First steps: an overview of the CRM

What the system is, how to navigate it and the essential concepts to get off to a good start.

This CRM helps your team organize customers, sales and activities in one place, from the first contact (lead) through closing the deal (opportunity) to the day-to-day follow-up (activities).

The key differentiator is that it is "metadata-driven": almost everything (objects, fields, list values, funnel stages, access roles) is configurable through the interface itself, with no programmer required.

The main screen

The left side has two blocks, code-editor style. First, a narrow icon RAIL: Dashboard, Activities, Inbox, Notifications and Favorites sit at the top; Billing, Support, Trash, Help, My account, Settings, the language switcher and Sign out sit at the bottom. Hover over any icon to see its name. Next to it, a wider PANEL holds your work areas: the logo and search (⌘K shortcut) stay pinned at the top; below them, the modules with sub-items (Sales, Products, Marketing, Service, Customer success, Partnerships, Analytics & governance and Other) live in collapsible GROUPS: click a header to expand or collapse it. Only the panel scrolls; the rail and the header stay in view.

You only see the groups and items your role can access. A group with no permitted item is not shown at all. Each group remembers whether you left it open or collapsed (in your browser), and the group of the page you are on stays open.

• Dashboard: your home screen, with a summary of the business: totals by object, pipeline value, weighted forecast and the tasks of the day.
• Sales: Opportunities, Leads, Contacts, Companies and related selling items, plus Forecast and Performance. The day-to-day lists open in Table view; Leads and Opportunities also have a Board view (kanban).
• Activities: the team's tasks, calls, meetings and follow-ups, with filters (Today, Overdue, Open, Completed).
• Other groups: Products, Marketing, Service, Customer success, Partnerships and Analytics & governance gather the objects and screens of each area. Objects you create appear under "Other".
• Settings: fields, list values, currency, users and access roles. Everything there applies to the whole organization.
• Help: this reference center, with topic search.

Essential concepts

• Object: a type of information (Contact, Company, Lead, Opportunity or one of your own objects). Think of it as a "record card".
• Field: a piece of data within the object (Name, Email, Value, Stage…). You can create as many as you like.
• Record: a filled-in card (e.g. the contact "Ana Souza").
• Pipeline: the sales funnel, with stages through which opportunities advance.
• Role: defines what each user can see and do (Admin, Sales Manager, Account Manager…).

A roadmap to get started

1. Register a few Contacts and Companies (sidebar menu → New).
2. Create an Opportunity and set the Stage and the Value.
3. Open Opportunities → Board and drag the card between stages to get a feel for the funnel.
4. Log an Activity (e.g. a follow-up call) inside a record.
5. In Settings, adjust fields and roles to match your process.

Open this article inside the system →