This article is intended for experienced Pipeliner Administrators and Pipeliner Partners with an in-depth knowledge of working with Pipeliner’s existing entities such as Accounts or Opportunities.

“Entities” is a term commonly used to describe the different types of record stored within a database that are used to capture different data and utilised for distinct purposes.

In Pipeliner, the main (out-of-the-box) Entities - and their common relationships - are:

Account - a company or organization which may have many Contacts, Leads, Opportunities or Projects linked to it

Contact - a person/individual which may have many Accounts, Leads, Opportunities or Projects linked to it

Lead - an unqualified enquiry/pre-Opportunity which may be linked to Account(s) and Contact(s)

Opportunity - any record moving through one of your pipeline processes (for example, a Sales Opportunity) which is usually linked to both Account(s) and Contact(s)

Quote - a quote, within a defined process, which may be linked to Account(s), Contact(s) or an Opportunity

Project - a simple date-based project which may be customised to link to Accounts, Contacts or Opportunities

Activity - a Task or Appointment, usually linked to at least one other entity

Product - an item (any kind of product or service that your business offers) that would be linked to an Opportunity via the Product Grid

These main entities - with the ability to rename them and the option to create multiple layouts/Forms and/or different processes - meet all requirements for many different companies. However, there are also instances where there is a need to create something completely new - “Assets” is the example we’re going to use here and also in the related step-by-step article.

It’s for this kind of use case that we have created our Custom Entities module. Pipeliner Admins and Partners can now create entirely new Custom Entities from the Admin Module>Entities menu (formerly Fields & Forms) to meet the additional, specific needs of your business.

Custom Entities is an Automation Hub module that is available to existing Unlimited Tier customers only by special arrangement via your Account Manager. Enterprise Tier customers can also request Custom Entities to be added to their subscription as a chargeable extra.

From the Automation Hub menu, scroll down to find Custom Entities and then click on “Request”. Once the request has been approved by one of our team, you’ll then have access to Custom Entities from the Entities menu (formerly Fields & Forms) ⤵

IMPORTANT: Pipeliner Technical Support (delivered via email or live chat) only includes support for issues relating to Custom Entities for those customers and partners who have purchased (and consumed) our Custom Entity consultancy package. For those customers, support queries relating to Custom Entities will usually be referred to our most experienced consultants so we may take additional time to respond. Additional consultancy time will be required for all specific advice relating to your business’ individual use cases or requirements.

From the App Switcher, choose Administration ⤵

NOTE: only Admin users will see the Administration option.

Click on the Entities menu and you’ll see a “Create New” button ⤵

NOTE: if Custom Entities is not enabled, the “Create New” button will have a padlock symbol rather than a + symbol.

Click on “Create New” to add your new entity. First, choose an icon that will represent your entity throughout the Pipeliner app (like the “Building” icon represents Accounts) ⤵

Then enter a singular form and plural form of the name you want to give your new custom entity ⤵

Next, choose how you want the custom entity Name field to behave. You can select “Single line text” which will set the required field to be a simple “type in a name” for every new custom entity record that is created ⤵

This works just like Accounts, for example, where in order to create a new Account, users have to type in the Account’s Name.

The alternative is “Auto number” which will assign an automatically incrementing number to each new custom entity record that is created. You can choose the options and the starting index number for your field. More information on Auto number fields can be found in this article ⤵

Finally decide which functionalities you want to enable for your new custom entity ⤵

You can:

Enable Activities - the custom entity will have an Activities tab when opened and you can create and link Activities

Enable Documents - the custom entity will have a Documents tab when opened and you’ll be able to upload documents and view uploaded documents

Enable Notes - the custom entity will have a Notes tab when opened and you’ll be able to add Notes and view previous Notes.

Enable searching through Global Search - custom entity records meeting the criteria used in a Global Search will display in the results list

NOTE: these options can be amended after your custom entity has been created.

When you’ve chosen your options, click on “Create” to add your new Custom Entity ⤵

You’ll now be able to access your custom entity and to work on configuring it by adding fields and form types and setting up access via user roles in the same way as you would manage any other entity in Pipeliner.

Your new entity is entirely “stand alone” when you first create it. In the app, you’ll see a main menu where you can create records - either manually or by importing data. The menu offers a list view of all your custom entity records which you can filter in the standard way.

Usually, however, you’ll want to link your custom entity to other existing records in Pipeliner and to do this you’ll need to create Lookup fields which can also create Tabs on related records - for example, to see all custom entity record related to an Account that you have open. If you haven’t used a Lookup field before, details can be found in this article.

We’ve created a step-by-step example of creating, configuring and using a custom entity including setting up field permissions, user role set up and importing in this use case article.

The features listed below are fully supported in the version 5.2 release:

The following features are partially supported in version 5.1 and will be enhanced/improved in following releases:

The following features are not yet supported:

Using the Admin Module — Fields and Forms

Getting started with Units, Users, and Roles