What should the 'related to' for a call/meeting point at?

[jspencer]

If I am looking at a Contact detail page and hit the "Create Call" button (or create meeting) under the activities subpanel, then hit the 'Full Form' button, it seems to autofill the "Related To" area with the Account the Contact is linked to. Is this correct?

I have seen other posts discussing a change to the SugarWidgetSubPanelTopSchedule_xxxx_Button.php files, but is this still necessary with the latest 4.5x OS version?

Everything seems to work as I expect with the current system without making any changes (items still show up under both the account AND the contact subpanels), but it leaves me wondering why you would ever relate a call to anything other than the PERSON you are calling?

Taking this question a step further (see my other recent posts), how do we record if the call relates to a second module (say an Opportunity)?

In my mind I would think a call/meeting should actually have TWO 'related to' fields:

1) An area to select the CONTACT you are calling. Additional contacts can be specified under 'Invitees' (as already exists).

2) A second area to select a related MODULE (which should EXCLUDE accounts or contacts) and an ITEM from within that MODULE. This button could/should be expanded a step further so that you can associate MULTIPLE related module items (say if during the call you talked to the person about MULTIPLE opportunities).

Having both buttons would greatly expand the effectiveness of an 'activity' so you could quickly find/see who you called, what account they are related to (using a lookup to the primary contact's info), and what items (modules) you talked about.

Thoughts?

[SamuelAugy]

Hi,

about your first question : yes it's correct
your second : it depend o your needs
your third : without custumizations, you can't

To do what you need, you can add a new field (text 36 --> sugar add varchar in database ) and edit php files to define relationship and put it in the layout with dropdown and select button and ajax.

I already do this and without knoledge, you need about 1 day.

Good luck,

[jspencer]

Thanks for the reply. One point I don't think you clarified for me though. Why does the current 4.5.x system seem to link to the account and not the contact?

For example, I have an account and a contact linked to that account. I then visit the contats's page and under the subpanel click "schedule call" button. I then hit the Full Form button, and on there it autofills the "related to" area to that contact's ACCOUNT. The problem is it doesn't actually list the contact itself anywhere. If I hit save, then go back and click edit on the new call, I can now see that the contact I was creating from is listed under the Invitees area at the bottom. Why wasn't that name listed when creating the call? A bug I assume?

Though it seems to work the way it is, I would think the "related to" should point at an opportunity (or case, etc) and the account should be derived from the "primary" contact (which should probably be listed in the call body at top in ADDITION to the invitees at the bottom). Or perhaps the account doesn't even need to be there, like if the call includes Invitees from several accounts?

Hmm, perhaps once I use the CRM more I'll understand some of these design decions.