Using WorkflowManager - Related Contacts
General Information
A contact is an individual, department, or group either
internal or external to your company. For example, a client,
a staff member, or an outside consultant. The contact for a
delivery (action) is the person that will receive the
message, while the Primary contact for a project is the
person for whom the work is being performed.
Contacts Folder
Each project or template has a Contacts folder. This folder
is permanent and cannot be deleted. The Contacts folder
always consists of, at a minimum, the following folders:
- Assigned To folder - This folder automatically
tracks the information from task assignment. No related
contact assignment is necessary or allowed in this screen
for this folder.
- Manager folder - This folder tracks the manager
of each project based upon the workforce information in
ResourceManager. No related contact assignment is necessary
or allowed in this screen for this folder.
- Originator folder - This folder automatically
tracks the project originator based upon the computer
log-in settings. No related contact assignment is necessary
or allowed in this screen for this folder.
- Primary folder - This folder tracks the
information for the primary. Assignment of a Primary
contact is optional. The Primary contact of a project is
the individual for whom the work is being performed or for
whom the project is created. Not all projects or templates
require assignment of a Primary contact. While the Primary
contact of a 1041 tax return project is your individual
client, there may be no need to assign a Primary contact to
a department-wide safety awareness project. Most likely any
project that you do for a client or any project that is
created for a member of your workforce should be assigned a
Primary contact. A project can have no more than one
Primary contact established for it.
- Assigner folder - This folder tracks the
information when the task is assigned. No related contact
assignment is necessary or allowed in this screen for this
folder.
- The Primary contact is automatically assigned for any
project that is started through the contact's digital file
in ContactManager. In WorkflowManager, assignment of a
Primary makes the associated project become part of the
Primary's digital file. If a project is started in
WorkflowManager and no Primary contact is assigned, the
project resides in a default digital file (behind the
scenes).
These four folders are a required part of a project's digital
file and cannot be removed. Of these four folders the
Assigned To, Manager, Originator and Assigner folders do not
allow new contacts to be added as these are automatically
known by PortalsXpress.
To add a new contacts folder do the following:
- From the Documents/Related Items screen, click to
select the Contacts folder.
- Click the "New Related Contact" toolbar icon and assign
a name to the new folder.
- The new contact folder is displayed on the list and can
be assigned a contact.
To add a related contact do the following:
- From the Documents/Related Items screen, either
double-click the Contacts folder or click on the plus sign
to the left of the Contact folder.
- Click to select the desired Contacts folder (for
example "Primary") then click on the "Insert Related
Contact" toolbar icon.
- In the "Select Contact" screen, select the contact
individual and click the OK button to return to the Related
Items screen. Alternatively, you can double-click to add
the contact.
A couple of scenarios using related contacts.
Assume that numerous members of your workforce are on a
special committee to design a sculpture garden behind the
corporate office. You may consider creating a contacts folder
labeled "Sculpture Garden Team". Then add each member of the
team as a related contact for that folder. To add more than
one contact, press the Control key and click to select the
multiple individuals in the "Select Contact" screen. The
Sculpture Garden Team contact can then be established as a
related contact for a workflow project for the sculpture
garden process. You could create a task with a delivery
action and by using the Sculpture Garden Team as a related
contact each member of the team automatically receives the
communication at the prescribed time.
In another scenario, assume that your office uses a 1040 Tax
Return Preparation template for tax prep work. At the
template level the Primary contact would not be assigned so
that the template can be used over and over for each 1040
client. However, at the project level, your 1040 client would
be assigned as the Primary contact. For example, when
selecting the 1040 Tax Return Preparation template for Ted
Taxpayer, Ted is assigned as the Primary contact. This
assignment is then displayed in the Documents/Related Items
screen. This acts to identify the client for the tax return
prep and places the 1040 tax return project in Ted Taxpayer's
digital file.
To accomplish the assignment of Ted Taxpayer as the Primary
contact either start the workflow project from ContactManager
(the Primary is automatically assigned) or during template
design, create a task with an action to assign the Primary
contact.
Introduction
Welcome to WorkflowManager