Platform relationships with dated membership

Context

General dated connections serve a wider purpose than CRM affiliations. Their occupancy and owner-retirement behavior require consistent interpretation.

Decision

Platform owns general relationship types separately from CRM affiliations, fixes their shape, treats end days inclusively and protects types selected as custom-object owners.

Alternatives Considered

Extending CRM affiliations into general links: Affiliations have CRM-specific aggregate behavior that general relationships do not replace. Releasing occupancy when a future end is recorded: A connection ending later must continue holding its place through the agreed inclusive end day. Retiring a selected owner type: New ownership links could no longer satisfy the object’s configured owner relationship.

Consequences

Ordinary place checks compare inclusive spans and allow adjacent nonoverlapping connections. Removing an open dated link ends it; removing a link with a stored end date erases it as a correction. Required-link settings and relationship-count limits remain unenforced.