Operations Menu - Send Invitation
You can use this function to send an invitation to a Customer, Supplier or Contact Person. The invitation can be for a meeting or a conference. It will be sent to the recipient in iCalendar format (as a .ics) file. This is compatible with many calendar applications, including Apple's iCal, Google Calendar, Lotus Notes and Outlook. The recipient can import the invitation into their calendar application, and send a reply, which will arrive in your Mailbox as a normal Mail.
To use this function, you must have configured your Standard CRM database to send and receive external mail. You must be using the External Gateway module, you must have configured the E-Mail SMTP Server setting so that invitations can be sent to external email addresses, and you must have configured PO3 Servers and E-mail Aliases to ensure that replies sent to your email address will be placed in your Mailbox. Please refer here for full details about the mailing facilities in Standard CRM.
Follow these steps to send an invitation:
- Create an Activity in the usual way.
It is recommended that you enter the title of the meeting or conference in the Text in the header of the Activity. The recipient's calendar application will use the Text as the name of the event. Enter more details about the event on the 'Text' card.
Enter Start and End Dates and Times as appropriate.
Enter the recipient (i.e. the Customer, Supplier or Contact Person you are inviting) in the Customer field, and choose a Contact Person in the Contact field if necessary. The email address to which the invitation will be sent will be chosen as follows:
- If the Contact field in the Activity is empty, the email address will be taken from the Customer or Supplier specified in the Customer field;
- If the Contact field in the Activity contains the Primary Contact of the Customer or Supplier, the email address of the Customer or Supplier will again be used;
- If the Contact field in the Activity contains a Contact Person who has their own record in the Contact register, the email address in that Contact record (i.e. the Contact Person's personal or direct email address) will be used. If the Contact Person does not have their own email address, the Mail will have no recipients (the To field will be empty).
- Save the Activity.
- Choose 'Send Invitation' from the Operations menu.
- The invitation will be placed in your Mailbox. The Sent box will not be ticked. Locate the Mail and open it.
If you are using the Lock and Send E-Mail Automatically option in the Mail and Conference Settings setting in the E-mail and Conferences module, mark it as Sent and save it. The Mail will be sent automatically and also locked.
If you are not using the Lock and Send E-Mails Automatically option, select 'Send E-mail' from the Mail's Operations menu after you have saved it. The Mail will be sent, and this time it will not be locked.
- Attached to the Mail will be a .ics file containing the details of the event. The recipient will receive the Mail and can import the .ics file into their calendar application. They will be able to choose a Status (e.g. "Tentative", "Accept", "Refuse") and send a reply containing this Status.
- The reply will be received into your Mailbox as a normal Mail.
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