Firms Form

Use the Firms form and its tabs to enter, view, and edit information for each firm that your company or enterprise wants to track.

Contents

You can add a firm record in the following ways:

• In the Firms hub, you click + New Firm in the upper-right corner to display the Firm form. This link is only available if you have the access rights that are required to add records.
• In the Contacts hub, you click the Create Firm Record option when qualifying a contact on the Qualify Contact dialog box. This opens the Firms form so that you can create a new firm record from the qualified contact, which is only available if your firm uses CRM Plus and enables the Lead Qualification Process in Settings.
• You click the + New Firm link at the bottom of the list for any firm lookup.

When you add a new firm using the Firms form, you are automatically added as a team member on the Team tab for that firm. However, you will need to go to the Team tab to describe your relationship to the firm. (If you run an import process that adds new firms, you are not automatically added as a team member for those firms.)

You can edit an existing firm record by opening an existing firm record and modifying the field information as needed, if you have edit access rights to the firm.

Field	Description
Find firm	At the top of the Firms Hub form, enter a partial or complete name or number in the Find firm lookup field to find and select an existing record or set of records that you want to view or edit. If more than one record is returned, the default () Active Only toggle appears at the bottom right of the drop-down list. To filter the search results to return only active records, click the Active Only toggle to the On position (). Vantagepoint returns only active records in the drop-down list. The Active Only toggle setting will be preserved across sessions until you change the setting again. Your current record selection will be preserved even if you switch from one Hub to another. For example, if you are working in the Project hub and then switch from that hub to another, when you return to the Projects hub, your current project record selection is still available. For information about creating and using searches, see the Search Vantagepoint help topics.
Search Navigation Controls	The Search Navigation Controls display to the right of the Find lookup field at the top of most Vantagepoint hub and application forms. Use these controls and their related components to quickly locate a saved search, create ad hoc or new searches, page through records, find and select multiple hub records, and view selected hub or application records in either () List View or () Detail View. On the Saved Search control (), click to display the Saved Searches (left) pane and Record Selection (right) pane. Most search types include standard, personal (My Searches), shared, and complex searches, as well as an ad hoc search Selection. Available saved searches vary, depending on the active hub or application form. When you add new records via most hub and application forms, you can easily group and track the records using the Search Navigation Control in detail view and in list view. On the active form, click the + New <record> button, complete the required information for each new record, and then click Save. Vantagepoint displays a saved confirmation message and the New Records label () is added in the Saved Search control. As you add new records, they are ordered sequentially. You can use the paging control to review and edit each new record on the active hub or application form. When you access a different field, search on the hub or application form, or navigate away from the form, the New Records label reverts to the Saved Search control (). For more information about Search Navigation Controls, see Components of a Search, Use Search Navigation Controls to Filter and Refine Records, and Use Search Navigation Controls to Track New Records.
Saved Searches List	To filter the list of firms, select one of the following search types: Quick Find: Use this field to locate a specific search or group of searches in a long list of searches. Enter one or more characters in this field and then pause to allow time for the results set to refresh. The records returned for the search are listed in the Records Selection pane. Selection: If available, this ad hoc search appears in the Saved Search control and also in the Saved Searches list. This type of search is based on an existing search in the Saved Searches list and, typically, comprises a portion of all the available hub or application records that were included in the saved search. Use this type of search to quickly view a specific subset of records for a standard search. Only one ad hoc Selection is available at any given time and will remain unchanged until you either update it or create an ad hoc search. For more information, see Select Hub Records for an Ad Hoc Search and Edit an Ad Hoc Search Selection. Active: Display a list of active firms. Active Clients: Display a list of active firms designated as clients. Active Vendors: Displays a list of active firms designated as vendors. My Active: Display a list of firms that have a status of active and for which you are a member of the team or the owner. All: Display a list of all firms (both active and inactive). Clients with Outstanding AR: Display a list of client firms for which an outstanding accounts receivable balance exists. My Searches: Display a list of firms that are not shared with others. Click the icon to display the Edit Search dialog box. You can then update your personal search for future use. Shared Searches: Display a list of firms shared with other team members or roles. Click the icon to display the Edit Search dialog box. You can then update the shared search for future use. SQL Where Clause Searches: Display a list of firms based on SQL Where Clause query statements and advanced search settings. These complex searches locate records across multiple hubs, applications, or databases. You must have the appropriate security role access to use this advanced search functionality. Legacy searches, which are based on saved searches from previous versions of the application or legacy systems, display as SQL Where Clause searches. + New Search: Select this link to create a new search for firms. Use both basic and advanced search features on the New Search dialog box to refine search criteria. Use the Advanced Settings feature to search by all available Firms hub grids and fields (including, standard and user-defined grid fields), based upon your field level security. The Add a Field drop-down includes all standard and user-defined grid fields associated with the hub or application. You can type part of the field name to find it or use the drop-down to locate the desired field. Fields in grids are organized under the grid name in bold. For example, when you select Projects, a list of all grid fields associated with Projects hub is displayed. If a firm is inactive or dormant, the search results list displays the record in gray to indicate the status. You can hover over the indicator to display the status. For information about creating and using searches, see the Search Vantagepoint help topics.
x of x	Use these arrow icons to scroll through the records in the search results and display a different record on the form. The numbers indicate which record you are viewing out of the total number of records in the search results.
	Click the List View icon to see the list view of the form. Fields are displayed in columns in a grid, rather than on separate tabs of the form. In each grid, you can display and edit data for multiple records at one time, with data for each record displayed in a row. This makes it easy to compare, update, and save multiple records at one time because you do not have to open individual records. To add or remove columns, or to change the order of the columns in the grid, click to the right of the grid and use the Select Columns dialog box. For information about selecting columns, see Select Columns for a Grid. Each grid toolbar also provides access to options for printing grid data, exporting data, and grouping by column. To maximize a grid to a full-screen display, click . This expanded view reduces the need to scroll through long lists of records. Click this option again to return to the standard grid display. For more information, see Maximize the Grid View. For more information about working in list view, see Use List View. You can also enable the Explicit Save in List View (Opt-In Available) feature (Settings > General > Opt-in Features). This feature disables the auto-save feature and enables you, while working in list view, to quickly update grid column information for multiple records. To save your changes, click the Save button. You can choose to opt in to this feature for the Vantagepoint 7.0 release. The ability to opt in is temporary and will be removed when the feature becomes automatically enabled for all Vantagepoint users in a future release. For more information, see Opt-In Feature Overview. After all validated record changes are saved, a success message appears in the title bar. For deleted records, a confirmation message appears prompting you to either select Delete or Cancel. When one or more records fail, Vantagepoint displays a dialog box that contains a list of all the invalidated records that may provide error descriptions and suggestions on how to correct errors. For more information, see Saving Your Work and Enable the Explicit Save in List View Opt-In Feature. With the appropriate security role access, you can use also the Bulk Update feature when you are working in list view. This enables you to edit multiple hub records that require the same update with one action. For example, if the supervisor for a group of employees is changing, use the Bulk Update option in the Employees hub to change all of the employee records at one time. For more information, see Use Bulk Update to Update Multiple Records. Important: When you select the Bulk Update option, all saved records are permanently updated in your database. To reverse these updates, you must manually roll back each record. In My Preferences, you can set your preferred application view to detail view, list view, or the last view that you used. For more information, see Set the Preferred Application View.
	Click the Detail View icon to view and edit the contents of a single record. All fields for the selected record are displayed on the form, typically on one or more tabs. Initially, detail view is used by default when you open hub forms and some other application forms. This is the view described in most help topics. In My Preferences, you can set your preferred application view to detail view, list view, or the last view that you used. For more information, see Set the Preferred Application View.
+ Add Firm	Click this option to open the Firm form and add a new firm record. This option is available if your security role has the access rights required for adding records.
Name	The name of the firm displays above the tabs. If the name is too long to display completely, hover over it to see a tooltip containing the full name. To edit the name, hover over it and click .
Firm Hierarchy	When you have firms or agencies that should be associated in a hierarchical relationship, you can create a firm hierarchy to represent the parent-subsidiary relationship in graphical form. This information gives you a better understanding, for example, of project profitability or in pursuit project award ratios for all firms in a hierarchy. Your system administrator must enable firm hierarchies in Settings > General > Firm Hierarchy.
Last modified	These fields, located below the firm name, display the date the firm information was last changed and the name of the person who made the changes, unless the user ID is not mapped to a user name, in which case only the user ID displays.