5.2 - Managing external contacts

This section describes how to manage external contacts, i.e. contacts associated with an external institution.

In the "Institutions" form the "Contacts" tab contains a list of contacts associated with the selected institution. The Add and Details buttons on this tab can be used to add a new contact and to view details of an existing contact respectively. The "Contacts" form is used for detailed management of contacts.

1- Adding a contact

To add an external contact, select the associated institution and then click Add in the "Contacts" tab of the "Institutions" form.

For each contact you can specify the following basic data (fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory):

• Title (e.g. Prof, Ms, Mr, etc.)
• Last name (*)
• First name (*)
• Gender (*) (select from a drop-down list)
• Contact status (active or non-active)

2- "Contacts" form

The "Contacts" form allows you to manage the detailed data for contacts: identity, contact details and optional fields.

Upper part of form

The upper part of the form shows the contact's key data (title, last name, first name, institution, function).

Tabs

Various tabs give access to data relating to the selected contact in the form of lists or forms. These tabs are described in detail in part 4 of this section.

3- Editing basic data, deleting a contact

The "Tools" tab in the "Contacts" form allows you to edit basic data and delete a contact.

To edit basic contact data (last name, first name, gender), click the Edit basic data button in the "Tools" tab. This button opens a window identical to the Add contact window (see above), in which you can edit basic contact data.

To delete a contact, click the Delete button in the "Tools" tab.

4- Tabs in the "Contacts" form

"Identity" tab

• Basic data (title, last name, first name, gender), which cannot be edited directly in this tab
• Function
• Remarks
• Contact status (active or non-active)

"Contact details" tab

This tab contains the contact's details:

• Office
• Address
• Email, phone, mobile, fax
• Salutation address (e.g. Dear Sir, Madam President, etc.)

"Optional fields" tab

This tab contains the optional fields configured specifically for your institution (maximum of 12). They can be used to define certain responsibilities (e.g. President/Rector, Erasmus coordinator, Incoming students manager) or for sending out bulk information (e.g. greetings cards), for example. These fields are not visible initially. They can be activated in the "Optional fields" form (see section 4.4 Free fields).

"Tools" tab

This tab contains a number of different buttons, which can be used to:

• Generate a document template for the selected contact (see section 8.3)
• Send an email to the selected contact (see section 8.2)
• Edit basic data (see above)
• Delete the item (see above)

The Address frame in this tab also shows the contact's details. You can use the copy/paste function to copy this information to a document or email.

5- Importing external contacts from the moveonnet directory

All higher education institutions can list details of contacts involved in international activities in the moveonnet directory.

If an external institution has listed contacts in the moveonnet directory, their details can be viewed from the "Contacts" tab in the "Institutions" form.

Clicking "Contacts in moveonnet" displays a list of these contacts where applicable.

The Details button in this list opens the "Contacts" form, in which the contact's details can be viewed.

The "Import" button in the "Contacts" form allows you to automatically add the contact as an external contact in moveon by importing all the contact details entered by the partner.

6- Processing contact data

A selection form is available for generating lists or for producing correspondence relating to the contacts:

• Selection of external contacts

This form can be accessed from the main menu in the "Institutions" menu.

The way in which selection forms work is described in detail in section 8.1.