I am designing a directory to showcase mobile network operator assignments organized by country, incorporating specific technical identifiers like Mobile Country Codes (MCC) and Mobile Network Codes (MNC). Because multiple operators can exist within a single country, maintaining a clean relationship structure is crucial for accurate filtering and display.
What is the recommended Webflow CMS collection architecture—such as using separate Countries and Operators collections with Reference or Multi-Reference fields—to manage these relationships effectively? Additionally, what are the best strategies for handling client-side filtering, pagination, and performance optimization as the dataset grows, and at what threshold should I consider offloading the data storage and retrieval to an external database and custom API rather than relying solely on Webflow CMS?