Managing Client Contacts

Client contacts are persons in the client’s organization or relation who are responsible to represent the client. A contact can be assigned to one or multiple clients. For example, your firm may have clients that are related and work with the same banker or lawyer.

Client contacts should not be mistaken for client associates. Client associates are individuals, businesses, or other entities outside the client’s organization who are authorized to provide additional information about the client when required, such as banks or lawyers. See Managing Client Associates for more information.

To manage client contacts, do the following: 

1. Open Dashboard, click Application Links on the navigation panel, and then click Client Manager under Clients.
2. Do one of the following:
   • Add a new client profile. See Adding a New Client for more information.
   • Open an existing client profile. See Editing a Client for more information.
3. Click Contacts under Profile Information on the navigation panel. All contacts available for assignment display in the grid.

Note: If a contact's profile is set to use the addresses and phone numbers from the client's profile, that information will not display in the grid. Contacts can be assigned to more than one client, so the address and phone information will vary according to the client.

4. Select from the available options:

   Search for a contact or an originating client.

   Click the down arrow in the Search box located above the grid and select to search for a contact's last name or an originating client's sort name, and then press Enter or click. Enter the complete criteria to search for a specific record or partial information to search for similar matches.

   Assign contacts.

   Contacts you save (using New or Copy) are automatically assigned to the client used to create the contact. This client becomes the originating client for the contact, and the originating client name is indicated in the client contacts grid. Contacts that are saved to the originating client are available for assignment to other clients.

   Select Assign for each additional contact you want to assign to this client.

   View all assigned contacts.

   Click Show All Assigned on the button bar to display a list of all contacts that are currently assigned to the open client.

   Unassign contacts.

   Clear the Assign box for each contact you want to unassign from this client. Unassigned contacts are still available for assignment to other clients.

   Note: You cannot unassign a contact from the originating client. You can delete the contact, which removes the contact from all client profiles, including profiles where the contact is assigned. To retain the contact information, before you delete:

   1. Open the profile for a client that will be the originating client for the contact.
   2. Copy the contact and save it with the same or different name. The contact is automatically assigned to the client.
   3. Assign the new contact in other client profiles, if needed.

   Use the button bar and grid features.

Component	Description
New	Click New on the button bar or right-click the grid and select New from the menu to create a contact. See Adding or Editing Client Contacts for more information about saving client contacts.
Open	Do one of the following to display the client contact profile for review or editing purposes: Double-click a contact in the grid. Select a contact in the grid and click Open on the button bar. Right-click the grid and select Open from the menu. See Adding or Editing Client Contacts for more information about saving client contacts.
Copy	Select a contact in either grid and click Copy on the button bar to open the Client Contact Profile window. All information is copied from the selected contact except for the name, email, instant messenger, and notes data. Edit and save the new client contact profile. See Adding or Editing Client Contacts for more information about saving client contacts. Note: The new contact is assigned to the client used to create the contact. This client becomes the originating client for the contact.
Delete	Select a contact in the grid and click Delete to remove the contact from all grid views. Deleted contacts will be unassigned and removed from all client profiles. Note: Contacts cannot be unassigned from the originating client; they must be deleted.
Print	Click Print on the button bar or right-click in the grid and select Print to send the list of client contacts information to any printer installed on your machine for reference or filing purposes.
Export	Click Export on the button bar or right-click in the grid and select Export from the menu to save the list of client contact's information to an external XLS, XPS, or PDF file.
Show All Assigned	Click Show All Assigned to display a list of all contacts that are currently assigned to the open client.
Refresh	Click Refresh to view the current list of available contacts, based on assignment changes made by other staff.

5. Click one of the Save buttons or cancel.

   Button	Description
   Save	Saves the changes and the window stays open for editing.
   Save & New	Saves the changes and opens a new window to create a new client entry. This option is available only when you are creating a new client entry.
   Save & Close	Saves the changes and exits the window.
   Cancel	Exits the window without saving your changes.

Tips:

• Save new or updated client contact data in the client profile to display your changes when the grid is resorted or refreshed, or when you navigate to another grid page. If you resort, refresh, or navigate to another page after saving client contact information in the contact profile, the new information will not populate the grid until you save the client profile.
• To refresh the grid with changes made by other staff, click Save and click Refresh.

Note: For information about updating multiple selected clients, see Editing a Client.