Adding a contact

The first thing to do, before adding a new contact, is to ensure that the contact does not already exist in your database. Use the search on the Home page or Contacts page to check if your contact has already been added before creating a new contact. This will help to ensure you have minimal duplicates and keep your data organised and accurate.

In Vega there are a few ways you can add a new contact:

Home Page:

Contacts Page:

Data Import:

Please see the articles on importing data for full detail on how to add multiple contacts to Vega in one template.

Let's go through manually adding a contact from the Home or Contacts tab. Both options of clicking the Add Contact button will open up the new contact form:

Contact Field	Explanation
	The Vega ID will be automatically generated when the contact is saved, this field can not be changed. This can be used to search for the contact and is a unique identifier
	The Supp ID will be automatically generated when the contact is saved, this field can not be changed. This is a sequential number for each contact in your organisation and can be used as another unique identifier
	The Org ID is a text box which allows alpha and numerical characters, up to 50 total. This can be used as another identifier or reference from another system for example. This field is editable and can be used to search for the contact
	Each contact needs to have a Contact Type attribute assigned. These attributes have a subtype of Individual or Multiple. Those with Individual will follow the format below, those with multiple will display the Account Name and optional fields for Primary Contact Details. This is used for Corporate, Families etc so the account name is the group and an individual can be set as the primary contact. The options here are configured in Admin > Attributes
	Each contact needs to have a Contact Branch attribute assigned. These will automatically be added to a payment by this contact and can be used to separate financials or contacts between areas. These are configured in Admin > Contact Branches
	This is a mandatory field to save the new contact. The account name will be automatically populated when a First and Last Name are entered but this can be edited or added first. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document
	The options here are configured under the attribute type Title. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document
	If your contact has a suffix, it can be entered here
	Enter your contact's first name. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document
	Enter your contact's middle name
	Enter your contact's last name. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document
	This is the salutation or the name your contact would prefer to be greeted as. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document
	If your contact's organisation or workplace is known, it can be entered here. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document
	This will default to the country of your organisation. Depending on your settings the search will use NZ Post or Google Maps
	This will default to Primary. When a contact has multiple addresses this field can be used to specify the type.
	Only one address can be marked as Primary and Mail to. The primary address will show on the contact dashboard and will be used in the address merge tags
	When an address has been searched, these fields will be automatically populated. These are editable fields and can be used instead of searching for an address
	Enter your contact's email address so that you can communicate through Engage. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document
	Enter a mobile number for your contact. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document
	Each contact has an Account Status and a reason. A contact can be either Active or Inactive. The reasons in this dropdown are configured as attributes and the default option is determined by the lowest sequence number in the attributes. Most queries will default to only show contacts who are Active. Read more on this setting here
	Each contact has a Mail Status and a reason. A contact can be either OK or Not OK to Contact. The reasons in this dropdown are configured as attributes and the default option is determined by the lowest sequence number in the attributes. Most queries will default to only show contacts who are OK to contact and emails sent from Engage can only be sent to contacts marked as OK to Contact. Read more on this setting here
	Enter a home phone number for your contact. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document
	Enter a work phone number for your contact. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document
	This is a text area on the contact dashboard to show important information
	If you know the department your contact works in, it can be entered here. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document sent directly from Vega
	If you know your contact's job title, it can be entered here. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document sent directly from Vega
	Enter your contact's birthdate if known, so that you can set up a workflow to send them a happy birthday message.
	This is the date your contact joined, it will default to today's date when manually adding a contact. This is available to be used as a merge tag in a document sent directly from Vega
	If your contact's gender is known, it can be added here. The options showing in this dropdown can be configured as attributes under the type Gender
	Enter the campaign that brought your contact onboard to your organisation. This will initially show your default campaign configured in Admn > Financial Settings
	Does your contact want to receive a receipt after every donation, none at all or one annual receipt for all donations? This option can be selected and will then show on the payment form to help with choosing their receipt preference. Please note, this will not stop a receipt from being sent is a document is selected
	You can add attributes to your contact by selecting the type and then attribute and clicking Add to List.