Please ensure deal stage history is available via the API

[nateangell]

Because HubSpot does not provide a good way to see full deal history through stages, we had been using an API call like https://api.hubapi.com/deals/v1/deal{dealId}?hapikey={hapikey} to return properties on deals, and we were especially focused on getting properties like hs_date_entered_{stageId} and hs_date_exited(stageId} so we could visualize/analyze historical deal stage movement, but those properties disappeared from the results during May–June 2020.

We did have some luck geting this info with the new API, with calls like: https://api.hubapi.com/crm/v3/objects/deals/979797171?archived=false&properties=hs_date_entered_*&ha...

But we have heard from HubSpot support (Ticket number: #3481971) that this information may not be consistently available via any API call in the future. Please don't make it unavailable! This is the only workaround to address a serious deficiency in HubSpot's native reporting capabilities! See the community forums for consistent outcry for this missing feature: https://community.hubspot.com/t5/CRM/How-to-view-historical-deal-stages/m-p/338251#M119526

[Derek_Gervais]

Hey @nateangell ,

Just to clarify: Are you looking to see all deal stages a particular deal has been in? You should be able to see this by looking at the property history for `dealstage` for a given deal. The properties you're referring to are pseudo-properties that are only used for some internal functions, and won't be available long term. However, a call like this:

https://api.hubapi.com/deals/v1/deal/12345?hapikey=xxxx&includePropertyVersions=true

Will return a given deal record with a full property history. Using this, you can identify every deal stage that a particular deal was in and when.

[nateangell]

Thanks. The HS team has pointed this out several times. And sure, one can see the history for a specific deal if one looks at this history. The need tho is to understand historical deal flow across hundreds of deals across all time. This UX view doesn't really help with that need.

Most organizations like to be able to look at a snapshot of deals at particular times: how many deals were in each stage on 1 Mar 2020? On 1 Jan? A year before that, etc. Near as I can tell, the funnel views in HS only do reporting on deals that go through EVERY funnel stage (eg, never jump a stage, which is NEVER true for us) or the overall current state of the funnel. We want to know for each month: how many deals came into each stage, how many left, and how many remained. We use the API to get this data and reconstruct the funnel outside HS. It's a huge pain, but it seems like the only way to do it now, so we'd appreciate at least not losing API access to this key info.

[nateangell]

ARGH! I just learned that one can export entire deal stage histories from the property itself in settings. The part I missed was that you can export all the histories for all the deals from the property in addition to seeing the history for just one deal. This is the incredibly simple solution for this need that I didn't see clearly suggested till now, hence our needless trip to the API and redesign once the APIs changed.

Yes it would be nice if there were a report one could build in the UX for this, but at least the data is easily available without using the API. SIGH...