A Web Client profile is a set of attributes that can apply to a contact. Typically, profiles display additional field values, and they provide contextual information about the contact. For example, a Client profile applies only to contacts that are clients and displays information relevant to clients such as the following:
- The client number
- The date the contact became a client
- The list of services your organization provides to the client
- Financial information about the client
This information can be stored in different places; the Web Client brings it all together and presents it in a single “Client Profile” view available for any contact that has been identified as a client.
Client Profile Brings Together Information From Different Sources
[A] These fields are stored in the Client Information folder.
[B] These fields are stored in the Client Financial Information folder.
InterAction includes a set of profiles out of the box. You can edit these to suit your organization, and add new profiles to display this sort of key information.
This overview covers the following topics:
- Where Do Profiles Appear in the Web Client?
- What Information Can a Profile Display?
- Profiles Included with InterAction
- When Should I Create a Profile?
Where Do Profiles Appear in the Web Client?
The profiles that apply to a contact appear in several places in the Web Client:
- A summary version of a profile is available on the Person/Company Overview page for the contact. The summary normally displays a subset of the profile fields.
- A full page version of a profile displays all of the defined information. This version is available from a link on the Person/Contact Overview pages and from other links in the system.
- A Web Client search form can be associated with a profile. When displaying the results of such a search, the summary version of the profile appears in the preview pane.
- A contact type can be tied to a profile. As with searches, when displaying the list of contacts assigned to the contact type, the summary profile appears in the preview pane.
- Users can edit the values for a profile. When doing this, they edit the underlying additional fields and folder-specific notes.
Profiles can also be placed on reports. The same information displayed in the Web Client is then included on the report. Updates to the profile are reflected in the report automatically, and the report information follows the same security rules as the profile.
Summary Version of a Profile on the Overview Page
[A] The summary profile on the Overview page displays a subset of the available information for the selected profile.
[B] The View Full Profiles link displays the full profile in a popup window.
[A] The Preview area displays the summary profile for the selected contact. Choose View Complete Profile to open the Profiles dialog box from here.
Editing the Values for a Profile
What Information Can a Profile Display?
A Web Client profile can display additional fields (global and folder-specific), folder-specific notes, and links to other Web pages. It can also include display elements such as headings, blank lines, and static text. The figure below illustrates some of the available profile attributes.
Profile Attributes Displayed in the Web Client
[A] Additional fields.
[B] Headings.
[C] Blank line.
[D] Link.
When configuring a Web Client profile, you can control the specific attributes displayed and the order in which they appear. You configure the look of the profile by adding and arranging the profile attributes. The Profile Attributes section of the New/Edit Web Client Profile dialog box displays the attributes in a similar manner to how they will appear in the Web Client.
Defining the Attributes for a Web Client Profile
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Additional Fields |
Additional fields appear with the field name as a label, followed by the field value. You can format a number, decimal, or date field with a display mask. For details, see Adding Additional Fields to a Web Client Profile. |
| Folder-specific notes |
Folder-specific notes appear in the profile as a block of text. Note that these notes can be very long, so it is usually best to place this attribute at the end of the profile. Although you can include this in summary, it is best not to because of length. For details, see Including Folder-Specific Notes on a Web Client Profile. |
| Headings |
Headings are used to group fields together on the profile. This can be useful when presenting several fields on a single profile. See Formatting Profiles. |
| Text |
Static text is typically used to provide instructions or other informational messages for the Web Client users. It appears as a simple block of text on the profile. See Formatting Profiles. |
| Links |
Links appear as standard HTML links. They are useful for providing users with a quick way to navigate to related Web sites or other Web Client pages. Links can pass along InterAction data (such as contact names and ID values) to the other site as well. For example, a link can open a stock quotes page and look up the company the user is viewing in InterAction |
| Blank Line |
A blank line item is used to visually separate items in the profile. See Formatting Profiles. |
Profiles Included with InterAction
The following Web Client profiles are included with InterAction. Details about the specific fields included in each of these profiles is available in Out-of-the-Box Web Profiles.
You cannot delete the out-of-the-box Employment, Education, or Corporate Structure profiles, although you can make them inactive. Also, you cannot edit all attributes for some of the profiles. For details, see Can I Edit or Delete All of the Out-of-the-Box Profiles?
- Employment (Always appears for people)
- Education (Always appears for people)
- Company (Always appears for companies)
- Corporate Structure (Always appears for companies)
- Alumni (People only)
- Client (People or companies)
- Client Personnel (People only)
- Our Consultant (People only)
- Personnel (People only)
- Prospect (People or companies)
- Prospect Personnel (People only)
When Should I Create a Profile?
Web Client profiles appear very prominently on the Person/Company Overview page. The main advantage of using profiles is that they allow you to present important information about a contact in a “context-sensitive manner.” For example, when viewing a contact that is a client, users see information useful to know about your organization’s clients. Profiles also have the ability to gather together information from several different sources within InterAction and present it in a single, simple view. Users do not need to know how the data is organized “behind the scenes.”
Because of this, it is important to identify and design your organization’s profiles carefully. Overloading the system with too many profiles may make it difficult for users to find important information. The set of profiles that a user sees for a given contact should reflect that user’s needs and the context of the contact.
Profiles typically correspond to contact types. When defining the profile, you choose a contact type for the profile criteria (the contacts that will have the profile) and you include fields and notes relevant to the contact type. For example, the Client profile corresponds to the Client contact type and displays information useful when looking at a contact within the context of a client.
Note, however, that not all contact types need to have a corresponding profile. For example, out of the box, the College / University contact type does not include a corresponding profile. This is because the type is there primarily to identify the purpose for having the contact in the Firm List, and there is no related information to display.
Deciding which custom profiles you need involves the following main tasks:
- Deciding how to organize your contacts into contact types, working lists, marketing lists, and other folders.
- Deciding what additional information you need to collect within these collections of contacts.
- Deciding which information should be displayed for different contact “contexts.” That is, which fields are relevant to a contact when looking at it as a client, and which are relevant when looking at it as a prospect?
Working lists and marketing lists don’t usually require profiles; users can easily view any related additional fields for these folders from the Person/Company Overview page. For more details, see Overview of Working Lists and Overview of Marketing Lists.
Within the set of contact types, consider the following when deciding which types should have corresponding profiles
- Are there any related fields for the contact type? For example, the Client contact type has several related fields that provide more information about the client relationship between the contact and your organization (date became client, client number, services provided, etc.). Note that these fields can be stored in a separate “information folder” and therefore shared between contact types or secured.
- What is the overall purpose of the contact type? Types that define the relationship between your organization and the contact (such as “Client” or “Prospect”) frequently have information that is useful to display in profiles. Contact types that just identify an attribute of the contact (such as College / University) do not.