1. A method, comprising: defining a multi-tenant data structure having a plurality of data columns; defining a first data field for a first tenant, the first data field having a first data type; defining a second data field for a second tenant, the second data field having a second data type, wherein the second data type is different than the first data type; and when records having data values in the first and second data fields are created by the first and second tenants, respectively, storing the data values of the first and second data fields to a single data column in the data structure, wherein the single data column includes data values having different data types for different tenants; wherein a first portion of metadata associated with the first data field records a data type of the first data type, and a second portion of metadata associated with the second data field records a data type of the second data type, and wherein the first portion of metadata and the second portion of metadata are for use in determining the data types of the data values stored in the single data column.