To use entities, you must first configure your relationship types. A relationship type defines how you interact with your entities. They can also be used to configure entity permissions. Ironclad comes preconfigured with three types of relationships:
- Customer: Used for companies you sell goods or services to.
- Partner: Used for companies that you partner with.
- Vendor: Used for companies you buy goods or services from.
You can also create additional relationship types in Data Manager.
After you create your relationship types, configure the properties you want to include for each relationship type. Entity properties are data points you want to collect and track.
Use Case
Classics Inc. manages a variety of business relationships, including customers, vendors, and strategic partners. While the default relationship types in Ironclad cover most needs, the legal operations team wants to track a new category of entities: consultants.
To do this, the team opens Data Manager and creates a new relationship type called Consultant. This allows them to tag and manage consulting firms separately from vendors or partners. When users create or edit entities, they can now assign the Consultant relationship type, ensuring better organization and more precise reporting across workflows.
Permissions
| Features | Entities, Data Manager |
| Permissions | Admin role OR Repository and Entities = View, edit, and create access to all Record types and Entity types (current and future) |
Create a Relationship Type
- Click on your profile icon located in the top right corner of Ironclad. Navigate to Company Settings > Data Manager.
- From the dropdown at the top, select Relationship Types.
- Click Create relationship type.
- In the Name field, enter the name of the relationship type. This field is required.
- In the Description field, enter a description of the relationship type.
- Configure the properties included in the relationship type. By default, all entities, regardless of type include the following properties: Name, Status, and Business Type.
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To add a property, click Add property, search for the property, and select the property to add it to the relationship type.
Note: To add a new entity property to the relationship type, you must first create the entity property in Data Manager. To avoid losing your progress, we recommend saving your relationship type first, then creating the entity property, and finally adding it to your new relationship type.
- To remove an existing property, locate the property you want to remove and click the three stacked dots next to it. Click Remove from type > Remove, and the property is removed.
- To set a property as required, locate the property you want to mark as required and click the three stacked dots next to it. Click Set as required, and the property is marked as required.
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- Click Save.
Edit an Existing Relationship Type
- Click on your profile icon located in the top right corner of Ironclad. Navigate to Company Settings > Data Manager.
- From the dropdown at the top, select Relationship Types.
- Click the relationship type you want to edit. You can then edit the name, description, and properties.
- Configure the properties included in the relationship type:
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To add a property, click Add property, search for the property, and select the property to add it to the relationship type.
Note: To add a new entity property to the relationship type, you must first create the entity property in Data Manager. To avoid losing your progress, we recommend saving your relationship type first, then creating the entity property, and finally adding it to your new relationship type.
- To remove an existing property, locate the property you want to remove and click the three stacked dots next to it. Click Remove from type > Remove, and the property is removed.
- To set a property as required, locate the property you want to mark as required and click the three stacked dots next to it. Click Set as required, and the property is marked as required.
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- Click Save.
Delete an Existing Relationship Type
- Click on your profile icon located in the top right corner of Ironclad. Navigate to Company Settings > Data Manager.
- From the dropdown at the top, select Relationship Types.
- Click the relationship type you want to delete.
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Click Delete located in the top right corner.
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If the relationship type is currently used in an entity, a message displays listing the entities it is used in. Click the blue hyperlink to be taken to the entities Dashboard, and then edit the indicated entities to use a different relationship type. Click back to the previous tab and click Refresh usages. If the conflicts are resolved, you can move forward with deleting the relationship type.
- If the relationship type is not currently used in an entity, type ‘DELETE’ and then click Delete. This will remove it from your list of relationship types. This action cannot be undone.
Resources
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