Contact models

Introduction to contact models in ConSol CM

A case in ConSol CM usually belongs to a contact, who makes a request handled in the case. The contact model determines the structure of the contacts, their data fields and the templates used in the various places of the Web Client.

Concepts, terms and definitions

Concept	Other terms	Definition
contact	customer, unit	Stakeholder who gave the reason for opening the case; can be either a company or a person.
person	contact	Type of contact on the lower hierarchical level
company		Type of contact on the upper hierarchical level
customer group		Group of customers with a specific contact model; basis for assigning permissions and determining the available activities and relations
contact field	unit field	Data field of a person or company
contact field group	unit field group	Set of data fields for persons or companies
contact model	customer data model	Data model for contacts; contains one or two contact objects which provide further settings

Purpose and usage

Contacts always belong to a customer group, which defines the used data model, and the available relations and actions. The data models are created and managed on the Contact models page. A contact model can be used in several customer groups.

There are two types of contact models:

• One-level contact model: This is a model without hierarchy which contains either persons or companies. If the model contains only companies, you need to decide whether the companies can be main contact of cases or not, see Settings for contact models.

• Two-level contact model: This is a hierarchical model which contains both persons and companies. The upper hierarchical level is the company which can have several persons. The lower hierarchical level is the person who can only belong to one company. The model settings determine if a person must belong to a company and if companies can be the main contact of cases, see Settings for contact models.

You can change the terms used for persons, companies and contacts on the Labels page.

Settings for contact models

The following settings are available for contact models:

• Internal name: The technical name of the contact model.

• Localized name: The localized name of the contact model. Used for system documentation only.

• Localized description: The localized description of the contact model. Used for system documentation only.

• Contact model contains persons: Determines if the contact model contains persons. If selected, the Person tab is shown.

• Contact model contains companies: Determines if the contact model contains companies. If selected, the Company tab is shown.

• Companies can be the main contact of a case: Only for models containing companies. Determines if cases can have a company as main contact.

  If this checkbox is not selected for a contact model which contains only companies, the companies can only be added as additional contacts. This means that the cases must have a main contact from another customer group which uses another data model.

• Persons do not need a company: Only for two-level models. Determines if a person must belong to a company, i.e. if the company is optional when creating a person in the Web Client or via script.

Settings for contact objects

Both person and company objects have the same settings. They are grouped in three sections:

• Basic: Contains the basic settings of the object.

  • Internal name: The technical name of the contact object.

  • Localized name: The localized name of the contact object. Displayed in the Web Client, e.g. in the header of the contact page and in the detail search.

  • Localized description: The localized description of the contact object. Used for system documentation only.

  • Icon: The icon displayed next to the contact name in the Web Client. You can click the Change icon button to select one of the predefined icons. Click the Upload icon button to upload your own icon in SVG or PNG format. The icon should be transparent because it is combined with the background color selected in the Color selection field.

• Field groups: Define the field groups used for the object. You can sort the assigned field groups by clicking the arrow icons to determine the order in which the field groups are displayed in the Web Client. The Edit icon next to the arrow icons allows to edit the field group on the Contact fields page. Click the New field group button to create a new field group.

• Templates: Define the display name of the contact in different places of the Web Client. You need to provide at least the Default template for the contact to be displayed correctly in the Web Client, see Defining contact templates.

Basic tasks

Defining a contact model

The most important decision when defining a contact model is whether it should contain both companies and persons or not. This mostly depends on your business processes and the people who create cases in your system. If you use CM/Track, you should also consider that only contacts on the Person level can access CM/Track.

Please proceed as follows to create a contact model:

1. Click the New model button on the Contact models page. By default, a two-level model is created, so the tabs Person and Company are present.

2. Make the desired settings in the Basic tab, see Settings for contact models. If you deselect the checkbox Contact model contains persons or Contact model contains companies, the Person or Company tab is removed, and unneeded options are hidden.

   The contact model must contain at least one object. Therefore, you cannot deselect both checkboxes.

3. Make the desired settings in the Person and / or Company tab, see Settings for contact objects.

4. Save your changes by clicking the Create model button.

Managing contact models

Contact models are managed on the Contact models page of the Web Admin Suite. The following actions are available:

• Create a new contact model
  Click the New model button above the list of contact models or duplicate an existing model by clicking the Duplicate icon of a model. See Defining a contact model.

• Edit a contact model
  Click the Edit icon or the model’s row and update the desired data in the Basic tab, see Settings for contact models.

• Deactivate a contact model
  You can deactivate contact models by clicking the Deactivate icon.

  Deactivating a contact model only affects newly created customer groups, i.e. a deactivated model cannot be assigned to a customer group. Existing customer groups which already had this model assigned are not affected.

• Activate a contact model
  You can activate contact models which are deactivated by clicking the Activate icon.

• Delete a contact model
  You can delete contact models which are not assigned to any customer group by clicking the Delete icon.

Managing contact objects

The following actions are available in the Person or Company tab of a contact model:

• Add fields to a contact object
  Open the Field groups sections to add fields:

  • Existing field group: Select the field group in the Available field groups list and move it to the Assigned field groups list.

  • New field for assigned group: Click the Edit group icon next to an assigned field group. The Contact fields page is opened with the field group selected. Add the field, update the field group and click the Back to contact model button to switch back to the Contact models page.

  • New field group: Click the New field group button. Make the desired settings in the Create field group window and click the Create field group button. The Contact fields page is opened. Add the fields and click the Back to contact model button to switch back to the Contact models page. Assign the field group to the contact model.

• Remove fields from a contact object
  Open the Field groups section. Select the field group in the Assigned field groups list and move it to the Available field groups list. You can unassign the field groups which you do not need anymore from the object, even if there are persons or companies where the fields have values. The field group will not be shown in the Web Client anymore. Therefore, unassigning a field group has the same effect as deactivating the field group on the Contact fields page.

• Edit a contact object
  You can edit the settings of the contact object in the Basic section, see Settings for contact objects.

• Define the contact display name
  Open the Templates section. Select the templates for the different locations (see Defining contact templates). You can either select an existing template or create a new one by entering the desired name and clicking the create option. See Technical templates.

Advanced tasks

Defining contact templates

Contact templates are needed to define which data fields should be used for the display name of the contact. They are assigned to a data model in the Templates section of the Person or Company tab. The Default template must be provided to display the contact correctly in the Web Client. If needed, you can overwrite the settings of the default template by providing a dedicated template for a specific location. The following templates are available:

• Default: Used for all locations in the Web Client and CM/Track for which no other templates have been defined. If not set, -- unknown -- is displayed instead of the name of the contact.

• REST API and portal: Used for the name of a contact accessed via REST API. This includes the display of the contact name in CM/Track and the mark tag of the REST response containing a contact data set.

• Drag-and-drop: Used when a contact icon is dragged, e.g. into the favorites.

• Email recipient: Used as recipient name displayed next to the email address in emails sent from cases, i.e. in the autocomplete search when selecting the recipient and in the corresponding email field.

  You must make sure that the template returns an RFC-compliant name for the contact. Otherwise, problems with email processing might occur.

• Quick search: Used in quick search results.

• Autocomplete search: Used in autocomplete search results, e.g. when selecting a contact for a case.

• Detail search: Used in the detail search results, e.g. Main contact column of cases or Contact column of contacts.

• Case and contact page: Used in the Contacts section of cases and as a header of the contact page.

• Case list: Used in the case list.

• Case relation: Used for the contact name in related cases (displayed in the High detail level in the Relations sections of a case).

• Workspace and favorites: Used in the workspace and favorites.

• Case history: Used in the case history, e.g. when the contact of a case changes.

• Suggestions on case page: Used in the suggestion window displayed when the user selects a contact for a case.

• CM/Phone contact details: Used for the contact name in CM/Phone.

• CM/Phone contact list: Used for the contact names in contact lists in CM/Phone.

The following example shows a contact template consisting of the first name and last name followed by the company name in parenthesis:

${MyPersonObject.getFieldValue("basic","firstname")!} ${MyPersonObject.getFieldValue("basic","lastname")!} (${MyCompanyObject.getFieldValue("basic","name")!})

See Syntax examples for further examples.

You can create the code with the template generator by clicking the Template generator icon in the editor header and selecting the desired fields.

Do not use line breaks in template statements.