Method Community

Hi.

I am in need of the ability to link existing contacts to any customer within the field service module, and was hoping I could get some help from this forum.  

Currently you must create the customer and then create the estimate/work order and if needed create contacts under the current customer; in my use-case I am going to have the same contacts/people used in the same or similar roles for many customers and I can't re-enter these poeple over and over.

To describe the need further: a job will come in, each job will only have 1 customer but it will have many peripherally related contacts (it's real estate related, so buyer, seller, various attorney's, real estate agents for both sidesm, etc).  I need to be able to track how each peripherally related contact is related to this particulat customer for this particular job without having to re-enter these common people and organizations over and over for each unique customer.

Specific questions:

1. can contacts be shared across customers?

2. if not, can these contacts be entered as customers, but then related to a work order in a fashion that defines how they are related to said job?

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

Hi fmf7,

fmf7:

1. can contacts be shared across customers?

No, this is not possible out-of-the box, as contacts belong to customers. For example, John, Debbie and Nancy can all be contacts for company ABC Acme Inc. but cannot at the same time be contacts for XYZ Acme Co..

fmf7:

2. if not, can these contacts be entered as customers, but then related to a work order in a fashion that defines how they are related to said job?

We would need a lot more information to go on to try and understand exactly what you are trying to accomplish. This may be possible with multiple approaches, however each one would require in-depth customization. The "right" approach depends on exactly what it is you are trying to achieve. It would also depend on the volume of these occurrences. Are you talking about dozens, hundreds, or thousands of potential contacts?

If you'd like us to come up with a customized solution tailored to your needs, we can put you in touch with our in-house consultants, or alternatively you can speak with one of our Method Solution Providers.

-Angelo

Angelo,

The company is a home inspection business.  The field service module is where we primarily live.  There is only 1 customer per work order when the company is hired; however, there are several specific relationships that need to be tracked for each job/work order, including:

• Buyer (the customer, can be a person or an organization) --this is already handled
  
• Seller (can be a person or organization)
• Buyers Agent
• Sellers Agent
• Buyers Attorney
• Sellers Attorney
• Vendors/subcontractors

The nature of the business is that most often times these contacts are the same across many jobs/transactions.  So the buyers agent on job 1 may be the sellers agent on the next job; same for attorney's and the vendors/contractors.  Because we are already in the work order and we have the contact (client), scheduling and other key features available 'out of the box', I'd like to be able to customize the screen/database to pull from a central table for the contacts as a many-to-many join with the relationship being defined as an additional attribute.

To give this a bit more clarity, here is a simple data structure that approximates the need (note, I understand the data layer can be structured many way, this is just to help represent/define the need):

• Link Table
  
• TableID (int/GUID, no null)
• WorkOrderID (int, no null)
• ContactID (int, no null)
• RelateTypeID (int, no null)
• RelateType Table
• TableID (int/GUID, no null)
• Relate Type Name (varchar/string, no null)
• Relate Type Description (varchar/string, null ok)

I have tried to review the functionlality in the cusotmize tab and do not see how this data structure and interface are created, so I wanted to confirm it was doable before I invested moe time.  Can you please advise on viability ofthis customization?

Thanks for your time and help.

Thank you for the additional information, fmf7.

 
I have a few followup questions for you:
 
1. With respect to the "roles" for work orders: are you looking to add them to a work order simply as reference for that job or did you want to perform additional functions such as scheduling? This is important to know, as scheduling can introduce added complexity with a customization job such as this.
2. Are these contacts appearing in QuickBooks, or solely in Method?
3. Will you have more than one contact assigned to a "role" for a work order or only one contact per role? For example, is there a possibility that there will be multiple "Vendors/Subcontractors" or will these roles be defined explicitly? (i.e. "Subcontractor - Roofing", "Subcontractor - Flooring", "Vendor - Appliances", etc.)
 
To answer your main question, yes, this is all possible, and you seem to be on the right track with your initial logic. However, there are multiple approaches that can be taken, and it all depends on how exactly you want to use the data. Answering the questions above will help me to shed some light on what might be the best approach.
 
For example, a good approach to implement this would be to create a new table outlining the Relationship that would contain the work order ID, contact record ID, and then a drop down containing their relationship (fed from a second table), and having that information contained within a grid on the work order screen. This approach may offer you the best flexibility. However, do note that this type of implementation makes certain assumptions, and any approach you take will require some in-depth customization efforts.
 
-Angelo

Hi Angelo,

Thanks for coming back to me with those details and questions.  In reponse to the questions posted in your most recent reply:

1 - Just a reference/link.  Though I do need to be able to report on these relationships well.  No scheduling or additional functions needed.

2 - I would like them to be in QuickBooks as well if there is no to very minimal additional effort.  UBut ultimately, as long as we can implement and edit the relationships as well as report on them we'll be 100% operational, whether - in quickbooks or not.

3 - I can implement whatever way is easiest.  Both satisfy the need, if they are both the same level of effrort then I would want to keep the roles table as clean and possible and just allow multiple records to share the role/relate type via a join table as we've both struck upon.  But again, whichever way can be implemented quicker and easier will ultimately suffice.

Also, Can you quantify what you mean by "in-depth cusotmization effort", is this something that can be done with the tools available to me? Or do I need assistance/access to other tools?

Thanks again for your help.  I look forward to confirming this solution can be built, and how to go about building it, so I can get the system fully online ASAP.

Hi fmf7, 

Sorry for the delayed response on your latest post. When Angelo said "in-depth customization" he meant customization that is advanced and beyond the scope of these forums. The tools are all available to you in Method to complete the project yourself, but you may need assistance depending on your knowledge of the platform. I would suggest watching some of our webinars here. Look for the customization section on the page. 

 If you would like help with building your customized platform, I can put you in touch with one of our paid in-house consultants, or you can contact a Method Solution Provider. 

- Jason