The Contact History form is displayed when you select the Create new contact option from the tool bar on the customer record. The form allows you to enter the contact details and then to create a contact which will be stored against the customer record in the contact history. The contact history can be viewed on the customer record summary tab. Contacts can be created and recorded from all modules of the Autoline system and Contact types can be set to directly access various options, for example a showroom enquiry or a CSI.
Note: When you take the New contact option you may be presented with a form which is also titled New Contact form but the form will have a step note on it. This is because the wizard option is switched on. To switch this off close the window, click the wizard mode icon and then re-select the contact icon.
Once the new contact option is selected from the tool bar on the customer record the New Contact form is opened. There are five main areas of the form to consider:
There is other functionality available on the contact form which is dependent on the set-up of the contact type codes. The quick icons which are available on the customer record are also available on the contact form. This functionality is discussed further on under further information.
Note: Contacts are only created against customers although a record of any related company and/or vehicle can be retained.
The customer area contains one field labelled Name. The information contained in here is not editable and is defaulted in by the system when the form is opened. The information contained in the field is the salutation from the customer record.
The contact details portion of the form is where the details specific to the contact are entered. There are nine fields on this form. These are:-
Department: This is the department which the contact is for. A new department can be selected using the drop-down 
. The departments that show in the drop-down list are maintained in the CRM cost centres option on the Miscellaneous Options menu.
Group: This is the contact type group. A contact type group is used to group together similar or related contact type codes. To select a contact type group click on the drop-down and then click on the relevant group code. New contact type groups can be added using the contact type groups option from the Miscellaneous Options menu.
Code: This is the code which describes what contact is being made with or by the customer. Contact codes are maintained in the contact type codes option from the Miscellaneous Options menu. The contact code is selected using the drop-down next to the field then clicking on the required option.
Note: If the contact form is opened from the complaints icon on the customer record, the contact group and code will be defaulted and you will not be able to edit these fields.
Description: The description field is a text field where you are able to enter more details about the contact.
Action: The action field is not editable. Any entries in here relate to the way the contact type code has been set up. It is there to inform you of any additional actions that could be carried out from the contact form.
Source of Business: (If installed) This field will only display if the origin of C for Customer has been selected. A source of business code can be selected using the drop-down .
Executive: This is the contact executive with whom the contact has been made. An executive can be selected using the ellipsis 
.
Location: This is the location at which the contact with the customer was made. The location is selected using the drop-down and the appropriate location selected.
Origin: This is a description of the people or person responsible for the contact being made. It can be selected by using the drop-down and selecting the appropriate origin code from the list. If the origin selected is C for customer then a source of business field will require information to be entered (if installed).
Strength: The strength of the contact is a measure of how important the contact is considered. The value selected from the drop-down list will determine the follow-up date.
Vehicle: This field is accessible if the contact type code is set up in a way that dictates that details about a vehicle involved in the contact should be recorded. The ellipsis makes selection of the vehicle possible from the vehicle linked to the currently loaded customer record.
The bottom third of the contact form can consist of up to five tabs. Four of these tabs are permanent and will appear regardless of any contact action that has been determined by the contact type code set up. The fifth tab will be discussed as part of the further information.
The four permanent tabs are:-
The follow-up details tab is used to create the follow-up information for the contact. There are five fields on this tab which are:-
Executive: This is the executive who will be responsible for following up the contact. An executive can be selected using the ellipsis .
Date: This the date on which the contact should be followed up. The ellipsis will display a calendar from which the follow-up date can be selected.
Time: This is the time at which the contact should be followed up.
Group: This is the group which contains the contact type code used to follow up the contact. This can be selected using the drop-down menu
Code: This is the contact type code that should be used when following the contact up. The code can be selected using the drop-down.
The predicted/actual events tab displays in a grid format the contact being created and any contacts related. The grid has a key where colour coding relates to the different contacts. The grid displays the contact (if any) that is being followed up, any contacts the system considers missed, the current contact and the ongoing contact chain.
The customer details tab displays the customers contact details. These include:-
The customer's home telephone number
The customer's work telephone number
The customer's work extension number
The customer's mobile number
The customer's fax number
The customer's preferred contact number
The customer address
The postcode on the customer record
The name of the company (if any) that the customer is linked to
The position held by the customer
The additional details tab gives more information about the dates, times and user names involved in the creation and completion of the contact.
The fields on this tab are:-
Created by: This is the user id of the person who originally created the contact. This will be your id if you are creating a new contact.
Contact date: This is the date when the contact was created. This field is editable.
Contact time: This is the time the contact was created. This field is also editable to allow you to amend the contact time.
Original f/up date: This field shows the original follow-up date that was entered on the contact. This field will only be populated if the follow-up date has been amended. See Further information for more details.
Note: There is advisory information next to these two fields to advise users of the number of times the follow-up date and time have been amended. A user's ability to change the follow-up date and time requires a parameter to be switched on in user access control.
Completed by: This is the user id of the person who completed the contact. This will only be populated when the contact is followed up.
Completed date: This is the date when the contact was completed.
Completed time: This is the time when the contact was completed.
There is a lot more possible functionality from the contact form which is not permanently available or will change according a specific set of circumstances.
Banner Advice This is an information banner that appears between the customer and contact details. The information here depends on the status of the contact. Possible variations here include:-
This is a new contact. This appears when the contact form is opened to create a new contact.
This follow-up is X days overdue (where X is the number of days). This appears when an overdue outstanding contact has been selected either from the diary or from the customer contact summary.
This contact requires a follow-up on or before [date] at [time]. This message appears when a non-overdue contact is selected from the diary or the customer contact summary.
Follow-up details tab. The follow-up details tab will change slightly if the contact form is opened from an existing open contact. If your user access control is set up accordingly the executive, follow-up date and follow-up time fields are editable. The ability to edit the follow-up executive field is only available if a team structure is in place. This gives users the ability to pass on follow-ups to other members of their teams. The other change to this tab is that the follow-up executive's diary for the day when the follow-up is due is displayed showing the outstanding contact entry at the appropriate time.
Customer details. On the customer details tab there are icons which reflect those on the customer record summary tab. The table below shows these icons and what they allow you to do.
| Icon | Option | Description |
 |
Dial number | This option allows you to dial the number via a telephony network |
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Quick SMS | This option allows you to send an SMS message to the customer's mobile telephone. If this icon is selected the SMS message form is displayed with the number already defaulted in. To send the message complete the message text and click OK. |
 |
Quick fax | Opens the quick fax form. |
 or  |
Best time to call | This allows you to look at the best time to call information held against the customer record. You will not be able to amend this information while the contact form is displayed. If the clock is shown with hands then there is best time to call information held against the customer record. If not there is no best time to call information. |
 |
Quick Email | This launches the quick email form. |
The fifth tab
There is a fifth tab which appears on the form when a new contact is being created. Its appearance is dictated by the way in which the contact type code has been set up. This tab could appear in conjunction with an action button which appears next to the department, group and code fields and in the case of email and SMS actions you will also get a send button on the fifth tab. The action button will open a form and allow you to perform the action specified.
The menu bar options on the form are as listed in the table below. All possible options will be described, some of which may not related to the contact form you have open.
| File | View | Tools | Help |
| Save Contact | Notes/no notes | Diary | Help |
| Print Contact Sheets | Scanned | Casefile | |
| Exit | Letter | Update mileage | |
| Follow up Contact | Extra Details | ||
| Resave Contact |
Scanned: This option allows you to scan documents to save them as reference material against the contact.
The tool bar items are listed in the table below. As with the menu bar the icons will change slightly depending on the way the contact form has been accessed. The table gives you details of the options available and what functionality they control.
| Icon | Option | Description |
 |
Save or file/save from the menu bar | This option saves the contact being created against the customer record. |
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Print or file/print from the menu bar | This option prints contact sheets for the customer record loaded. |
 |
Exit or file/exit from the menu bar | This option closes the contact form. You will be prompted to confirm that this is what you want to do. Once you click OK you will be returned to the customer record. |
 |
Notes/No Notes or view notes (no notes) from the menu bar | This allows you to add notes or view any notes relating to the contact or its follow-up. |
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Letters or view letters from the menu bar | This allows you to view the letter sent to the customer during the create contact process. |
 |
Diary or tools/diary from the menu bar | This option launches your administrator diary. |
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Casefile or tools/casefile from the menu bar | This loads the case file for the loaded customer record. |
 |
Mileage or tools/update mileage from the menu bar | This option allows you to amend the last work mileage of any vehicle related to the contact. |
 |
Extra details or tools/extra details from the menu bar | This option opens the extra details form for the customer record loaded. |
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Follow up or file/follow up contact from the menu bar | This option allows you to follow up the loaded outstanding contact. Once selected a new contact form will open on which the follow-up group and code will have been supplied as the contact group and code for the new contact. |
|
Resave or file/resave from the menu bar | This option allows you to resave the contact. This option is only available when an outstanding contact has been opened. |
 |
Help or help from the menu bar | This option launches the help file on your company's browser. |
