WINSALES Support Document
- sup234
Version: 5.0 Revised:
10/23/03
Combining Duplicate Contacts And Their Activity History With
the Consolidation Utility
The Consolidation Utility was created to combine
one or more duplicate contact records with an existing contact
record. The utility will take the duplicate record(s) and combine
all contact values and activity history into the contact master
record. The utility will also record any conflicts in a WINSALES
activity created as a historical record of each contact
consolidation.
Implementation: To implement the consolidation program
you must create a NUMERIC field on your
CONTACT window using the ADMINISTRATOR that will store the MASTER
RECORD ID (you can call this field whatever you want, it will be
selected in the consolidation process). If you do not have a ID type
field on the contact window that displays a contact’s unique CONTACT
ID (CustID) in WINSALES you will need to use the WINSALES
ADMINSTRATOR to create a new simple field that is data type of ID.
Position the CONTACT ID and MASTER RECORD ID fields next to each
other in the order of WINSALES fields as this will make flagging
contacts as duplicates easier for your users. Enable the
new fields for the appropriate SECURITY GROUPS using FIELD SECURITY.
Finally you need to enable the appropriate SECURITY GROUPS to have the
ability to run the Consolidation Utility. In the ADMINISTRATOR go to
EDIT + SECURITY GROUPS and select a group whose users you want to be
able to use the utility. Move the REPORT DATABASE UTILITY to the enabled
list for the group. If the Report Database Utility is not enabled for
the security group the user will receive messages that they are not
authorized to run this program.
Setting Up A Consolidation: To set up a contact consolidation a user in WINSALES will enter the
CONTACT ID for the MASTER RECORD into the duplicate contact record’s
MASTER RECORD ID field. Usually this is done by positioning the
CONTACT ID and MASTER RECORD ID fields next to each other in the
Contact window field elements list. Then find the duplicate record
and enter the contact’s master record ID value. The most efficient
way users will accomplish this is by creating a query of
contacts sorted by NAME and ADDRESS that can be reviewed in the
query grid results. When a duplicate is found select the master
record ID field value in the grid and copy (control + c) the value, then
double click to drill to the duplicate contact’s MASTER RECORD ID
and paste (control + v) the ID value of the master contact record
into the field and SAVE. This will cause those two contacts to be
consolidated. WARNING : Non-numeric (ID) values in the
MASTER RECORD ID field will cause the program to generate the error:
« Syntax error converting the nvarchar value 'VALUE' to a column of
data type int. » in the WSCONSOLIDATE.LOG. Search by the « VALUE »
listed in the error and find the contact to change or delete the
value, and rerun the program.
Running The Program: When you run the WSCONSOLIDATE.EXE
program you will log into the database as you normally would. Before running
the utility you will select the field that stores the master contact record
ID and the activity type you want to create linked to that master record
for each consolidated contact.
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You can select to do a Test Run and review the LOG file
(WS_Consolidate.log) created in the local program directory (usually
C:\Program Files\WinSales) to see what contacts and activities will
be consolidated before going back to the utility and running the
consolidation with NO test run.
What Happens When A Contact Is Consolidated?
When a contact is consolidated the utility compares each field on
the duplicate record with the field values for the master record. If
the master record has a value for a field, that value is kept and the
duplicate contact’s value is entered in the notes of the activity
created for this contact’s consolidation. If the master record has
no value, the duplicate’s value is updated on the master contact
record, and the time stamp is updated for that value
so synchronization will distribute the changes to remote databases.
Users working with remote synchronization do not need to recreate
remote sites after running WSCONSOLIDATE.
Multiple Responses: If there are values in a multiple response field for the
duplicate record they will be compared with the responses for the
master record and any response that are not stored with the master
record will be updated. Responses that are already linked to the
master record will be ignored. With a multiple response field you
will have on the master record all the multiple responses for both
contacts with no duplicates.
Notes: Any notes linked to the duplicate contact record will be added to
the MASTER contact record’s contact note.
Activities: All activities will be consolidated under the master record. If
the master record and duplicate are both on the same ACTION PLAN the
master record will stay and the duplicate’s activity associated with
the Action Plan will be changed to status of cancvelled and the
notes will be updated to say it was cancelled on DATE and TIME by
USER in a consolidation so users will know why the activity was
cancelled. Any ACTION PLANS for the duplicate contact that are cancelled
will be recorded in the activity note linked to the contact consolidation.
Conflicts: For each consolidated contact a WINSALES activity will be
created. You can create a NEW activity type to record consolidations
(suggested), or record as TO DO, or whatever type you select. The
activity will be linked to the master contact record with the date
and time of consolidation and the sales rep linked to the sales rep
logged into the Consolidation Utility. You can either record all the conflicts
in the activity NOTES, or you can create fields for each field on the
contact you wish to track the conflict with. The
utility will update the field with the value if it exists, or if
there is not field on the activity for the conflict the utility will
record the field and value in the notes of the activity that is
created. Most users will choose to just record the conflicts in the
notes to have a history. If you need to search for these values
those you may want to create those fields on activity for just the
fields you need to search by as you can not search on the NOTES in
WINSALES.
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Contact Silent Partner for more information.
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