Relationships - Contact

Relationships define the associations between and among individuals, companies, travel agents, groups, sources, and other entities in OPERA. Knowing that Jim Lawson is an employee of Alpha Sources, Inc.; that Tim Marks is the spouse of VIP Sandra Haley; or that Susan Brandt is a contact for CountyWide Bank, for example, can aid in decision- making and in providing good customer service. In addition, when a relationship has been set up between profiles, one profile may be allowed to share negotiated rates with another by virtue of their relationship.

Relationship types may be configured to describe the associations between and among profile types (e.g., individual, contact, company, travel agent, source, and group), as well as between and among other entities (e.g., hotels, vendors, business blocks, activities, etc.) which may have relationships you wish to recognize when working in OPERA. (Relationship types are set up in Configuration>Profiles>Relationship Types. See Relationship Types for details.)

Once relationship types are set up, you may use the Contact Relations screen to assign those relationships to contact profiles. To access the Contact Relations screen, select the Relationship button from the Contact Profile screen Contact Options menu.

Note: For information on assigning relationships to accounts (companies, travel agents, and sources) see Relationships - Account. For information on assigning relationships to individuals and groups, see Relationships - Profile.

The Contact Relations screen lists the relationships that have been set up for the current contact profile. One relationship may be designated as the primary relationship. The primary relationship has an X in the Primary column. The primary relationship will be displayed at the top of the contact's Profile screen as shown below. The primary designation can be used in preparing reports on profile relationships.

The following information is displayed in the Contact Relations screen.

Profile Name. Displays the name of the profile that has been selected to setup relationships for.

X. An X in this column indicates that this relationship is the primary relationship of its relationship type. (The relationship type is shown in the Relationship column.)

Current. Available when the Profiles>Advanced Relationships application functions are set to Y. Name of the current profile.

Has Relation. Displays the type of relationship the current profile has with the related profile. Select the down arrow to change the type of relation. The options that are available for the profile type the user is positioned on is based on the type of profile that is selected for the Related field.

Related. Name of the profile that the current profile has been setup to have a relationship with. Select the ellipsis button to display the Profile Search screen and to select another relationship profile. Selecting this button will only display the Profile types that are associated with the Has Relation field. For example, if the Has Relation field displays Individual, then the profile search will display only the profiles listed as individuals.

Profile Type. Available when the Profiles>Advanced Relationships application functions are set to N. Displays the type of profile that is displayed in the Related field.

Has Relation. Available when the Profiles>Advanced Relationships application functions are set to Y. Displays the type of relationship the Related profile has with the current profile. This field is automatically populated based on what is populated in the first Has Relation field.

Function Buttons

Hierarchy. Available when the Profiles>Advanced Relationships and Profiles>Relationship Hierarchy application functions are set to Y. If the current profile is a Contact, select this button to display the current profile’s hierarchical position in a “tree view” style diagram. If another account is selected from the diagram, then the user is returned to the Profile Relationships screen refreshed with the selected account as the current profile.

Primary. Make the highlighted relationship the primary relationship of its relationship type. This button is available if the currently highlighted relationship is not already the primary relationship. If multiple relationships of a specific relationship type are created, one must be the primary. By default, the first-created (or only) relationship of a relationship type is the primary.

Profile. View the profile identified in the Relation Name column (that is, the profile which the current profile shares the relationship).

Delete. Select to delete the highlighted relationship.

New. Select to create a new relationship.

Adding Relationships

In broad terms, adding a new relationship consists of selecting the relationship type, then choosing the profile with which the current profile is to share the relationship. (The sharing profile must already exist; you cannot create new profiles as part of setting up a relationship.)

To create a new relationship, select the New button on the Profile Relationship screen. The Relationships types list of values appears. Select the relationship type you wish to create for the current profile. For example, you might select the Spouse relationship type if you want to make known that the current profile is the spouse of another guest. Or you might select the Employee relationship type if the current profile is the employee of an account with which you do business.

When you have chosen a relationship type and select OK, the Profile Search screen appears. Use the Profile Search screen to choose the profile with which the current profile is to be related. The related profile must already exist; you cannot create a new profile at this point.

Note: You may not change the profile type shown in the Profile Search screen View By field when searching for the profile which will share the new relationship. The profile types which can be selected for a given relationship type are defined when the relationship type is configured.

Once the related profile has been selected, the new relationship appears in the Profile Relationship screen; in addition, a reciprocal relationship is automatically created for the profile which shares the relationship. For example, if you set up a Spouse relationship type for Todd Slater and select Susan Brandt as the profile that will share this relationship, Susan Brandt's Profile Relationship screen will automatically show the Spouse relationship with Todd Slater.

Example: (Create a Relation: Employee <-> Employer)

Note: This section describes managing a relationship between a Company and a Travel Agent for an example.

Select Customer Management>Contacts.
Search for the Contact the relationship needs to be setup for in the Search screen.
Select the Options button and select the Relationships button.
The Contact Relationships screen displays and select the New button.
Profile Type (Individual) and actual Profile (Employee Name) need to be selected.
Once the profile type and profile have been selected, then select the type of relationship to be setup. The options here will be based on the type of profile that is selected and the types of relationships that have been configured in the Relationship Types.
Click OK to save the relationship defined.