Opportunity / Contact history linking

[Bryan]

For an existing opportunity I just logged a phone call with a contact. I did
this from the contact form-History. This doesn't show up in the Opportunity.
Are these completely separate? If I'd put it in the opportunity would it show
up in the contact history? What if I want to see everything I've done with a
particular contact; opportunity and regular stuff?

Bryan

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Bryan,

I would recommend that you review the various linking relationship
requirements for BCM in the tutorial/help information availiable. After that
just experiment a bit with different data items and this will all become more
apparent and intuitive for you to do.

In order to have a BCM Opportunity record it must be first linked to either a
Business Contact or Account Record. This establishes the linked Business
Contact or Account record as the "Parent" in the linked relationship and
everthing later that is subsequently linked to the linked Opportunity Record
(Child to the parent) is automatically rolled up and viewable on the parent
record's history as well.

With your stated phone call log example, if you have intiated and linked the
phone call to the opportunity, then it will also show up in the history of
the linked parent Business and or Account record. This option is the most
efficient workflow because it provides automatic duo linking with one step.
However, If you have intiated the phone log link directly to the parent
Business Contact record (because you obviously talk to people on the phone
not opportunities) but you also want to have it be linked to the opportunity
because the phone call relates to the opportunity, you can just open up the
phone log and manually link the phone call record additionally to the
opportunity by selecting it from the "Link to" field options.

Best wishes,

-THP

 

[Bryan]

very helpful reply. thank you. So...

If I initiate in the opportunity, prob the best way, and it (Opp) is linked
to the main company record, but the phone call was with a particular contact,
it will show up with the linked account record. I've seen that, but what if I
want it to be linked to the contact I spoke with?

I don't have access to play with it right now so I'm just trying to
understand the logic. I'll get to have more hands on, read, etc. next week.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Bryan,

Per your described example you could link in the following way:

Create your Account Record (Parent) and have the appropriate Business Contact
Records (Children) linked to the Account Record. Create the Opportunity
Record as needed and link the Opportunity Record to the most appropriate of
the linked Business Contact Records for that Account. You now have a
Grandparent>Parent>Child relationship between the Account>Business
Contact>Opportunity records. Initiate the Phone Log from the Opportunity's
"New History Item" button so this phone call record is then automatically
linked to the Opportunity Record's history. Your 4 total linked data items
now relate as Account (Great-grandparent) to Business Contact (Grandparent)
to Opportunity (Parent) to Phone Log (Child). The beauty now is that all of
this pre-established linkage allows viewing at the top (Great Grandparent)
Account Level History because everything linked below "rolls-up" through each
hierarchial record accordingly.

Account Record > Business Contact Record > Opportunity Record > Phone Log

Just click on the History tab to view each record's place in the hierarchy
and you will see how your data base will become constructed. A lot of the
ease of using BCM depends upon how well you understand and establish the
intial relationships between the various data record items.

I hope this helps rather than confuses. Again, just experiment and you will
figure out easily enough how to best incorporate the most efficient workflow
that meets your needs.

-THP

very helpful reply. thank you. So...

If I initiate in the opportunity, prob the best way, and it (Opp) is linked
to the main company record, but the phone call was with a particular contact,
it will show up with the linked account record. I've seen that, but what if I
want it to be linked to the contact I spoke with?

I don't have access to play with it right now so I'm just trying to
understand the logic. I'll get to have more hands on, read, etc. next week.

Bryan,

[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]

 

[Bryan]

Thanks. That's exactly what I want and better than what I figured out <g>.
However, when I change the opportunity I'm playing with to link to the
contact rather than the account, it dissapears from the Sales dashboard. Why?

Bryan,

Per your described example you could link in the following way:

Create your Account Record (Parent) and have the appropriate Business Contact
Records (Children) linked to the Account Record. Create the Opportunity
Record as needed and link the Opportunity Record to the most appropriate of
the linked Business Contact Records for that Account. You now have a
Grandparent>Parent>Child relationship between the Account>Business
Contact>Opportunity records. Initiate the Phone Log from the Opportunity's
"New History Item" button so this phone call record is then automatically
linked to the Opportunity Record's history. Your 4 total linked data items
now relate as Account (Great-grandparent) to Business Contact (Grandparent)
to Opportunity (Parent) to Phone Log (Child). The beauty now is that all of
this pre-established linkage allows viewing at the top (Great Grandparent)
Account Level History because everything linked below "rolls-up" through each
hierarchial record accordingly.

Account Record > Business Contact Record > Opportunity Record > Phone Log

Just click on the History tab to view each record's place in the hierarchy
and you will see how your data base will become constructed. A lot of the
ease of using BCM depends upon how well you understand and establish the
intial relationships between the various data record items.

I hope this helps rather than confuses. Again, just experiment and you will
figure out easily enough how to best incorporate the most efficient workflow
that meets your needs.

-THP

very helpful reply. thank you. So...

If I initiate in the opportunity, prob the best way, and it (Opp) is linked
to the main company record, but the phone call was with a particular contact,
it will show up with the linked account record. I've seen that, but what if I
want it to be linked to the contact I spoke with?

I don't have access to play with it right now so I'm just trying to
understand the logic. I'll get to have more hands on, read, etc. next week.

Bryan,

[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]

Bryan

 

[Bryan]

So, back playing with it again. Here's another scenario that I can't figure
out. I want to send an email to the business contact, for this particular
opportunity. In the opportunity there isn't a History choice for email. In
the contact there is but it doesn't link to the opportunity. How do I make
this link so the opportunity shows all activity for it?

Bryan

Bryan,

Per your described example you could link in the following way:

Create your Account Record (Parent) and have the appropriate Business Contact
Records (Children) linked to the Account Record. Create the Opportunity
Record as needed and link the Opportunity Record to the most appropriate of
the linked Business Contact Records for that Account. You now have a
Grandparent>Parent>Child relationship between the Account>Business
Contact>Opportunity records. Initiate the Phone Log from the Opportunity's
"New History Item" button so this phone call record is then automatically
linked to the Opportunity Record's history. Your 4 total linked data items
now relate as Account (Great-grandparent) to Business Contact (Grandparent)
to Opportunity (Parent) to Phone Log (Child). The beauty now is that all of
this pre-established linkage allows viewing at the top (Great Grandparent)
Account Level History because everything linked below "rolls-up" through each
hierarchial record accordingly.

Account Record > Business Contact Record > Opportunity Record > Phone Log

Just click on the History tab to view each record's place in the hierarchy
and you will see how your data base will become constructed. A lot of the
ease of using BCM depends upon how well you understand and establish the
intial relationships between the various data record items.

I hope this helps rather than confuses. Again, just experiment and you will
figure out easily enough how to best incorporate the most efficient workflow
that meets your needs.

-THP

very helpful reply. thank you. So...

If I initiate in the opportunity, prob the best way, and it (Opp) is linked
to the main company record, but the phone call was with a particular contact,
it will show up with the linked account record. I've seen that, but what if I
want it to be linked to the contact I spoke with?

I don't have access to play with it right now so I'm just trying to
understand the logic. I'll get to have more hands on, read, etc. next week.

Bryan,

[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]

Bryan

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Bryan,

You have sleuthed out yet another little foible of BCM. In the first version
of BCM I seem to recall that you could initiate an email from an Opportunity
record by just clicking the New Opportunity History button. I believe it may
have been changed due to the thinking by the designers that you only send
emails to people (a Business Contact Record) rather than an inanimate
opportunity. Interestingly however, I have never completed a Sales
Opportunity without dealing with "people" whom I have corresponded with via
email. It's a catch 22 so just what is a stubborn BCM-er to do?

Fortunately, You can still manually "reverse-link" an email to an opportunity
record. Here's how: Open the email you want to link and go up to the far
right corner of the ribbon and click on the "Link to Record" button. In the
dialogue box go to the upper right to the Folder drop down and select
Opportunities. Navigate to the existing Opportunity that you want to link
the email to, highlight the opportunity and then click the "Link To" button
under Linked Records to complete the operation.

Not very graceful or elegant but it gets the job done with all the MS
efficiency (not!) I have come to adore. Workflow for this is best adapted by
remembering to do this little manual journey as you create each email before
sending it. That's how I remember to do this anyway.

Another thing to keep in mind in order to avoid needless "redundant" linking
of email is that all opportunity records must and can only be linked to
either 1 Business Contact or 1 Account Record. Most often you initiate the
workflow of sending an email in BCM by clicking on the New History Button of
an open Business Contact thus auto linking the email to the Business Contact
from the start. This auto linked email will thus already display in the
Business Contact's Communication History tab. When you then go and manually
also link this email to an Opportunity that is already linked to the same
Business Contact that you sent the email to, it will double display in the
Business Contact History tab due to the now manually linked email "rolling
up" though the Opportunity Link into the history of the linked Business
Contact Record.

Are you confused yet? If so, just play around with this some more and you
will get what I am describing. This little BCM annoyance is what you have to
live with in order to ultimately link emails directly to the Opportunity
Record. I am one who prefers to be very "Opportunity-Centric" in my Sales
record keeping whereby all other data objects revolve around the Opportunity
orbit as my central repository to link to. BCM hinders this style a bit a
times.

Best wishes,

-THP

So, back playing with it again. Here's another scenario that I can't figure
out. I want to send an email to the business contact, for this particular
opportunity. In the opportunity there isn't a History choice for email. In
the contact there is but it doesn't link to the opportunity. How do I make
this link so the opportunity shows all activity for it?

Bryan

Bryan,

[quoted text clipped - 42 lines]

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Additional comment:

Navigation into, out of, and around the BCM Opportunity Record could be made
so much better if they beefed up its linking funtionality. I still would
like to see the Opportunity Record contain an additional section titled
"Related Accounts and Business Contacts" identical to the Business Project
Record. This would enable a Many-to-Many data relationship that would keep
the user from having to navigate around so much and open up so many
additional data items when working with one's Opportunities.

-THP

Bryan,

You have sleuthed out yet another little foible of BCM. In the first version
of BCM I seem to recall that you could initiate an email from an Opportunity
record by just clicking the New Opportunity History button. I believe it may
have been changed due to the thinking by the designers that you only send
emails to people (a Business Contact Record) rather than an inanimate
opportunity. Interestingly however, I have never completed a Sales
Opportunity without dealing with "people" whom I have corresponded with via
email. It's a catch 22 so just what is a stubborn BCM-er to do?

Fortunately, You can still manually "reverse-link" an email to an opportunity
record. Here's how: Open the email you want to link and go up to the far
right corner of the ribbon and click on the "Link to Record" button. In the
dialogue box go to the upper right to the Folder drop down and select
Opportunities. Navigate to the existing Opportunity that you want to link
the email to, highlight the opportunity and then click the "Link To" button
under Linked Records to complete the operation.

Not very graceful or elegant but it gets the job done with all the MS
efficiency (not!) I have come to adore. Workflow for this is best adapted by
remembering to do this little manual journey as you create each email before
sending it. That's how I remember to do this anyway.

Another thing to keep in mind in order to avoid needless "redundant" linking
of email is that all opportunity records must and can only be linked to
either 1 Business Contact or 1 Account Record. Most often you initiate the
workflow of sending an email in BCM by clicking on the New History Button of
an open Business Contact thus auto linking the email to the Business Contact
from the start. This auto linked email will thus already display in the
Business Contact's Communication History tab. When you then go and manually
also link this email to an Opportunity that is already linked to the same
Business Contact that you sent the email to, it will double display in the
Business Contact History tab due to the now manually linked email "rolling
up" though the Opportunity Link into the history of the linked Business
Contact Record.

Are you confused yet? If so, just play around with this some more and you
will get what I am describing. This little BCM annoyance is what you have to
live with in order to ultimately link emails directly to the Opportunity
Record. I am one who prefers to be very "Opportunity-Centric" in my Sales
record keeping whereby all other data objects revolve around the Opportunity
orbit as my central repository to link to. BCM hinders this style a bit a
times.

Best wishes,

-THP

So, back playing with it again. Here's another scenario that I can't figure
out. I want to send an email to the business contact, for this particular

[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]

 

[Bryan]

Thanks again. It's all starting to make sense. Did you see my other question
about a weirdness?

"when I change the opportunity I'm playing with to link to the
contact rather than the account, it disappears from the Sales dashboard. Why?"

Additional comment:

Navigation into, out of, and around the BCM Opportunity Record could be made
so much better if they beefed up its linking funtionality. I still would
like to see the Opportunity Record contain an additional section titled
"Related Accounts and Business Contacts" identical to the Business Project
Record. This would enable a Many-to-Many data relationship that would keep
the user from having to navigate around so much and open up so many
additional data items when working with one's Opportunities.

-THP

Bryan,

You have sleuthed out yet another little foible of BCM. In the first version
of BCM I seem to recall that you could initiate an email from an Opportunity
record by just clicking the New Opportunity History button. I believe it may
have been changed due to the thinking by the designers that you only send
emails to people (a Business Contact Record) rather than an inanimate
opportunity. Interestingly however, I have never completed a Sales
Opportunity without dealing with "people" whom I have corresponded with via
email. It's a catch 22 so just what is a stubborn BCM-er to do?

Fortunately, You can still manually "reverse-link" an email to an opportunity
record. Here's how: Open the email you want to link and go up to the far
right corner of the ribbon and click on the "Link to Record" button. In the
dialogue box go to the upper right to the Folder drop down and select
Opportunities. Navigate to the existing Opportunity that you want to link
the email to, highlight the opportunity and then click the "Link To" button
under Linked Records to complete the operation.

Not very graceful or elegant but it gets the job done with all the MS
efficiency (not!) I have come to adore. Workflow for this is best adapted by
remembering to do this little manual journey as you create each email before
sending it. That's how I remember to do this anyway.

Another thing to keep in mind in order to avoid needless "redundant" linking
of email is that all opportunity records must and can only be linked to
either 1 Business Contact or 1 Account Record. Most often you initiate the
workflow of sending an email in BCM by clicking on the New History Button of
an open Business Contact thus auto linking the email to the Business Contact
from the start. This auto linked email will thus already display in the
Business Contact's Communication History tab. When you then go and manually
also link this email to an Opportunity that is already linked to the same
Business Contact that you sent the email to, it will double display in the
Business Contact History tab due to the now manually linked email "rolling
up" though the Opportunity Link into the history of the linked Business
Contact Record.

Are you confused yet? If so, just play around with this some more and you
will get what I am describing. This little BCM annoyance is what you have to
live with in order to ultimately link emails directly to the Opportunity
Record. I am one who prefers to be very "Opportunity-Centric" in my Sales
record keeping whereby all other data objects revolve around the Opportunity
orbit as my central repository to link to. BCM hinders this style a bit a
times.

Best wishes,

-THP

So, back playing with it again. Here's another scenario that I can't figure
out. I want to send an email to the business contact, for this particular

[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]

Bryan

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Maybe this dashboard needs to be refreshed to reflect the change? Try
clicking away and then returning to the dashboard.

-THP

Thanks again. It's all starting to make sense. Did you see my other question
about a weirdness?

"when I change the opportunity I'm playing with to link to the
contact rather than the account, it disappears from the Sales dashboard. Why?"

Additional comment:

[quoted text clipped - 62 lines]