Boards and Pipeline Mode
A board presents records from a datastore as cards in columns, where the column is a field on the record. Moving a card changes that field.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Commercial:
- Boards & Pipeline — the console — build and work boards
- Pipelines — the underlying board definitions
Architect Panel → Data:
- Datastores — the datastore a board is built over
What a board is configured with
- The datastore it displays.
- The status field — which field becomes the columns.
- The title field — what each card shows.
- An ordering field, and a field controlling what else appears on the card.
- Maximum cards per column.
That is enough for a working board over anything with a status: tasks, applications, repairs, tickets.
Pipeline mode
Switching a board into pipeline mode turns it from a task board into a sales pipeline. It adds three field mappings:
- Amount field — the value of each record.
- Close date field — when it is expected to conclude.
- Owner field — who is responsible.
With those, the board can weight and total its columns rather than merely counting cards, and stages gain probability and forecast meaning.
Why it is one mechanism rather than two
A sales pipeline is a board whose columns happen to be sales stages. Building it as a mode on the general board rather than as a separate feature means any staged process can become a pipeline — and a pipeline is not restricted to a datastore called Opportunities.
Choose the status field carefully
It should be a field with a small, controlled set of values. A free-text status produces a column per distinct spelling, which is how boards become unusable.
If your status field is free text, fix that before building the board.
Set the card limit deliberately
A column with hundreds of cards is a list, not a board. The limit keeps the view readable; if a stage genuinely holds hundreds of records, that is usually a sign the stage is doing too much or nothing is being closed out.
Moving a card is a data change
Worth stating plainly: dragging a card edits the record's status field, which is audited like any other change and subject to the same permissions. Somebody who cannot edit the field cannot move the card.
Start without pipeline mode
Get the board working first — right datastore, sensible columns, readable cards. Turn on pipeline mode once that is right, because the three extra field mappings are easier to reason about on a board you can already see.
Worked example
A team builds a board over their Opportunities datastore with the stage field as columns and the opportunity name as the title. Once it reads well, they enable pipeline mode and map value, expected close date and owner. The board immediately totals each column by value rather than count.
Recommendations
- Use a controlled-value field for columns, never free text.
- Build the board first, then enable pipeline mode.
- Consider pipeline mode for any staged process, not only sales.
- Keep card limits low enough to stay readable.