Can we customize fields in Landscape?
Yes and no - the fields that you see on the main Record page are fixed. However, while working with hundreds of conservation organizations over the years, we've designed Landscape to be able to accommodate nearly any property-specific data needs. This means that while you may not be able to add a new field on the main Property page, odds are you can still track the data that you want to track, it just might not be as evident as using one of the main fields.
Here are some of the ways that you can track custom data in Landscape, ordered from simple to complex:
Custom Record Categories
If you simply need to be able to pull out or identify records with 'X', then a custom category is the way to go. A good rule is that if you're used to seeing a field as a 'Yes/No' in your pre-Landscape data, or if the field contained a few related options, then a category is probably the right option for you. Records have two category fields: 'Categories' and 'Stewardship Categories'. 'Categories' is suitable for classifying the land protection aspects of the record like 'NRCS Funded' or 'Co-held'. 'Stewardship Categories' is better suited for stewardship-related data like 'Public Access' or 'Spring Monitoring'. Note that you won't have Stewardship Categories available until you mark the record as a Stewardship Site.
Categories can be added and removed via Settings > List Items > Portfolio (you must be a Landscape administrator in order to access Settings).
The benefit of using categories is that you can then, from Data Viewer, quickly grab a list of all records with or without the category you're looking for by adding the 'Category' field to a Record view and filtering on that field.
Work Items, Funding, Expenses, and Contacts
These are all objects that can be added to records to track additional data within the record. For example, perhaps you have a 'Funder' column or field in your existing data. While there's no single 'Funder' field attached to a record in Landscape, there are Funding Sources, Agreements, and Disbursals which can be used to track data related to who the funder was and the rest of the details around the funding. Another example would be if you track a field like 'Baseline Date' or 'Survey Date'. To track these items, you would enter a new Survey or Baseline Report Work Item and give them the appropriate 'Completed On' dates. You can also attach map data, documents, expenses, etc. to those Work Items, so you gain a lot of functionality in the long run. Finally, you may track 'Landowner' or 'Grantor' as a single field. You would enter these in Landscape as Contacts, link them to the relevant records, and tag them as the 'Landowner' or 'Grantor'.
Each of these objects can be further customized by editing the available types or tags. This customization happens from Settings > List Items (you must be a Landscape administrator in order to access Settings).
Here are some articles with more information:
Custom Forms
Landscape allows you to attach Forms to Work Items. Forms are for gathering extra data into Work Items. Most people first encounter forms in the context of site visits while completing their monitoring visits. However, forms can also be used to capture data on any other work item. For example, maybe you have several project-assessment-specific fields that you fill out to gauge the relative merits of a given conservation project. You're used to seeing columns like 'adjacent to conservation land?' and 'immediate funding available? Y/N'. These questions could be put into a Project Assessment Form and attached to a custom 'Project Assessment' General Work Item. Users could then add one of these work items at some point in the acquisition process and be able to fill out the questionnaire. You could then query on these values by using data viewer.
Here's an an article on Forms.
Finally, if you have any difficulty finding a way to track the data that you want to track, get in touch with Landscape support. We're happy to advise on best practices and what we've seen other organizations do.