The use case is that I'd like to add fields to the account entity, but these are not average 'account like' fields. Rather the information is a collection of values that are associated to a single account, but should be entered, managed, and audited as a group. I'm call this information "Extra Account Details."
I'd like these values shown native on the account page, but be read-only on the account form, with option (button) to "edit" them together in a form of their own. The modified by / modified date of this "Extra Account Details" should be independent of the main account page, since the user providing this extra data might be different from account owner. It's also important to track who provided "Extra Details" and when it was last updated, again.. independent of main account updates.
For example, I'd like to run reports to indicate "Extra Account Details" data is growing stale (last modified 6 months ago) and must be revisited by someone. I'd like change to main Account information to not reset this logic... and thus must keep Extra Account Details separate from standard account fields. Updating the address is NOT the same as updating this important "extra account details,"... so a new entity 'feels' like approach I should take.
I went into this approach by creating a new entity. Named the entity.... created fields... all that was good until until I reached the point of associating this custom entity to a single account.
I do no want 1:N nor N:1 since... again.. it's really an extension of the account fields. Also, these 1:N / N:1 relationship are navigable via menu options, and didn't seem possible to just show fields from "Extra Account Details" on the Account page. I've seen example online recommending to do BOTH 1:N / N:1 to simulate 1:1, but the user experience does not match my wants.
Also, 'connections' do not seem like correct approach either, since they are listed along side other listed connections (other contacts, for example). Again, I'd like these extra fields to look-and-feel like any other account field, with only exception they cannot be edited directly from the account form. Rather, user must actively go to an separate edit form to correctly track who is updating, with a new date stamp.
What am I missing? Is there no 'good' way to just make a new entity, indicate within CRM these two entities are 1:1 relationship, providing primary key fields between the two, and then native support for fields display?
Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions are welcome.
Otherwise, I'll have to just add more fields to account page, and lose some of my important data metrics against these new fields.
Thanks.