Add contacts to a partner
This article shows you how to add contact people (Ansprechpartner) to a business partner, so you always know who to call at your leasing company, workshop, or insurer. Adding contacts requires the crm:manage permission.
How contacts relate to partners
A contact always belongs to exactly one partner. Open the partner first, then add its people. Each contact can carry its own communications (direct phone, mobile, email), separate from the partner's general communications.
Add a contact
- Open the CRM module and go to the partner's detail page.
- Add a new contact.
- Enter the first name and last name — both are required.
- Optionally add a salutation, position, department, and notes.
- Mark the person as the primary contact if they are your main point of contact.
- Save. The contact is created as active, timestamped, and the action is recorded in the CRM audit trail.
Contact field reference
| Field | Required | Notes / limit |
|---|---|---|
| Salutation (Anrede) | No | Up to 50 characters, e.g. Herr, Frau, Dr. |
| First name | Yes | Up to 100 characters |
| Last name | Yes | Up to 100 characters |
| Position | No | Up to 100 characters, e.g. Fleet Account Manager |
| Department (Abteilung) | No | Up to 100 characters |
| Notes | No | Up to 1000 characters |
| Primary contact | No | Marks the main person for this partner |
The primary contact
Marking someone as the primary contact promotes them to the top of the partner's contact list. In list and detail views, contacts are ordered with the primary contact first, then alphabetically by last name and first name.
Tip: A partner can technically have more than one contact flagged as primary, but keeping a single clear primary contact per partner makes the record easier for the whole team to use. Update the flag on the previous person when your main contact changes.
Adding several contacts
Repeat the steps above for each person you deal with — for example an account manager, a claims handler at an insurer, and a service advisor at a workshop. There is no uniqueness rule on contacts, so you can record two people with the same name if needed; use the position or department fields to tell them apart.
After adding a contact
Once a contact exists, open it to add their direct communications (phone, mobile, email, and so on). Communications are maintained per contact and are separate from the partner-level communications log.
Note: If you try to save a contact without a first or last name, the system returns "FirstName is required" and/or "LastName is required." Fill in both names to continue.
Related
- Manage contact details
- Record communications for a partner or contact
- Create a business partner
- Validation rules for partners and contacts
