Empty Numeric Values Not Being Counted as 0

[TWallen]

HubSpot is such a sophisticated tool but my biggest gripe is empty numeric properties being treated as 'No Value' instead of 0. 

This is such a headache when dealing with Calculated Properties and Reports. 

Our custom Calculated property simply needs to add the value of 12 properties. Our Calculated property keeps returning blank because one of the 12 properties most likely is not populated. Support's suggestion is to change all values to 0. Sure we could achieve this with bulk edits but how can you scale this solution moving forward? There is no property setting to treat empty values as 0. A workaround suggested was to use a property to set these to 0 but they're rollup fields so the property can't be set via workflows.

Then when it comes to reporting, you can't even sort largest to smallest because (No Value) will always be at the top. Granted, there's a workaround of having to add 'is known' but the point was to include those with 0 at the bottom of reports. 

[TWallen]

@kennedyp I appreciate your response. Sorry for the delay.

The first question is correct. 

We created a custom object to breakdown the amount on our deals. These breakdown amounts can be tied to our organizations which is a combination of the office location and discipline. 

The 13 rollup properties calculate the sum of the associated objects' amounts based on the discipline field. These help us get an understanding of how much each discipline each team will be bring in.

Where we get stuck is the idea of calculating a "Total Amount Breakdown" based on these 13 rollup properties. Essentially, we can't calculate a total if one of these rollup properties are blank/0.

Here is a screenshot of one of our rollup properties on our Deals. 

This screenshot includes the Calculation property that would combine all rollup properties.

Property works as expected when each rollup has a value. 

No value is returned when one of the 13 values is cleared.

[kennedyp]

Hey @TWallen! Thanks for the screenshots and confirmation. The most ideal situation would be for us to somehow get those rollup properties to equal 0 if there is no other value. Another option would be to use a conditional custom equation as opposed to a sum. Depending on how you set up the equation, you may be able to define that if they do not have the proper associations, then set to zero, otherwise calculate the sum. 

Let's invite some experts to see if they have any workarounds! @TomM2, @LouiseHare, @Lucila-Andimol any ideas how we might get a zero value for these rollup fields? Maybe using multiple fields or a custom equation? Any insight you have is greatly appreciated! 

Best, 
Kennedy

[kennedyp]

Hey @TWallen- thanks so much for this detailed post. I can absolutely understand the frustration with this logic for (no value) blank fields. I can't guarantee this will be possible, but I am eager to work with my team to determine if there may be any alternative for this. 

To clarify, are you using a calculated property to add up 12 different roll-up properties? 

Could you summarize what your rollup property consists of and what these calculated values are used for? Any screenshots you can provide of the properties will be super helpful as well! The more context we have of your end goal, the better we can potentially propose an alternative process. 

Best, 
Kennedy