Using ContactManager - Add New Contacts

To set up a new contact, click on the New Contact toolbar icon in the main screen of ContactManager.

The Contact Information screen is displayed and allows you to enter all of the pertinent information about the contact.

The following is a brief description of each field for general contact information.

• Contact Type - Select the contact type from the drop down menu. Populating this field allows you to use the contact type in a search query for your contact. By using the query, you can save time looking for a particular contact. The following is a list of the different contact types allowed:
  
  Client
  Commercial
  Customer
  Personal
  Resource: Internal
  Resource: External
  Vendor
  
  Changing a contact's type from "Resource: Internal" removes that contact as a resource from the WorkflowCentre account. To change a contact's type from "Resource: Internal", you must be the resource's manager or an administrator of the WorkflowCentre account.
• Client ID - This is for the internal client ID number for this contact. This can be either numeric, alpha or a combination of both. This number should also be unique to each contact in order to be used in a search query.
• SSN/TIN - Enter the Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number of this contact. A Social Security number should be used for contacts who do not have a Taxpayer Identification Number. By doing this here, you will have the required information available for both clients, vendors and others with whom you do business. This information is then available for W-2's and 1099 input.
• Birth Date - The birth date is needed only for those contacts which require this information. These contacts are usually both personal and clients.
• Prefix - Select the prefix of the contact from the drop down menu. (ie. Mr., Ms., Dr.)
• Name fields - Enter the first, middle (if used) and last name of the contact. If the contact is a business name (vendor), enter the contact person's name. The business name will be entered in the work information tab.
• Suffix - From the drop down box, enter the suffix of this contact if required.(ie. CPA, Esq.)
• Nickname - If the contact goes by a nickname, enter that name in this field.
• Salutation Style - Enter the style of the salutation to be used in all correspondence to this contact. An example of a salutation style is "Dear Sir".
• Signature - The program will fill in the signature box with the prefix, first name, middle name, and last name. The information in this box can be edited by clicking in the box and entering your changes.
• Preferred method of communications - From the drop down list select the preferred method of communications for this contact. This allows others working on the contact's project to communicate with the contact in a manner most convenient for the contact.
• Preferred e-mail address for contact - Enter the preferred e-mail address to send and receive documents and related project files to and from the contact.
• Preferred address for contact - Some contacts would preferred to have items mailed to their office while others would prefer to have items mailed to their personal residence. This information is needed for correspondences and for billing.
• Comments - Enter any other general comments for the contact which others may need in order to service the contact. Notes such as "Works nights - do not contact between 8am and 3pm" will keep the contact happy.

The home/work information tabs are designed to collect home and work information about the contact. Phone numbers, addresses, email and sometimes even time zones are different for most contacts between their home and their work. In addition, the information collected in the home/work information tabs can be used in a query to search for the contact or all contacts with similar attributes.

The Other Tab is designed so that you can add new custom data to your contact's digital file. For example, if you wanted to keep track of the county in which your contact resides, you would create a new custom data field since PortalsXpress does not provide a field for "County" in the digital file. The adding of a new data field is a global function. This means that if you add a data field for "County" in John Smith's digital file, the new data field will appear in EACH contact's digital file with the Field Name, Default Value, if any, and Field Type you setup for the new data field.

• Click on the Other tab in the General tab of the contact's digital file.
• Enter a name for the new data field under "Field Name."
• Enter the desired default you wish to appear for your new data field. For example, if the majority of your contacts reside in Orange County, you may wish to make this the default and just change the few that are in another county. If you enter a default value, it will appear for every contact on your contact list until you change it. You may also leave this field blank if you wish to have no default.
• Select the Field Type from the drop down list.
• Click the Add button, and your new custom data field will be added to each contact in your contact list.