Siebel eFinance Guide > Contacts > End-User Procedures >

Managing Contact Information

Contacts are entities or individuals with whom the company currently does business or with whom it expects to do business in the future. End users manage contact information by:

Adding Contacts

When end users meet someone in the course of business, they add a contact record for that individual to track pertinent personal information and possible potential future business.

NOTE:  The My Personal Contacts view is different from the other Contacts views because it is designed for contacts not associated with a company. Therefore, in the My Personal Contacts view, adding a company to a record does not also add it to the My Contacts view, All Contacts view, and so on. End users must add business contacts in the My Contacts view proper. They must create, review, and manage activities for their personal contacts only in the Activities view of the My Personal Contacts view, not in the other Contacts views.

To add a contact

  1. Navigate to the Contacts screen.
  2. From the Show drop-down list, select All Contacts.
  3. In the Contacts form, click the show more button, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.

    United States law requires that financial institutions disclose their privacy policies regarding the sharing of non-public personal information with third parties and fair credit reporting that impacts the sharing of non-public personal information with affiliates. End users can specify a privacy level by making a selection from the Privacy Option field.

  4. To specify a privacy level, scroll down to the Privacy Option field and select one of the following:
    • Opt-In. Sharing of non-public personal information is allowed without restrictions.
    • Opt-Out - Affiliates. Sharing of non-public personal information with affiliates is not allowed.
    • Opt-Out - Third Party. Sharing of non-public personal information with third parties is not allowed.
    • Opt-Out - All Parties. Sharing of non-public personal information with any affiliate or third party is not allowed.

To associate a contact with a company

  1. Navigate to the Contacts screen.
  2. From the Show drop-down list, select My Contacts.
  3. In the Contacts list, select a contact.
  4. In the More Info form, click the show more button.
  5. In the Company field, click the select button.
  6. In the Company dialog box, click New, select a record from the Add Companies list, and then click OK.

    The application automatically associates the company with the contact and populates the address with the default company address information.

  7. To enter an alternate address, click the select button in the Address Line field.

    The Contact Addresses dialog box appears.

  8. Click New, enter the new address, and then click Save.

    The Contact Addresses dialog box displays the new company address.

  9. To specify an address as the contact's primary address, click the Primary field and click OK.

    NOTE:  The last address highlighted in the Companies Addresses dialog box appears in the Address Line field.

  10. In the Time Zone field, select the contact's time zone.

Creating Categories for Contact Information

If the default Contacts list and More Info form do not contain fields to track the type of information that end users need to track, they can add additional categories. A manager may have set up a list of values from which they can select.

To add a category to a contact

  1. Navigate to the Contacts screen.
  2. From the Show drop-down list, select My Contacts.
  3. In the Contacts list, select a contact.
  4. Click the Categories view tab.
  5. In the Categories list, add a record.
  6. In the Category field, click the select button.

    The Pick Category dialog box appears.

  7. Select a category from the list of values and click OK, or click New and create a new category.
  8. Complete the necessary fields.
  9. Create additional categories by repeating Step 5 through Step 8.

Creating Notes About a Contact

As end users work with contacts, they learn things they may want to remember. Often these tidbits of information are best stored as notes. Users can create notes that everyone with access to the contact record can see, or they can create notes that only they can see.

To create a note regarding a contact

  1. Navigate to the Contacts screen.
  2. From the Show drop-down list, select My Contacts.
  3. In the Contacts list, either select the contact for whom you wish to create a note or create a new contact.

    NOTE:  If the contact does not exist, add it. For more information, see Adding Contacts.

  4. Click the Notes view tab.
  5. From the Show drop-down list, select one of the following:
    • Public Notes—Notes that others can see.
    • Private Notes—Notes that only their creators can see.
  6. In the Notes list, add a record and complete the necessary fields.

    Some fields are described in the following table.

    Field
    Comments
    Created Date
    Automatically populates with a date and time stamp.
    Type
    Default value is Note. Select alternate value to categorize the type of note.
    Description
    Text field for the content of the note.

Adding a Contact to a Literature Distribution

The Literature Distribution view displays all the literature that has been distributed to a contact. Typically, a literature distribution record is created each time literature is emailed to a contact. For more information about the activity of distributing literature using an email message, see Providing a Literature Fulfillment by Email in Activities.

To distribute literature to a contact

  1. Navigate to the Contacts screen.
  2. From the Show drop-down list, select My Contacts.
  3. In the Contacts list, select a contact.

    NOTE:  If the contact does not exist, add it. For more information, see Adding Contacts.

  4. Click the Literature Distribution view tab.
  5. In the Literature Distribution list, add a record and complete the necessary fields.
  6. In the Distribution Channel field, select a distribution channel to indicate how to distribute the literature.
  7. Scroll down to the Literature list, add a record, and complete the necessary fields.
  8. In the Literature list, continue adding the pieces of literature to be distributed.

Contact Access Level

Siebel eFinance uses access levels to grant customers access to different levels of service, research, events, and literature. Setting a contact's access to a specific level allows that contact access and visibility to literature items that have the same or lesser access level. For more information about setting a contact's access level, see Access Exceptions.

Setting a Contact's Securities Interest

End users can record a contact's securities interest.

To set a contact's securities interest

  1. Navigate to the Contacts Screen.
  2. From the Show drop-down list, select My Contacts.
  3. In the Contacts, list, select a contact.

    NOTE:  If the contact does not exist, add it. For more information about adding contacts, see Adding Contacts.

  4. Click the Interests view tab.
  5. In the Interests list, add a record and complete the necessary fields.

Viewing a Contact's Transaction History

The Contacts Transaction view allows end users to display a contact's transaction history by financial account for all the accounts held by the contact at your organization.

To view a contact's transaction history

  1. Navigate to the Contacts screen.
  2. From the Show drop-down list, select My Contacts.
  3. In the Contacts list, select a contact.
  4. Click the Transaction History view tab.

    The Transactions view appears, displaying all the financial accounts associated with the contact, and the investment transactions that took place in each account.

Managing Contact Referral Information

The Referrals view tab allows end users to enter referral information associated with contacts. Referrals are potential opportunities.

In the Referrals tab view, end users can record both referrals they give to their contacts as well as referrals received from a contact.

To enter a referral received to or from a contact

  1. Navigate to the Contacts screen.
  2. From the Show drop-down list, select My Contacts.
  3. In the Contacts list, select the contact for whom you wish to log a referral.
  4. Click the Referrals view tab.
  5. From the drop-down list, select Referrals From This Contact.
  6. In the list, add a record and complete the necessary fields.

    Some fields are described in the following table.

    Field
    Comments
    Company
    Select an existing company or create a new one. The company selected represents the potential opportunity for your organization.
    Last Name
    Select a contact to associate with the referral company as selected in the Company field; if you entered a Company, the list of Contacts is restricted to those associated with the selected company.
    To create a new company for a referral:
    1. On the Contacts screen, create contacts for the company. For more information, see To add a contact.
    2. Associate those contacts with the new company. For more information, see To associate a contact with a company.
    3. On Referrals view tab, select the Contact from the Pick Contact dialog box associated with this field.
    Referred By
    Select the employee who made the referral.

To create a referral to a contact

  1. Navigate to the Contacts screen.
  2. From the Show drop-down list, select My Contacts.
  3. In the Contacts list, select the contact for whom you wish to create a referral.
  4. Click the Referrals view tab.
  5. Scroll down to Referrals to This Contact list.
  6. In the list, add a record and complete the necessary fields.

    Some fields are described in the following table.

    Field
    Comments
    Disposition
    The status of the referral.
    Company
    Select an existing company or create a new one. The company selected represents the potential opportunity for your service provider.
    Last Name
    Select a contact to associate with the referral company as selected in the Company field; if you entered a Company, the list of Contacts is restricted to those associated with the selected company.
    To create a new company for a referral:
    1. On the Contacts screen, create contacts for the company. For more information, see To add a contact.
    2. Associate those contacts with the new company. For more information, see To associate a contact with a company.
    3. On Referrals view tab, select the Contact from the Pick Contact dialog box associated with this field.
    Referred By
    Select the employee from your organization who made the referral.

Reviewing Contact Profitability

End users can use the Profitability view to review customer profitability calculations. These calculations help financial institutions adjust their sales, pricing, service, and marketing activities appropriately. This information also helps institutions cross-sell to their customers.

NOTE:  In Siebel eFinance, end users can access the Profitability view from the Contacts, Households, and Companies screens.

To review a contact's profitability

  1. Navigate to the Contacts screen.
  2. In the Contacts list, select a contact.
  3. Click the Profitability view tab.

    The Profitability list appears.


 Siebel eFinance Guide 
 Published: 20 October 2003