Working with records

A record is one entry of an Object, and an Object is a kind of record your team defines. You reach records from the Objects area of the left menu, not through Settings. Each row in that area is one Object, labelled with its singular name, so sample requests live under Objects › Sample request.

Fairgreen Golf Co. defined three Objects of its own. Sample requests holds one record per sample asked of a factory, and Repairs holds one per warranty repair.

Fabric trials holds one record per fabric a mill sends in for testing, so the wool Portside Mills sent in March is a single fabric trial. The examples on every page in this section use those three.

What is an Object? is the setting-up half of the feature, the part an admin does once in Settings › Objects. This is the other half, the one everybody does every week. If an Object already shows in your Objects area, everything here applies to it.

Why keep this in Tideswell rather than a spreadsheet?

Because a row in a spreadsheet is on its own, and a record is not. A record can point at the supplier it came from and the task somebody is doing about it. It carries the person accountable for it, shows which status it has reached, and keeps the conversation and the history of every change on the record itself.

That is the difference you feel on a Tuesday morning. Fairgreen used to answer "where did that trial get to" by asking the one person with the sheet open. Now the answer is on the record, and it is the same answer for everyone looking at it.

The sheet itself does not go to waste. Its rows can come straight in as records, which is How to import records from a spreadsheet.

What do you actually do with records?

You log new ones, find the handful that matter this week, and narrow a long list down to a question worth asking. You also show where each one has got to and who owns it, and tie it to the work around it. Each job has its own page.

• Find one. Every Object has a single list, and almost every job starts there. See How to find and open your records.
• Log one and change it. The form is built from that Object's own fields, so it looks different for Sample requests than for Fabric trials. You edit in place on the record page. See How to add and edit a record.
• Bring in a batch. When the records already exist in a spreadsheet, import the file rather than typing them. See How to import records from a spreadsheet.
• Ask the list a question. Once it runs to hundreds of rows you narrow it instead of reading it: which sample requests are still open, which fabric trials came from one mill. A narrowed list can be named, kept and shared. See How to search, filter and save a view.
• Show where it has got to. A record can carry a Status, such as Requested, With factory or Received, and an Owner, the person or team accountable for it. See How to set a record's status and owner.
• Connect it. The sample request has a task against it, the fabric trial has a spec document, and both point at a supplier. See How to link a record to work, and see what points at it.
• Talk about it. Comments and the history of every change sit on the record. See How to comment on a record and see its history.

Can the Agent help with records?

Yes, while the Brain module is switched on in Settings › Modules and your workspace has Agent approvals on. Ask the What is the Agent? to log a record or change one, and it prepares the change rather than making it. Nothing happens until a person approves it.

A suggestion about a record also shows on that record's page, in a Suggested changes section at the top with a Review in Agent link. How to approve, refuse or undo one is How to approve, refuse or undo a suggested change.

When is a task the better home?

Use a task instead when you are describing a piece of work with a person and a date on it, as in "Priya chases Portside Mills by Friday". Tasks have assignees, due dates, priorities and a board built around them, all covered in What are tasks?.

A record is the thing that work is about, so most of the time you want both, joined together. And when the thing you want to track does not exist as an Object yet, that is a build rather than a day-to-day job, so start at What is an Object?.

What do you need to be able to do this?

Access is set per Object, so being able to open Sample requests tells you nothing about whether you can open Fabric trials. Each Object has its own rows on Settings › Permissions, such as Sample requests · View, Sample requests · Create and Sample requests · Update.

Holding one does not give you the others, which is why you can sometimes read a record and find no Save button. An Object you cannot view is left out of your Objects area entirely.

How to work out who can do what in your workspace helps you work out which one you are short of, and an admin raises it in How to set who can see and edit an Object. Every page in this section says which one it needs.

Where to start

Read How to find and open your records first, because the list is where everything else begins. Then How to add and edit a record for logging and changing records.

After that the pages stand alone, so take them as you need them: importing, filtering and saving a view, status and owner, links, then comments and history.