Overview & Background
Nested locations provide a hierarchical tree structure to represent the structure or layout of a construction project. You can specify up to 5 location tiers within your Tasks. This will allow you and your team to add granular context to your Tasks that can be used in your reporting and exports too.
If you're working in a building with two floors, where there is one unit on each floor, you could set up locations like so:
As construction work is location-specific, having a location breakdown structure allows you to tie certain work and data objects (e.g., plans, forms, photos, etc) to specific locations with increased granularity.
- Subscriptions: Basic, Pro, Business, and Premier
- Permissions: Project Admins can access the 'Manage Locations' option from a Task, or from the Project Settings on the Web to import, create, and edit nested locations. On Mobile, Project Admins can create a new Tier 1 location from a task. Once the locations are set, all project permission tiers can add nested locations to tasks.
- Platforms: Web and iOS/Android
Table of Contents:
- How to Create Nested Locations
- How to Import Nested Locations through a CSV File
- How to Manually Add Nested Locations
- How to Edit Existing Nested Locations
- How to Add Nested Locations through the Task Importer
- How to Associate Locations with Tasks on the Web
- How to Associate Locations with Tasks on Mobile
- How to Sort and Filter by Nested Locations
- How to Use Nested Locations in Reports
- Troubleshooting & FAQ
How to Create Nested Locations
Project admins can add and edit locations under the 'Settings' tab, under the Custom Lists section:
Alternatively, Project admins can access the 'Manage Locations' pop-up directly from a Task on the web:
Choose the 'Import' option to add locations in bulk through a .CSV template.
To manually input the nested locations, you'll start by creating a 'New Tier 1 Location'.
How to Import Nested Locations through the CSV Template
If you're looking for an expeditious way to import hundreds of locations within your project, leverage the bulk import tool and the CSV template.
After you choose 'Import', a new upload window will open.
Here, you can select the 'Download instructions' link to download an Excel file of best practices and sample data. This will provide you with the best practices for formatting your locations in the CSV template, and an example of how to format your Project locations in the contingent CSV template.
Select the 'empty template' link to download the CSV template itself.
Use the 'Download instructions' to guide how you fill out your tiered locations in the CSV template.
Note: Importing locations will not update existing locations but rather add more locations to your project. If you need to update your Nested Locations review the section How to Edit Existing Nested Locations.
Check the 'Sample Data' tab of the Instructions to see how to format each location tier in the CSV template.
Tip: Enter the full path for each location - Fieldwire will automatically create each location tier:
In the CSV template, if you enter the input below:
Each tier will be read in Fieldwire like so:
Ultimately, the location structure will look like this:
If you receive any errors when attempting to import the CSV template, refer to the FAQ & Troubleshooting section.
How to Manually Add Nested Locations
If you do not want to add locations en masse through the Template Builder, you can manually add and organize location tiers from the 'Manage Locations' window.
First, choose to create a 'New Tier 1 location' - any nested locations will start from a Tier 1 location - then name the Location and choose to 'Create' it:
After you create the first Tier 1 Location, you can add up to four nested locations under it. To add a nested location, choose the '+' option:
To add additional nested locations, choose the '+' option under each location tier.
Once you have the second location tier, you can create additional locations, nested under location Tiers 2-5. For example, if you need 'Floor 2' to be nested under 'Building 1', you can add this as a unique tier 3 location:
You can then add unique locations, specific to, and contingent under 'Floor 2':
If you'd like to start a new, unique location tree, opt to create another 'New Tier 1 location'.
How to edit existing Nested Locations
Project Admins can adjust certain elements of the nested locations like altering the name, or delete nested locations.
To edit the name of a location, select the 'Pencil' icon. Enter the new location name and choose to 'Save'. After you edit the name of the nested location, this will automatically update any tasks associated with any of those locations:
To delete a location, select the 'Trash' icon. Keep in mind, if a location you'd like to delete has nested location tiers under it, those nested location tiers will be deleted as well. For example, if you opt to delete 'Floor 2', it will also delete 'Unit 201' nested under it.
In addition, all tasks associated with the location you'd like to delete, and all nested location tiers underneath it, will no longer have a defined location.
How to leverage Nested Locations in the Task Importer
Once nested locations have been created in the project, you can leverage the Task Importer to import several tasks with those nested locations. There are five location tiers, which are reflective of the location tiers imported, or manually added, under the 'Settings' tab.
To ensure the Tasks will be imported without errors, you'll need to include the location path up to the location you would like the task to adopt.
In the example below, tasks 1-5 will adopt the location outlined in Red:
The location tier structure in the Task Importer should reflect the order of the tiered locations in the CSV template that has been imported, or within the 'manage location' modal:
In the Task Importer, if you only reference location tiers 2-5, without filling out the contingent location path, you will not be able to import the tasks:
Tip: Leverage the CSV template when importing several tasks, as these tiers have, presumably, been correctly formatted.
Tasks and Location Nesting
After you import several locations, you can begin to leverage these within your project. While Project Admins can create and edit location tiers, any user on the project, whether they are an Admin, Member, or Follower, can associate locations with tasks.
How to associate Locations with Tasks on the Web
On the web, you can associate a nested location on an individual task on the web, through the 'Location' field. You can either opt to expand each location tier until you find the specific location you'd like to affix to the task or you can search for the name of the location itself:
Note: Project Admins can jump directly to the Locations menu from the 'Manage locations' option.
If you would like to add a nested location to several tasks at once, in the Kanban, Gantt, or Calendar view, select multiple tasks, then choose 'Actions' and 'Batch edit'. Here, you can expand each location tier until you isolate the necessary location, or you can search for the location itself:
How to associate Locations with Tasks on Mobile
Once you have set up nested locations on the web, you can leverage these on the mobile versions of Fieldwire. From a Task, choose the 'Gear' option on Android or 'Edit' option on iOS, and choose 'Location' - you'll then be able to navigate to the desired location:
| 1. On Android, select the 'Gear' icon: | 2. Select the 'Location' Field: | 3. Choose the pertinent location from the collapsable menu, or search for the location using the magnifying glass icon. Project Admins can create a New Tier 1 location through the '+' icon: |
| 1. On iOS, select the 'Edit' Option: | 2. Select the 'Location' Field: | 3. Choose the pertinent location from the collapsable menu, or search for the location using the magnifying glass icon. Project Admins can create a New Tier 1 location through the '+' icon: |
How to Filter Tasks by Nested Locations
Whenever you Filter Tasks, you can choose to pull tasks by location tiers, or by a specific location itself.
When the 'Include all tiers under selection' option is selected, the Filter query will pull all of the tasks associated with the tiered locations nested under that selection.
For example, if 'Include all tiers under selection' is selected, and you choose 'Building 1', the Report Query will reference all locations nested under 'Building 1':
If you do not have 'Include all tiers under selection' selected, only the location itself is selected, meaning any tasks associated with the selected location will be included in your query. You can opt to select one or more disparate location tiers to pull a more pertinent report query.
For example, if 'Include all tiers under selection' is not selected, and you choose 'West area', the query will only reference tasks associated with 'West Area'. If you select another location, like 'Reception', this is considered a disparate selection, meaning only tasks associated with those locations will be pulled in the query:
How to use Nested Locations in Reports
Whenever you generate reports, you can choose to pull tasks by location tiers, or by a specific location itself.
When the 'Include all tiers under selection' option is selected, the report query will pull all of the tasks associated with the tiered locations nested under that selection.
Locations are ordered in the context of other nested locations included in the report.
For example, if 'Include all tiers under selection' is selected, and you choose 'West Area', the Report Query will reference all locations nested under 'West Area':
In the report itself, imagine you have nested locations set up like this on your project:
Building 1 (A1) > Floor 1 (A2) > Reception (A3)
Building 2 (B1) > Floor 1 (B2) > Reception (B3)
Building 3 (C1) > Floor 1 (C2) > Reception (C3)
And 5 tasks with 5 locations:
Task 1 - Reception (C3)
Task 2 - Floor 1 (B2)
Task 3 - Building 3 (C1)
Task 4 - Floor 1 (A2)
Task 5 - Reception (B3)
The task order in the report would look like this:
Task 4 - Building 1 (A1) > Floor 1 (A2)
Task 2 - Building 2 (B1) > Floor 1 (B2)
Task 5 - Building 2 (B1) > Floor 1 (B2) > Reception (B3)
Task 3 - Building 3 (C1)
Task 1 - Building 3 (C1) > Floor 1 (C2) > Reception (C3)
If you do not have 'Include all tiers under selection' selected, only the location itself is selected, meaning any tasks associated with the selected location will be included in your query. You can opt to select one or more disparate location tiers to pull a more pertinent report query.
For example, if 'Include all tiers under selection' is not selected, and you choose 'West Area', the Report Query will only reference tasks associated with 'West Area'. If you select another location, like 'Unit 201', this is considered a disparate selection, meaning only tasks associated with those locations will be pulled in the report query:
FAQ & Troubleshooting
It's important to ensure that the CSV template is properly formatted, based on the 'download instructions'. You are not able to upload an improperly formatted CSV template to your Fieldwire project - if this does occur, you'll receive different validation errors, based on the issues within the template itself.
Header Row Validation
If you try to upload a CSV template, and you receive the message '...there was an error with the header row':
There is an issue with the 'header row', or row 1, in the CSV template - for example, the additional 'Entry' in row 1 triggers this error:
Or, there might be an additional entry in Column F, G, H, etc:
To resolve this, remove any additional content in row 1, aside from the default tier 1-5 entries:
Row Validation
If you try to upload a CSV template, and you receive the message 'there were errors with [x] rows':
There are orphaned location tiers in the CSV template - for example, the entries in 'D4' and 'E5' trigger this error as they are not tied to an existing location tree:
To resolve this, ensure that the location tiers are associated with a unique location tree:
Always refer to the 'download instructions' file to ensure that the CSV template is properly formatted and that you will be able to successfully import locations.
Tutorial Videos
These videos provide you with a simple overview of how to create Nested Locations and how you can begin to leverage these within your tasks:
How to add Nested Locations:
How to assign Nested Locations to Tasks:
More Information
Refer to these articles for more information about the content featured in this article and how to leverage locations.