Design your data

Choose the kinds of records Mesy keeps, the fields on each one and the stages in each pipeline. Only admins can do this, on the Schema tab.

A record is one entry in Mesy, such as one customer or one deal. A record type is a kind of record, such as Contacts or Deals. Each one has its own list in the sidebar. The Schema tab calls record types Object Types.

A field is one piece of information on a record, such as a phone number. A link field points to another record, such as a deal’s Company field pointing to that company.

A pipeline is the steps a record moves through, such as a deal going from new to won. Each step is a stage.

Open a record type’s settings

1. Click Admin at the bottom of the sidebar.
2. Click the Schema tab.
3. Click a record type’s row.

The row opens. You see Configuration first, then the pipeline settings, then Fields.

The closed row shows how many fields and records the type has. Record types and fields marked System came with your workspace. You can’t rename or delete a System record type, but you can still change its settings and add fields to it. You can’t edit or delete a System field.

Add a record type from the gallery

The gallery holds ready-made record types, grouped by kind of business.

1. On the Schema tab, click Add Type.
2. Find a card under General CRM, Recruitment, Real Estate, Consulting, Insurance, School admissions, Spaces leasing or Standalone. Each card shows how many fields it adds.
3. Click the card.

Mesy shows a message such as “Added Placement”, and the new type appears under Object Types.

Some cards link to other types in their group that you don’t have yet. Mesy lists them before it installs. For example, if you have no Recruitment types yet, the Recruitment card Placement offers Install 3 types, which adds Candidate and Job Opening too. To add Placement alone, click Only install Placement.

If you install one type on its own, Mesy skips any link field that points to a type you don’t have. A message tells you which fields it skipped.

Spaces leasing is for businesses that rent out rooms or units. Its tenancy and building settings are already filled in.

School admissions also adds a web form called “Admissions enquiry” and two workflows, “Admissions follow-up” and “Tour reminder”. A workflow is a rule that does routine work for you. The form and both workflows start switched off.

Build a record type from scratch

1. Click Add Type.
2. Click Start blank at the bottom of the gallery.
3. Type a Display Name, such as “Project”.
4. Pick an Icon.
5. If these records move through steps, such as a deal going from enquiry to signed, tick Enable pipeline (kanban board). Mesy then shows them on a board with one column per stage.
6. Click Create.

The new type appears under Object Types.

Mesy also fills in the API Name. That’s the name Mesy uses behind the scenes, and you can’t change it later.

The new type has no fields yet, apart from Stage if you ticked the pipeline box. Add a field called “Name” or “Title” first. Otherwise each record shows as “Record” and a short code. To use a different field as the name, see Choose the name each record shows.

Rename a record type

1. Open the record type’s row.
2. Click the pencil icon on the row.
3. Change the Display Name or the Icon.
4. Click Save.

The row shows the new name. The API name stays the same.

Add a field

1. Open the record type’s row.
2. Under Fields, click Add Field.
3. Type a Display Name, such as “Budget”. Mesy fills in the API Name.
4. Pick a Type, such as Text, Number, Date or Select.
5. If every record must have a value, tick Required field.
6. For Select or Multi-select, type the choices in Options (one per line).
7. Click Add Field.

The new field appears in the Fields table and on this type’s records.

Link one record type to another

1. Open the record type’s row.
2. Under Fields, click Add Field.
3. Type a Display Name, such as “Company”.
4. In Type, pick Relation.
5. In Links to, pick the other record type, such as Company.
6. If one record can link to several, such as a deal with many contacts, tick Allow multiple links.
7. Click Add Field.

The link field appears on this type’s records. To use it, see Link records to each other.

Change or reorder fields

To change a field:

1. Click the pencil icon on the field’s row.
2. Change its name, type, options or Required field.
3. Click Save.

The field shows its new settings.

To reorder fields, drag a row by the handle on its left. Tables and record pages follow the new order.

Set up a pipeline

Records with a pipeline show on a kanban board, one column per stage. See Work a pipeline on the kanban board.

To add a pipeline to a record type you already have:

1. Open the record type’s row.
2. Tick Pipeline (Kanban Board).

If the type has no Stage field, Mesy adds one, and every record must have a stage. The pipeline starts with four stages: New, In Progress, Won and Lost. Won and Lost are already set as the final stages.

To change the stages, click Edit Stages beside the checkbox. The Pipeline Stages list opens, and you can change it like this:

• To add a stage, type its name in the box under the list and click Add. It goes at the end.
• To move a stage, hover over it and click Up or Dn.
• To rename a stage, hover over it and click the pencil icon. Type the new name and press Enter. Records in that stage stay there under the new name.
• To remove a stage, hover over it and click the bin icon. An empty stage goes straight away.

When you’re done, click Hide to close the list.

If records are still in a stage you remove, Mesy asks where they should go:

1. Under Move them to, pick another stage.
2. Click Move and remove.

The records move to that stage, and the old stage is gone.

To turn a pipeline off, untick Pipeline (Kanban Board). Mesy doesn’t ask first. Each record keeps its stage. Mesy clears the stage list and the Won Stage, Lost Stage and Value Field settings. If you tick the box again, the pipeline starts over with New, In Progress, Won and Lost.

Choose how Mesy counts won and lost deals

Won means you got the deal. Lost means you didn’t. You set them under Pipeline (Kanban Board).

In Won Stage and Lost Stage, pick the final stages. Each must be a different stage. To leave one empty, pick Not set.

In Value Field, pick the money field Mesy adds up for this pipeline, such as Deal value. The box only offers number, currency and percent fields. To count records instead, leave it on None (count only).

If you rename the won or lost stage, the setting follows the new name. If you remove it, the setting is cleared.

Delete a field or a record type

To delete a field:

1. Click the bin icon on the field’s row. Mesy warns “Existing data in this field will be lost.”
2. Click Delete.

The field disappears from every record.

Deleting a record type permanently deletes every record of that type. You can’t undo it.

1. Click the bin icon on the record type’s row.
2. If Mesy asks, type the record type’s API name in the box.
3. Click Delete.

The record type and all its records are gone.

Tell Mesy what a record type is for

Under Configuration, the Semantic Role box tells Mesy what a record type holds. Mesy uses it to show features that fit, such as marketing consent on people or pipeline figures for deals. If it was never set, the box reads None. If none of the choices fit, pick Other (no role).

• Person is for people, such as contacts. Each record shows its marketing email consent: Opted in, Opted out or No consent recorded.
• Organization is for companies.
• Opportunity is for deals.
• Product is for the things you sell. Your team adds them to a deal as line items, one line per product with its price. See Products and line items.
• Campaign is for marketing campaigns. It adds Marketing to the sidebar. See The Marketing page.
• Household is for a group of people, such as a family. It needs a link field on your Person type that points to the household type. See Group people into a household.
• Unit is for rooms or units you rent out. Its records show Unit availability. See See which units are free.

If you have more than one deal type, product type or unit type, tick the Primary box on the one Mesy should use, such as Primary opportunity type. The dashboard’s pipeline figures come from the primary opportunity type.

The primary product type is the list that opens first when your team adds line items. With no product type, Mesy starts with the primary unit type. If you have more than one list, your team can switch with the Catalog type menu.

A Product or Unit type has five more boxes: Price Field, SKU Field, Unit Field, Cost Field and Category Field. Pick the field that holds each detail. Unit Field is the field that says what the price is for, such as one month. Until you pick a Price Field, the row shows a No price field badge. Line items from this list then start at a price of 0, which your team types over.

If you rent out rooms or units, fill in two more settings:

• On your deal type, pick the date fields for Tenancy start and Tenancy end (free on this date). Mesy uses them to show which units are rented.
• On your unit type, pick the link field that points to the building, such as Property, under Unit parent relation. Each building then shows Unit availability for its units.

If you change Semantic Role later, Mesy clears any tenancy or building settings that no longer fit.

Choose the name each record shows

In Label Field, pick the field Mesy shows as each record’s name everywhere.

If you leave it on Default (first_name + last_name / name), Mesy uses the first and last name for people. For other types, it uses a field called “Name” or “Title”.

Choose who can see a record type

Visibility only matters when record sharing is on. Admins always see everything.

• Public (read/write): everyone sees and changes these records.
• Public (read-only): everyone sees them. Only the owner, people in the same position and people above them can change them.
• Private (owner + hierarchy): each record shows only to its owner, people in the same position and people above them.

How positions work and how to turn sharing on is in Choose who sees whose records.

Catch duplicate records

Under Identity Fields (duplicate detection), you tick the fields that show two records are the same, as explained in Choose the fields that identify a duplicate.

If something doesn’t work

• If Create or Add Field does nothing, another type or field already uses that API name. Change the API Name and try again.
• If Add Field does nothing on a Multi-select field, add at least one option.
• A gallery card reads “Already installed” when you already have a type with the same API name, even if you renamed it.
• Once your workspace has a product type, the product card reads “A product catalog already exists in this workspace” and can’t be picked.
• “installs without primary status” on a card means another type is already ticked as Primary. The new type installs without the tick. A message names the type that keeps it.
• “Bundle assets withheld: install” means the School admissions form and workflows are waiting for a missing type. The message names it. Install that type from the School admissions group, and Mesy adds them.
• “Bundle workflow withheld” means you already have a workflow with that name. Mesy keeps yours and doesn’t add its own.
• If the message says a form with that name already exists, Mesy adds neither the form nor the two workflows.
• If a deal type’s Semantic Role won’t change from Opportunity, some of its records still have line items. Remove those line items first.
• Mesy won’t save a stage name that another stage in the same pipeline already uses.
• In the Fields table, a field you made as Checkbox shows as Boolean. Date & Time shows as Datetime, Multi-select as Multiselect, Text Area as Textarea and URL as Url. They’re the same fields.