose the appropriate field type, either 'Date' or 'Text' from the Type options.
Provide Field Name and Description: Enter a name for your new field and provide a detailed description to clarify its intended use and purpose.
Finalize Creation: Click the 'Create' button to finalize the setup of your new field.
Make a plan field unique (limited release)
A unique plan field is a setting you can apply to a custom plan field (Text or Date type) that requires every value entered in that field to be different across all your plans. Once a field is marked as unique, you cannot reuse the same value on more than one plan. For example, you can use this to make sure a "Purchase Order #" or "Campaign Code" field is never accidentally duplicated.
Where to find it
In Settings, open Plan fields (under Media planning). This opens the Manage plan fields page.
In Create a custom plan field, choose the Type (Text or Date) and enter a Name. Or edit an existing Text or Date field from the Overview list using the pencil icon.
Check the Unique field checkbox, then Create (or save your changes).
A tooltip explains: "This field requires a unique value, so you can't reuse or copy the same one in multiple plans". Only Text and Date fields support this setting. As with other plan field changes, admin access is required.
How it works
When you create or edit a plan, if you enter a value in a unique field that is already used on another plan, saving will fail with an error letting you know the value is already in use. Enter a different value to proceed. The on-screen text is a generic system message: "Validation for unique campaign custom fields failed. Value already exists". It does not name the specific field or value involved, so you'll only know that something conflicts, not what.
Uniqueness is checked across your organization and any related sub-organizations (for example, an agency and its client accounts under the same group), not just within a single organization.
Turning on Unique for an existing field does not check your existing plans retroactively. If duplicate values already exist when you enable the setting, nothing changes immediately. The error only appears the next time someone tries to save one of those plans.
Delete a Plan Field
To delete a plan field follow these steps:
Navigate to Plan Field: Locate the 'Plan Field' option under the 'Settings' in your parent account.
Locate the Plan Field: Scroll through the list to find the Plan Field you wish to delete.
Delete the Field: If the field is deletable, you'll see a delete icon to the right of the field. Click on this icon to proceed with deletion.
Confirm Deletion: Click on the red 'Delete' button that appears. This will permanently remove the field.
Incorporate a Plan Field into a Naming Convention or Template Field
All Plan Fields will be displayed as optional components in the Plan Naming Conventions section. To incorporate a Plan Field into your plan naming convention, simply follow the steps in the linked article.
Plan fields in reports, exports, and search
Plan fields also show up in a few other places in Camphouse:
Reports: plan fields can be added as dimensions in the report chart builder, under the Plan tab (limited release). Read more in Reports.
Exports: every plan field currently in use is included as its own column when you export the plans list. Read more in How to export your data in Camphouse.
Search: you can find a plan by searching for the exact value stored in one of its plan fields, from the top search bar, the plan navigation bar, or the filter bar. Archived plans are included (limited release).