Links between organisations and multi-organisation projects

An organisation rarely stands alone: a municipality is a member of a network, a company is located in a municipality, a bank funds a project. The CRM keeps these relations as links between organisations, read from both records, with the history of links that have ended. It also lets you follow a project that brings together several organisations: each with its role, their contacts, the project’s exchanges and its decisions. This article is intended for people who follow a territory, a network or partnerships, and for project managers.

Before you start #

• The CRM module must be enabled for your workspace and open to you (see Enabling and administering the CRM module). Multi-organisation projects also require the Projects module.
• Links, permissions in the role matrix, CRM menu: “CRM accounts — View” to read an account’s Links tab; “CRM accounts — Edit” to create, edit, close or delete a link. The scope of this permission must reach the account on one of the two sides, and you must be able to read the other organisation. The Access level is enough.
• Link types: “CRM settings — Create”, “… — Edit” and “… — Delete” (see CRM settings).
• Projects: you must see the project in the Projects module, with “Project — Overview tab”. The Organisations tab also requires “CRM accounts — View”; the Exchanges tab, “CRM activities — View”.
• To add, change or remove an organisation or a contact of the project, you must be able to write in the project: be its Project manager or a Developer, or manage all projects (the “Project” permission at the Execute level). A project Viewer can only read. Adding a contact also requires “CRM contacts — View”.

Link types #

Open Settings › CRM › CRM settings and scroll down to the Link types between organisations section. Each type has a label for each direction, in French, English, German and Italian: “Member of” on one side, “Has as member” on the other. A type that reads the same on both sides, such as “Partner of”, has only one label.

When it is installed, the CRM sets up five types:

One way	The other way
Member of	Has as member
Partner of	Partner of
Host municipality of	Located in
Funder of	Funded by
Supplier of	Customer of

1. To add a type, fill in the One way (e.g. “member of”) label under New type, in at least one language.
2. Tick The same both ways (e.g. “partner of”), or fill in The other way (e.g. “has as member”).
3. Click Add the type.

Each type shows the number of links that use it. The arrows change its rank in the list, Edit corrects its labels, and Deactivate removes it from the choices without affecting existing links. A type in use cannot be deleted: deactivate it. Its symmetry can no longer change either.

The group and its subsidiaries are not links: they stay on the organisation record (see Managing accounts).

Linking two organisations #

1. Open the account record, then the Links tab.
2. Click New link.
3. Choose the Link type. Only active types are offered.
4. Under Organisation, search for the other organisation’s account.
5. For a type that is not symmetrical, choose the Direction: the list shows both readings, for example “Commune de Montvert — Member of — …” or “… — Has as member — …”.
6. If needed, fill in the Start, the End and a Note. The end cannot be before the start.
7. Click Create the link.

The same active link cannot be created twice: same organisations, same type and same direction, or either direction for a symmetrical type. The window then shows “This link already exists and is active.”; See the existing link highlights it in the tab.

An account’s Links tab #

The tab shows the organisation’s links in both directions, each with the label that applies to it. If Commune de Montvert is a “Member of” a network, the network’s record shows “Has as member Commune de Montvert”. Each row gives the period (“Since …”, “From … to …”, “No date”) and the note. The other organisation’s name leads to its account.

• Active links come first. A link is active as long as its end is empty or in the future.
• Links that have ended are folded under Closed links (n): click to unfold them. They stay in the history of both records.
• A link to an organisation you cannot read is not shown. Only their number appears: “n link(s) to organisations you cannot see.”
• A link whose type has been deactivated carries the Type deactivated marker.

The buttons on each row:

• Edit changes the dates and the note. The type and the organisations do not change: close the link, then create another one. Clearing or postponing the end of a closed link makes it active again, unless the same link is already active.
• Close opens the Close the link window: the End date is today by default and cannot be in the future.
• The bin deletes the link after confirmation. It disappears from both records, history included. To keep a record of an ended relation, close it instead.

Finding linked accounts #

In CRM › Accounts, the Linked to… filter keeps only the accounts that have an active link with the chosen account, in either direction. A second list narrows it to one type, or keeps All links; the cross removes the filter. From the Links tab, See the linked accounts opens this list directly.

A project’s organisations #

When the CRM is installed, a project’s record gains two tabs: Organisations and Exchanges. Without the CRM, or without the CRM permissions, the project record is unchanged.

The Organisations tab sorts organisations by role:

• Lead organisation: the project’s client, taken from the deal the project was born from or chosen in the project’s Settings tab (see From a won deal to a project). It cannot be removed from this tab.
• The other organisations, grouped by role: Contracting authority, Partner municipality, Company, Funder, Service provider. This list of roles is set in Settings › CRM › CRM settings, list Organisation roles in a project.

1. To add an organisation, search for its account under Organisation to add.
2. Choose its Role in the project, then click Add.

An organisation appears only once in a project. Its role is changed in the list on its row. The bin removes it from the project: the project contacts taken from it are removed too, but exchanges and decisions stay.

The bottom of the tab gives the project overview: Exchanges in the last 30 days, Decisions with their number and the last ten, and Overdue tasks, the Projects module tasks whose due date has passed. This last block only appears with the “Project task” permission.

A project’s contacts #

The Contacts section of the same tab gathers the people who matter in the project.

1. Choose the contact’s Organisation among those of the project.
2. Choose the Contact: the list offers the contacts currently attached to that organisation.
3. Give them a role if needed (Decision maker, Influencer, Elected official…) or leave No role.
4. Click Add.

Each row shows the name, job title, email, phone and the Objected marker where relevant. These details remain subject to your permissions on contacts: a contact you cannot read appears as “Record not visible”, with only their role. Removing them from the project does not affect their record, which stays in the CRM.

Exchanges and decisions #

The Exchanges tab lists the CRM activities attached to the project: reports, meetings, calls. Its two buttons, Exchanges and Decisions, switch between the two lists. You can filter by exchange type, by organisation and by period (From … To). Each row gives the type, the day, the author, the account and, if any, the organisations it Concerns. A decision also shows its text.

A decision is an activity of the Decision type, set up at installation: a dated note, with the organisations it concerns. To record one:

1. In the Exchanges tab, click Decisions, then New decision. The Decision type is already selected.
2. Under Account, choose the project organisation the decision is attached to.
3. Enter a title if needed and, in Content, the text of the decision.
4. Give the Decision date, today by default: it is the date the decision was taken.
5. Tick the Organisations concerned.
6. If needed, add contacts with Add a contact of the organisation, then click Create the activity.

New exchange works the same way for a call, a meeting or a note (see Activities and “My activities”). These buttons require being able to write in the project and “CRM activities — Create”. The record of an activity created this way shows its Project and, for a decision, its Organisations concerned.

With “CRM import and export — View”, Export (CSV) downloads the filtered decisions: date, subject, author, organisations concerned and text.

Notices and log #

• When a colleague adds or removes an organisation, the project manager receives the notice “Organisation added — ” or “Organisation removed — ” followed by the project’s name. The organisation is only named if they can read it in the CRM. The notice opens the Organisations tab.
• The CRM log keeps the creation, editing, closing and deletion of a link, never its note. It also keeps the addition, removal and role change of a project organisation or contact, each decision recorded (without its text) and each export of the decisions.

Good to know #

• Deleting an account also deletes its organisation’s links. An account that is one of a project’s organisations cannot be deleted: archive it.
• When two accounts are merged, the links, project places and project contacts of the absorbed record move to the kept record. A link between the two merged records disappears.
• An exchange attached to a project has one of the project’s organisations as its account, and its contacts are attached to one of them. Otherwise, saving is refused: “The account of the activity must be one of the organisations of the project.” or “The external participants of a project exchange are chosen among the contacts of its organisations.”
• Only an activity attached to a project can concern several organisations.
• Exporting or erasing a contact’s data also covers the projects they appear in (see Protecting contact data (GDPR)).
• Custom reports offer two sources: “CRM — links between organisations” and “CRM — project organisations”.

FAQ #

I cannot find a contact to add to the project. #

The list only offers the contacts currently attached to the chosen organisation, and that you can read. First add their organisation to the project, or attach the contact to that organisation (see Managing contacts).

I do not see the Organisations tab on a project. #

It requires the CRM to be installed and open to you, and “CRM accounts — View”. The Exchanges tab also requires “CRM activities — View”.