Sugar Community Edition: Meetings

Overview

The Meetings Module has been introduced as a separate module in Release 6.2.0 to allow for ease of use and access. Use this module to schedule, view, and manage meetings.

Meeting actions

The Actions bar on the Meetings tab displays the following options:

Schedule Meeting. Click this option to schedule a meeting as described in Scheduling Meetings.

View Meetings. Click this option to view and manage meetings as described in To manage meetings.

Import Meetings. Click this option to import external data as described in Importing Data.

Scheduling Meetings

You can schedule meetings with users, contacts, and leads. When you schedule a call or a meeting, you are creating a record with information regarding the subject of discussion, the participants, the time period, and the status. After you save this information, you can send out an invitation to all the participants immediately or at a later date. You can create a note or add attachments before or after a meeting occurs. After you complete meeting, or if you cancel it for any reason, you can update its status.

The Create (Meetings) page displays the following sub-panels:

Scheduling. The Scheduling sub-panel displays details such as the name of the attendees, the day, and the time of the meeting. If other meetings are already scheduled, the busy time is blocked out and colored blue. If there are scheduling conflicts, the busy time displays as a brown block.

Add Invitees. Use the Add Invitees sub-panel to find users that you want to invite as described in To add invitees.

To schedule a meeting

1.	Select Schedule Meeting from the Actions bar of the Meetings tab.

2.	Enter information in the following fields:

Subject. Enter the subject of discussion.

Status. Select one of the following from the drop-down lists:

Planned. Choose this option if the meeting is scheduled to take place.

Held. Change the status from Planned to Held after the meeting is completed.

Not Held. Change the status from Planned to Not Held if the meeting did not occur for any reason.

Start Date. Click the Calendar icon and select the date or input the data manually. Select the time, in hours and minutes, from the adjoining drop-down lists.

Related to. Enter or select the name of the related record such as an account, opportunity or contact from this drop-down list.

When you type a character in the field, the system performs a quick search of possible values and presents a list of values starting with that character. Typing additional characters restricts the search results. When searching for a name, Sugar respects the Name Display Format setting on the User Preferences page. If the setting specifies “s f l” (Salutation First Last), then Sugar displays a list of first names that start with the specified character. For example, if you enter “A”, the system displays first names starting with “A”. Similarly, if the Name display format specifies “s l f”, then the system displays last names starting with “A”.

If you set a default time for reminders on your User Preferences page, Sugar will implement it in the event that you do not set a reminder when you create a call or meeting. The default time will display in the Detail View after you save the record. You can change it in the Edit View.

Duration. Enter the number of hours in the adjoining box and select the number of minutes from the drop-down list.

Location. Enter the meeting location.

Reminder. Select this box and specify the time from the drop-down list to send a reminder when a meeting is due. The system will send a reminder to all participants at the specified time.

If you set a default time for reminders on your User Preferences page, Sugar will implement it when you do not set a reminder during meeting creation. This default time displays in the Meeting Detail View page and can be modified in the Edit View page.

Description. Enter a brief description for the purpose of the meeting.

Assigned to. Specify the user who is assigned to the record. By default, it is assigned to you. To assign a different user, click Select to select from the Users list.

Add Invitees. Enter names of the participants of the meeting as described in To add invitees.

Click Save to save the meeting details without sending meeting invitations.
OR, click Save & Send Invites to save the Meeting details and send a meeting invitation.
OR, click Close and Create New to create a copy of the Meeting.
This closes the original meeting and changes its status to Held. The new meeting retains all the information of the original record except for the status, which by default is set to Planned.

To add invitees

1.	Enter all or any of the following information for a user, contact, or lead in the AddInvitees sub-panel of the Create(Meeting) page:

First Name. You can add a letter, a whole name, or a partial name.

Last Name. You can add a letter, a whole name, or a partial name

Email. You can add a letter, a whole address, or a partial address.

2.	Click Search.

The system displays the search results below with an Add button next to each name on the list.

3.	Click the appropriate Add button to send an invitation to the user.

The list of invitees displays in the Scheduling sub-panel.

Managing Meetings

•	To sort a List View, click any column title which has the icon beside it; to reverse the sort order, click the column title again.

•	To update information for some or all meetings, use the Mass Update panel in the Actions drop-down list of the Meetings List View as described in Editing and Deleting Multiple Records.

•	To import a list of meetings, select Import Meetings from the Actions bar of the Meetings tab. For more information on importing data, see Importing Data.

•	To view the details of a meeting, click its Subject on the Meetings List View.

•	To edit a meeting, click Edit on the meeting’s Detail View page, revise the information and click Save. Associated information such as Contacts, Users, Leads, and Notes are displayed in sub-panels.

•	To duplicate a meeting, click Duplicate in the meeting’s Detail View page. Duplication is a convenient way of creating a similar activity. You can change the information in the duplicate record to create a new activity.

•	To delete a meeting, click Delete on the meeting’s Detail View page, and then click OK.

•	To find a specific meeting in the list, enter the subject or the contact name in the Search sub-panel above and clickSearch. To search only your records, select the My items checkbox.

•	To perform an advanced search with additional search filters such as related record, click Advanced.

•	To edit a related record, click the Edit icon for the related record in the sub-panel of the Detail View, make the changes, and click Save.

•	To remove an association with another record, scroll down to the related record in the meeting’s Detail View, click the rem icon, and then click OK.