To add individual records of communications - calls, mailings, emails, meetings - to a
Household or an
Organization, you have two options on their
Communication Tab - QUICK ADD or ADD A DETAILED RECORD. Both options create the same type of record in the database, one is simply shorter than the other. The fields included in these types of communication records are listed below:
- Date - What date was this communication made? The default is today
- Type - What type of communication was this? A Mailing, a Call, a Meeting?
- Purpose - Why was this communication made? Was it about a Donation? Was it a complaint? Was it about Volunteering?
- Who - Who was this communication with? This drop down will list any Person records created on this Master Record. If you are entering a communication you made, choose who you spoke to. An important, ALTERNATE way to use this field is - If you are entering a communication made by someone else on the Board or Staff, this drop down also contains their names so you could choose that name instead. This is useful not only to record who made the communication, but can also be a way to assign a future/incomplete communication to someone on the Staff or Board.
- Completed - This checkbox indicates that this communication is now complete. By default, this box is checked. The assumption is you are entering a communication that has already occurred. If you un-check this box, the communication will be considered Incomplete or something that will be happening in the future. See below for more details on Future Communications
- Note - What did you discuss? What is the person going to do as a result of this communication? What did you learn about this person?
- Follow Up Needed - If this follow up needed to this Communication, enter a note here. This will then appear on the To Do List of whoever is in the PERSON drop down described above.
When you add a Detailed Communication record, or edit any Communication Record, you will have a lot of fields to choose from to record important information:
- Date - What date was this communication made? The default is today
- Completed - This checkbox indicates that this communication is now complete. If you un-check this box, the communication will be considered Incomplete or something that will be happening in the future. See below for more details on Future Communications
- Type - What type of communication was this? A Mailing, a Call, a Meeting?
- Purpose - Why was this communication made? Was it about a Donation? Was it a complaint? Was it about Volunteering?
- Communication Was Between - There are two drop down fields here - one for the People on this Master Record. The other is a list of Board/Staff Members (at least any who have been set up with a Portfolio). This allows you to track both people involved in the communication. If the person involved does not appear on the list you need, there is a text field where you can type in another name.
- Call/Meeting Note - What did you discuss? What is the person going to do as a result of this communication?
- Bio Info I Learned - Similar to the Call/Meeting Note above, this is a place to record information. If you are using the Calling List Module, this field is a good place for your callers to record biographical information about this record - where people work, where they went to school, etc. You can run a report on this information later and divide the details up in to other parts of their Master Record where it belongs.
- Response - If you are using the Calling List Module, this field is used to record the initial response to the call from a pre-determined set of choices - 'Yes,' 'No,' 'Maybe,' etc. This data is used to generate reports about your Calling List Campaign.
- Donation - If this appeal is attached to a Donation, it will show here.
- Appeal - which Appeal generated this communication? We recommend every communication be attached to an Appeal, even if you need to generate some generic Appeals like 'Board Phone Calls' or 'General Mailings.'
- Follow Up Fields - This section is used to create detailed follow up notes/instructions related to this communication. Just because the communication itself is complete (eg I made a call yesterday), does not mean that it's follow up is complete (eg I need to mail a brochure to the person I called yesterday). Use the fields in this section this way:
Completed - If there are follow up things to do, leave this box un-checked until the follow up is Complete. As long as it is marked Incomplete, this communication will appear on the To Do List of the person it is assigned to.
I Will Call... - Use these two options to auto-create future communications for you to contact this record again.
Follow Up Needs to Be Done By - assign the Follow Up to someone else for it to appear on his/her To Do List.
Follow up Note - detail everything that needs to be done for Follow Up. Since many Follow Ups are about sending something out, we've included several default Mail Note options you can use.
While you want to be able to record Communications you have completed, you also want to schedule them for the future as well. This is easy to do in either of two ways:
1.) Create a Communication with a future date and make sure to un-check the Completed Box. Make sure the Communication is assigned to either you or someone else on the Board/Staff so it shows up on the appropriate
To Do List when someone logs in.
2.) Add a Follow Up Note to an existing communication. If something needs to be done to an existing communication (like a brochure sent out on a call made last night), go in to the communication, and use the
Follow Up Fields to record what needs to be done and who needs to do it. Make sure to leave the Follow Up Note Completed checkbox un-checked so the Follow Up shows as incomplete. This will make sure it shows up on the appropriate
To Do List when someone logs in.