Setup: Team Database Structure
Database structure determines who works on which contacts. This is the most important decision in your team setup — and one of the hardest to change after the fact. Get this right before adding your first team member.
Why This Matters
Once team members have contacts and activity in the system, changing database structure requires deleting team members, losing their templates and settings, and manually reassigning data. Plan carefully now to avoid that process later.
Watch & Learn
🎥 Video: Database Sharing Groups
The Three Structures
Shared database — The Owner, Administrators, and Team Players all see and work the same contact list. Best for offices where everyone serves all clients — medical practices, law offices, service businesses.
Separate databases — Independent Users and Power Users each have their own contact list that other team members cannot see. Best for sales territories, real estate agents, insurance agents, or any model where client relationships belong to specific individuals.
Mixed — Some team members share the Owner's contacts while others have independent databases. Best for businesses that have both shared support staff and independent salespeople.
How to Choose
Ask yourself two questions:
Who owns the client relationship — the company or the individual? If clients belong to the business and multiple people serve them, use a shared database. If clients have a relationship with a specific person who might take them if they left, use separate databases.
Does Team Member B need to see Team Member A's contacts? If yes — for coverage, collaboration, or reporting — use a shared database. If no, separate databases are appropriate.
How Database Groups Work in Practice
The Owner's database group includes the Account Owner, all Administrators, and all Team Players. Everyone in this group sees the same contacts, works the same deals, and can use shared templates.
Each Independent User gets a completely separate database. They cannot see the Owner's contacts or any other Independent User's contacts. Administrators can view their database, but no one else can.
Each Power User gets their own database and can add Team Players who share that database. This creates a mini-team within your larger organization. A franchise with three locations, for example, would have three Power Users — each running their own operation independently while the Account Owner maintains visibility across all of them.
Critical Warnings
⚠️ You cannot convert a Team Player to an Independent User (or vice versa) without deleting and recreating their account, which loses all their templates, calendar appointments, and settings.
⚠️ Contacts cannot be automatically synced between separate databases. If you need the same contact visible to multiple people, use a shared database — not separate databases.
⚠️ Administrators can view all databases regardless of structure. Individual team members can only see their own database.
Questions and Answers
Q: What if I'm genuinely unsure which structure to use?
A: Default to shared database. It is easier to split contacts later than to merge them. Take time to think through your business model before committing either way.
Q: Can I have a mixed structure where some Team Players are shared and others are independent?
A: No. All Team Players share the Owner's database. Anyone who needs a separate database must be an Independent User or Power User.
Q: Should franchise locations be Independent Users or Power Users?
A: Power Users. They get their own automation systems and can have their own Team Players. Independent Users cannot have sub-teams or their own automations.
Q: Can an Administrator see a Power User's separate database?
A: Yes. Administrators have visibility into all databases regardless of structure.
Q: What if I start with a shared database and want to give someone their own database later?
A: That requires deleting their Team Player account and recreating them as an Independent User or Power User, which loses their templates and settings. This is why planning before setup matters.
Guide Type: One-Time Setup Task
Estimated Time: 20 minutes (planning time)
Video Transcript
A Database Sharing Group is a group of team members who share the same contacts and deals.
Here we have a rather complex team with 4 different database sharing groups.
Nick, Tom and Jen are all sharing contacts and deals
Lily, Margaret and Stan have their own sharing group.
George has contacts and deals all to himself.
And finally, Emily and Sue share contacts and deals.
So in our example Emily and Sue can not see George’s contacts and vice versa.
Within a sharing group, team members can assign to-dos to each other.
But you can’t assign to-do’s to team member outside your sharing group.
This is because they wouldn’t be able to see or have access to that contact.
The team leader can access everyone’s contacts and can even move contacts from one sharing group to a different sharing group.