The External Database Connection Setup wizard configures the connection between an external contacts database and the internal contact database that HowNow uses to populate (insert data into) merge documents and to store records.
HowNow can connect to any number of external databases simultaneously or to the same database multiple times to extract different information.
This option is used with the assistance of the HowNow Support Team.
The internal contact database contains the following fields as standard. The wizard allows fields from the external database to be translated into the corresponding HowNow fields where necessary and can also create additional fields when required.
HowNow Contact Field List
| ClientCode |
Contact reference, usually the unique identifier of the contact. |
| Title |
Contact title (Mr, Mrs, Ms, etc) |
| FirstNames |
Contact first name plus middle name if any |
| LastName |
Contact surname |
| Salutation |
Contact salutation (John, Mary) |
| Abn |
Australian Business Number |
| Acn |
Australian Company Number |
| EntityName |
The entity, company or trust name (Note this field should contain the entity name if the contact is a company and LastName + comma + FirstNames if the contact is an individual). |
| Tfn |
Tax File Number |
| Sfn |
Superfund |
| Current |
The client is active (Y or N) |
| Email |
Contact email address |
| Address1 |
Address line 1 |
| Address2 |
Address line 2 |
| Address3 |
Address line 3 |
| Address4 |
Address line 4 |
| Address5 |
Address line 5 |
| Phone |
Client phone number |
| Fax |
Client fax number |
| Mobile |
Client mobile number |
| IsIndividual |
Specifies if the contact is an individual (Y) or an entity (N). Used in the address block and other places to control display of the entity name. |
| IsActive |
Specifies that the contact is active or inactive. Active contacts appear on the selection list when adding new records. Inactive contacts only appear on the selection list when searching for existing records. |
| Addressee |
If Addressee has a value it is used as the contact full name. If it is empty the contact full name is created from Title + FirstNames + LastName |
| GroupName |
Spare or used to ‘group’ contacts. |