exploiting relationship intelligence for profit

Excel – Friend not foe

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Excel Friend or Foe of InterAction

Bad things about it People do

inappropriate things with it– It isn’t a database

Friendly things to say It is universal You can email it It is supremely

flexible & powerful

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My AgendaUsing Excel with IA

Harvesting data using Web Services– How– Problems it can solve..

• Partner Onboarding• Personnel Reconciliations

Harvesting data using Database Services– How– Problems it can solve

• Reconciling data• Partner Reporting

Writing data back in to IA using Excel & Web Services– How– Problems it can solve

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Useful features

Data– From Web– From Other

Sources– From Access

Advantages– Excel stores the

data but also knows how to refresh it….

– You can create formulae & formating based on the results

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From WebUses InterAction Web Services

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Web – Some Points to Note

Advantages– Simple – you don’t need to understand how IA stores the data– Good for harvesting data– Refreshable

Disadvantages– Duplicate rows

How we have used it:– Partner On-boarding– Comparing Users with Current Employees from HR systems

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Partner On-boardingPartner arrives with Excel

Loaded in to Outlook Process

– Contacts loaded by secretary in to Outlook

– Contacts resolved by secretary

Advantages – Manual Promote– Fee Earner/sec in

control Disadvantages

– Assumes Outlook more up to date -> Tickets

– Data quality

Loaded in to IA Process

– Contacts loaded by DS in to IA folder & working list

– Merger & promote– Synchronise down to

my contacts Advantages

– DS in control;– Data quality & no

tickets Disadvantages

– Burden on DS staff

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Partner On-boardingExcel is our friend

Import old contacts in to a sub-contacts folder

Switch on synchs Compare imported

contacts with:– MyContacts/

Contacts– Firm List

Comparison at field level

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Partner On-boarding tool…

Step 1: Compare Imported Contactswith MyContacts. For missing contacts:• Do they exist in firm

list? If so, add Firm List contact to MyContacts

Step 2: Compare individual fields in MyContacts with Imported Contacts – remove differences.

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Partner On-boarding tool…

Data that is not in the firm list

Data that is different to the firm list

Data that is different to the MyContacts data

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Web – Some Points to Note

Advantages– Simple – you don’t need to understand how IA stores the data– Good for harvesting data– Refreshable

Disadvantages– Duplicate rows

How we have used it:– Partner On-boarding– Comparing Users with Current Employees from HR systems

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From the database & other sources

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Other SourcesSome Points to Note

Technical– Requires IT to give you read only database connection – Database connection needs to be set up on each PC

Advantages– All InterAction data is available (including record dates etc)– Allows you to ask complex questions– Can use variables (e.g. Today – 6 months)– Can join different databases– Refreshable (without Export)– Can create formulae based on the results

Disadvantages– Need to have an understanding of the database structure– Need to be able to write a little SQL– Need to understand field & data security

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Other SourcesHow we have used it

Bounceback Analysis– Using Pivot tables

Joining HR, Active Directory and IA– Discrepancies in job title, start date etc

Partner Reporting– Data from IA in to holding database– Partner report generator in Word– 150 individual PDFs ~ 30 mins

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ExcelWriting to InterAction

Native import functions allow– Contacts– Addresses– Additional Fields

Application Collaboration (AC) is required for– List Value items– Relationships– Reminders

The problem with AC – it requires SQL knowledge (normally domain of IT)– need server access (normally domain of IT)– if you don’t have it, it is an additional module (£)

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ExcelWriting to InterAction

InterAction Web Services

– Add Activity– Add Reminder– Add/Edit Additional Info Field– Add List Value Item

Format– {ServerName}/{MethodName}?

{VariableName}={VariableValue}

Useful methods:– methodsreport– additionalfieldsreport

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ExcelWriting to InterAction

Template Spreadsheets– Right columns– Validate some of the data– Template builds the URL

Templates for– Add activity– Add relationship– Add additional field– Add reminder …just need to click each link

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ExcelWriting to InterAction

Clicking each link is tedious

InterAction Updater Document– Choose spreadsheet– Choose Worksheet– Click Process– Resulting ID is put back in the spreadsheet

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Christopher YoungHarborough House Consulting Limited

+44 797 9707 991christopher@harboroughhouse.com