Differences between Contacts and Clients

Contacts Clients

Contacts are individuals or companies that the practice may come into contact with. They may be suppliers of products or services to the business — for example: banks, solicitors or tax agents — or prospective clients that the practice want to keep in the database. The details might be their name, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, et cetera.

When working with contacts, your starting point is the Contact page. From here you can view, amend and add information such as addresses, contact numbers, notes and documents. The Contact page is accessed by clicking the Contacts button on the main toolbar and entering the name of the contact you want to view in the Find Contacts window. The Find Contacts window lists all contacts AND all clients. Pure contacts won't have a client code in the search results.

Once you do work for a contact they become a client.

Clients have a client code and can have assignments attached to them. They are individuals or companies that the practice carries out work for. Clients can be divided into two types:

  • chargeable clients who may be billed by the practice

  • internal clients who are used to hold all non-chargeable costs of the practice such as annual leave, sick leave, study leave, training and administrative costs.

When working with clients, your starting point is the Client page. From here you can view, amend and add information such as addresses, contact numbers, notes, assignment information and documents. The Client page is accessed by clicking the Client button on the main toolbar and entering the name of the contact you want to view in the Find Client window. The Find Clients window only lists clients, that is, those records that have a client code.

When you need to create new contacts or clients, click File > New  on the main menu . This will open a wizard that will guide you through the process.

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