Adding contacts to your system is an integral part of tracking the data you require. As Contacts and Organisations are intrinsically linked in ChilliDB, with all other sections in the system linking back to one, or both, of these, making sure your contact data is as complete and accurate as it can be is a key driver in being able to extract the information you require.
This article will talk through the basic process of creating a contact and adding it to your ChilliDB system using the fields available to a user when they first log in. Please follow the links that feature in various places throughout the article if you require more detailed information about some of the more advanced options available when creating contacts in ChilliDB.
Considerations Before Creating a Contact
Are your contacts categorisations set up? Categorisation is a key part of record creation in ChilliDB. Almost every record you create will require categorisation. As such, before you create a contact, you will want to make sure you have the contact categorisations you require in place so they can be applied to the new records you are creating. If you haven't yet set up these categorisations in your system, please read our 'ChilliDB Admin Essentials: Customising Reference Data' article first to learn how to do so.
Are the necessary fields in place? To to collect the data you require for your contacts, the fields allowing you to do so will also need to be in place first. If this is not the case, please read our 'ChilliDB Admin Quick Start: Custom Fields' article on creating custom fields first to learn how to set up sections and fields in ChilliDB.
Note: if you have a IT admin person, or a dedicated ChilliDB system admin person, at your organisation, check with them first before adding any categorisations or custom fields to your system.
Creating a Contact in ChilliDB
Step 1: Navigate to the Contacts Module (Section) in ChilliDB
This is done by clicking on the Contacts main menu item and then selecting 'Create'.
Step 2: Add New Contact Details
After clicking the 'Create' option in the Contacts menu, a new window opens that allows the user to record the details of the new contact and save them in the system. The fields we see available in the screenshot below are the ChilliDB system fields for a contact, however users are able to add their own custom fields to collect data against as well (as per item no.2 in the 'Considerations Before Creating a Contact' section above).
As indicated by the 'Note' above, any fields with a red triangle next to them are required, and thus data must be input before saving a record. Two key required fields to be aware of at this stage are:
1) Categorisation: every record in ChilliDB features categorisation as a required field. When first starting out with the system, there will be a few categorisations available to users to choose from that are preset. If these categorisations do to meet your needs, you are able to create your own - see item no.1 in the 'Considerations Before Creating a Contact' section above to find out how to do so.
2) Organisation(s): another key requirement for Contacts records in ChilliDB is that a contact be linked to an organisation. Of course, if you have contacts in your system that you wish to link to a particular organisation, you will have add that organisation to your system first before making the link.
Note: if a contact you are adding is not part of an organisation, they can be linked to an organisation named 'Individuals' instead, which should be a default organisation created in your system.
To link a new contact to an organisation, first click on the 'Find' link next to the 'Organisation(s)' field. Then, if the organisation exists in the system already, start typing the name in the field provided and select the correct organisation from the drop down.
If the organisation does not exist (i.e.: there were no results for the information typed in the search field), users can click on the 'Quick Create' button to add the details for the organisation to their system and link it to the contact they are creating.
For a more in-depth guide to creating organisation in ChilliDB, please read our ChilliDB Basics: Organisations User Guide.
Once the key data required has been recorded, click 'Save' to complete the addition of the new contact.
To view an in-depth overview of the system fields visible when creating a new contact record, see our 'ChilliDB Basics: Contacts - System Field Type Glossary'.
Viewing a Contact
After a contact has been saved, users will be taken to the Contact Details overview screen. This is the same screen users will see if they search for a contact and click on their record. At the top of the screen is the Contact Record Details, outlining the current data that is recorded against this contact.
Below the Contact Details overview is a row of tabs (see above - 'Contact Tabs') that can be used to add additional data to the record. Some of this data is pulled in from other modules when the contact is linked to a record in that section. For example, if a contact is added to a membership in the Membership module, the key information is copied across into the 'Membership' tab in their contact record. However, users are also able to add data directly into a contact's record under these tabs by simple clicking on the 'Create' button that appears on the right-hand side of the tab window. In the screenshot above, we are in the 'Notes' tab. We know this because it is currently blue. If we wished to add a note directly to this contact's record in our system, we could simply click on the 'Create' button to do so, rather than go through the Notes module via the main menu at the top of the page.
To learn more about interacting with the tabs available on the Contact Details display screen, please see our 'Working With Contact Tabs' article.
Editing / Expiring a Contact
To edit a contact in ChilliDB, simply find the contact record in your system (typically done via the Contact main menu - Search option) and then click on the Contact name to access their details. Once on the Contact Details page, click the 'Edit' link in the top right-hand corner of the screen to edit the contact's details.
After the 'Edit' link has been clicked, the fields open to allow you to make any changes. The 'Edit' link will have also changed to an 'Expire' link should you want to expire the contact record.
For a more detailed explanation of editing/expiring contacts, please see our 'ChilliDB Basics: Editing / Expiring Contacts' article
Further Information
i) To find out more about the options available to you in the 'Actions' menu on the Contact Details screen see our 'Contacts - Action Menu ' article.
ii) Creating a contact that doesn't belong to a specific organisation? Check out the 'Creating Contacts Without an Organisation' article.
iii) Looking to search for a contact you have created? The 'Introduction to ChilliDB Search' article will outline how to do this. For further information on the options available under the dropdown arrow in the top right-hand corner of the search results list, see the 'Search Grid Actions Menu' article.
iv) Wanting to export your list of contacts? Take a look at our 'How to Export Your Contacts' article.
We hope you have found this contacts Quick Start article useful. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch, either through our Help Desk or by contacting us at info@chillidb.com
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