What are best practices for structuring my app's data?

Good data structure makes your app faster, easier to maintain, and easier to expand. Here are the key principles:

1. Separate concerns into distinct collections

Don’t store everything in one big table. Create separate collections for separate entities. For example: Customers, Orders, Products, and Payments are four different collections — not one.

2. Use lookup fields instead of copying data

If an Order belongs to a Customer, store the Customer as a lookup reference — don’t copy the customer’s name and email into every order. This keeps data consistent when details change.

3. Keep field names clear and consistent

Use clear, descriptive names like contact_email instead of email1. Consistent naming makes it easier to set up automations and reports.

4. Think about filtering and reporting early

If you’ll need to filter by status, date, or category later, make sure those are stored as separate fields (not embedded in a notes field).

5. Avoid storing calculated values

Let Fuzen calculate totals, counts, and aggregates dynamically on your dashboard — don’t duplicate them as stored fields.

If you’re unsure how to model your data, describe your business process to the AI and ask it to suggest a data structure. It will give you a starting point you can refine.