Operations has fifteen surfaces and they depend on each other. Configured in order, each step makes the next easier. Out of order, you redo work.
This is the order, with the reason for each position.
1. Custom Fields
First, before anything else. Everything downstream reads them: imports map to them, automations set and test them, boards display them, filters use them.
A field created after you have imported forty thousand rows means importing again. A field created after you have built automations means revisiting them.
Spend an hour listing what your business tracks that the platform does not ship with. See Custom Fields.
2. Hubs and Pipelines
Not in Operations, but they gate it. Records attach to a hub; deals need a pipeline stage to land in. Both are painful to retrofit.
See Hubs in the Settings section.
3. Communication Templates
Before automations, because a send action takes a template rather than a body. If you are using WhatsApp, this moves even earlier - templates need provider approval and that has a lead time measured in days.
4. Email and Domains
Before you publish anything with an address on it. Domain verification and provider forwarding both involve waiting, so start early.
See Connecting Your Own Domain and Forwarding Mail From Your Provider.
5. Import Your Data
Now, with fields and pipelines ready, so everything has somewhere to land.
Deactivate creation-triggered automations first. This is why import comes before building automations - there is nothing yet to fire.
See Migrating From Another CRM.
6. Clean What You Imported
Before building anything on top of it. Work the queues: no owner, no company, duplicates.
An automation routing by owner does nothing for records with no owner, and it fails silently.
See Data Management.
7. Automations
Now the ground is solid. Start with one template, watch it run, then build your own.
See Building Your First Automation.
8. Channels
Phone, web chat, booking. These are independent of each other, so order among them does not matter - but they come after data because routing needs departments and people in place.
9. Meeting Types
Once teams are working, define what your meetings are and what to look for in them.
See Meeting Types and Frameworks.
10. Boards and Reporting
Last, because they display everything above. Building a dashboard on data you have not cleaned produces confident wrong numbers.
The Cost Of Getting It Wrong
The two expensive inversions:
Importing before creating fields. You import, discover three columns have nowhere to go, create the fields, and import again - now with duplicates from the first pass to clean up.
Building automations before cleaning data. They run against broken records, half-work, and you spend days debugging the workflow when the workflow was fine.
Caution
The most expensive single mistake is importing with creation automations active. A welcome email workflow plus a five thousand contact import equals five thousand emails to people who have never heard of you. Deactivate first, reactivate after. See Triggers and Events.
A Realistic Timeline
- Week 1 - fields, hubs, pipelines, templates. Start domain verification.
- Week 2 - pilot import, verify mapping, full import, clean the queues.
- Week 3 - first automations, channels.
- Week 4 - meeting types, boards, reporting.
Most of the time is preparation and verification. The mechanical steps are quick.
Common Questions
We have already imported. Are we stuck? No. Create the fields you need, then import just those columns matched to existing records. It is more work than doing it first, not impossible.
Can we do this in parallel? Fields, hubs and templates can run in parallel. Import must come after all three, and cleaning after import.
Do we need all fifteen surfaces? No. Most workspaces use fields, import, automations and one or two channels. Set up what you will use.
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