Configuring InterAction for Microsoft Outlook to Automatically Log Appointments

You can configure InterAction for Microsoft Outlook to automatically add appointments to InterAction that include contacts with specific contact types. This setting applies to the contacts as well as the contacts’ associated companies.
For example, you can automatically add all appointments to InterAction that include contacts that have the Top Client contact type. In this scenario, if just one contact on an appointment (or the contact’s associated company) is a Top Client, the meeting is automatically added to InterAction.

Users can always choose not to add an appointment to InterAction. These settings determine whether the appointment is added by default.

This setting is configured in the Activities, Appointments, and Document References entity in InterAction Administrator.

To configure InterAction for Microsoft Outlook to automatically add appointments to InterAction:

1. Log on to InterAction Administrator.
2. On the main window entity list, double-click Activities, Appointments, and Document References.
3. Choose Settings.

4. Under Appointment Settings, select the contact types to trigger automatic appointment logging.

   See What Contact Types Should I Select? for suggestions on which contact types to select. If any contact (or the contact’s associated company) on an appointment has any of the selected contact types, the appointment is logged and synchronized with InterAction by default. 

5. Choose OK.

Tip: What Contact Types Should I Select?

Use the automatic appointment logging feature to encourage the addition of appointments to InterAction. The goal is to add only important meetings to InterAction and not overwhelm the system with appointments that end users do not care about.

Generally, most organizations automatically log meetings that include contacts with important contact types (such as Top Clients or Prospects) and do not automatically log meetings with contact types that could flood InterAction with appointments (such as Our Personnel or Our Consultants).

More specifically, the contact types you select depends greatly on how your organization uses appointments. For example:

• Your organization very closely tracks your top 100 clients. Configuring Outlook to automatically log appointments that include contacts with the Top 100 Clients contact type helps these contacts become more visible in InterAction.
• Your business development managers track meetings with prospects. Automatically logging appointments with Prospect and Prospect Personnel contacts helps these departments in their tracking efforts.