Set up your workspace: the complete admin checklist

This is the complete setup path for the person configuring GainTrace for their team. Work through it once, in order, and you end with health scores on every Company, a live churn read, a Triage queue worth working, new Companies routed to owners automatically, and boards and flows running on real data. Plan for about an hour of hands-on work. The longest waits are data syncs, which run in the background, so most teams finish over a day or two. The order below follows the product’s real dependency chain: data must flow before field mapping has fields, usage events must arrive before feature adoption produces numbers, features and definitions feed health, owners must exist before assignment rules route anything, and boards and flows come last because they consume everything above. Each stage says why it sits where it does.

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Before you start

You will connect tools you already use, so it helps to have admin access in each one: your CRM, your billing tool, and your product analytics. Connecting uses OAuth or an API key, so there is nothing to prepare beyond being able to sign in to each.

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The path at a glance

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1. Create your workspace

Why now: every record, setting, and teammate lives inside a workspace, so nothing else exists until it does. The first time you sign in at app.gaintrace.com, GainTrace walks you through a short wizard: your team size, your function, how you found the product, and the tools in your stack. Answer the stack questions honestly rather than skipping them - your picks seed a Connect your stack card on your home page that carries you through stage 3 without hunting the catalog. If you skip it: you cannot. The wizard is the front door. People who join an existing workspace through an invite skip workspace creation entirely.

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2. Invite your team

Why now: assignment rules (stage 13) distribute Companies to members, so owners have to exist before routing can. Inviting early also lets teammates pick up stages in parallel. Teammates land in the workspace with all data already in place; there is no per-person setup. CSMs can start with the CSM guide while you continue here. If you skip it: everything still works for you alone, but stage 13 has no one to assign Companies to, and champion coverage (stage 14) stays empty because coverage is read across owned Companies. Deep dive: Members, roles, and teams.

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3. Connect your data sources

Why now: every downstream surface consumes synced data. Until something flows in, features have no events, health has no inputs, and the churn read has nothing to learn from. This is the one stage nothing else can precede. If you skip it: the workspace stays empty. The Setup page marks this step as blocking everything downstream. Deep dive: Integrations, plus per-tool guides for HubSpot, Salesforce, Stripe, and Paddle.

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4. Filter what syncs in

Why now: filters apply from the next sync and never delete existing records, so the best moment to set them is before the big backfill fills your workspace with prospects, test records, and dead deals. On each connection’s settings page (open Data > Sources, click Manage), scroll to Ingestion filters:

• Company conditions work immediately and evaluate the unified Company profile across all connectors - the one-click example seeds the most common rule, only sync paying customers.
• Stream filters target a source’s raw fields and unlock once the connection’s streams are discovered - run a sync or open Sync coverage on the connection, no full sync required. A never-synced stream can load a live sample of 5 records (not ingested) so you can filter it before the first sync.

Filters fail open: a rule that cannot be evaluated keeps records rather than dropping them. If you skip it: everything in the source syncs. Health scores, signals, and the churn read then average in Companies that were never customers. You can add filters later, but already-synced records stay until you remove them yourself. Deep dive: Ingestion filters.

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5. Review your data model

Why now: records land in your data model during the first sync, so this is the first moment there is something real to check. Confirm the shape now, before stages 6 through 16 build on it. New workspaces come with a ready-made set of system models, so in most cases there is nothing to build. Open Data > Data Model and confirm your Companies and People look the way you expect: right companies, right fields, plausible counts. Add custom objects or fields here if your business needs them. While you are in the Data section, two neighboring pages are worth a glance once data has landed: Identity shows how records from different sources were merged into one Company or Person, and Data Quality flags gaps worth fixing at the source. If you skip it: the defaults usually hold, but a mis-shaped record set discovered in stage 10 or 16 costs far more to unwind than a two-minute check here. Deep dive: The data model, Companies, People.

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6. Map source fields

Why now: mapping needs the field schema that the first sync discovers, so it cannot usefully happen before stage 3 completes. Mapped fields are what flow into Companies, health, and boards - unmapped fields sit in raw storage and power nothing. For CRM connections that support write-back (Salesforce, HubSpot, Close), field mapping is also where you control which fields push back to the CRM, alongside the Sync direction setting on the connection. If you skip it: common fields still arrive through the proposed defaults, but anything unmapped - custom CRM properties, plan fields, owner emails - never reaches Companies, so filters, health inputs, and board columns built on those fields stay empty.

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7. Import your pricing catalog

Why now: it needs nothing but an API key from your billing provider, and the plan and tier context it creates feeds billing risk, ingestion filter conditions, and assignment rule conditions in the stages ahead. You can also define products and tiers by hand on the same page, including trial lengths, seat limits, and usage metrics. If you skip it: revenue still syncs through your billing connector, but Companies lack normalized plan and tier context, so plan-based filters, rules, and billing-risk reads have less to work with.

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8. Define your features

Why now: feature adoption is computed from product usage events, so definitions only produce numbers once analytics events are flowing from stage 3. Features also feed the adoption dimension of every health score, which stage 10 weighs. If you skip it: the Setup page marks this blocking. Feature adoption stays empty, and the adoption dimension of health has nothing to score, so every health score runs on fewer inputs. Deep dive: Feature adoption.

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9. Define lifecycle stages

Why now: lifecycle stages are defined by entry and exit conditions over your synced records, so they need real data to evaluate - and they give health, flows, and reporting their journey context before you tune those surfaces. Open Setup > Lifecycle (also reachable from the Setup checklist). For each stage of your customer journey - for example onboarding, adopting, established, renewal - set:

• The stage order and the transitions you allow between stages
• Entry conditions, and optionally exit conditions
• An expected duration, so overdue Companies stand out
• Optionally a capacity per stage

If you skip it: Companies have no journey position, so lifecycle context is missing from health reviews, flows cannot react to stage changes, and reporting by stage is empty.

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10. Review health scoring

Why now: every workspace is provisioned with a working default profile, so health starts filling in as soon as data flows - but the weights are defaults nobody chose. Review them after stages 3, 8, and 9, when the dimensions they weigh actually have data behind them. Open Setup > Health scoring. The score is a weighted composite of six dimensions - usage, engagement, adoption, sentiment, revenue, and support - plus a CSM override that is deliberately the single heaviest input when a CSM sets one. Adjust the weights to what predicts retention in your business, and save. Health lands each Company in one of three states - healthy, at risk, or churning - shown on the Companies list and on each Company’s page. If you skip it: health still works on the default weights, and the Setup page reports this honestly as Using default weights (never reviewed) rather than done. Nothing is off, but the central number of the product reflects assumptions you never confirmed. Deep dive: Health scores.

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11. Define churn and activate indicators

Why now: this is the strictest dependency in the product. Until you confirm what churn means for your business, no churn number is served at all - and until at least one indicator is active, nothing can move it. It sits here because the indicators GainTrace suggests are grounded in your real Companies, which need stages 3 through 10 behind them. Open Setup > Predictor and work the stations in order: If you skip it: the churn read is off, silently. The Setup page marks both halves - the definition and the indicators - as blocking, because a workspace can look fully set up while serving no churn number at all.

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12. Tune signal settings

Why now: signals decide what lands in Triage and what your flows react to. Tune them before the team starts working the queue, so the first week of Triage builds trust instead of noise. Open Setup > Signals. The catalog lists every signal GainTrace can detect with the exact values it uses right now, alongside each signal’s data availability in your workspace. For the signals that matter to you, tune the thresholds, windows, severity, and cooldown. Each signal waits out its own cooldown between fires, so one noisy signal cannot flood the queue. Automations reference these same settings, so one change here applies everywhere the signal is used. If you skip it: signals fire on stock values. That is a reasonable start, but thresholds tuned for a generic business produce a queue your team learns to ignore - re-tune here the moment Triage feels noisy or quiet. Deep dive: Triage.

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13. Set assignment rules

Why now: rules assign owners to Companies, so they need members (stage 2) to route to and Companies (stage 3) to route - and rules built on plan, segment, or health conditions work best after stages 6 through 10 have populated those fields. Rules apply as new Companies sync in, and you can also run them manually or as a rebalance. A Company that already has an owner is left alone except during an explicit rebalance. If you skip it: every Company that syncs in arrives unassigned, and someone hand-assigns owners forever. Champion coverage (stage 14) also stays dormant, since coverage is read across owned Companies.

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14. Name your champions

Why now: champions are People, so People must be synced, and the coverage read runs across owned Companies, so ownership (stage 13) should exist first. Losing a champion is one of the strongest single-Company churn signals there is, which is why this step is on the Setup checklist rather than a nice-to-have. Open Champions in the Records section. For each Company that matters, name who is in your corner - your champion, and where relevant the executive sponsor. The page then shows coverage: which owned Companies have no champion at all. To hear about departures automatically, open Settings > Champion tracking and set up the LinkedIn departure monitor. Each actively watched profile consumes a monitoring seat, and pausing a monitor frees the seat while keeping the person’s role on the Company. If you skip it: champion-loss detection has no one to watch, so one of the strongest churn signals never fires, and coverage gaps stay invisible. Deep dive: Champion tracking.

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15. Set up surveys

Why now: survey responses feed the sentiment dimension of health. This stage is genuinely optional - the product works without it, health is just thinner - which is why it sits late and unblocked. Open Setup > Surveys and click Create Survey. Choose the type - NPS, CSAT, or CES - and name it. Responses roll up per Company and flow into the sentiment dimension that stage 10 weighted. If you skip it: nothing turns off. Health scores sentiment from less, and the Setup page lists the step as optional rather than blocking.

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16. Create boards and flows

Why now: boards report on the data every earlier stage produced, and flows automate on the definitions every earlier stage created. Built first, boards render empty and flows have nothing to fire on. This is deliberately the last stage. Boards - open Boards and create your first board: a renewals view, a book-of-business overview, or an executive health summary. Board metrics draw on your data model, health, and revenue, so everything you configured above shows up as real numbers. Flows - open Automation > Flows and automate the responses your team repeats: alert the owner when health drops, open a task when a champion leaves, notify a channel when a Company enters the renewal window. Flows react to the signals, lifecycle stages, and ownership you defined in stages 9, 12, and 13. Living Plans - one shared success plan per Company, with a customer-facing link - are ready once Companies and owners exist. See Success plans. If you skip it: nothing breaks - the operational surfaces (Companies, Triage, Renewals) run without them. You are leaving reporting and automation on the table, not correctness. Deep dive: Boards and Flows.

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Beyond the core

These surfaces are real configuration but not part of the day-one path. Set them up when the need arrives:

• General (Settings > General): workspace name and basics.
• Email & Calendar (Settings > Email & Calendar): connect your mailbox so customer email and meeting activity enrich engagement.
• Notifications (Settings > Notifications): choose what GainTrace tells each person, and where.
• Outcome KPI (Settings > Outcome KPI): track your customers’ own result metric against per-Company targets, using metrics from your data model.
• Teams (Settings > Teams): grouping members into teams for routing and reporting; see Teams for current availability.
• Brand kit: your logo and colors on customer-facing surfaces such as shared plans.
• Security, Single Sign-On, and Audit Log (Settings, admin-only): workspace hardening, alongside the main-nav Governance section for roles and access reviews; see Governance.
• Feature Flags (Settings, admin-only): toggle experimental capabilities per workspace.
• Developer surfaces (Settings > API Keys, Webhooks, MCP, Signal Push, Sequences): programmatic access and outbound event delivery.
• AI Models, AI Usage, and AI Permissions: control which model powers Trace AI and what it may do; see Trace AI.
• Billing (Settings > Billing): your own GainTrace plan and seats; see Billing and plans.

Profile and Preferences are personal settings, not workspace setup - each member manages their own.

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How you know you are done

• The Setup page shows every step on - done or a reviewed default - with nothing marked as switched off.
• The Companies list shows a health score on your real customers, and spot-checking a few looks plausible.
• A churn read is being served, and at least one active indicator is moving it.
• Triage opens to a queue worth working, not silence and not noise.
• A newly synced Company arrives with an owner, without anyone touching it.
• At least one board renders real numbers, and at least one flow has fired.

Hand your CSMs the day-to-day guide and let the product start earning its keep.

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FAQ

Do I have to follow this exact order? Follow the dependencies, not the numbering. Stages 1 through 3 are hard prerequisites for everything after them, stage 11 requires its definition before any churn number exists, and stage 13 needs members and Companies. Within those constraints, stages can run in parallel across teammates. Which source should I connect first? Your CRM. It brings Companies, People, and owner context - the spine every other source enriches. Billing and product analytics come right behind it, because revenue and usage are what health and the churn read feed on. Can I import plans from Paddle, or only Stripe? The pricing catalog import at Settings > Pricing & Products supports both Stripe and Paddle, using an API key from either. Live revenue and subscription sync comes through your billing connector from the integrations catalog. Health scores are showing but look wrong. What do I check? In order: ingestion filters (stage 4 - are non-customers polluting the average?), field mapping (stage 6 - are the fields health reads actually mapped?), feature definitions (stage 8 - do event patterns match your real event names?), then the weights themselves (stage 10). Why does the Setup page say Using defaults on a step I never touched? Because that is the truth. GainTrace provisions working defaults for some steps, such as the health profile, and refuses to show a checkmark for work you did not do. Review the step and save it to own the configuration; until then it works on defaults. Do my teammates have to repeat any of this? No. Everything in this guide is workspace-level. Teammates land with data, definitions, and rules already in place; their only personal setup is profile, notifications, and any personal integrations like email.

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