| 1. | Method: Select a communication method from the drop-down list. This describes the method used to deliver the communication to the customer, e.g. fax, printed letter, email, etc. You would have created these methods under Setup | General Lookup Tables | Communication Methods. You may also have set defaults in your Communication System Settings; see Chapter 1: Setting Up EventPro, Step 1: System Settings, Communications. |
Remember that you may have marked certain recipients as "Do Not Contact By" certain communication methods. This is primarily relevant for email communications. For example, if you attempt to send an email to a recipient you have marked to not contact by email, you will receive a Confirm dialog warning you that the email recipient chose not to receive communications of this type.
| 2. | Letter Template: If applicable, select a Letter Template from the drop-down list. |
| a. | Note that if you are sending an email and you select a Letter Template here, the letter will be sent as an Email Attachment. If you want to incorporate a Letter Template into the body of the email, see the instructions below under Subject and Body of Communication . If you want to send the letter as an attachment, choose whether you want it to be attached as a PDF or RTF. This field will default to the selection you made when creating the letter template in setup. |
| b. | If you do not want to use a template, e.g. this communication is a simple, plain-text email or a record of a phone call, select <NONE>. |
| c. | To learn how to create letter templates, see Part B: Letter Templates below. If you plan to use letter and label templates in your communications, it is recommended you read all of Chapter 12, including Part B: Letter Templates and Part C: Labels, before creating and sending communications. In particular, if you are using a template with merge fields, ensure that the merge fields are linked to the correct information. When you send a communication to a recipient, EventPro will pull in the merged text from the appropriate fields. If the correct fields do not exist for the recipient, the merge fields in the document will appear blank. For example, if you create a document with “Contact” merge fields, and now try to send the document to an “Attendee”, the fields will be blank because EventPro cannot find the requested information. Therefore, always ensure that you select an appropriate template. |
| 3. | Edit/Create/Preview the Letter Template: To edit the template, create a new template or preview the template with the merged text, click the Edit button to open the Word Processor window. |
| a. | Refer to the instructions under Word Processor below for assistance with editing your document in the Word Processor. |
| b. | Make your changes and click File | Save to save the changes in the current template. The changes you make here will only apply to the current communication and will not be saved in the original template in the Letter/Label Templates setup area. |
| c. | Click File | Save As Template to save the document as a new template. |
| d. | To preview the template with the merged text, click on the Merged Text tab or select File | Print Preview. |
| e. | When you are finished with the Word Processor, click File | Close to return to the Communication [New] window. |
| 4. | Reference: If you select a Letter Template with an assigned Communication Reference, the reference will appear by default. If not, you can choose a Reference from the drop-down list or leave this field blank. If you leave this field blank, and Load a Template into the body of the communication below, the Reference will be set to the reference of the letter template you choose. Remember that you can use References later to create a filter that will show you which communications have been sent to which customers. For example, you could create a Communication Reference called “Invoicing”, which you can later use to create a filter that will find all emails, letters, faxes, etc. related to invoicing a certain customer. |
| 5. | The Contact Date and Contact Time will default in, but you can change these if necessary. |
| 6. | Enquiry: If you want to link the communication to a certain enquiry, click the ellipsis next to the Enquiry field to bring up the Find Enquiry window. You can leave this field blank if you do not want to link the communication to an enquiry. If you created this communication in the Enquiries screen or in the Event Maintenance screen for an event that has been assigned an enquiry, the Enquiry field will be set to the applicable enquiry and disabled. If you later turn an enquiry into an actual booked event, the communications will also appear in the related event’s Communications Tab. |
| 7. | Event: If you want to link the communication to a certain event, click the ellipsis next to the Event field to bring up the Find Event window. If there is an Enquiry related to the selected event, that linked Enquiry will default into the Enquiry field. You can leave this field blank if you do not want to link the communication to an event. If you created this communication in the Event Maintenance screen, the Event field will be set to the currently viewed event and disabled. |
| 8. | Accom Rsv No: If you want to link the communication to a certain accommodation reservation, click the ellipsis next to the Accom Rsv No field to bring up the Find Reservation window. |
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| 1. | Attached To: To choose the recipient of the communication, use the Attached To drop-down list. |
| a. | Choose None if the intended recipient is not in your database, or if you do not want the communication linked to any particular contact or company. |
| b. | Choose Contact to select a recipient from your Contact database. Click the ellipsis to bring up the Find Company/Contact window. To review how to search in a Find window, see Introduction: Common Functions, Finding a Record. If you created this communication in the Company/Contact screen, the Contact field will default to the contact you selected, or, if in a company view tab, the default contact of the selected company. |
| c. | Choose Attendee to select a recipient Attendee from an event. Click the ellipsis to bring up the Find Attendee window. In order to select an Attendee, there must be an event selected for the Event field above, and there must be attendees assigned to the event. |
| d. | Choose User to attach the communication to a single user, or choose User Group to attach it to multiple users. Use the drop-down list to select the appropriate User or User Group. |
| e. | Choose Exhibitor to select a recipient Exhibitor from an event. |
| 2. | Company Name: If the recipient is associated with a company in your database, the company name will default in. |
| 3. | To: This field is required if you want to send an email. If you attached the communication to a Contact, Attendee, User, User Group or Exhibitor, the appropriate email address(es) should default into the To field. If there is no email address for the recipient or you want to add additional recipients, click the To button to open the Select Recipients window. |
| a. | Use the drop-down list to select the type of recipient (Contact, Attendee, etc.) and find the recipient in the Select field by clicking the ellipsis or using the drop-down list. EventPro will warn you if there is no email address for the intended recipient. |
| b. | The list of recipients will appear in the selection grid. |
| c. | To remove a recipient, double-click on the record. |
| d. | When you have the list of recipients you want, click OK. The email address(es) will be added to the To field in the Communication [New] window. |
| 4. | You can also simply type additional email addresses into the To field. |
| 5. | If you attached the communication to None, you can type in the email address or use the To button as noted above. If the recipient is not in your database anywhere, be sure to record his or her name somewhere in the email or document for future reference. |
| 6. | Cc, Bcc: Type in email addresses or click on the Cc or Bcc buttons to open the same Select Recipients window as noted above. |
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| 1. | Subject: Enter the Subject of the communication, or a subject may have already defaulted in, depending on your Communication System Settings (see Chapter 1: Setting Up EventPro, Step 1: System Settings, Communications). This will be the subject under which the communication will be saved in EventPro. If the communication is sent via email, it will also become the subject header of the email. |
| 2. | Add Signature: If this is an email communication, click the Add Signature button to add your personal signature. You can create a signature in your user email settings. See Chapter 1: Setting Up EventPro, Step 11: User Email Settings. |
| 3. | Read Receipt: Check this box if you want to receive a message notification when the recipient reads the email. |
| 4. | Notes: Type in any notes you would like to record regarding this communication. If this communication will be sent via email, the notes you enter here will become the body of the of the email message. If you create a communication from an email, see Communications from Emails below, the text of the email will be entered in this notes area. If you want to create a document with more complex formatting, click the Wordprocessor button. You can create a document just for one communication, or save it as a template for future use. For more instructions about using the Word Processor, see Word Processor below. |
| 5. | Letter in the Body of an Email: You can send a Letter Template as the body content of an email. |
| a. | Do not select a Letter Template from the drop-down list above, as that will create an attachment. Instead, click the Load Template icon/button above the notes area at the bottom of the window. |
| b. | In the Letter Templates dialog, select the appropriate template and click OK. The letter template will appear in the notes field. |
| c. | If you load a template in the body of an email, you may want to avoid using templates with complex formatting. You may want to create two sets of letter templates: one for email letters and one for printed letters. See Part B below to learn how to create letter templates and refer to Word Processor to learn how to create documents with advanced formatting. |
| d. | Ensure that you select template with the appropriate merge fields for the recipient. Remember that if the database fields do not exist for the recipient, the merge fields in the document will appear blank. |
| e. | If the Reference field above was blank, it will now be set to the reference of the letter template you just loaded. |
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| 1. | Attach Files: If you are sending an email and want to attach a file, click the Attach Files button. |
| 2. | In the Open window, locate the file you want to attach and click Open. |
| 3. | The file will appear in the attachment space next to the Attach Files button. |
| 4. | If you want to remove a file you attached, click to highlight that file and click the Delete button beneath the Attach Files button. |
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| 1. | Add Report: If you want to add reports as attachments to this communication, click the Add Report button. |
| 2. | In the Run Report dialog, select the report you want to attach and click OK. |
| 3. | In the next dialog box, you can choose the printing options for this report. To learn more about these report options, go to Chapter 15: Reports. After you have selected the options you want, click OK. The report will be added as a PDF attachment to the bottom of the Communication. |
| 4. | To add another report, click the Add Report button again. Continue until you have attached as many reports as you require. |
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