Contact Point Explained

As the database foundation for OmniAdministrator was being laid we made some decisions in regards to the way we built our first database. The magor point for accessing most information is the Contact Point. If you are currently using other CRM software, you will find that the Contact Point feels similar to what you use today. However, beneath the user surface the Contact Point is a collection of 3 databases: Company, Personal, and Group.

Company database

The company database is sometimes not even noticeable; but for larger organizations and when the full ERP is implemented this database contains information about the company, financial details, and its account is normally used for transactions in the accounting.

Personal database

The personal contact information is stored in a separate database with direct phone number, email, fax, address and more. This is often different from the main company information, especially if this person is located at a different location.

Group type

This is certainly the simplest of the three groups, but it allows you to make certain categories for the contacts. Most will have standard ones, such as: Vendor, Customer Product 1, Customer Product 2, Financial Institution, Professional Services (CPA, attorney, etc), and so on. The main benefit to the group is that you can allow different users to see certain groups only. As an example, sales personnel only need to see customer information.

Entering a new contact would be more complicated with three databases if it were not for the Easy Add Function. The Easy Add Function allows you to simply enter a new contact in one simple step. If the company name was previously used it will notify you; after which you can proceed with a new company or use the existing one. We call this preventive database maintenance. However, the benefits are many to having this Three-in-One contact point database. First and more obvious is the fact that you often have multiple contacts within the same company. In many CRM type databases you will either have to have multiple (and not linked) entries or have one entry leaving out some of the contact information. This is not a problem in our system. Next, you have the benefit of using the group to limit the access certain users have on the system. Then you also have the ability to just view the communication, orders, and tasks associated with this contact person, plus generate additional information more easily to this contact person by using the built-in email, letter, and fax generator. All in all, we feel this database structure gives you a clearer view of your contact information for a specific person but still has the company as the head of all the information as it should be.