How To: Attach Documents in the Communication Log


What is the Communication Log?

The Communication Log in the Customer and Supplier screens allows users to track any contact that they have with customers and suppliers, for example:

  • Customers ringing up about stock items;
  • Linking letters of complaint to customers or suppliers;
  • Linking images of damage to products;
  • Recording queries about payments from account customers or to suppliers about the state of your account.

Documents can be linked from the [ Sales Orders | CRM | Comm Log ] which will be displayed in the customer's Communication Log.

Why link documents in the Communication Log?

Tracking contact with both customers and suppliers allows the user to be specific about previous contact for example the date a letter was sent out, the date a phone call was received and then acted upon. If a document is linked to an entry then it can be easily loaded by double clicking on the entry in the Communication Log.

Where is the Communication Log tab?

The Communication Log can be accessed from:

Setup the Contact Type

Some contact types are predefined in the system for example Lead, Appointment, Letter or Order however users can add new contact types specific to their business for example Show, Debt Letter or Fax. Contact Types are set up in [ System Data | Contact Manager | CRM Contact Types (or Comm Log Types) ], see How To: Setup CRM Contact Types.

Saving the documents

Documents such as letters, emails, photographs, leaflets, scanned invoices etc must be saved in a central location such as the server so that they can be accessed by everyone.

Notes:

  1. The file name and path must not be changed once the document has been linked otherwise the link will be broken.
  2. Future-proofing the system you will use is very important (see point 1 above), for example creating a folder for 2011 which contains folders for each month and, depending on the quantity of the documents to be saved or linked, sub folders to hold the documents depending on the customer/supplier URN or surname.

Linking documents

Linking One Document

  1. Navigate to the [ Customer (or Supplier) | Detail | CRM | Communication Log ] screen.
  2. Open the location where the image has been stored.
  3. Drag and drop the document into the Comm Log grid. The Link Document dialog will appear and the system will automatically add the filename where the document is stored into the Description field along with the contact's details.
  4. Click on Ok to close the dialog.
    Note: documents can also be added to a sales order in the [ CRM | Comm Log ] tab using the above method.

Linking More than One Document

  1. Navigate to the [ Customer (or Supplier) | Detail | CRM | Communication Log ] screen.
  2. Right click and select Manage Linked Documents to open the Manage Linked Documents dialog.
  3. Click the NEW ITEM button has an icon that shows two sheets of paper (identified by having the top right corner folded down), arranged diagonally on the icon from top left to bottom right or press F3 to add a new item.
  4. Open the location where the image has been stored.
  5. Select the item and then click Open to add it into the dialog.
  6. Click on OK to close the dialog.

Notes:

  1. You don't have to drag and drop the file into the Comm Log, although this is the easiest option. If you copy the file name and path from Windows Explorer and paste it onto the Comm Log entry that also works.
  2. If you wish to change or update the link, right click and select Manage Linked Documents to open the Manage Linked Documents dialog.

Opening the document

Documents linked to an entry in the Communication Log can be opened by double clicking on it in the Communication Log if there is only one document linked, else the Manage Linked Documents dialog will appear and the user can double click on the entry in the dialog top open it. The file can also be opened in the Sales Order [ CRM | Comm Log ] tab either by double-clicking on it or using the Context Menu option to open it.

Further information

There is information about the Communication Log contained on the Khaos Wiki, see the following links:


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