CHAPTER 5: INTERACTIONS AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT … · Chapter 5: Interactions and Document Management ... for example, a letter to a contact. ... Chapter 5: Interactions and Document

Chapter 5: Interactions and Document Management

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CHAPTER 5: INTERACTIONS AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

Objectives

The objectives for this chapter are:

Set up interactions.

Create interaction templates.

Set up interaction groups.

Manage interaction attachments.

Use the Create Interaction wizard for creating interactions.

Record phone calls as interactions.

Record e-mails as interactions.

Work with automatically recorded interactions.

Manage postponed interactions.

Cancel and delete interaction log entries.

View interaction statistics.


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Introduction

The Sales & Marketing application area of Microsoft Dynamics® NAV offers a

possibility to create a record for all the types of communications you have with

your contacts, for example, correspondence, meetings, sales and purchase

documents, and so on. This enables you to effectively keep track of the sales and

marketing documentation that you send to your contacts, and thus improve the

quality of your business interactions.

This chapter explains setting up and managing interactions and such interaction

elements as interaction templates, interaction groups, and attachments.

Setting Up Interactions

The program can create interactions entries of information about specific actions

you performed involving contacts in the program. Once an interaction is recorded

you can refer to it later if you need, for example, to retrieve some details of it.

Interactions can be created for your contacts and salespeople and can be linked to

to-dos, campaigns, segments, and opportunities.

To be able to create interactions, it is necessary to set up the following

parameters:

Interaction templates

Interaction groups

Interaction attachments

Interaction templates are used for creating interactions. Using these templates

allows you to indicate the type of interaction you are dealing with, in addition to

a variety of additional attributes of an interaction (for example communication

type, language, information flow direction etc.). Interaction templates can belong

to interaction groups and can contain attachments.

Interaction groups are collections of interaction templates grouped for the same

usage purpose. Interaction groups are used to

View statistics for a group of interaction templates - you can see how

many times you have used a particular interaction template or

interaction group to create interactions.

Group the interaction templates that you use to create interactions -

one for storing all your letters, another one for your price lists, and so

on.

Several interaction templates can be assigned to one interaction group.

Interaction attachments are documents created in Microsoft® Office Word

®,

Microsoft® Office Excel

®, or any other application, and imported to an


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interaction template. You may need to have an attachment for sending invitations

or business letters, for example.

Creating Interaction Templates

When dealing with your contacts, you can have the program create interactions

for them. To make the program do this, you must specify an interaction template

while creating an interaction to indicate its type.

To specify an interaction template, first it is necessary to set it up, performing the

following steps:

1. In the navigation pane, click Departments > Administration >

Application Setup > Sales & Marketing > Marketing, and in

Lists, click Interaction Templates. The program displays the list of

the interaction templates.

2. In the Action Pane, click New to create an interaction template. The

program opens the Interaction Templates window with an empty

line created for the new interaction template.

FIGURE 5.1 CREATING AN INTERACTION TEMPLATE

3. Fill in the Code and Description fields.

4. If you want to assign the interaction template to an interaction group

(for viewing statistics at a later stage, for example), click the

AssistButton next to the Interaction Group Code field and select

the interaction group that you want the interaction template to belong

to.

5. In the Wizard Action field, select what action on the attachment you

want the program to perform when you click Next on the second

page of the Create Interaction wizard. You can select among three

options: Blank, Open, and Import. For more information about


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working with attachments, refer to the “Managing Attachments of

Interaction Templates” topic in this chapter.

6. To be able to interact with a contact in his or her preferred language,

you can set a language code for the interaction. To do this, click the

AssistButton next to the Language Code (Default) field. The

Interact. Tmpl. Languages window appears. Click the AssistButton

next to the Language Code field and select the appropriate language

from the list.

7. In the Interact. Tmpl. Languages window, you can also insert

attachments in different languages into the interaction templates. Do

this by clicking Related Information > Attachment > Create. The

program creates a Microsoft Office Word document that you can

insert as an attachment into the current interaction template.

You can create as many interaction template attachments in different languages

as you need. The procedure of creating, importing, exporting, or copying an

attachment in the Interact. Tmpl. Languages window is the same as the one for

the Interaction Templates window. For more information about managing an

attachment, refer to the “Managing Attachments of Interaction Templates” topic

in this chapter.

8. If you want the program to use the correspondence type you select in

the Correspondence Type (Default) field, and not the one selected

on the contact card, select the Ignore Contact Corres. Type check

box.

9. In the Unit Cost (LCY) field, enter the usual cost for this type of

interaction.

10. In the Unit Duration (Min.) field, enter the usual duration for this

type of interaction.

11. In the Initiated By field, specify who usually initiates this type of

interaction. There are two options: Us and Them.

a. Select Us if the interaction is usually initiated by your company.

b. Select Them if the interaction is usually initiated by your

contacts.

12. In the Information Flow field, specify the direction of information

flow for this type of interaction. There are two options: Outbound

and Inbound.

a. Select Outbound if the information is usually sent by your

company.

b. Select Inbound if the information is usually received by your

company.

Entering Campaign-Specific Information

If you always use the same interaction template to create interactions linked to a

specific campaign, you can link the interaction template to that campaign. Do this

by specifying a campaign code in the Campaign No. field in the Interaction


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Templates window. The program will then link the interactions you create to the

specified campaign, using the interaction template.

If the contacts involved in the interactions are usually the target of a campaign,

select the Campaign Target check box.

If you intend to use the interaction template to record interactions that are a

response to a campaign, select the Campaign Response check box.

Now that an interaction template has been set up, you can use it for creating

interactions.

Setting Up Interaction Groups

Interaction groups help you collect several interaction templates for the same

usage. Interaction groups are set up in the Interaction Groups window. Setting

up an interaction group involves creating a group code and assigning interaction

templates to it.

To set up a new interaction group, do the following:

1. In the navigation pane, click Departments > Administrations >


Lists, click Interaction Groups. A list of interaction groups

appears.

2. In the Action Pane, click New. The Interaction Groups window

appears with an empty line created for a new group.

FIGURE 5.2 A LIST OF INTERACTION GROUPS

3. Fill in the Code and Description fields for the new interaction

group.


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The interaction group code is created. To continue setting up an interaction

group, assign interaction templates to it. To accomplish this, do the following:

1. Click Related Information > Interaction Group > Interaction

Templates.

2. In the Action Pane of the Interaction Templates window, click

New.

FIGURE 5.3 INTERACTION TEMPLATES

3. In the Code field, enter a code for the interaction template.

4. Click the AssistButton next to the Interaction Group Code field,

and from the interaction groups list, select an interaction group you

want to assign the interaction template to. The program

automatically fills in this field with the interaction group you opened

the Interaction Templates window for.

5. In the Description field, enter a brief description of the template you

just added.

6. If you need, fill in other fields for the interaction template.

NOTE: Descriptions of the fields in the Interaction Templates window and their

options can be found in the “Creating Interaction Templates” topic.

Repeat steps 2-6 for all the interaction templates you want to assign to the

interaction group.

7. When finished with assigning templates to the group, click OK.

This finishes creating an interaction group. You can create as many interaction

groups as you need.


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Managing Attachments to Interaction Templates

Interaction templates can use attachments. An attachment can be, for example, a

letter to a contact. When an interaction template with an attachment is used for

creating an interaction, the attachment can be sent to one or several contacts as

the interaction is created. Attachments can be any type of a document, for

example, Microsoft Word document, Microsoft Excel file, text file, and so on.

However, Microsoft Dynamics NAV is only fully integrated with Microsoft

Word. This means that you can only create Microsoft Word documents from

within Microsoft Dynamics NAV; you cannot create Microsoft Excel files or

other types of attachments directly from within Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

There are several ways of attaching a file to an interaction template. You can:

Create Microsoft Word documents directly from the Interaction

Templates window.

Import any type of a document.

Copy an existing attachment from another interaction template.

Creating Microsoft Word Documents

If you have Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Word 2003, or Microsoft Word

2007 installed, you can create attachments (Microsoft Word documents only)

directly from Microsoft Dynamics NAV, in particular from the Interaction

Templates window. When creating attachments from within Microsoft

Dynamics NAV, a new Microsoft Word document opens.

In the Microsoft Word document, you can add merge fields. Merge fields are

fields in a Microsoft Word document that are to be substituted with values from

Microsoft Dynamics NAV when the attachment is sent to a contact. To add a

merge field:

1. Go to the Mailings tab in Microsoft Word and click Insert Merge

Field.

2. From the list of fields, select the one you want to add to the

attachment.

The merge fields cannot be modified as the list of available merge fields is

supplied by Microsoft Dynamics NAV. When the attachment is sent to the

contact(s) and an interaction being is created, Microsoft Dynamics NAV fills in

the fields with the relevant information from the Contact Card, Interaction Log

Entries, Salesperson/Purchaser Card, and/or Company Information windows

and sends the modified attachment to the contact(s).

To create a standard letter and make it an attachment for an interaction template,

follow this procedure:

1. Open the list of interaction templates.


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2. Select the interaction template you want to create an attachment for

and click Related Information > Attachment > Create. Make sure

that Attachment field for this interaction template contains No.

The program automatically launches Microsoft Word and opens a new document.

3. In the new Microsoft Word document, enter the main text for your

document, and insert the relevant merge fields.

4. Close the document. In the dialog box that appears asking you

whether you want to import the attachment, click Yes to continue.

Only the Microsoft Word document that you have opened from within Microsoft

Dynamics NAV can use merge fields to be filled in by the program. A Microsoft

Word document created outside Microsoft Dynamics NAV is not linked to the

application and therefore and cannot have merge fields filled in with the relevant

values. To link a document created outside Microsoft Dynamics NAV to an

interaction template or an interaction, you must import this new document. For

more information about importing an attachment, refer to the “Importing

Attachments” subtopic in this chapter.

NOTE: Only one attachment can be inserted in an interaction template. If you

try to create an attachment for an interaction template already containing an

attachment, the program will suggest replacing the existing attachment.

To open an attachment to the interaction template, click the Yes option in the

Attachment field on the interaction template list.

Saving Microsoft Word Documents

When the Microsoft Word document linked to Microsoft Dynamics NAV is

open, clicking the Save button in Microsoft Word will save the changes in the

document. When you close Microsoft Word, the program will ask if you want to

save the changes and import the document into the program.

If you do not import the document into Microsoft Dynamics NAV, the changes

you have made will not be saved in the attachment.

NOTE: When you are working in the Interaction Templates window, if two or

more users open and modify an interaction template attachment (a Microsoft

Word document) simultaneously, the program will only save the changes made

by the first user to import the document into Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The

changes made by the other user(s) will not be taken into account.

NOTE: When you are working in a Microsoft Word document opened from

within Microsoft Dynamics NAV, you cannot return to work in the program

before you have closed Microsoft Word.


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Lab 5.1 – Create an Interaction Template with an Attachment

In this lab, you will practice creating an interaction template and inserting an

attachment with merge fields in it.

Scenario

You need to create an interaction template for the follow-up letters. For this

template, you need to insert a Microsoft Word document as an attachment and

assign this interaction template to the Letter interaction group. Include the

following merge fields in the attachment: the contact’s name, e-mail address, the

salesperson’s name and telephone number.

Challenge Yourself

1. Create an interaction template.

2. Assign this template to the Letter interaction group.

3. Create an attachment with the merge fields.

Need a Little Help?

1. Create an interaction template with the FOLLOWUP code using the

following information:

Code: FOLLOWUP

Unit Cost: 10 LCY

Unit duration: 10 min

Correspondence Type: E-Mail

2. Assign the FOLLOWUP interaction template to the Letter

interaction group.

3. Create an attachment with the contact’s name and e-mail address, the

salesperson’s name and telephone number as merge fields and insert

it in the template.

Step by Step

Create an interaction template with the FOLLOWUP code.

1. In the navigation pane, click Departments > Administration >


Lists, click Interaction Templates.

2. In the Action Pane, click New to create a new template.

3. In the Code field, enter “FOLLOWUP”.

4. In the Unit Cost (LCY) field, enter “10”.

5. In the Unit Duration (Min.) field, enter “10”.

6. In the Correspondence Type field, select E-Mail.


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Assign the FOLLOWUP interaction template to the Letter interaction group.

Click the AssistButton next to the Interaction Group Code field, and select

LETTER.

Create an attachment with the contact’s name and e-mail address, the

salesperson’s name and telephone number as merge fields and insert it in the

template.

1. Click Related Information > Attachment > Create. In the

Microsoft Word document, click Mailings > Insert Merge Field.

From the list of merge fields, select the following fields:

o «Contact_Name»

o «Contact_Mail_Address»

o «SalespersonPurchaser_Name»

o «SalespersonPurchaser_Phone»

2. Click Insert and then click Close.

3. Save and close the Microsoft Word document. Now the interaction

template has an attachment with the contact’s information.


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Importing Attachments

Instead of creating a new document, you can import an existing one to Microsoft

Dynamics NAV. For example, you may want to attach a Microsoft Excel file to

an interaction template. To do that, you must create the file and save it on a disk

first, and then import it into Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

To import an attachment to an interaction template, in the Interaction

Templates window, click Related Information > Attachment > Import. The

Import Attachment window appears.

FIGURE 5.4 BROWSING FOR A FILE TO IMPORT

Browse to the file you want to import as an attachment and click Open. The

program will import the document.

Copying Attachments

You can also insert attachments in an interaction template by copying the

attachment assigned to another interaction template. To copy an attachment from

one interaction template to another, follow this procedure:

1. In the Interaction Templates window, select the interaction

template you want to copy an attachment to.

2. Click Related Information > Attachment, and then Copy from.

The Interact. Tmpl. Languages window appears, showing a list of all the

interaction templates that contain attachments.


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FIGURE 5.5 LIST OF TEMPLATES WITH ATTACHMENTS

3. Select the interaction template containing the attachment that you

want to copy and then click OK.

Once the attachment is copied, the program sets the Attachment field to Yes for

the selected interaction template in the Interaction Template window.

Attachment-Specific Information in the Interaction Templates Window

If an interaction template contains an attachment, in the Interaction Template

window, the Attachment field contains Yes. This field is not editable. Clicking

Yes makes the program open the attached document.

In the Correspondence Type field, you can specify how the attachment of the

interaction template will be sent to contacts. There are three options: Fax, E-

Mail, and Hard Copy. If you fill in this field, next time when you create an

interaction the program will automatically fill in the Correspondence Type field

in the Create Interaction wizard or in the Segment window and select the

appropriate way to send the attachment.

In the Wizard Action field, you specify the action that you want the program to

perform as you click Next on the second page of the Create Interaction wizard.

There are three options:

Blank: If you select this option, the program immediately displays

the second page of the wizard as you click Next.

Open: If you select this option, the program will open the attachment

as you click Next.


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Import: If you select this option, the program will import the

attachment as you click Next.

Removing Attachments from Interaction Templates

You can remove an attachment assigned to an interaction template. It may be

necessary, for example, if the document is not used anymore, and you want to

replace it.

To remove an attachment from an interaction template, follow this procedure:

1. Open the list of the interaction templates.

2. Browse to the interaction template containing the attachment that

you want to delete and click Related Information > Attachment >

Remove.

FIGURE 5.6 REMOVING AN ATTACHMENT

3. Confirm your intention to delete the attachment.

The program will remove the attachment.

NOTE: Removing the attachment from the interaction template does not affect

the attachments for interactions created based on that interaction template

previously. You can still open these attachments from the Interaction Log

Entries window by clicking Yes for each interaction log entry.

Exporting Attachments

You can export the attachments contained in interaction templates to a disk. You

may want to do this, for example, if the attachment is a Microsoft® PowerPoint

presentation that you want to be stored on a disk.

To export an attachment, follow this procedure:

1. In the Interaction Templates window, select the interaction

template containing the attachment you want to export.

2. Click Related Information > Attachment and then Export. The

Export Attachment window appears.


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FIGURE 5.7 SELECTING A PATH FOR EXPORTING AN ATTACHMENT

3. Select a path and give the attachment a name to store it as a file.

Click OK.

The program will export the attachment.

Using the Create Interaction Wizard

The program offers several ways of creating interactions:

Using the Create Interaction wizard for a single contact or

salesperson.

Using the Segment window for one or several contacts. Creating

interactions from this window is covered in the “Campaign and

Segmentation” chapter.

Automatically when you perform specific actions in Microsoft

Dynamics NAV. The list of such actions is presented in the

“Automatically Recorded Interactions” section in this chapter.

NOTE: In terms of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, creating interactions means

recording or logging them in the Interaction Log Entries window.

Create Interaction Wizard

Open the Create Interaction wizard from the contact card or the

salesperson/purchaser card by clicking the Create Interact button in the Action

Pane.


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FIGURE 5.8 CREATING AN INTERACTION WITH THE WIZARD

Mandatory Information

On the pages of the Create Interaction wizard, specify the following information:

The interaction template to indicate the type of the interaction you

are creating and make the program record an interaction log entry.

The name of the contact involved in the interaction.

The salesperson/purchaser responsible for the interaction.

The description of the interaction.

The date of the interaction.

The program automatically enters the values specified for the selected interaction

template, but you can change them.

The following table lists the optional fields that can be found on the pages of the

Create Interaction wizard.

Field Description

Correspondence

type

If the interaction contains an attachment, in this field, you

can specify the way the program will handle an attached

document. There are four options: Blank, Hard Copy, E-

Mail, and Fax.

If you select Hard Copy, then when you click Finish,

the program will automatically print the attachment.

If you select E-Mail, then when you click Finish, the

program will automatically send the attachment by e-

mail.

If you select Fax and the program is integrated with a

fax, the attachment will be sent automatically by fax.


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If you leave this field blank, the program will not send

or print the attachment. You can use this option, for

example, if you have already printed or sent the

attachment before recording the interaction.

Date In these fields, you can specify the date and time when the

interaction was created. Time of

Interaction

Direction of

Information Flow

In this field, you can specify the direction the information

flows. You can select among the Inbound and Outbound

options.

Initiated by In this field, you can specify who was an initiator of the

interaction. You can select among Us and Them.

Evaluation of the

interaction

In this field, specify how you evaluate this interaction. You

can select among five options: Very Positive, Positive,

Neutral, Negative, and Very Negative.

It is also possible to evaluate the interaction in the

Interaction Log Entries window after it was logged.

Interaction cost In this field, you can specify estimated value of the

interaction.

Interaction

duration

In this field, you can specify, how long the interaction will

last.

Campaign code By specifying a campaign code in this field, you can link

the interaction to a campaign. If the interaction is linked to

a campaign, when you click Finish, the program will

automatically record the interaction as a campaign entry for

the specified campaign.

Opportunity code By specifying an opportunity code in this field, you can

link the interaction to an opportunity.

The following screen shots show the fields described.


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FIGURE 5.9 SPECIFYING THE INTERACTION DETAILS

FIGURE 5.10 SPECIFYING COST AND DURATION FOR THE INTERACTION


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FIGURE 5.11 ASSIGNING A CAMPAIGN AND OPPORTUNITY TO THE INTERACTION

Importing Attachments

If you have chosen an interaction template that does not include an attachment,

but for which the Import option has been selected in the Wizard Action field in

the Interaction Template window, then you can import the attachment while

creating an interaction with the Create Interaction wizard. When you click Next

in the second page of the wizard, a dialog box appears, offering you to browse to

the file you want to attach. This enables you, for example, to have received

letters attached to the interaction entry.

To import an attachment, do these steps:

1. Scan the letter received.

2. Import it with the Create Interaction wizard.

As you click Finish in the Create Interaction wizard, the interaction log entry is

recorded and the scanned letter is attached to it in the Interaction Log Entries

window.

Viewing Recorded Interactions

You can view the created interaction in the Interaction Log Entries window for

the specific contact or salesperson.

For example, to see the interactions involving The Cannon Group, on the contact

card, click Related Information > Contact, and then Interaction Log Entries.

The Interaction Log Entries window for The Cannon Group appears:


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FIGURE 5.12 VIEWING INTERACTION LOG ENTRIES FOR CANNON GROUP

The Interaction Log Entries window contains a list of all the interactions

involving the contact, presenting the details for each interaction, such as cost,

duration, and the salesperson that handled them. If the interaction contains an

attachment (for example, a letter or another document sent), you can view it by

clicking Yes in the Attachment field or clicking Show in the Action Pane.

NOTE: For interactions that do not contain an attachment clicking Show opens

the document in NAV the interactions are created for. Clicking No for such

interactions does not lead to any results.

The Interaction Log Entry window can also be accessed from a salesperson

card, a to-do card, a contact card, a campaign card or a list of opportunities. In

each case, it will display interactions recorded for the respective entity.

Postponing the Interaction

While creating an interaction, you may decide to interrupt this process by closing

the Create Interaction wizard, for example, if you need to add some details to a

salesperson or campaign card, or simply to postpone creating an interaction. You

can close the wizard in several ways:

By clicking the Close button.

By pressing the ESC key.

If you close the wizard, a message appears asking whether you want to finish this

interaction later. Click Yes if you want to postpone the creation of this interaction

and finish it later. When you click Yes, the program automatically stores the

newly created interaction in the Postponed Interactions window. If you have

linked the interaction to a campaign, the program does not insert a new entry in

the Campaign Entry window yet. It will be inserted when the interaction is

logged in Interaction Log Entries.


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If a postponed interaction contains an attachment, it will be stored in Microsoft

Dynamics NAV. To view an attachment stored for a contact, do the following:

1. Open the list of the contacts.

2. Select the contact which you want to view an attachment for the

postponed interaction for.

3. Click Related Information > Contact > Postpones Interactions.

4. In the Postponed Interactions window, select the interaction with

the attachment you want to view, and click Show. You can continue

editing the attachment only in the Create Interaction wizard when

you resume the interaction.

Finishing and Deleting Postponed Interactions

You can finish or delete a postponed interaction from any location it is created –

a contact, salesperson, and to-do cards, or a list of opportunities.

To finish a postponed interaction:

1. In the navigation pane, click the Administration Sales/Purchase

button, and then click Salespeople/Purchasers. Select a salesperson

you want to finish an interaction for and click Related Information

> Salesperson > Postponed Interactions.

2. Select the interaction you want to finish, and in the Action Pane,

click Resume.

3. Fill in the remaining fields in the wizard and modify the attachment,

if necessary.

4. Click Finish.

Now the interaction is logged to the interaction log, and if you have linked the

interaction to a campaign, a record also appears in the Campaign Entry window.

5. To view this record, on the list of campaigns, select a campaign you

want to view entries for and click Related Information >

Campaign Entries. For information about campaign entries, refer to

the “Campaign and Segmentation” chapter.

NOTE: You can postpone and resume creation of an interaction as many times

as you want.

To delete a postponed interaction:

1. In the navigation pane, click the Administration Sales/Purchase

button, and then click Salespeople/Purchasers. Select a salesperson

you want to delete an interaction for and click Related Information

> Salesperson > Postponed Interactions.

2. Select the interaction you want to delete, and click Actions >

Functions > Delete or click Actions > Delete.


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3. To confirm the deletion, click Yes in the message that appears.


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Lab 5.2 – Record Interactions

In this lab, you will practice recording an interaction for one of your contacts.

Scenario

You have just come back from a meeting with John Smith at MultiSport, where

you presented your new line of bicycles to him. The meeting went well.

Challenge Yourself

1. Record the interaction.

2. Evaluate the meeting during recording the interaction.

Need a Little Help

1. For contact John Smith, record an interaction using the BUS

interaction template. Its correspondence type is hard copy, which

makes the program automatically print the letter as the interaction is

recorded.

2. Specify your evaluation of the interaction as a very positive one.

3. Indicate a successful attempt of the interaction.

Step by Step

For contact John Smith, create an interaction using the Business Letter

interaction template.

1. Open the list of the contacts and browse to John Smith from

MultiSport.

2. In the Action Pane, click Create Interact.

3. In the Create Interaction wizard, click the AssistButton next to the

What is the type of interaction? field and select BUS for Business

Letter.

4. In the Description field, enter description of the meeting.

Specify your evaluation of the interaction as a very positive one.

Click Next. Click the AssistButton next to the Enter the evaluation of the

interaction here field and select Very Positive.

Indicate a successful attempt of the interaction.

Select the The interaction attempt was successful check box.

As you click Finish, a record about this interaction is created in the interaction

log and a letter is printed.


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Making Phone Calls

You can have the program create interaction entries as you make a phone call to

your contacts.

Before you can record phone calls as interactions in the program, you must

ensure that the interaction template code for outgoing phone calls has been

selected in the Outgoing Calls field on the General FastTab in the Interaction

Template Setup window.

NOTE: Making phone calls is only recorded as interaction when working with

the Classic client of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. For performing the procedures

described in this section, be sure to open the Classic client.

When you want to make a call, follow this procedure:

1. In the navigation pane, click Sales & Marketing > Marketing >

Contacts.

2. Browse to the contact you want to call to.

3. Go to the Communication tab. Click the button next to the

Phone No. field. Make sure the phone number for the contact is

specified. As you click this button, the Make Phone Call wizard

appears.

FIGURE 5.13 THE MAKING PHONE CALL WIZARD

4. Fill in the Description field. Other fields on this page are filled in by

the program.

5. Select the Dial Contact on Next check box, if you want to start

calling the contact once you click Next in the wizard. In this case,

the Phone Dialer application opens with the contact phone number

specified. Click Dial to perform a call. You will continue working

with the wizard after performing a call.


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FIGURE 5.14 PHONE DIALER

6. If you do not select the Dial Contact on Next check box, clicking

Next moves you to the next page of the wizard.

7. Fill in the What is your evaluation of the phone call? field with

either of the available options: Very Positive, Positive, Neutral,

Negative, and Very Negative.

FIGURE 5.15 EVALUATING THE CALL

8. Click Next. On this page, you can specify a campaign and/or an

opportunity to link them to the call.


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FIGURE 5.16 SPECIFY A CAMPAIGN OR AN OPPORTUNITY TO LINK TO THE INTERACTION

9. Click Finish.

As the interaction is recorded, you can view it in the Interaction Log Entries

window, opened from the contact card for the contact who you called to. To open

the Interaction Log Entries window, on the contact card, click Contact >

Interaction Log Entries. The window contains a new entry for the phone call.

FIGURE 5.17 THE INTERACTION LOG ENTRY RECORDED THE PHONE CALL

NOTE: In the RoleTailored client of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, to be able to

make phone calls, you must have Microsoft Office Communicator installed.


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E-Mails

You can have the program create interaction entries as you send e-mails to your

contacts.

NOTE: Sending and receiving e-mails are only recorded as interactions in the

Classic client of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. For performing the procedures

described in this section, be sure to open the Classic client.

If you have Microsoft® Office Outlook

® installed, you can send your e-mails

from Microsoft Dynamics NAV. This is an easy and quick way to communicate

with your contacts (customers, vendors, and so on).

As your e-mails are logged as interaction log entries, you can share the

information about any e-mail correspondence going on with your external

contacts. This allows other members of the organization to follow up on e-mail

correspondence.

From the Interaction Log Entries window, you can open mails and view their

contents. To do this, select the entry for the mail in question, and then click the

Show button.

Before you can send e-mails, set up

The interaction template code in the E-Mails field on the General

tab in the Interaction Template Setup window.

The E-Mail Logging feature on the E-Mail Logging tab of the

Marketing Setup window.

To read about setting up interaction templates and the E-Mail Logging feature,

refer to the “Setup Procedure” chapter.

The section below describes how you send e-mails and have them logged in

Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Sending E-Mails

There are two ways to send e-mails to your contacts from Microsoft Dynamics

NAV:

By clicking the envelope button to the right of the E-Mail field

on the Communication tab on the contact card and going through

the process of creating an e-mail message with the Create Mail

wizard.

By using the Create Interaction wizard, and selecting e-mail as a

correspondence type. For more information about sending e-mails

with the Create Interaction wizard, refer to the “Using the Create

Interaction Wizard” section in this chapter.


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To send an e-mail with the Create Mail wizard and create an interaction log

entry, follow these steps:

1. Open the contact card for the contact you want to send an e-mail

message to. Go to the Communication tab.

2. Make sure an e-mail address is specified for the contact. Click the

envelope button to the right of the E-Mail field. The Create Mail

wizard appears.

FIGURE 5.18 THE CREATE MAIL WIZARD

3. Fill in the Description field. Other fields are filled in by the

program.

4. Select the Mail contact on Next check box, if you want to start

writing an e-mail message as you click Next.

In this case, a standard Microsoft Office Outlook window opens

where you can write a message. Clicking Send will send your

message to the contact. You will continue working with the wizard

after sending a message.

If you do not select the Mail contact on Next check box, clicking

Next moves you to the next page of the wizard.


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FIGURE 5.19 EVALUATING THE MAIL

5. Fill in the What is your evaluation of the mail? field with either of

the available options: Very Positive, Positive, Neutral, Negative, and

Very Negative.

You may want to link the mail to a campaign and/or an opportunity, or change

the mail initiator, cost, or duration. You can do it in the relevant fields of this

page in the wizard.

6. Click Finish.

As you click Finish in the wizard, an interaction log entry about the message sent

is created for the contact.

FIGURE 5.20 THE INTERACTION LOG ENTRY FOR THE MAIL CREATED


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NOTE: The procedure of logging received e-mails is the same as for e-mails

sent. For further details about the E-Mail Logging feature, refer to the section

“E-Mail Logging for MS Exchange Server” in the Sales & Marketing–Navision

Technical White Paper.

Automatically Recorded Interactions

You can have the program automatically record the sales, purchase, and service

documents that you create and print for your contacts as interactions. You can do

this only if the contact in question is also recorded in the program as a customer,

vendor, or bank.

For example, if a contact is also recorded as a customer, you can create a sales

quote from the contact’s customer card, and you can have the program

automatically record an interaction when you print the sales quote.

When you perform certain sales, purchase, and service actions in Microsoft

Dynamics NAV for a customer or vendor that is also recorded as a contact, the

program automatically records the action as an interaction for the contact in the

Sales & Marketing application area.

The program records interactions when you do the following:

Print sales and purchase quotes.

Print sales and purchase orders.

Print sales and purchase invoices.

Print sales and purchase blanket orders.

Print sales reminders.

Print sales statements.

Print sales and purchase credit memos.

Print sales shipment notes.

Print purchase receipts.

Create service orders.

Print sales return orders and return receipts.

Print sales finance charge memos.

Print purchase return shipments and return order confirmations.

Print service contracts, contract quotes, and quotes.

NOTE: The current version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV does not create an

interaction log entry when a service order is posted.

If a service order had been logged during creation and then posted, the program

does not allow opening a service order from the log.


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You can see the interactions that the program has automatically created for a

contact in the contact’s interaction log.

Demonstration – Create and Print Sales Quotes for Customers

In this demonstration, you will see that a sales quote created and printed for a

customer can be recorded as an interaction. If a contact is registered in the

program and linked with that customer – the program will create an interaction

entry for a sales quote created and printed.

1. Open the list of the contacts and browse to the contact you want to

create a sale quote for. A contact must not be an independent contact.

2. To be able to create a sales quote, the contact you selected must be

linked to a customer, vendor, and/or bank account. To find out what

the contact is linked to, click Related Information > Contact >

Customer/Vendor/Bank Acc. As any of the three cards may appear,

for the sake of the example, suppose that the customer card appears.

NOTE: If a contact is not linked to a customer, vendor, and/or bank account yet,

you must link it to any of them. For information about linking a contact to a

customer, vendor, and/or bank account, refer to the “Contacts” chapter.

3. Before creating a sales quote, ensure that the posting groups are

specified for a customer. To do this, on the Invoicing FastTab of the

customer card, verify that the Gen. Bus. Posting Group, VAT Bus.

Posting Group, and Customer Posting Group fields are filled in

with appropriate posting groups.

4. On the customer card, click Related Information > Sales > Quotes.

The Sales Quotes window with the list of the sales quotes appears.

5. In the Action Pane, click New to create a new sales quote.

6. Press ENTER to have the program automatically enter the next

available sales quote number. The program also fills in the fields for

the customer and the linked contact.

7. Enter the quote details.

8. In the Action Pane, click Print to print the sales quote. The Sales -

Quote window appears.

9. On the Options FastTab, choose whether you want to show internal

information, archive a document, and specify the number of copies

you want to be printed. Make sure the Log Interaction check box is

selected.

10. Click Print.

The program will automatically record the sales quote as an interaction for the

contact though it was created for the customer also. You can view the interaction

entry by selecting the line with the quote and clicking Show in the Interaction

Log Entries window opened for the contact.


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Printing a Contact Cover Sheet

The program can automatically create an interaction entry when you print cover

sheets to send to your contacts. To have the program do it, select the Log

Interaction check box in the Contact – Cover Sheet window. By default, this

check box is selected. An interaction log entry is not created if this check box is

clear.

To create log entries and print cover sheets for a contact, follow these steps:

1. On the contact card for your contact, click Actions > Functions >

Print Cover Sheet. The Contact - Cover Sheet window appears.

2. Go to the Options FastTab.

FIGURE 5.21 GETTING READY TO PRINT COVER SHEET

3. Fill in the Text field with the relevant text and select any check

boxes in the Remarks area according to your needs.

4. Click Print.

The program will print cover sheets and create a new interaction entry for the

contact. You can view it in the Interaction Log Entries window for this contact.


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Lab 5.3 – Create an Automatically Recorded Interaction

In this lab, you will practice performing actions that make the program

automatically create an interaction.

Scenario

In his letter, John Drave, a new contact, told you that he is interested in buying

50 bicycles (item number 1000). Since you have not signed a contract with John,

you decide to register him as a contact and create and print a sales quote for him.

Challenge Yourself

1. Create a new contact card for John Drave and link it to a customer.

2. Create a sales quote for John for 50 bicycles and print it.

3. Verify that the interaction log entry is created.

Step by Step

Create a new contact card for John Drave.

1. On the list of the contacts, click New.

2. Press ENTER to let the program enter the next available number for

a customer.

3. In the Type field, click the AssistButton and select Company.

4. In the Name field, enter “John Drave”.

5. Click the AssistButton next to the Salesperson Code field and select

PS as a salesperson who will handle John.

6. Click Actions > Functions > Link with existing > Customer.

7. In the Customer No. field of the Customer Link window, click the

AssistButton and select customer to link with John.

Create a quote for John for 50 bicycles and print it.

1. In the Action Pane of the contact card, click Sales Quotes.

2. In the Action Pane of the Sales Quotes window that appears, click

New to create a new quote.

3. On the Lines FastTab, click the AssistButton next to the Type field,

and select Item.

4. Click the AssistButton next to the No. field, and select 1000,

Bicycle. In the Quantity field, enter “50”.

5. In the Action Pane of the sales quote, click Print. Make sure the Log

Interaction check box.

6. Click Print.

Verify that the interaction log entry is created.


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1. From the contact card, click Related Information > Contact >

Interaction Log Entries.

2. Browse to the entry that relates to printing of the sales quote.


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Canceling and Deleting Interaction Log Entries

You can manage interaction log entries by canceling or deleting them. You may

want to cancel an interaction entry if, for example, it records an interaction that

has never been performed. Deleting interaction log entries may be needed if the

list of interaction entries is overloaded with records.

Canceling Interaction Log Entries

To cancel an interaction log entry, follow these steps:

1. Open the Interaction Log Entries window.

2. Select the interaction log entry you want to cancel and click Actions

> Functions > Switch Checkmark in Canceled.

3. Confirm cancellation in the subsequent message.

NOTE: You can cancel several interactions at once by selecting them in the

Interaction Log Entries window and using the Switch Checkmark in Canceled

function.

Deleting Interaction Log Entries

As you canceled an interaction log entry, it can be deleted. Only canceled

interaction log entries can be deleted. To delete canceled interaction log entries,

follow this procedure:

1. Click Departments > Administration > IT Administration > Data

Deletion > Tasks, and then under Marketing Activities, click

Delete Canceled Interaction Log Entries. The Delete Interaction

Log Entries window appears.

FIGURE 5.22 DELETION OF CANCELED INTERACTION LOG ENTRIES


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2. To the right of the Entry No. field, click the AssistButton and select

the interaction log entry or the range of them that you want to delete.

NOTE: You can specify any other parameter to indicate which of the canceled

interaction log entries you want to delete. If no parameters are specified, the

program will delete all canceled interaction entries.

3. Click OK.

The program deletes the interaction log entries you have specified.

Interaction Statistics

You can view statistics about your interactions in the Interaction Tmpl.

Statistics window and the Interaction Group Statistics window.

Interaction Template Statistics

In the Interaction Tmpl. Statistics window, you can view information about the

interaction templates, such as the number of interactions created using the

interaction templates, the total cost, and total duration of these interactions.

To open the Interaction Tmpl. Statistics window, do the following:

1. Open the list of interaction templates.

2. Select the interaction template that you want to view statistics for.

3. In the Action Pane, click Statistics.

FIGURE 5.23 THE INTERACTION TEMPLATE STATISTICS

To see the details about the interactions created with the interaction template, in

the Interaction Tmpl. Statistics window, click the number next to the No. of

Interactions, Cost (LCY), or Duration (Min.) field. In either case, the

Interaction Log Entries window appears displaying a list of interactions. To

view detailed information of each interaction, select an interaction entry and click

Show. If an interaction does not contain an attachment, a corresponding card

appears (an order, quote, or another one). If yes, the attachment opens.


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Interaction Group Statistics

In the Interaction Group Statistics window, you can view information about

interaction groups. The window displays the statistics for interaction templates

assigned to one or another group. For example, for the LETTER interaction

group, you can see how many interactions were created using interaction

templates from this group, and their total cost and duration.

To open the Interaction Group Statistics window, follow this procedure:

1. Open the list of the interaction groups.

2. Select the interaction group that you want to view statistics for.

3. In the Action Pane click Statistics.

FIGURE 5.24 THE INTERACTION GROUP STATISTICS

To see details about the interactions created using interaction templates from the

interaction group, in the Interaction Group Statistics window, click the number

next to the No. of Interactions, Cost (LCY), or Duration (Min.) fields. In either

case, the Interaction Log Entries window appears displaying a list of

interactions. To view detailed information of each interaction, select an

interaction entry and click Show. If an interaction does not contain an

attachment, a corresponding card appears (an order, quote, or another one). If

yes, the attachment opens.


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Summary

Microsoft Dynamics NAV offers you a possibility of recording interactions for

all types of communications you have with your business partners. You can

create interaction entries manually by using the Create Interaction wizard, or you

can have the program record interactions when you

Make a phone call or send an e-mail message.

Perform specific actions in the program such as print a sales quote.

Interactions you create can have attachments which can be created directly from

Microsoft Dynamics NAV or saved on a disk and then imported to the program.

During creation of an interaction, you can postpone the interaction and resume

and finish it later. You can manage interaction entries by canceling and deleting

them.

You can also view interactions statistics by interaction templates and interaction

groups. From statistics, you can learn how many interactions an interaction

template participated in, interaction cost, and duration.


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Test Your Knowledge

1. What must you do to delete an interaction log entry?

2. True or False:

You can send e-mails to your contacts only by clicking the envelope icon

next to the E-Mail field on the Communication FastTab on a contact card.

3. Complete the following sentence:

You can ______________ and _________________ creation of an

interaction as many times as you need.

4. You can insert attachments in interaction templates by (select all that apply):

( ) Copying the attachments assigned to other interaction templates

( ) Creating a new attachment

( ) Modifying a document stored in the Attachments folder

( ) Importing a created document into Microsoft Dynamics NAV

5. Your attachment contains merge fields. Where is information taken for filling

them in?


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172

Quick Interaction: Lessons Learned

Take a moment to write down three Key Points you have learned from this

chapter:

1.

2.

3.


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Solutions

Test Your Knowledge

1. What must you do to delete an interaction log entry?

MODEL ANSWER:

You must first cancel it because only canceled log entries can be deleted.

2. True or False:

You can send e-mails to your contacts only by clicking the envelope icon

next to the E-Mail field on the Communication FastTab on a contact card.

False: There are two ways of sending e-mails to your contacts from Microsoft

Dynamics NAV: you can click the envelope icon to the right of the E-Mail field

on the Communication FastTab on the contact card. Or you can use the Create

Interaction wizard, and select E-Mail in the Correspondence Type field.

3. Complete the following sentence:

You can ______________ and _________________ creation of an

interaction as many times as you need.

MODEL ANSWER:

You can postpone and resume creation of an interaction as many times as you

need.

4. You can insert attachments in interaction templates by:

(√) Copying the attachments assigned to other interaction templates

(√) Creating a new attachment

( ) Modifying a document stored in the Attachments folder

(√) Importing a created document into Microsoft Dynamics NAV

5. Your attachment contains merge fields. Where is information taken for filling

them in?

MODEL ANSWER:

Microsoft Dynamics NAV fills in the merge fields with the information from the

Contact Card, Interaction Log Entries, Salesperson/Purchaser Card, and

Company Information windows.