Return to Navigation

Understanding Notes and Attachments

This topic discusses:

You can view and update notes in PeopleSoft CRM in two ways:

  1. The Notes List (RB_NOTES_LIST) component.

  2. Notes pages on CRM components and transactions.

The Notes List Component

This component summarizes notes that are entered on commonly used PeopleSoft CRM components: Lead, Opportunity, Case, Customer, Contact and Consumer, and enables you to select a note and transfer to the Notes page in the component to view and update note details.

Notes Pages

All PeopleSoft CRM components that can have notes attached to them use the same interface; however, the Notes page itself might vary slightly depending on the parent object. For example, case notes and order notes have a visibility field that determines whether self-service users can see the note when they look at the parent object. Other objects that are not accessible through self-service do not have this field.

Note Details

The note details view displays complete information for a single note, including a list of attachments that is associated with the note.

Notes Summary

The notes summary view lists all existing notes for the component.

Notes pages on some components include a summary notes list on the same page as the note details; for other components, the summary notes list is on a separate page. The summary notes list might also be part of a more general page.

Case notes can be associated with the case itself or with a resolution in the case. The notes summary view that is in the Case component displays both types of notes together. A resolution icon identifies notes that are part of a resolution.

When you add an attachment to a note, you identify the file to attach. Once you identify the file, the system uploads the attachment to an attachment server. The attachment server stores attachment files, which ensures that the attachments are available to all users. You configure the system by using the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) Maintenance page to specify a URL for each component that supports attachments. This setup is part of the PeopleSoft CRM installation process.

See the installation guides on My Oracle Support.

Files stored as attachments have two names. The original name of the file at the time it was uploaded is stored in the ATTACHUSERFILE field. A system-generated unique file name, stored in the ATTACHSYSFILENAME field, is the actual name of the file on the file server. The different objects that store attachments have different file-naming patterns for generating the ATTACHSYSFILENAME value, but all patterns are based on the ATTACHUSERFILE file name.

For example, system names for case attachments are formed by concatenating the case number, the letter C, the note sequence number, the letter R, the attachment sequence number, and the original file name. The following code represents this pattern:

CASE_ID||"C"||NOTE_SEQ_NBR||"R"||ATTACH_SEQ_NBR||ATTACHUSERFILE

Except in the Product component, attachments are associated with a note rather than associated with the note's parent object. When you click the link for an existing attachment, the system launches the attachment. If the attachment is an executable or batch program, the system runs the program. If the attachment is any other type of file, the system handles it according to the operating system's rules, either opening the file in a new browser window, prompting for a location to download the file, or offering a choice between these two actions.

Most differences in the Notes page for different parent objects are self-explanatory. However, there is one hidden difference: the Note Type field that appears in some components derives its values from different places depending on the parent object.

This table lists the pages where you define valid note types for objects that use note types:

Parent Object

Source of Valid Note Types

Business objects: Company, Consumer, Representative, and Site

Note Type page (BC_NOTETYPE_TBL), found under select Set Up CRM, then select Common Definitions, then select Notes

Case and Solution

Case and Solution Note Type page (RC_NOTETYPE), found under select Set Up CRM, then select Common Definitions, then select Notes

Order/Quote

Product Note Type page (NOTE_TYPE), found under Set Up CRM, Common Definitions, Notes

Campaign Detail

Translate (xlat) table.

Other objects

Notes for other objects do not include a Note Type field.