Validation rules for partners and contacts
This article lists the validation rules the CRM module enforces when you save partners, contacts, and communications, along with the exact messages you may see and how to resolve them. Creating or changing these records requires the crm:manage permission.
Partner rules
| Rule | Message when broken |
|---|---|
| Name is required | "Name is required." |
| Partner type must be Supplier or Insurance | "PartnerType must be Supplier or Insurance." |
| Type + name must be unique | "A partner with the same type and name already exists." |
These apply when both creating and updating a partner. The name and type are the only mandatory fields; all address, tax, and other details are optional. Text is trimmed on save, so leading and trailing spaces do not create false differences.
Note: Uniqueness is checked on the combination of type and name. You can have a Supplier and an Insurance partner with the same name, but not two Suppliers with the same name. The check ignores partners of a different type and, on update, ignores the partner you are editing.
Field length limits for partners
- Name up to 200 characters; short name, tax ID, VAT number, city, country, and website up to 100–200 characters each.
- Policy-number prefix up to 50, postal code up to 20, and notes up to 2000 characters.
Contact rules
| Rule | Message when broken |
|---|---|
| First name is required | "FirstName is required." |
| Last name is required | "LastName is required." |
Contacts have no uniqueness rule, so two people with the same name are allowed. Salutation, position, and department are limited to 100 characters (salutation 50), and notes to 1000. A contact must belong to an existing partner — adding one to a partner that cannot be found returns "Partner not found."
Communication rules
| Rule | Message when broken |
|---|---|
| Each entry needs a value | "Communication value is required." |
| Type must be Phone, Mobile, Fax, Email, Website, or Other | "CommunicationType is invalid." |
| At most one primary entry per type | "Only one primary communication is allowed for type …" |
A communication value can be up to 256 characters and an optional label up to 100. Saving a communications log replaces the whole list, so include every entry you want to keep. If a sort-order value is left at zero or below, the system assigns one automatically by list position.
How errors are returned
When a save fails validation, all applicable messages are combined and returned together, so you can see and fix everything at once rather than one error at a time. Records are saved only when every rule passes.
Tip: If a save is rejected as a duplicate partner, search the Partners list — including inactive records — before creating a new one. The organization may already exist and simply need reactivating.
Related
- Create a business partner
- Add contacts to a partner
- Update the communications log
- Edit or deactivate a partner
