When it comes to setting up Contacts, Accounts, and Deal fields, there are always instances where you may want to set up customized fields that are relevant only to a dropdown option chosen in another field. This is known as Field Dependency and can help you set the behavior of another field based on the option chosen.


How does it work?

Field Dependency is set between two fields – a controlling field and a dependent field.

  • Controlling Field: Controlling fields are those which control the available values in one or more corresponding dependent fields.  
    Fields that can be controlling fields: Both Default and Custom fields of type:
    • Dropdown
    • Checkbox
    • Radio Button

  • Dependent Field: Dependent fields are those which display values based on the selected controlling field value.
    Fields that can be dependent fields: Default and Custom fields of any type

Based on the value selected in the controlling field, dependent fields can be made dynamic.

Let us assume that you chose the outcome of a deal between won or lost; choosing the option 'lost' presents you with a set of options that allows you to pick reasons for why the deal was unsuccessful.
Refer below to learn how this can be done:

DETAILED STEPS:

  1. Click Admin settings from your left navigation bar, locate Deals & Pipelines section, and click on Deals.

  2. Click to create a custom field with the title “Lost to competition”. 

    Note: 
    - You can also create dependency between existing fields.
    - A controlling field can have multiple dependent fields.
    - However, a dependent field can have only one controlling field. If an account is downgraded, all dependencies will be deactivated, and users will not be able to access the dependency screen.
    - If the account is upgraded, the dependency will be listed in deactivated state.


  3. This field will be the Dependent field and will carry the names of all of your competitors. This field will be mapped to the controlling field ‘Lost Reason’

  1. Upon saving the custom field, click the Add dependent field button. This opens a form titled “CREATE DEPENDENCY.” You can use this form to set dependencies between different fields.


     

  2. Proceed by selecting a choice from the Controlling field. In this case, we’ve chosen “Lost to Competition”


  3. Now select the respective dependent field for the controlling field.



  4. Marking dependent fields as required:
    Turn on the the     Mark as required * toggle to make the field dependency required. Whenever a field is marked required, the user cannot submit the form without filling the field when the relevant choice is  selected in the controlling field



  5. Click to save your field dependency settings. 

  6. You can also manage field dependencies using “Manage field dependencies” from the module settings page as highlighted below:




  7. On the Manage field dependencies page, you will also notice that a few dependencies are in disabled state. These are default dependencies that cover some common use cases across the Contacts and Deals modules.


    For example, in the contacts module, you want to set subscription types as a dependent field for Subscription status. Subscription types as a dependent field will be apt only if the choice selected in Subscription status is ‘Subscribed.’ For reasons like these, users are not allowed to modify the choice-to-dependent field mapping and are not allowed to disable the default dependencies. However, users can still choose to mark the dependent field as required.

Note: You will be able to mark dependent fields as required from the field dependency page only



List of default dependencies per module:


Contact

  1. Life cycle stage -> status (Mapping as per lifecycle stage settings)

  2. Status: Lost value of the last stage -> lost reason

  3. Subscription status: Subscribed -> subscription types

  4. Subscription status: Unsubscribed -> Unsubscribe reason

  5. Unsubscribe reason: Others -> Other unsubscribe reason

Deal

  1. Deal pipeline -> Deal stage Mapping as per pipeline configuration

  2. Deal stage: Won-> closed date

  3. Deal stage: Lost -> Lost reason

  4. Forecast category -> Expected closed date

Note
- Apart from the default dependencies available in the CRM, users will have a limit of 100 field dependencies to create per entity in the Pro and Enterprise plans.

- Users can create a maximum of 10 levels of field dependencies. You can also reorder dependent fields based on your preferences.



FAQs


1. What is the impact area across app?


Feature
Impact on controlling fields
Impact on dependent fields
Column Customization
No impact; the field will be treated independently
No impact; the field will be treated independently
Filter
No impact; the field will be treated independently
No impact; the field will be treated independently
Reports
No impact; the field will be treated independently
No impact; the field will be treated independently
Contact Scoring
No impact; the field will be treated independently
No impact; the field will be treated independently
Export
No impact; the field will be treated independently
No impact; the field will be treated independently
Bulk Update
The field will be shown a toggle to display the dependent field. When enabled the toggle will display the dependent field.
Note: The toggle will be disabled by default and will not display any dependencies
Only when the toggle is enabled will the dependent fields be displayed.
Note: When a bulk update is made, validation will not be applied and the field will be updated even if the record does not satisfy the field dependency.
Workflow
No impact; The field will be updated independently.
No impact; The field will be updated independently.
Note: When a bulk update is made, validation will not be applied and the field will be updated even if the record does not satisfy the field dependency.
Import
The controlling field will be saved without validation.
If the value of the dependent field does not match with the value of the controlling field, the import will save the value without validation. But the value will not show up in the form as the dependency is not matched.
Webforms
As of now, field dependency is not supported on Webforms.
As of now, field dependency is not supported on Webforms.


2. What happens when a dependent field is marked as mandatory?

If the dependent field is marked mandatory, the mandatory check will be made only when the dependent field is shown on the form based on the controlling field value.

For example, let us assume that a controlling field has two choices “Won” and “Lost” where the choice “Lost” is connected to the dependent fields “Reason for loss”, marking the field “Lost” mandatory would make the field “Reason for loss” mandatory. However, if the user chooses “Won”, then the field mandate will not be applied.    


3. What happens when an account is downgraded to Free or Growth plans?

Field dependency is not available for the Free and Growth plans. So whenever an account is downgraded to Free or Growth, the field dependencies are automatically deactivated. However, the created dependencies will not be deleted and will be a part of the account. Once the user accounts are upgraded back to higher plans, the field dependencies can be reactivated by the user.