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SAP Business One User-Defined Field (UDF) Planning Worksheet

User-defined fields in Business One are easy to create and awkward to change later, because a field on a populated table cannot always be retyped or resized freely. A short planning worksheet before configuration avoids duplicated fields and cleans up reporting.

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Table (area)	Field name	Title shown	Type	Length	Valid values	Mandatory	Business reason	Owner

Fields planned

Use one row per field. Check the maximum field name and size limits for your B1 version in the help before creating. Valid values are entered as value and description pairs in the field setup. Test every field in a sandbox copy before production.

Customization review for Business One

Optional: a short review of your UDFs, queries and add-ons before an upgrade.

Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.

How to fill it in

List each field you think you need, choose the table or document area, the type and length, and write the business reason. If you cannot write a reason, you probably do not need the field. Add valid values for fields that drive reports, since free text fields are the main source of unreliable data. Assign an owner who answers for the field after go-live.

One row per field per table
Give a clear reason and owner
Use valid values instead of free text where possible
Mark mandatory fields and plan their defaults

Design rules that pay off

Prefer standard fields over new ones. Keep names short and consistent, for example the same name for the same concept on header and row. Plan fields that must copy from sales order to delivery and invoice, because only fields with matching names on both documents copy across in the base-to-target flow. Consider formatted searches and queries that will use the field.

Common mistakes

Creating a text field where a code list belongs, duplicating a standard field under another name, and adding fields on rows when the header would do. Another trap is forgetting upgrade and migration: UDFs travel with the company database but must be documented so that reports, add-ons and integrations do not break. Export this sheet as the documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the U_ prefix mean?

Business One adds U_ to the name of every user-defined field, so a field you call DrawingNo is stored as the U_DrawingNo column in the table. This keeps user fields apart from standard ones in queries.

Do UDFs copy from one document to the next?

They copy in the base-to-target flow when the target document has a field with the same name. Plan matching UDFs on sales order, delivery and invoice if you want the value to flow.

Can I delete a UDF later?

Yes, but data in the field is lost, and queries, formatted searches and add-ons that reference it will break. Check dependencies first, and prefer hiding the field in forms if you only want it out of the way.

Should I use a UDF or a user-defined table?

Use UDFs for attributes of an existing document or master record. Use a user-defined table for separate lists or structures, such as a lookup of approved process codes.

Netray can help document and reason about customizations in your Business One environment, and automate reports on top of them, read-only.

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