Best Practices for Custom Objects

Custom objects store information specific to your business that Insightly’s standard objects do not cover. They also extend standard objects, holding invoices against organizations or progress reports against projects.

On this page:

• Standard versus custom
• When to build one
• Common uses
• Automation
• Related reading

Standard versus custom

Standard objects ship with Insightly: contacts, organizations, projects, leads, opportunities, tasks. Custom objects are ones you create. A property management company would build one to hold the properties it manages.

When to build one

Four signals, each with an example:

• The data does not fit a standard object. A university tracking its course catalog.
• You need to link many records to one record. A property management company tracking monthly property inspections.
• You are creating five of the same field on a standard object’s Details tab. A real estate agent linking buyers to the properties they might view. Build a custom object that links to the standard object instead.
• You need roll-up summary data on a standard object. A consultant tracking hours logged against the projects they manage.

Two groups tend to benefit: companies whose data does not fit tasks, leads, opportunities, or projects, and companies still keeping part of their data in spreadsheets or separate databases outside the CRM.

Common uses

Expense or time tracking. Field service or maintenance visits. Properties, listings, or rentals. Programs or memberships. Classes or registration. Students, alumni, investors, or donors. Invoices or subscription updates. Feedback or surveys.

Automation

Custom objects trigger Workflow Automation the same way standard objects do, which is what makes them useful for knowing when work is finished, sending progress updates, and clearing handoff or approval bottlenecks.

Lambda, on Enterprise, can create and update custom object records from another system. One use is invoicing: if data drifts between an invoicing system and Insightly, Lambda can create invoices or subscription updates linked to organization records. Insightly’s own example is customer health: in-app satisfaction surveys built with a third-party tool, connected through Lambda, which creates a custom object record per response and links it to the organization record, so account health is readable from the organization.

Reporting

Custom object report templates live in the Other Reports folder. Build a report by dragging fields from the custom object and from any linked standard objects into the body of the report.

Related reading

Industry configuration guidance covering custom objects: Recruiting & Staffing, Education, Property Management, and Real Estate, all on Best Practices by Industry.