Creating record types is straightforward, but designing them well requires thoughtful planning. Here are some key principles to keep in mind.
Start with your questions
Before creating a record type, ask yourself: What questions do I need this data to answer? If you're tracking IT service requests, you might need to answer: How many high-priority requests did we receive this month? Which teams submitted the most requests? What's our average time to fulfillment? These questions tell you what fields you need: priority, department, timestamp, fulfillment status.
💡Note
Choose the right field types
Use text for free-form data that varies widely, number for quantitative data you'll filter or sort, boolean for binary states, timestamp for time-based data, and fixed values for categorical data with a limited set of options.
Keep it simple
Avoid adding unnecessary fields. Every field you add is another thing to maintain and another potential source of confusion. Start with the minimum fields you need, and add more later when you have a clear use case. Add a description to each record type so your team understands its purpose at a glance. Descriptions appear in the record type list view.
Plan for data quality
Use fixed values instead of free-form text when options are limited. Use number fields for numeric data to prevent text from being captured. Use timestamp fields for dates to ensure consistent formatting. Add validation in your workflows before capturing records.