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I'm trying to find a way to keep Vendor contact info out of the contact list for my sales staff. They currently don't have access to the Vendors Tab, but Vendor information still shows from the Contact dropdown menu when adding a New Activity/Log Call/New Task/New Appointment, etc. Is there a way to prevent this or filter it out? I would like to reduce the amount of time being wasted by them scrolling through a huge list of people they shouldn't be contacting. (I don't have this issue when creating an estimate or an invoice).

Hi KateP,

We wouldn't suggest filtering the dropdown through customization as you would be losing the latest and greatest changes to the Activity screen. If your concern is saving the time of your sales staff by not having to scroll down through the list, they can type in the Contacts first/last name in the dropdown field and select from the filtered contacts available. However, if you want to completely remove them from having access to Vendors then you can edit each sales staff user and give them access to only the tables you want them to have access to, this can potentially be a long and tedious task though.

- Ashur

We are trying to recover our lost customer base. So, the problem with typing in the first/last name to skip through vendors is that my staff is not familiar with names on the list, and I don't want a potential recovered customer to get skipped over because someone mistyped or simply didn't see the name on the list. I also don't want them to have access to everyone we purchase from--part of why I haven't given them access to the Vendors Tab.

I noticed the drop downs in the Invoice and Estimate screens don't display Vendor names on the list. I debated duplicating the settings for those dropdowns for the staff's Activity screen. Is that what you were saying you wouldn't suggest doing? What latest and greatest changes would I be missing out on? Depending on whether or not we would use these changes, this might be the most ideal way for me to go.

If I go the route of specifying tables for them to access, do I have to specify for each staff member, or is this something that can be completed through roles?

Kate,

This is what I would do.  Creat a whole new grid from the customer table, filter that grid with only customers that are not active or what ever you only want your sales people to. When the sales person calles the  person and they want your services, just go into your normal way of doing business.  

John M

John,

Thank you for your suggestion. How easy (or complicated for that matter) is that to do? I'm pretty new to this program and haven't had the time to figure everything out yet.

If you go the route of specifying tables for your sales staff you would need to edit each user and add only the tables you would want them to have access to; Customize > Users > Step 8 of 10, choose the This user only has access to specific existing tables radio button, then add the tables you want that user to have access to.

Another option you have is if all your customers have sales reps assigned to them and your vendors DO NOT have any sales reps assigned to them, perform the following steps. Edit each of your sales staff users, on Step 6 of 10 make sure the Share All Records and Empty Records options are NOT selected. You'll see a list of all your users in the field below; set the sharing to Full: User1 and User2 share with each other so that all your sales staff have full sharing only between each other. Click Finish, refresh your browser, then test this by creating a New Activity and clicking the Contact dropdown list. *Note: This setting will take affect across the board so if you have customers or other things like invoices which are NOT assigned to a Sales Rep, then your sales staff users will not see those records.

- Ashur

Forgot to mention the filter for the Contact list. When customizing the CRM_NewActivity screen you can edit the Contact dropdown field, go to Step 5 of 6, then add a filter using the EntityType field. The filter will need to be typed in manually so select Build selection list option, type in Customer, hit 'Enter' on your keyboard, then type in Customer Leads.

- Ashur