Adding and managing records

Getting records into an object, keeping them current, and the question of what owns the data.

Getting records into an object, keeping them current, and the question of what owns the data.

Three ways in

• By hand, from the records page. Fine for a few dozen.
• Bulk import, from a file. The route for an existing list.
• Through the API, from the system that owns the data. The route for anything that changes.

Add one by hand

1. Open the custom object's records page.
2. Add a record.
3. Fill in the fields.
4. Save.

The question that decides everything

What owns this data? If contracts live in your finance system, Zendesk holds a copy, and a copy goes stale unless something keeps it in step.

• Zendesk owns it: maintain it here, and make sure someone is responsible.
• Another system owns it: sync through the API, and treat the Zendesk copy as read-only for agents.

The failure mode is the middle ground: a copy imported once, edited occasionally by agents, and diverging from the source. Everyone stops trusting it within a year.

Keeping it usable

Records for things that ended should be marked as such rather than deleted, so historical tickets still make sense. A status field on the object handles that, and it needs deciding at design time rather than after.

See also

• Bulk importing custom object records
• The custom object records page
• Creating a custom object
• The custom object records page