How Do I Understand The Data Structure In Tribe CRM?

This article explains how data is organised internally in Tribe CRM including how different kinds of data (organisations, contacts, customers, products, etc.) are stored and linked together. Understanding this structure helps you build correct views, templates, widgets or automations. By reading this guide you will learn where specific information lives and how to reference it properly in Tribe.

What Does This Feature Do? — Data Structure Overview

In Tribe CRM, data is stored in different “layers” (or entities) such as organisations, contacts, customers, product lines, products, etc.

These layers are connected through links — for example an organisation can be linked to multiple contacts; a sales opportunity can link to multiple product lines; each product line points to a single product.

This structure enables flexibility: depending on what kind of data you need (organisation-level, customer-level, person-level, product-level), you start from the correct layer and follow the proper links.

Why Or When Should You Use This Knowledge?

When you build custom templates, views or widgets and need to include specific data fields — knowing where fields live avoids missing or incorrect data.
When you manage contacts, customers or sales opportunities, and need clarity whether a field belongs to organisation, person, customer, product line or product.
When you use reports, exports, automations or integrations, and you need to reference the correct level of data to get accurate information.

How Data Layers Are Linked In Tribe CRM

Organisation — Contact Person — Person

Organisations represent companies or legal entities. A single organisation can have several contact persons.
Contact-person data (e.g. name, contact details) is stored at the “contact” level. Private personal data of the person is stored at the “person” level.

Customer (Status / Type) vs. Organisation

If an organisation is a “customer” (prospect, lead, client, etc.), then specific customer-related data (e.g. status) is stored at the “customer” level — not on the organisation itself.
To combine organisation-level fields with customer-level fields, you must use the correct links when building views or templates.

Sales Opportunities — Product Lines — Products (and Product Groups)

A sales opportunity may include multiple product lines. Each product line represents an offered product within that sale.
Each product line links to a single product from your product database. This allows for multiple products per sale, each on its own line.
If you need data such as product group (or other product-related attributes) in a widget or view, you must navigate via product line → product → product group (or other product-level fields).

Examples: How This Structure Matters In Practice

If you want a view listing all organisations with their customer status, you start in Relations > Organisations, then navigate to the customer-fields section to add status.
If you want a contact-person list including date of birth (a person-level field), you start in Relations > Contacts, then navigate to the person-fields to add date of birth.
If you build a widget showing best-selling products, start from sales opportunities, then step to product lines, then to products, and optionally to product groups depending on your output.

Tips Or Best Practices

Always think about “where the data lives” — for each field ask, "is it on organisation, contact, customer, product line, product or elsewhere?"
When creating custom views, templates or widgets — choose the correct starting layer based on what data you need.
For complex data (e.g. sales with multiple products and product groups), follow the logical links step by step to avoid errors or missing data.
Practise building different views or widgets to familiarise yourself with how the layers link. Over time, you will naturally recognise the structure.

Quick Summary

Tribe CRM organises data in separate, linked layers (or entities) such as organisations, contacts, customers, product lines and products. Understanding how these layers link helps you build accurate templates, views, widgets, exports or automations. With this knowledge you can reliably access and present the right data in the right context.