Customizing Colors in the Resource, Project, and Work Planners

You can use up to eight colorsClosed(Beige, Light Blue, Light Green, Light Red, Light Yellow, Pink, Purple, Turquoise) in Resource Planner and Project Planner to identify types of assignment and resource request. You can use up to eight colorsClosed(Orange, Light Blue, Light Green, Light Red, Light Yellow, Pink, Purple, Turquoise) in Work Planner to identify types of assignment and resource request. In Project Planner, you can also use these colors to identify categories of project in the project summary bars. This enables you to make resourcing decisions faster and more efficiently.

Setting up Color Coding

To set up color coding:

  1. Create custom fields for the objects Assignment, Resource Request, and Project, as needed.
  2. Add formulas to the custom fields, using the colors. This helps to automate the process of using colors for objects.
  3. Edit custom settings for the planners. This enables the use of the colors with the objects.
  4. Add the text to the color labels associated with the colors that you have used. This text identifies the type of information shown by each color, and is shown in the color legend in each planner.

For information about formula fields, see “Calculate Field Values With Formulas” in the Salesforce Help and “Use Formula Fields” in Salesforce Trailhead.

To create custom fields and formulas:

  1. In Setup, open the Objects page.
  2. In the Custom Objects list, click the name of the object: Assignment, Resource Request or Project.
  3. In the Custom Fields & Relationships list, click New to create a new field. A wizard opens.
  4. Select Formula, and then click Next.
  5. Enter a field label. The field name will be populated automatically.
  6. Select Text as a formula return type, and then click Next.
  7. Enter your formula, and then click Next.

    You must enter color names without spaces in formulas, but they are not case sensitive. Examples: LightBlue, lightgreen, lightRed. A formula will not work if you include spaces in the color name.

  8. Complete the wizard settings.
Note:
For Assignment objects, formulas can include references to fields in the Project and Account objects.

ClosedExample formula for a Project object

IF( pse__Is_Billable__c , IF( pse__Opportunity__r.Amount > 1000001, "turquoise" ,"lightBlue") ,IF( ISPICKVAL(pse__Project_Type__c, "PTO"), "purple", " "))
This means:
If the project is marked as billable and the Amount field on the Opportunity record is:
1,000,001 or more (for any currency), the project summary bar is turquoise.
1,000,000 or less (for any currency), the project summary bar is light blue.
If the Project Type field is also set to PTO, the project summary bar is purple, but other project types don't affect the color.

ClosedExample formula for an Assignment object

IF( pse__Is_Billable__c , "lightYellow", "lightGreen")
This means:
If the assignment is marked as billable, the assignment bar is light yellow. For all other types of assignment, the assignment is light green.

The next step is to enable the colors to be used in the relevant planners for the functions that you created in the custom fields formulas.

To edit custom settings:

  1. In Setup, open the Custom Settings page.
  2. Click Manage for the relevant planner settings:
    • For Resource Planner and Work Planner: Planners - Resource
    • For Project Planner: Planners - Project
  3. Click Edit.

  4. Enter the API names of the custom fields that you created for the color settings in the following fields:

    • For Resource Planner, Work Planner, and Project Planner, complete the fields Assignment Color Field and Resource Request Color Field.
    • For Project Planner, also complete the field Project Summary Color Field.
  5. Select the checkboxes for the colors that you have used in the formulas.

The next step is to add label definitions for the colors that you are using.

To enable the functionality to add label definitions:

  1. In Setup, open Translation Workbench.
  2. Click Enable.
  3. Click Add.
  4. Add English and any other required languages, and the users/translators for those languages, as needed. The users will be the only people who can edit the label definitions for the colors.

    To find these labels quickly, create a list view that contains a filter for "LegendName".

To add or update labels for colors used for assignments, resource requests and projects in the planners:

  1. In Setup, open the Custom Labels page.

  2. Select each label that corresponds to a color that you are using for the relevant planner:

    projplanner_PlannerScheduler_Beige_LegendName

    projplanner_PlannerScheduler_Light_Blue_LegendName

    projplanner_PlannerScheduler_Light_Green_LegendName

    projplanner_PlannerScheduler_Light_Red_LegendName

    projplanner_PlannerScheduler_Light_Yellow_LegendName

    projplanner_PlannerScheduler_Pink_LegendName

    projplanner_PlannerScheduler_Purple_LegendName

    projplanner_PlannerScheduler_Turquoise_LegendName

    resplanner_PlannerScheduler_Beige_LegendName

    resplanner_PlannerScheduler_Light_Blue_LegendName

    resplanner_PlannerScheduler_Light_Green_LegendName

    resplanner_PlannerScheduler_Light_Red_LegendName

    resplanner_PlannerScheduler_Light_Yellow_LegendName

    resplanner_PlannerScheduler_Pink_LegendName

    resplanner_PlannerScheduler_Purple_LegendName

    resplanner_PlannerScheduler_Turquoise_LegendName

  3. In the Local Translations/Overrides section, click New Local Translations/Overrides if no translation exists, or Edit for an existing translation. The Translation Edit page opens.
  4. If new, select the language, and then enter the text to be used for the label.

    If editing, enter the text to be used for the label.

  5. Click Save.
  6. Repeat steps 3-5 to add other labels.

The label definitions associated with the colors are displayed in a color legend for the relevant planner.

To view the mapping of configured colors for assignments and resource requests:

  • Click Color Legend in Resource Planner or Project Planner to open the color legend. This button does not display when you have not configured any colors.
  • Click Preferences in Work Planner to open the Preferences panel and view the Types of Work Color section. An information message is displayed in the Types of Work Colors section when you have not configured any colors.