View the existing contact records in Synergy, and when to create company, individual, or personnel type contacts. Learn how to create contacts, and what actions are available in the contact list view.
Setup required before use | Who can use it? | Where is it? |
User Assistant project manager Project manager Director access Assistant administrator System administrator | Contacts |
What are contacts?
Create contacts to record all the details about the people that you deal with such as companies, clients, individuals, suppliers, local government, sub contractors, real estate agents.
Company - A registered business which employees staff. e.g. ABC Constructions, XYZ Builders.
Personnel - The staff that work at the company are entered in Synergy as personnel records. e.g. create David Brown who works for ABC Constructions (company contact).
Individual - Store the details of a person or client that you deal with that is not a registered business. e.g. Mr & Mrs Smith who requires some alterations on their house.
Store all the details about the contact in Synergy to be able to display the details on invoices, reports, documents and emails from Synergy. Contact records can also be attached to projects to outline which contacts you are dealing with for the project. Contact roles are assigned to show what type of task the person will complete within the project. Contact List allows you to look-up or search for existing contact records, and add new records for use in Projects.
Why use contacts?
Create a record for each company, client, or supplier that you contact. Use the contact details entered in projects, invoices, reports, and document templates.
Actions available
A company contact is a registered business. Create a new company contact to store their phone details, office street address and postal address details. Personnel contacts are attached to the company contact to show which staff members you deal with from that company. The contact and personnel details are displayed in projects, reports and document templates.
Go to: Contacts.
Click the add button and select 'company'.
Type the company 'name'.
Select the 'roles' this company will complete on your projects. e.g. prospect, local council, supplier, builder.
Type the website and email domain. The email domain will be auto applied to email address for each new personnel record for this company.
Add any other known details about the company - postal or street address, phone numbers, email addresses, or social accounts.
Add a 'unique id' if you are using Accounting add-ons and this is an invoice contact.
Add an 'account manager' if this is a prospect or client, to track which of your staff members will manage this client relationship.
Click the arrow on the 'Save' button and then select 'save and add personnel'.
Go to the add personnel contact instructions.
Tip: Learn more about the contact details shown on each of the contact tabs.
An individual contact is a person that doesn't work for any of your clients, and is not a company which employees staff. e.g. Mr & Mrs Smith who have requested a quote on alternations for their house would be an individual type contact. Create an individual contact record to store their details phone and address details to use this information in projects, reports and document templates.
For each individual contact a matching personnel record is automatically created, which has the same details added to the Personnel record from the Individual Contact. This allows the details to be shown on both contact or personnel level reports. Extra personnel can be added to an individual type contact if required.
Go to: Contacts
Click the Add button and select 'individual'.
Select a title (e.g. Mr, Mrs, Miss) and then type the person's first and last name.
Select the 'roles' this person will complete on your projects. e.g. prospect, consultant, client.
Add any other known details about the individual - postal or street address, phone numbers, email addresses, or social accounts.
Add a 'unique id' if you are using Accounting add-ons and this is an invoice contact.
Add an 'account manager' if this is a prospect or client, to track which of your staff members will manage this client relationship.
Click the 'Save' button.
Tip: Learn more about the contact details shown on each of the contact tabs.
Personnel are staff or people that work for a 'company' or 'individual' type contact. Enter the personnel's direct contact information such as phone and address details. Use the personnel details in Synergy within projects, reports, invoice documents, emails, and other communications.
Go to: Contacts.
Click the Add button and select 'personnel'.
Select a title (e.g. Mr, Mrs, Miss) and then type the person's first and last name.
Add any other known details about the personnel - postal or street address, phone numbers, email addresses, or social accounts.
Click the 'Save' button.
Tip: Learn more about the personnel details shown on each of the personnel contact tabs.
Update the general details of the contact record when they move office locations, or change any contact details.
Go to: Contacts.
Locate the item you want to update and either: Click the row that you want to update, then click the edit button. Click the row action button and select 'edit' from the list.
Update the contact fields as required.
Save.
Tip: Learn more about each of the contact tabs and how to update the details.
A contact record can only be deleted if it is not linked to any other records such as projects, bills, expenses, or have any attached personnel records. To delete a contact:
Go to: contacts list and use one of the following methods: Single row - Click the contact row to open the record, then click the action button and select 'delete'. Multi row - Select the check box(es) on the row left for each item you want to delete. Then click the multiple rows action button and choose 'delete'.
The list refreshes and the item(s) have been deleted.
Tip: Make the contact inactive if it cannot be deleted, and it will be removed from drop down lists throughout Synergy.
Make a contact record 'inactive' when you want to stop the record showing in drop down lists in Synergy. Change a contact to be inactive if it cannot be deleted as it is already linked to projects, bills / expenses, or attached to any personnel records.
Go to contacts list and Select the check box(es) on the row left for each item you want to mark as inactive. Click the multiple rows action button and choose 'set as not active'.
The list refreshes and the item(s) have been updated.
Tips:
Use the list filter 'all' to find both active and inactive contacts.
Use the list views to alter which columns are shown in the list for the existing contact records. Select the word 'default' in the top left corner to see the available views.
The contact name is shown in all the views. The standard views add extra columns such as:
Default - the view shown each time you open contact list with the company type and parent contact name.
Address - the street address line 1 and 2, suburb / town, state, post code and country.
Phone and Email - the business phone, mobile, and email addresses.
Tags and Roles - the tags and roles that have been assigned to the contacts.
Search
When a large number of items exist use the search or filter options to limit the number of rows shown in the list.
Search by clicking the search button and typing the keyword into the search box. To return to seeing all items in the list click the clear button in the search bar.
Tip: Learn more about searching with the list search or the global search.
Filter
Filter the list by selecting the search button. The filter options are:
Type - limit the list to show all 'company / individual' types or all 'personnel' type records. The default option applied is 'all' which displays all three types.
Roles - limit the list to show only contacts with a certain role set. e.g. view all the contacts with a roles like supplier, builder, or consultant.
Tags - search all the contacts to find records that have a specific tag attached. Type one or multiple tags into this box to search for in all the contact records. Tags are custom text that can be entered on a contact like extra data. Standard tags are automatically added if the contact was imported from your accounting package like MYOB, Xero, and QuickBooks.
Active - By default only active contacts are shown, which are contacts that can still be found in drop down lists and added to projects or invoices. Use the drop down to switch to seeing 'inactive' contacts which are the records that have been used on projects or invoices previously, but are not longer available for use in Synergy.
Tip: Return to the default view by choosing the clear button in the search bar.
When setting up Synergy use this feature to import contact records from your accounting system using Accounting add-ons. The import process allows you to import all records to Synergy, or just selected contact items.
Accounting add-ons supports the import of contacts from Xero, MYOB AccountRight Live, and QuickBooks Online.
Learn more about using Accounting add-ons to import contacts.
Click the row action button and select to open the contact record directly to the tab:
Details - a read-only view for the general contact details.
Edit - an update view for the general contact details.
Personnel - maintain a list of the staff who work at a company contact.
Projects - the projects where this contact is listed on the project contacts tab as part of the team.
Invoices - all invoices where the contact is listed in the address to, c/o, or attention to fields.
Bills - all expenses (bills) where the contact is listed as having provided the goods or services for the expense.
Documents - view any saved emails, documents, images, statements for each contact.
Notes - add notes to track details told to the client during meetings, phone calls, debt collection etc.
Audit - track what changes have been made to a contact record, by who, and when the change was made.
Tip: The same tabs are available in all three contact types - company, individual and personnel.
Columns available
Name Contact name from the company contact, or the first and last name for an individual or personnel contact. This column is always displayed.
Type Shows if the record is for a company, individual, or personnel type contact. This is shown when using the default view.
Parent contact name Displays the name of the company or individual contact which the personnel type contact is linked. Click on the parent contact name (green text) to open the company contact that the personnel list is attached to. Click on the column heading to sort all the personnel together from the same company contact. e.g. all the personnel for ABC Constructions will appear at the same point in the list.
Unique ID Each contact record can be assigned a unique number for use with Accounting add-ons to transfer invoice or expense data to your accounting system. Learn more about unique id's.
Status The current status of the contact is shown. The status controls where in synergy that the contact can be used. Learn more about changing the contact status.
Account manager View which internal staff member is responsible for this contact's account. This is the project manager at your company that they would manage this client's account.
Website If the corporate website address for the contact has been entered then the website symbol is shown. When blank the website has not yet been entered against the contact record.
Address 1 Displays the first line of the home address for the contact record.
Address 2 Displays the second line of the home address for the contact record.
Suburb / town Displays the suburb or town or city for the home address for the contact record.
State Displays the state or region name for the home address for the contact record.
Post code Displays the post code for the home address for the contact record.
Phone The office main number for a company contact, the main contact (home or work) for an individual contact, or the direct dial work number for the personnel record.
Mobile The mobile number for the contact record is shown. For a personnel or individual contact this is their mobile number. For a company contact is can be used to store the mobile number for the primary contact at the company.
Work This can be used to store a secondary work number for the contact such as the reception number, switch board number, head office number.
Other If the contact has an extra number you need to track you can store the details in this field in the edit contact page. e.g. Fax number.
Email (1) The primary email address for the contact record. e.g. the work email address for personnel and individual contacts, or the main office email for a company contact record.
Email (2 - 4) Use these fields to store extra email addresses for the contact that can be used when sending out project emails, documents, and reports.
Tags View the tags that have been entered on the contacts. If a contact was imported from your accounting system, then a tag is added automatically with the name. i.e. Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks assigned as a tag on import.
Roles See what role the contact is performing on projects. This role is added on the project contacts tab and automatically assigned to the contact record, or can be added to the contact when setting up the details.
Tips:
Click on a column heading name to sort the lists in ascending order, or click the name again to sort in descending order.
Sort using the 'parent contact' column and all personnel are shown sorted with the company contact record in the list, which lets you see the company and all their personnel in the list at once.