Create and manage table views

Once you have record types in your workspace, it’s time to enter the individual records and collect data for them in a Record Type View. A Record Type View is a compilation of various data points or fields about a specific record. By utilizing Record Type Views, you can effectively visualize your work lifecycle, plan and centralize the work needing to be done, and assure it all aligns with your business goals. Let’s dive into a record type to see the views available. Click on a record type in your workspace. What you see when entering a record type for the first time is a table view, like what you’d see in a spreadsheet. Each row represents an individual record. For example, as you plan and start to finalize what work needs to be done to meet specific goals, you record that work in the rows provided. In this example, those are now your individual campaign records. Each column represents a piece of information about the records listed. For example, for each campaign planned, you want to know the planned end dates, what channels will be used, and the targeted audiences. Those are entered as fields in each column to be tracked. As the record type view is built out with records and fields, or rows and columns, you start to get a comprehensive understanding of the planned work, what needs to be done, and the impact on company goals. Let’s add some individual records to our view. In this example, we’re in the campaign record type. Now, if you imported your record types from a spreadsheet, you may already have records listed. If not, start entering the campaigns that align with your strategic business goals for the quarter, the first half of the year, or the entire year, whichever timeframe you choose. Click New Record to keep adding rows, aka records, to your list. When done, it’s time to start looking at the columns in your view. Now, the table view is the default and includes basic columns or fields to get started. As a side note, each record type in the workspace shows the same initial fields in the view. However, the table view can, of course, be customized by deleting, adding, editing, and or rearranging columns. It’s recommended that you first review the columns already found in the initial view and remove any that aren’t needed for that record type. For example, in the deliverables record type you see the fields for start and end date. Those don’t apply to deliverables, since they’re permanent data points used for various campaigns or projects. However, start and end date is more applicable to the campaign record type, where specific projects, initiatives, or operations run for set periods of time. So, to remove a column from your view, hover your mouse over the column header, click the arrow icon, and from the menu that appears, click Delete. A pop-up message appears to let you know once the field or column is deleted, it cannot be recovered. If you’re sure, click Delete. Please note, you can re-add the column to your view. However, any previous information listed in the column will not be recovered. It’s as if you’re creating it from scratch. Now that you’ve removed any columns not needed in the view, you can start adding other information that you would like to see. There are a couple of ways to add columns or fields to your view. It all depends on what’s needed to help you close any knowledge gaps you might have. The views you create can be as sparse or as packed as you need them to be. Just keep in mind that although you can have up to 500 columns in your view, you want to keep them easy to read for better clarity and insight. To add a new field or column to your view, click the plus sign. In the window that appears, you’ll see two options, New Field and New Connection. Here we’ll cover how to enter a new field. The New Field option lets you create a field from scratch. When creating a new field, you have several options and the type you pick depends on your desire for consistency, trend spotting, and goal alignment. For example, Single and Multi-Select fields let you enter a list of predetermined choices for users to select, which allow you to start seeing trends. Date fields allow for consistent formatting while capturing important deadlines. While Text fields are freeform and allow for explanations and additional details, which may lead to better goal alignment. Each provides its own pros and cons, and these are just a few of the options available when creating fields for your view. Now, let’s say you want to add channels as a field, so users can specify how each campaign will communicate to the targeted audiences. Although a text field could be used, it may be better to use a multi-select field with predetermined choices. As stated, this can help with consistency and determining trends further down the line. So, choose the Multi-Select option. From here, fill in the field information, name, and description if needed. At this point, you can enter the different choices users can select. The system initially provides two slots, but you can add more by clicking Add Choice. After entering, you do have the option to list the choices alphabetically. When you’re done, click Create. The field now appears as a column in your view, and users can click into the column and select from the available choices. From here, you can continue to add fields to your view. At any point during the process, you can go back and edit the columns in your view if you find the name of the field needs to be changed, choices need to be added or removed, etc. The only thing that can’t be adjusted is the field type. Once that’s been selected and saved, it’s permanent. In addition, columns can be rearranged by simply dragging and dropping the column wherever you want. The last thing to note is that the views you create are just for you. So, until you share the view with either a person or a group, you’re the only one who sees it. If you do decide to share this view with others, make sure to determine if they can make changes to it or not. With record type views, your organization can centralize your plans for what work needs to be done and determine how each contributes to the overall strategic goals of the company while gaining greater visibility into your life cycle of work.