The Relationship Map™ page uses relationship data to suggest possible connections between a user and a target contact. A user can use this information to find someone who can make an introduction or initial contact with a prospect.
For example, the user Ed Roberts might want to find someone he knows who can introduce him to Doug Trooper, an employee at a prospective client. The Relationship Map page shows all the people Ed knows who also have a relationship with Doug.
Unlike the other search results pages, the Relationship Map page does not display the results in a tabular grid. Instead, the page displays the starting contact on the left, the target on the right, and possible connections in the middle, along with details about how the connecting contacts are related to the target.
There is nothing to configure for the Relationship Map page.
How Does InterAction Find Connections for the Relationship Map Page?
InterAction uses data from several places to build the set of results shown on the Relationship Map page for a specific contact. There are two main parts to the calculation:
- Finding contacts that the user knows.
- From this set of contacts, finding contacts that have a relationship with the target contact.
When a user selects to view the Relationship Map page for a person, InterAction first finds all the contacts that the user knows by searching the following:
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Contacts in the user’s list that are also in the firm list.
Contacts that are in the user’s list only cannot be possible connections, since they cannot have relationships with others in the firm list. Users who get unsatisfactory results from the Relationship Map may want to review their contacts and add more of them to the firm list so that relationship data can be built around their contacts.
- Contacts in the firm list that the user has indicated that he or she knows.
- Co-workers for the contact. InterAction looks for contacts with the Our Personnel contact type when searching for co-workers.
Once InterAction has a list of contacts that the user “knows,” the system then searches for any relationships between this list of contacts (and their companies) and the target person. InterAction uses all relationship types in this search. Relationships with companies are also considered.
For example, assume the Ed Roberts is trying to connect to Louise Graef. InterAction might find connections like the following:
- Ed knows Jane Tarnoff, who serves on the board of directors for Justus Software, Inc. Louise used to be on the board of directors for Justus Software. Therefore, Jane will appear as a possible connection between Ed and Louise.
- Ed’s co-worker Matt Thompson went to the same school as Louise. Therefore, Matt will also appear as a possible connection.
Good, complete relationship data is essential for making the Relationship Map feature of Web Client useful to professional end users.
Collecting Good Data for the Relationship Map
The Relationship Map feature in InterAction can be extremely valuable, but it is not useful without good, complete relationship data in InterAction. Keep the following ideas in mind when populating your system:
- Use Application Collaboration to add relationships from other sources.
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Former employees of your organization can be useful in finding connections since many users in your organization will know them. Always maintain these contacts in InterAction.
Whenever possible, update the contact for the former employee with the person’s new company and job title.
- Use the former attribute on relationships when they end rather than just deleting them. A former board member or key client contact relationship can be a powerful connection. For details about how InterAction tracks former relationships, see Former Relationships.
- Invest some time in adding relationships manually. You don’t need to enter everything at once, but as you add relationships over time the value of the data will increase.