How can I document notes that will transfer to different entities?

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Posted on by Suzy

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Does anyone know of a best practice for documenting notes on entities? I would like to document notes on a campaign response, for example, that will then transfer to a Lead, then Contact, Opportunity, Account. I would also like them to be time/date stamped and sortable by that date.

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Community Member Microsoft Employee on at

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RE: How can I document notes that will transfer to different entities?

First you can only import notes to a specific entity and not dynamically.

For example, to import Notes for a Lead entity from an Excel spreadsheet follow these steps:

Downloadthe Notes template from the Data Management/Templates for Data Import and select Notes. The CSV excel file has the following fields.

Template Fields:

(Do Not Modify) Note (Leave blank)

(Do Not Modify) Row Checksum (Leave blank)

(Do Not Modify) Modified On (Leave blank)

Title (Mandatory. Title on the Lead)

Owner (Optional. Have to be some of the users in CRM)

File Name (Optional. Used to import attachments on notes)

(add) Regarding To (Mandatory and this field must be added as unique identifier of the Entity)

Description (Optional. The note text)

By adding the "Regard To" field which references the entity, you can then upload the Notes to the associated entity.

To import the records (Data Management / Imports / Import Data), use these settings:

Import Settings:

Select file (excel file)

Delimeter Settings (keep default)

Select Data Maps (Default - Automatic Mapping)

Map Record Types: <select Note>

So far so good, the next section is a bit more obscure....

Map Fields:

When mapping the "Regarding To" select the drop down menu and under Fields, select Reporting (Lookup).

From there scroll down to Knowledge Base Record check Lead and Select "Company Name" (assuming this is the identifier you used for "Regarding To"). Hit OK and follow the instructions.

Again, the key is the Regarding To field. It can be associated with Accounts, Notes, Opportunities and Leads.

I use it to upload Notes from third part sales reps that do not have a CRM license (in this case Manufacturer's Representatives)
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mscrmba on at

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RE: How can I document notes that will transfer to different entities?

Workflow will work - but replicating data may not be your best option.

Using OOTB Notes may/may not be your best option.

1. If you need to be able to attach the note to multiple specified records - but only one of each (e.g. one lead, one contact, one opportunity, one account):

I would suggest you create a custom entity of type 'Note'

Add lookup fields for any other related records you want to be able to be linked to it.

and then add in sub-grids on those entities to display the associated Notes you have created.

2. If you generally only want to be able to attach a note to one specific record you could create a custom activity entity called 'Notes' and use the Regarding field to set the link. This would then have your 'Notes' appearing in your list of Activities for that entity. In the situation you wanted the data replicated to another record the whole record would need to be replicated.

1. You're not duplicating the data multiple times.

1. & 2. It's easily sortable / able to be queried. You can leverage the OOTB Created on date/time field to see when it was created.

Using OOTB 'Notes' does date/time stamp the records, but there is some limitation to sorting/selecting/accessing the data is harder. OneNote Integration which is on its way in the Spring Release may outweigh this downside (depending on how avidly your users use that).
Community Member Microsoft Employee on at

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RE: How can I document notes that will transfer to different entities?

Hi Suzy,

Can we help? We are a very secure and accurate dictation and transcription company (based in London but we have non-UK clients too) and we offer anyone who needs to put notes/client summaries etc. into their CRM an easy way to do it.

Users simply phone a dedicated line, leave their note/report/update, we transcribe it and either email it back or work with their MD CRM provider to insert the note into the system. Notes are date and time stamped.

My direct details are kirstie.white@voicenotes.co.uk. Would love to have a discussion with you.
Suzy 475 on at

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RE: How can I document notes that will transfer to different entities?

Thank you, Jerry! I will give that a try.
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CRMInnovation.com 12,282 on at

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RE: How can I document notes that will transfer to different entities?

Suzy

From what you have described above the simple non-programming way would be to create a workflow that fires on the create of the note to copy the note to the other entity record.