Customers and Relationships

Relationships in Spektrix are a way to connect two Customer Records. You can define how the two are related, using Relationship Types, and even perform actions such as purchasing on behalf of one another.

In this article, we’ll guide you through:

• What are Relationships and Relationship Types?
• Why use Relationships?
• Differences Between Relationships, Soft Credits and Households
• Setting Up Relationship Types
• Adding Relationships to Customer Records
• Using Relationships to take Actions on behalf of other Customers
• Editing Relationships
• Deleting Relationships
• Reporting and Segmentation on Relationships

VIDEO: If you're new to Relationships, take a look at our Customers & Relationships concept video.

What are Relationships and Relationship Types?

Relationships are a feature in Spektrix that connect two Customer Records together.

These two Customer Records can be structured in the following ways:

1. Individual to Individual: For example, spouses or family members
2. Individual to Organization: For example, an employee at a company
3. Organization to Organization: For example, a corporation and its charity wing

You can further define these Relationships by Relationship Type. For example, while a Relationship may connect two Individuals, you’ll want to distinguish between two spouses and parent-child Relationships.

Relationship Types are custom to your organization, so you can choose which Relationships you’d like to include in your Spektrix system.

In addition, you can choose what actions you’d like to allow with each Relationship. For example, you may want to let parents book Tickets and purchase workshops and classes for their child but not the other way around.

The actions that a Customer Record can take on behalf of another include:

• Facilitated Orders: An Individual purchasing on behalf of another Individual
• Organizational Orders: An Individual purchasing on behalf of an Organization
• Soft Crediting Orders: Crediting multiple Customers on an Order
• Invitations: Tracking an Invitation sent to an Individual on behalf of an Organization

A Customer Record can have multiple Relationships. For example, you may want to include several Board Members at an Organization or record an Individual’s partner and also their employer.

As you link different Customers, you can also add in information such as level of Importance and the dates of the Relationship.

For example, you can sort by level of Importance, displaying the most important Relationships first or note past employees at an Organization you may have had correspondence with.

You can also hide past Relationships (those that have ended) on a Customer Record.

For Individual to Organization Relationships, you can also include the Individual’s contact information, such as a company email address, phone and mailing address.

Why use Relationships?

Relationships enable you to see a holistic picture of your Customer base beyond their standalone Records. Relationships help you understand how your Customers are interconnected, how they interact with each other and how their relationships are ever-changing. 

For example, Relationships can help you:

• Track correspondence at a foundation and keep your contact list up to date
• View all Donations made using the Soft Credit feature
• Analyze Ticket purchases made by a school across several years, even if Orders were facilitated by different teachers and administrators

In addition to these actions, you can Segment and Report on Relationships to help you understand these connections and interactions.

Differences Between Relationships, Soft Credits and Households

There are other features in Spektrix that let you connect Customer Records together but each behave differently. We’ll take a look at how Relationships differ from Soft Credits and Households.

Soft Credits

Soft Credits is a feature that lets you assign credit for an Order to appear on other Customer Records.

While Facilitated Orders and Organizational Orders let Customers purchase on behalf of another, soft crediting Orders lets Customers share credit without double counting the income.

You can soft credit Facilitated Orders, Organizational Orders and regular Orders with the same Order Owner and Facilitator.

Multiple Customer Records can be credited on the Order. Each of these Customer Records must have a Relationship with the main Order Owner.

For example, if an employee makes a $500 Donation on behalf of their Organization, the Organization can soft credit the Order to the employee.

Soft crediting enables both Customer Records to appear on Reports or get tagged for making a $500 Donation (read more in Reporting and Segmentation on Soft Credits).

If the Donation made on behalf of an Organization was not soft credited, the employee wouldn’t be associated with the Donation.

Households

A Household in Spektrix is the grouping of Individuals together that share an address, receive marketing information together and may often purchase together. Most commonly, this will be families or spouses/partners.

Customers do not need a Relationship to be in a Household together; however, without a Relationship they won’t be able to make purchases on behalf of one another or soft credit their Orders.

Households will aggregate purchasing behavior. For example, an Order for a Donation made by one Individual may show on another Household members’ Customer Record. However, the credit for the Donation will not be assigned to other Household members.

Using the example above, an employee makes a $500 Donation on behalf of their Organization. We’ll see below that the Order will appear on the employee’s spouse’s record as a Household Order. However, the spouse will not appear on reports that look at Order Owners or Facilitators or get Tagged for making a $500 Donation.

Having a Relationship won’t aggregate purchases. For example, if the employee made a separate purchase that was not facilitated on behalf of or soft credited to their Organization, that Order won’t appear in the Organization’s Customer Record.

Setting Up Relationship Types

In order to start using Relationships, you’ll need to set up your Relationship Types. You can set up your Relationship Types in either the Admin Interface or Opportunities Interface.

TIP: User Accounts will need the General Administrator role to access the Admin Interface or the Opportunities Administrator role to access the Opportunities Interface. If you don’t have this user role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add either roles.

• In the Admin Interface, navigate to Customers > Relationship Types.
• In the Opportunities Interface, navigate to the Admin Settings Dashboard > Relationship Types.

On the Relationship Types screen, you’ll see any existing Relationship Types to the left.

At the bottom left of the screen, you’ll see buttons to create new Relationship Types:

The buttons represent the three ways to structure Relationship Types. From left to right:

1. Individual to Individual
2. Individual to Organization
3. Organization to Organization

Select the Relationship Type you’d like to create.

WARNING: Once selected, the structure of a Relationship Type can’t be changed.

• Individual to Individual

• The Individual to Individual screen will appear:

  

  1. Name (Required): Enter a Name for the Relationship. For example, “Parent and Child.” The name must be unique. Any duplicate names will cause an error.
     
     
  2. Roles (Required): Enter the roles for each Individual. For example, on the left, you may want to designate the “Parent,” and on the right, the “Child.”
     
     
  3. Description (left role to right role) (Required): Enter a description for the left Individual’s relation to the right Individual (follow the arrow beneath the text box, pointing left to right). For example, “is a parent of.” In the Relationship section of the Customer Record, the Relationship will read as “(Name) is a parent of (Name).”
     
     
  4. Description (right role to left role) (Required): Enter a description for the right Individual’s relation to the left Individual (follow the arrow above the text box, pointing right to left). For example, “is a child of.” In the Relationship section of the Customer Record, the Relationship will read as “(Name) is a child of (Name).” In some cases, this description may be the same, for example, between two spouses.
     
     
  5. Can act on behalf of: Check this box if one or both Individuals can act on behalf of the other. The top checkbox represents if the left Individual can act on behalf of the right. For example, the parent can make purchases for the child. The bottom checkbox represents if the right Individual can act on behalf of the left Individual. You can leave any and all these boxes unchecked where you don’t want the Individual to have the ability to act on behalf of the other.
     
     
  6. Default importance: Select the default importance, where 5 is the highest and 1 is the lowest. In the Relationship section of the Customer Record, you can view Relationships by rank of importance. You can select a different number when creating the Relationship, as different Relationships with the same Relationship Type may have different levels of importance in your system.
     
     
  7. Perpetual relationship: Check this box if there are no start or end dates for Relationships. This is best for familial relationships. If unchecked, when you add a Relationship to a Customer Record, you can add and edit start and end dates.

  Here is an example of a new Individual to Individual Relationship Type based on the example above:

  

• Individual to Organization

• The Individual to Organization screen will appear:

  

  1. Name (Required): Enter a Name for the Relationship. For example, “Employee/Employer.” The name must be unique. Any duplicate names will cause an error.
     
     
  2. Role of Individual (Required): Enter the role of the Individual on the left. For example, “Employee.”
     
     
  3. Role of Organization (Required): Enter the role of the Organization on the right. For example, “Employer.”
     
     
  4. Description (left role to right role) (Required): Enter a description for the left Individual’s relation to the right Organization (follow the arrow beneath the text box, pointing left to right). For example, “is employed by.” In the Relationship section of the Customer Record, the Relationship will read as “(Name of Individual) is employed by (Name of Organization).”
     
     
  5. Description (right role to left role) (Required): Enter a description for the right Organization’s relation to the left Individual (follow the arrow above the text box, pointing right to left). For example, “is the employer of.” In the Relationship section of the Customer Record, the Relationship will read as “(Name of Organization) is the employer of (Name of Individual).”
     
     
  6. Default importance: Select the default importance, where 5 is the highest and 1 is the lowest. In the Relationship section of the Customer Record, you can view Relationships by rank of importance. You can select a different number when creating the Relationship, as different Relationships with the same Relationship Type may have different levels of importance in your system.
     
     
  7. Perpetual relationship: Check this box if there are no start or end dates for Relationships. If unchecked, when you add a Relationship to a Customer Record, you can add and edit start and end dates. For example, you can add employment start and end dates.

  Here is an example of a new Individual to Organization Relationship Type based on the example above:

  

  TIP: Any Individual with a Relationship with an Organization can facilitate an Order on behalf of the Organization.

• Organization to Organization

• The Organization to Organization screen will appear:

  

  1. Name (Required): Enter a Name for the Relationship. For example, “Partner Companies.” The name must be unique. Any duplicate names will cause an error.
     
     
  2. Roles (Required): Enter the roles for each Organization. For example, for both roles, you may want to enter “Company.”
     
     
  3. Description (left role to right role) (Required): Enter a description for the left Organization’s relation to the right Organization (follow the arrow beneath the text box, pointing left to right). For example, “is a partner company of.” In the Relationship section of the Customer Record, the Relationship will read as “(Name) is a partner company of (Name).”
     
     
  4. Description (right role to left role) (Required): Enter a description for the right Organization’s relation to the left Organization (follow the arrow above the text box, pointing right to left). For example, “is a partner company of.” In the Relationship section of the Customer Record, the Relationship will read as “(Name) is a partner company of (Name).” In some cases, this description may be different, for example, between a parent company and a subsidiary.
  5. Default importance: Select the default importance, where 5 is the highest and 1 is the lowest. In the Relationship section of the Customer Record, you can view Relationships in ranking of importance. You can select a different number when creating the Relationship, as different Relationships with the same Relationship Type may have different levels of importance in your system.
     
     
  6. Perpetual relationship: Check this box if there are no start or end dates for Relationships. If unchecked, when you add a Relationship to a Customer Record, you can add and edit start and end dates. For example, you can add the start date when Organizations became partners.

  Here is an example of a new Organization to Organization Relationship Type based on the example above:

  

  TIP: Organizations can’t act on behalf of another Organization. Their Relationship can be viewed on the Customer Record and be used in Reporting and Segmentation.

Editing and Deleting Relationship Types

To edit or delete a Relationship Type, click on the Relationship Type’s Name on the left side of the screen. The Relationship Type details will appear.

Click the details or the pencil icon in the lower right corner to begin editing or to delete the Relationship Type.

TIP: Changing any details, except Default Importance, in the Relationship Type will affect Relationships of that Type. For example, if you check the Perpetual Relationship box, this will remove Start and End Dates. Alternatively, you can reinstate the Start and End Dates, and any existing data will be reinstated.

To delete a Relationship Type, click the Delete button in the lower left corner.

WARNING: You can’t delete a Relationship Type where a Relationship exists.

Adding Relationships to Customer Records

Once you’ve added your Relationship Types, you can now connect two Customer Records together.

You can add Relationships in either the Sales Interface or Opportunities Interface.

TIP: User Accounts will need the Sales User role to access the Sales Interface or the Opportunities User role to access the Opportunities Interface. If you don’t have this user role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add either roles.

Search for a Customer or create a new Customer Record for whom you’d like to add a Relationship to. This first Customer can be any of the Customer Records you’d like to connect; there is no specific order to add the Customers to the Relationship.

In the Customer Record, find the Relationships tab.

Click on the Add Relationship button.

This button appears at the top of the section and also at the bottom, for Customer Records with existing Relationships.

The Find Customer Screen will appear where you can search for the other Customer or create a new Customer Record for whom you’d like to add to the Relationship.

TIP: From the Find Customer Screen you can only add new Individual Customers. The Add Individual button will appear after searching for the other Customer. Organizations must exist in your Spektrix system and can’t be created at this screen.

• For existing Customers, click the Customer Record you’d like to connect.
• For new Customers, set up a new Customer Record. Click Save.

You’ll then be taken to the Create Relationship screen.

Fill out the following information:

1. Relationship Type Description: Select the description for the correct Relationship Type. The dropdown will only include the Relationship Types with the structure most appropriate for the Relationship. For example, an Individual to Organization Relationship will only include those Relationship Types in the dropdown.
   
   
2. From date: The Start Date of the Relationship, if applicable.
   
   
3. To date: The End Date of the Relationship, if applicable.
   
   
4. Importance: This is set to the default importance. You can select a new number.
   
   
5. Email (This only appears for Individual to Organization Relationships): You can enter an email address. This email address will show up in contact information that appears in Reporting and Segmentation. It can be different from the Individual’s email address, for example, a work email address.
   
   
6. Direct phone (This only appears for Individual to Organization Relationships): You can enter a phone number. This phone number will show up in contact information that appears in Reporting and Segmentation. It can be different from the Individual’s phone number, for example, a work phone number.
   
   
7. Address (This only appears for Individual to Organization Relationships): Click the Set Address button. The Choose Address screen will appear, where you can select an Address from the Organization record or add a new Address by clicking the Add Address button. Adding a new address will add it to the Organization’s Customer Record as an additional address.
   
   
   

   

   This address will show up in contact information that appears in Reporting and Segmentation. It can be different from the Individual’s address, for example, a work address.

Click Create Relationship to save the Relationship. Click Cancel to cancel the creation of the Relationship.

Using Relationships to take Actions on behalf of other Customers

You can use Relationships to take actions on behalf of a Customer.

Take a look at the following actions and learn more in their respective Support Centre articles:

• Facilitated Orders: An Individual can make a purchase or Donation on behalf of another Individual. You must check Can act on behalf of in the Relationship Type setup.
  
  

  

• Organizational Orders: An Individual can make a purchase or Donation on behalf of an Organization. Any Individual with a Relationship with the Organization can facilitate an Order. The Primary Contact will be the default Facilitator.
  
  

  

• Soft Crediting Orders: You can credit multiple Customers on an Order. Each Soft Credit must have a Relationship to the Order Owner. You can also add or remove a Soft Credit after the Order is confirmed.
  
  

  

  TIP: During transactions, you can also create new Relationships, and when needed, create a new Customer Record.
  
  When performing a Facilitated Order online, Customers can also add a new Relationship with an Individual. This will create a new Customer Record without an email for the added Individual. You can choose the Relationship type and the importance will default to 1. For more information, read Facilitated Orders.

• Invitations: You can track an Invitation sent to an Individual on behalf of an Organization. Select the Organization in the dropdown under On Behalf of.
  
  

  

Editing Relationships

To edit a Relationship, navigate to any of the Customer Records in the Relationship. Click on the details of the Relationship or on the pencil icon in the lower right corner.

You can make changes to the:

• Relationship Type: Select a new Relationship Type description from the dropdown. These types must maintain the Relationship structure, for example, Individual to Organization.
  
  
• Importance: Select a new number from the dropdown, 5 is the highest and 1 is the lowest.
  
  
• Start Date: Add, change or remove the date.
  
  
• End Date: Add, change or remove the date.
  
  
• Email (Individual to Organization only): Add, change or remove an email address.
  
  
• Phone (Individual to Organization only): Add, change or remove a phone number.
  
  
• Address (Individual to Organization only): Select or choose No Associated Address from the dropdown. If you’d like to add a new Address, add the Address to the Organization Record first.

Click Save to save any changes. Click Cancel to discard and not save any changes.

Deleting Relationships

To delete a Relationship, navigate to any of the Customer Records in the Relationship. Click on the details of the Relationship or on the pencil icon in the lower right corner.

Click Delete in the lower left corner.

A confirmation message will appear. Click Confirm to delete the Relationship. Click Cancel to cancel the deletion.

WARNING: If one Customer has facilitated an Order in an Individual to Individual Relationship, including Returns, you can’t delete the Relationship.

If you attempt to delete the Relationship, this pop-up will appear:

If any Organizational Orders have been facilitated through an Individual to Organization Relationship Type, you’ll be asked to select a new Facilitator.

If there are no other Facilitators, click New facilitator, which will open up the Find Customers screen to add a new Relationship to the Organization. You’ll then be returned to the Select facilitator screen.

Choose a new Facilitator and click Select facilitator. You can also click Cancel to discard any changes.

Once you’ve selected a new Facilitator, all the Orders with the previous Facilitator will be updated. This won’t affect other facilitated Orders with a different Facilitator.

Merging Customer Records with Relationships

You’re able to merge any Customer Records with Relationships.

For example, if you have two Customer Records for an employee and would like to consolidate to one Customer Record.

However, if you’re trying to merge a Customer Record that has facilitated an Order on behalf of another Individual, it will produce an error. If you’re trying to merge a Customer Record that has facilitated an Organizational Order, you’ll need to select a new facilitator for the Organizational Orders before merging.

Reporting and Segmentation on Relationships

You can Segment and Report on Relationships to help you understand your Customers’ connections and interactions.

You’ll need to consider what you’d like to Segment or Report on regarding Relationships. Use Relationship Segments and Relationship Reports to use and view the information about Relationships such as:

• Which Customers have Relationships and with whom
• Their Relationship Types
• Level of importance
• Any applicable start and end dates
• Any contact information for Individual to Organization Relationship Types

Information about Relationships can only be used in criteria and/or output in Relationship Segments and Relationship Reports.

However, any actions made using Relationships should use the Segmentation and Reporting features most closely related to them.
For example:

• Use Soft Credit Segments or Soft Credit Reports for viewing information on your Soft Credited Orders.
  
  
• Booking and Purchasing Segments allow you to group on Order Owner or Facilitator.
  
  
• For Reports, you can output and distinguish Order Owner and Facilitator information in Sales, Analysis and other Report Types. You can also output the Relationship Email Address.
  
  
• Invitation Reports can output which Organizations were invited through an Individual.
  
  
• Accounting Reports output Owner’s information, except for the Facilitator’s Name.

REMINDER: The Segments and Reports mentioned in the examples for actions can’t include Relationship information (except for Relationship Email Address in certain Reports). For example, if you are looking at a Report on Organizational Orders, you can’t output information like the Start and End Dates of the Facilitator’s Relationship to the Organization.

Relationship Segments

In the Relationship Segment type, the following metrics found in the Relationship wrapper are available:

REMINDER: This segment only looks at whether or not Customers have Relationships within the following parameters and not if they took any actions taken through their Relationships.

Relationship Reports

Relationship Reports show a row for each relationship to an entity.

For example, each Relationship will output two rows for each Customer Record in the Relationship. Each Relationship is highlighted in the Report.

Criteria Sets

Create your Criteria Sets using the following metrics found in the Relationship wrapper:

Output

Select your Output using the following metrics found in the Relationship wrapper:

REMINDER: The Relationship Report type only looks at Relationships within the following parameters and outputs the selected Relationship information. Relationship reports don’t look at any actions taken through their Relationships. For example, a Relationship Report can output all the Relationships an Organization has but can’t report on the Orders on behalf of the Organization.

Further Reading

You now have the information you need to understand and use Relationships in Spektrix. For further information, including the actions you can take using Relationships, read the following Support Centre articles:

• Facilitated Orders in Spektrix
• Organisation Bookings and Segmentations
• Soft Crediting Orders
• Invitation Management
• Setting Up and Using Households