Skip to main content
The Data Module: Overview

An overview of the data module in Planhat

Christian Dreyer avatar
Written by Christian Dreyer
Updated over a week ago

Of the many complexities in Customer Success, one is the need to manage so many different types of data. 

The data module is designed to make managing your key data simple, providing you with endless flexibility to organise, filter and edit data so you always have clean data to work with.

In the data module you can:

  • Pick and choose what data to show on any model and save different views. 

  • In-line edit data to ensure accuracy and work efficiently. 

  • Switch between table and board views to easily interpret your data

  • Perform bulk actions to efficiently update customers.

There are 5 core elements to the data module:

  1. Data models (listed at the top)

  2. Filtering and Search (side and search bars)

  3. Table view vs Board view (icons next to search bar)

  4. Selecting what data to show (column picker icon)

  5. Bulk actions (elipsis icon)

Below we will explain each element and some of the key functionality.

Data Models

The core data types CS teams work with are organised from left to right at the top of the data module.

Your user role determines what data you see on each Model. Admin's and Managers by default will see everything, whereas CSMs will only see the data they own. For example the Companies in their portfolio or the Workflows they are managing. 

Each data model has a similar look and feel when clicked, and displays data relevant to that model. Further, each model can have unique filters so you can segment your Customers on the Company filter and organise your Licenses (recurring revenue) on the Licenses model. 

Data displayed in the table view can be edited in-line by clicking the field. Text fields can be updated, and most other fields changed, edited or populated.

On some models, a list icon enables you to view a slideout containing detailed data about what you are looking at. For example, the list icon on the Workflow model will show you the tasks in the underlying Workflow, while on the Opportunity it will show you details of the forecasted Opportunity. 

Filtering and Search

On the left side of your screen, you will find a filter bar. You can mouse to the left side of the screen and it will appear, you can click the arrow icon at the top and it will remain visible at all times. 

On the filter bar, you can build, edit and delete filters and folders, drag and drop those you already have and view the contents of any. 

To learn more about working with filters please see this article.

At the top of the screen, you have a search bar. Here you can type to search for a specific customer, or click the down arrow to search within a filter. 

For example, you can build a filter showing your Enterprise clients and then search within it for all Enterprise clients currently in the Onboarding phase. 

You can do the same for any field on the model you are looking at, including the account owner on the company model if you need to search for a specific team member's portfolio. Commonly used fields are displayed in the dropdown with all others available under the + sign. 

Table view vs Board view

Viewing data in a table is the most common and user-friendly way to look at customer data. It gives you the flexibility to view different columns in a clean and crisp layout. 

However, some data is better laid out in a board view. For example, viewing progression through the customer lifecycle of a portfolio is clearer with the data structured in boards for each lifecycle phase. 

The board icon is next to the table icon and enables you to switch between both views. Tables can show any data on the model and boards can be based on any field of type list. Aside from the lifecycle phase, common use cases include viewing customers by primary use case, industry, country, owner, Workflows by Workflow name, or End Users by Role.

Selecting what data to show

The data module is incredibly flexible and allows you to pick and choose how you filter, and within each filter what data you display. 

The column picker icon on the right-hand side lets you choose any fields from the model you are viewing and order the columns as you need. You can pin columns so they stick to the left-hand side of the screen as you scroll and drag and drop columns to change the order. 

In addition, you can right-click at the top of any column to get options to add additional columns or pin the column you are viewing. 

Each filter can have different columns visible and after re-ordering columns you can save the filter with the new layout. 

When selecting columns you can search and filter the available columns using the search bar at the top.

Bulk Actions

On the table view, you can use the checkboxes next to each row to select one or many rows of whatever data you are showing. Once selected, the ellipsis icon on the top right will show the number of rows selected and become available for bulk actions.

The available actions are based on the model you are viewing. 

Did this answer your question?