Summary
Custom models let you define your own models in Planhat, alongside the system models (Company, End User, Conversation, etc.).
They're first-class: their own fields, associations, permissions, and profiles — and they work everywhere system models do, including integration sync, lookup fields, formula fields, and dashboards.
Use them for the parts of your business the built-in models don't cover — regions, partners, tenants, and the relationships between them.
This is the hub for the series; each building block below links to its own article.
Who is this article for?
Planhat builders and admins evaluating or setting up custom models for their team (for example, CS Ops).
Series
This article is part of a series on Custom Models:
Custom Models overview ⬅️ You are here
Creating and managing custom models · create a model, add fields, set permissions, previews, and profiles
Custom associations · associate records across models, primary associations, and many-to-many (junction models)
Salesforce integration for custom models · mirror a Salesforce object into a model
Custom keyables · matching unique records
Joined tables · show an associated model's field as a column
Article Contents
Click below to jump to the relevant section:
What are Custom Models?
Planhat includes a set of system models - the built-in ones like Company, End User, and Conversation - that cover most data needs. But many companies have processes or structures unique to them. Custom models let you mirror how your business actually works, instead of forcing everything into the built-in models.
A custom model is first-class: it has its own fields, associations, role-based permissions, and profiles, and it works everywhere system models do - integration sync, joined tables, formula fields, and dashboards.
Once a model exists, you work with its records like any other: in tables, on profiles, in filters, and in reporting.
The Building Blocks
A custom model is made up of a few parts. Each has a dedicated article with the detail.
Model your data - the shape and setup
Define a model (label, slug, icon) and give it custom fields | |
Link a record to a record on another model (a relationship) | |
Model a many-to-many relationship, with its own fields per link | |
Define your own unique, external ID field (like sourceId) that integrations use to match records |
Show relationships
Show values from related records in tables | |
Calculate values from associated records, like sum or count |
Sync & Integrate with External Systems
External data sync | Mirror an object or table from an external source — Salesforce, BigQuery, or Snowflake — into a custom model, mapping its keyable and associations |
Full CRUD over model definitions, custom fields, and records |
Benefits
Custom models let you shape Planhat around your data instead of the other way around. That means you can:
Keep data in one place - associations and lookup fields replace fields you'd otherwise copy between models, so values don't drift and there's less to maintain.
Integrate without extra pipelines - mirror a Salesforce object or a Snowflake/BigQuery table straight into a model, without needing to build or run in between.
Report across relationships - lookup fields and cross-model formulas give relational views and KPI roll-ups that system models alone can't produce.
Use Cases
With custom models, you can model the business as it really is. Some common ways teams use custom models:
Success plans - model Goals, Outcomes, and plans as associated models rather than free-text fields.
Nested cases and work items - model work items that nest under one another, with dashboards that combine data across them.
Contract- or asset-centric modeling - organise around a Contract, Asset, or product line rather than the Account.
Many-to-many relationships - partners, deal contacts, stakeholder mapping, and workspace membership, modelled with junction models.
Clean data for AI and agents - well-structured, connected data that AI agents can read and act on.
Further Reading
To go deeper, start with one of these:
Creating and managing custom models - the core setup: models, fields, permissions, previews, and profiles.
Custom associations and junction models - how to associate records, including many-to-many relationships.