1. Practifi Success
  2. System Administrator
  3. Entity Management

Creating Custom Stages for Deals and Services

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Overview

Deals and Services are the core records in Practifi for tracking the lifecycle of client engagements, from initial prospect outreach through active service delivery. Every Deal and Service moves through a series of stages that reflect its position in your firm’s workflow. Practifi ships with a default set of stages for both objects, but no two advisory firms operate exactly alike.

As of the Pinot Blanc release, Practifi Administrators can create custom stages that map to how your firm actually works. Whether your business development team follows a multi-step qualification process before a prospect becomes a client, or your service delivery workflow involves compliance checkpoints unique to your practice, custom stages let each service line reflect its real-world process. This translates to more accurate pipeline reporting, clearer task ownership, and greater consistency across your teams.

Administrators can add custom stages for the Deal object, the Service object, or both. Each Deal Type and Service Type in your organization can have its own set of stages. This article outlines important information to know before enabling custom stages, and provides step-by-step guidance for setting them up in your Practifi organization.

Considerations

Custom stages are implemented using Salesforce record types, which allow different picklist values to be available for different record types. When you create a record type on the Deal or Service object, that object becomes “record-type aware,” meaning all records created going forward must be associated with a record type. This is a meaningful, permanent change to your org, so it is important to understand the implications before proceeding.

If possible, Practifi strongly recommends testing these changes in a sandbox environment before rolling them out in production. Before proceeding, please be aware of the following:

  • Once you create a record type in the Deal or Service object, all subsequently created records must have record types. This means a few things:
    • Once this feature is enabled, it cannot be turned off again. Therefore, be sure you want to use it before enabling it.
    • If a Deal or Service is created for a Service Type with no record type specified, it will use the default record type that appears in the active user’s profile. Unless a profile has been modified, the default record type is the first one created for that object.
    • Deals created in the Business Development app or for prospective members in the Retirement app don’t relate to Service Types; however, they, too, will need record types to be assigned. To do so, use the Biz Dev Deal Record Type Name and Member Deal Record Type Name settings in the Practifi Settings section of Custom Settings (found in Salesforce Setup). In these fields, specify the API Name of the record types you wish to use.
  • Certain predefined stage values are used within Practifi, such as the Mark as Closed Won action, which updates a Deal’s stage to Closed Won; these will continue to work irrespective of how the Stage field is customized.
    • As a general rule, we recommend customizing the open stages of a Deal or Service rather than those that denote that it’s closed.
    • Please note: The Business Development app uses a Status field on the Deal object to represent different stages of the lifecycle, unlike the Advisor app, which uses a Stage field. Any customizations made to the Status field values will impact the automation associated with the lifecycle flows in the Business Development app, as all Status values are integrated with these flows.
  • Once a record type is created, it cannot be deleted. However, it can be renamed and its stages reconfigured for use with other Service Types.
  • Future Salesforce release updates plan to place a hard limit on the number of record types that can be used within an instance; currently, the planned limit is 200.
    • Practifi itself contains only 21 record types out of the box, so creating new record types to customize Deal and Service stages won’t risk hitting that limit.
    • However, if your instance is heavily customized or contains several AppExchange products, you should take stock of the number of record types in use and the number you plan to create before enabling this feature.
  • If no record types exist on the Deal or Service object, then the record is created without a record type.
  • If one or more record types exist, then the Record Type Name on the related Service Type is checked.
    • If a name is specified and it’s the same as a real record type name, then the record is created with that record type.
    • If a name either isn’t specified or doesn’t match a record type, then the record is created, but its record type will be based on the default record type of the active user.

Add Record Types

The first step is to add record types for the Deal and/or Service object in Salesforce Setup. Record types are what allow each Deal Type or Service Type to have its own distinct set of stage values. Each Service Type in your organization can be associated with one record type for Deals and one record type for Services.

Deal Object

To add record types to the Deal object in Salesforce Setup:

  1. Click the gear icon and select Setup from the drop-down menu. 


     
  2. In Setup, click the Object Manager tab next to the Home button.


     
  3. In the Object Manager, use the Quick Find box to search for Deal.
  4. Click the hyperlinked label for the Deal object.


     
  5. On the Deal object record, click Record Types.


     
  6. On the Record Types page, click New.


     
  7. Enter the following information:
    • Existing Record Type - Confirm that Master is selected.
    • Record Type Label - Enter a descriptive name for the record type.
    • Record Type Name - This field is automatically populated with the text entered in the Record Type Label field.
    • Description - Optionally, enter a description for the record type.

    • Active - Confirm that this box is checked.

  8. Click Save.
  9. Repeat steps 5-8 for each record type you want to create for the Deal object.

Service Object

To add record types to the Service object in Salesforce Setup:

  1. Click the gear icon and select Setup from the drop-down menu. 


     
  2. In Setup, click the Object Manager tab next to the Home button.


     
  3. In the Object Manager, use the Quick Find box to search for Service.
  4. Click the hyperlinked label for the Service object.


     
  5. On the Service object record, click Record Types.


     

  6. On the Record Types page, click New.

     

  7. Enter the following information:
    • Existing Record Type - Confirm that Master is selected.
    • Record Type Label - Enter a descriptive name for the record type.
    • Record Type Name - This field is automatically populated with the text entered in the Record Type Label field.
    • Description - Optionally, enter a description for the record type.

    • Active - Confirm that this box is checked.

  8. Click Save.
  9. Repeat steps 5-8 for each record type you want to create for the Service object.

Assign Record Types to Profiles

Once your record types have been created, the next step is to make them available to the appropriate user profiles in your organization. Until a record type is assigned to a profile, users on that profile will not be able to create records of that type. You will need to complete this process for each profile used in your organization.

Deal Object

To associate Deal record types with profiles, do the following:

  1. In Setup, use the Quick Find box to search for and select Profiles.


     
  2. Click on the hyperlinked name of the profile to which you want to assign the record type.


     
  3. On the profile page, scroll down to the Record Type Settings section.
  4. Under the Custom Record Type Settings heading, find Deals and click the Edit link. (You can use Ctrl+F or Command+F to search for “custom record type settings.”)


     
  5. Ensure all record types you created for the Deal object are selected for this profile by highlighting them and clicking the Add arrow button to move them from the Available Record Types box to the Selected Record Types box.


     
  6. If you created more than one record type for Deals, click the Default picklist and select a default record type.


     
  7. Click Save.
  8. Repeat Steps 2-6 for all the profile types used in your organization.

Service Object

To associate Service record types with profiles, do the following:

  1. In Setup, use the Quick Find box to search for and select Profiles.


     
  2. Click on the hyperlinked name of the profile to which you want to assign the record type.


     
  3. On the profile page, scroll down to the Record Type Settings section.
  4. Under the Custom Record Type Settings heading, find Services and click the Edit link. (You can use Ctrl+F or Command+F to search for “custom record type settings”.)


     
  5. Ensure all record types you created for the Service object are selected for this profile by highlighting them and clicking the Add arrow button to move them from the Available Record Types box to the Selected Record Types box.



    Please note: A default record type is already selected for user profiles for the Service object.
  6. Click Save.
  7. Repeat Steps 2-6 for all the profile types in use in your organization.

Add Custom Values to the Stage Field

With record types in place and assigned to profiles, the next step is to create the custom stage values available for each record type. This is done by editing the Stage field on each object in the Object Manager, then associating specific values with the relevant record types.

Deal Object

To edit the Stage field for the Deal object:

  1. Click the gear icon and select Setup from the drop-down menu.
  2. In Setup, click the Object Manager tab next to the Home button.
  3. In the Object Manager, use the Quick Find box to search for Deal.
  4. Click the hyperlinked label for the Deal object.
  5. On the Deal object record, click Fields & Relationships.


     
  6. On the Fields & Relationships page, use the Quick Find to search for Stage.
  7. Click the hyperlinked Stage field label.


     
  8. Scroll down to the Values section and click New.


     
  9. On the Add Picklist Values screen, enter each custom value you want to add on its own line in the text box.
  10. Check the box(es) for the record type(s) you want to associate the custom values with.


     
  11. Click Save.
  12. Click the Record Types heading.
  13. Click on the hyperlinked record type label to add custom stages.


     
  14. On the Record Type screen, click the Edit link next to Stage.


     
  15. On the Record Type Edit screen, click to highlight the values you want to add for that record type and click the Add arrow to move them from the Available Values box to the Selected Values box.
  16. Click the Default picklist and select which value you want to use as the default for the Stage field.

  17. Click Save.
  18. If you created multiple record types for the Deal object, repeat steps 12-17 for each record type.

Service Object

To edit the Stage field for the Service object:

  1. Click the gear icon and select Setup from the drop-down menu.
  2. In Setup, click the Object Manager tab next to the Home button.
  3. In the Object Manager, use the Quick Find to search for Service.
  4. Click the hyperlinked label for the Service object.
  5. On the Service object record, click Fields & Relationships.


     
  6. On the Fields & Relationships page, use the Quick Find to search for Stage.
  7. Click the hyperlinked Stage field label.


     
  8. Scroll down to the Values section and click New.


     
  9. On the Add Picklist Values screen, enter each custom value you want to add on its own line in the text box.
  10. Check the box(es) for the record type(s) you want to associate the custom values with.



     
  11. Click Save.
  12. Click the Record Types heading.
  13. Click on the hyperlinked record type label to add custom stages.


     
  14. On the Record Type screen, click the Edit link next to Stage.


     
  15. On the Record Type Edit screen, click to highlight the values you want to add for that record type, then click the Add arrow to move them from the Available Values box to the Selected Values box.
  16. Click the Default picklist and select which value you want to use as the default for the Stage field.


     
  17. Click Save.
  18. If you created multiple record types for the Service object, repeat steps 12-17 for each record type.

Associate Record Types with Service Types

After completing the configuration in Setup, the final step is to connect each record type to the appropriate Service Type in the Practifi Settings app. This is what tells Practifi which custom stages to use when a Deal or Service is created under a given Service Type. Until this association is established, records created under a Service Type will revert to default-stage behavior.

  1. Click the App Launcher and select Settings.


     
  2. In the Settings app, click the Navigation menu and select Service Types.



     
  3. On the Service Types page, click the hyperlinked name of the Service Type you want to edit. The Service Type record opens in a new tab.


     
  4. To use custom stages for Deals created using this Service Type, click the pencil icon in the Deal Record Type field.



     
  5. Copy the record type’s API Name from the Deal object in Object Manager and paste it into the Deal Record Type field.



     
  6. To use custom stages for Services created using this Service Type, click the pencil icon in the Service Record Type field.



     
  7. Copy the respective record type’s API Name from the Service object in Object Manager and paste it into the Service Record Type field.



     
  8. Click Save.
  9. Scroll up and click the Sync with Services button.

Understanding Default Stages

The following describes how Practifi determines which stage values to apply when a Deal or Service is created, depending on whether a record type has been associated with the relevant Service Type.

  • For Services, if the Service Record Type field on the Service Type record is populated with a record type API Name, Services created will use the configured custom stages. If not, the default Stage values configured in the product will be applied to the created Service records. Each profile will have a default record type saved under Record Type settings, which serves as a mapping for these default values.
  • For Deals, if the Deal Record Type field on the Service Type record is populated with a saved record type API Name, Deals created will use the configured custom stages. If not, all Stage values specified on the Deal object will apply to the Deals created. The default value for any newly created Deal would correspond to what is defined as the default value within the Stage field on the Deal object.
    • If there are multiple record types for the Deal object, one should be designated as the default record type at the profile level. If no default record type is selected at the profile level, the system selects the first record type created as the default.

Mass Updating Records with Different Stages

Once custom stages are in use across multiple Service Types, you may occasionally need to update the stage of multiple records at once, even if those records use different record types with different stage values. The Change Stage action on Deal and Service record lists is designed for exactly this scenario.

The action groups the selected records by their record type and presents a unique Stage picklist for each group, so users can update stages accurately without being constrained to a single set of values. This makes it practical to perform bulk stage updates across a diverse book of services without sacrificing the precision that custom stages provide.

 

 

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