When to Use a Pick List Over a Drop Down In OpenAir

When creating custom fields in OpenAir there are two fields a user can choose which look similar but are used for different purposes: The dropdown and the pick list.

Dropdowns are used for very simple lists of items which would be used in the object you are adding to and rarely would cross into other modules.  A good example is the project status of “Red, Yellow, Green”.

But If the data you need to model is more complex, has other data associated, is used by other systems or across multiple modules, then a pick list is what you should choose.   A pick list is a list of an existing OpenAir object, such as User.  By using an object, such as this in a Pick List, there is now a link from the Picklist to all of the object data which is useful in reporting and integrations with other systems.

OpenAir allows you to create a Picklist of any object, including 5 objects which you can customize to your needs.