View source for Creating Associates/Associations

If your organisation needs to track a contact’s relationships with more than one company, then you will need to activate and use the [[Associates]]/[[Associations]] feature.  This feature provides for:
* A contact to be associated with any number of organisations.
* The [[Role|role]] that the contact has with each organisation can be defined differently to their normal roles within the system.
* An associate record can be automatically created when you move the contact to a new organisation.
* When you review an organisation the associates will be listed under the [[Associates]] tab.
* When you review a contact their associations will be listed under the [[Associations]] tab.
* This feature can be used for [[Internal|internal]] or [[External|external]] contacts and internal contacts can be associated with external companies and external contacts with internal companies.

==Activating the Associates/Associations Feature==

In order to explore this feature fully you will need to add two [[Role|roles]] to the system:
* '''Previous Department''' – this [[Role|role]] will be automatically selected when you move an employee to another department.
* '''Consultant''' – this [[Role|role]] will be used when you associate an [[Internal|internal]] person with an [[External|external]] company.

1. Add these two [[Role|roles]] using the [[Configuration Menu|Configuration]], '''Roles and Permission''' [[Menu|menu]].

[[Image:Contact17.png]]
 
2. Choose the [[Configuration Menu|Configuration]], [[Global Settings]] menu.

3. Scroll to the '''Association Settings'''.

[[Image:Contact18.png]]
 
There are two options:
* '''Enable Associates/Associations''' – this check box will activate the feature displaying the [[Associates]] tab in the company view page and the [[Associations]] tab on the contact page.
* '''Association Role''' – you select the [[Role|role]] that you wish to associate with a contact when they are moved from one company to another. Generally, this will be a specific [[Role|role]] that you create such as ex-employee.

4. Select the [[Associates]]/[[Associations]] check box.

5. Set the '''Association Role''' to '''Previous Department'''.

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6. Click the '''Save''' button.

Next you will move an employee to a different department to create the associate record for their relationship with the previous branch.

7. Choose the Organisation, [[Internal]] Users [[Menu|menu]].

8. Locate '''Bill Morris''' in the '''Information Technology''' branch.

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9. Click on the [[User|user’s]] name.

[[Image:Cont21.png]]
 
10. Click the '''Edit''' button.

11. Click the '''Lookup''' button next to the current branch name.

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The '''Select Company''' window is displayed.

12. Click '''O''' for '''Operations'''.

13. Click the '''Operation''' branch.

[[Image:Cont23.png]]
 
14. Click the '''Save''' button.

15. Click the '''View''', '''Contact''' [[Menu|menu]].

16. Click the [[Associations]] tab.

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* Information technology is indicated as a previous department for this [[User|user]].

17. Click the '''Information Technology''' branch link.

18. Click the [[Associates]] tab.

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==Manually creating an Association==

You can also manually create a relationship between any one and any company.  In this instance you will associate '''Bill Morris''' with an [[External|external]] company in the [[Role|role]] of consultant.

These types of [[Associations|associations]] are created by editing the company record and adding the associate.  You cannot add the company to the [[User|user]] associate record.

1. Choose the '''Organisation''', [[External]] Contacts [[Menu|menu]].

2. Click on any [[External|external]] company.

[[Image:Cont26.png]]
 
3. Click the '''Edit''' button.

The company is displayed in '''Edit''' mode and the [[Associates]] section is enabled.

[[Image:Cont27.png]]
 
4. Click the '''Lookup''' button.

The '''Users & Contacts''' lookup is displayed.

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5. Set the '''First Name''' to '''Bill''' and click the '''Find''' button.

6. Click the '''Bill Morris''' record.

[[Image:Cont29.png]]
 
7. Click the '''OK''' button.

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You can set the [[Role|role]] of this association to any [[Role|role]] within the system, but in this instance the [[Role|role]] is correct.

8. Click the '''Add''' button.

The [[User|user]] is associated with the [[External|external]] company through the [[Role|role]] of consultant.

[[Image:Cont31.png]]
 
9. Click the '''View''', '''Account''' [[Menu|menu]].

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The associate record is displayed.

10. Click the '''Bill Morris''' link in the '''Associate''' record.

The [[User|user]] record is displayed.

11. Review the [[Associations]] tab.

[[Image:Cont33.png]]
 
Two associations are displayed; one to the previous department and one to the [[External|external]] company.

==See Also==
* [[Company Relationship]]
*[[Importing Organizations or Contacts Association]]

[[Category:System Management]]