Getting to Know the Contact Card

In this article:

• How-To Video
• Introduction
• Overview Tab
• Matters Tab
• Notes Menu and Tab
• Documents Tab
• Roles Tab
• Accounting Tab
• Logins Tab
• Portal Menu and Tab
• Marketing Tab
• Phone Calls Tab
• Participant Email Menu and Tab

How-To Video

Introduction

The contact card provides all of the details you want to record about a specific contact, such as personal information (like name and contact information) as well as details about the matters the contact is associated with, documents associated with the contact, and so forth. 

In some legal practice management systems, you create contacts within your matters or files. However, in Actionstep, contacts are created separately and then added to a matter or file. For example, let's say you are acting for Mr. and Mrs. Smith in relation to a transaction. In Actionstep, you will create two contacts—one for Mr. Smith and one for Mrs. Smith. Once created, you can then add them both as clients to the matter since you are representing both of them.

Additionally, a contact can be either an individual or a company. In Actionstep, a company includes any non-individual contacts you work with in your organization, for example, government bodies, charitable bodies, trusts, etc. If you do not want to use the word company, you can work with your admin or certified consulting partner to change the terminology. 

Finally, there are a few different terms associated with contacts:

• Contact: A contact is anyone you work with in your business. They may not be associated with any matters but you want to save their contact details. 
• Party/Parties: A party is a contact added to a matter in a specified role. For example, Sally Jones and Michael Jones are parties to a matter so they have been added as Clients.
• Primary Participant: The primary participant in a matter shows the participant's contact information at the top-right corner of the matter window. It can be identified in the Parties list by looking for the asterisk next to the participant role. In most instances, this is usually set to the client/customer.

The contact card is divided into several different tabs to help you track the specific details of the client relationship. 

Overview Tab

To access a client card:

1. In Actionstep, enter the client's name in the global search box, located near the top-right corner of the Actionstep window. 
2. From the list of names that appear, select the client. The contact record appears, showing the Overview tab. 

TIP: You can also go to Contacts > Contact List and view your full list of contacts. To more quickly find a contact from this view, you can sort the list by clicking a column heading or use the Views or Filter drop-down lists.

The Overview tab shows all of the participant panels configured for the specified participant type. For example, it can include name, contact information, personal details, assigned matters, and so forth. (For help with this configuration, admins can refer to Creating Participant Types.)

Matters Tab

The Matters tab shows all of the matters that the contact is associated with. This list functions like any other list view, and the default filter is set to only display open/active matters. You can clear this filter to see all the matters this contact has been associated with, including matters that have been closed.

Notes Menu and Tab

From the Notes menu, you can view notes either you or the system have created. You can also create a new note. 

Contact record notes behave like file notes, except they are not associated with any matter in particular, but rather the contact itself. If a note is associated with a contact, you cannot delete the contact record until the notes are deleted.

Documents Tab

On this tab, you can upload documents you need to store for the contact. This may include employee agreements or medical files.

Roles Tab

This tab lists all of the roles that have been assigned to this contact. Roles help you categorize contacts for the purposes of searching and filtering. They can also be used to configure permissions if the specified contact record belongs to a System User.

Accounting Tab

On the Accounting tab, you can optionally enable debtor/creditor preferences for the specified contact. Using these options, you can set payment terms specific to the client, along with credit limits, account statement preferences, and bank account numbers. Finally, you can set rate sheet overrides for the specified client.

Logins Tab

This tab is only applicable if the contact record has been created for a System User. It lists all of the logins that this contact has been associated with.

Portal Menu and Tab

You can use the Portal menu to view an access list, activity log, and chat history. Which option you choose changes the contents of the tab to reflect that information. In short, this tab shows all of the portals that the specified contact has been granted access to as well as any related activity within that portal.

Marketing Tab

This tab is available if you are using marketing activities. It lists all marketing and sales activities that the specified contact record has been associated with.

Phone Calls Tab

This tab shows a record of all phone conversations with the client. 

Participant Email Menu and Tab

The Email menu provides options for composing emails as well as viewing different statuses of email communications. 

Related Articles:

• Editing a Contact