InterAction+™ AI provides a centralized contact database that enables firm-wide collaboration and shared relationship intelligence. While this approach helps keep information current, it also requires appropriate controls to ensure that contact data remains accurate, consistent, and high quality.
Data Change Management (DCM) allows organizations to balance user flexibility with firm-level data governance.
The Challenge of Open Contribution
Because InterAction+™ AI allows users to contribute and update contact information, data can originate from multiple sources, including:
Outlook
IA365
IQ
IA Mobile App
InterAction+™ AI
Without governance, two common issues may arise:
Restricting users from editing firm data may result in duplicate contacts, as users create separate records to manage their own information.
Allowing unrestricted edits may lead to inconsistent data and increased data-cleaning efforts, potentially resulting in errors such as incorrect addresses on important communications.
How Data Change Management Solves This
Data Change Management avoids both extremes by:
Allowing professionals to manage their own contact lists.
Enabling users to contribute selected information to the firm list.
Providing data stewards with tools to review, approve, or reject changes.
When users contribute updates to firm contacts, DCM routes those changes according to configurable rules. Changes may be:
Automatically accepted
Routed for review and approval
Rejected based on defined criteria
This approach empowers users while maintaining centralized data oversight.
Personal Contact Lists vs. Firm List
Each user maintains a personal contact list where they can manage their own contact data. Users are not required to share their updates with the firm list.
However, users are encouraged to connect their personal contacts to firm contacts. Connecting provides:
More robust contact profiles
More frequent updates
Improved relationship visibility
When a user makes a connected contact available to the firm, edits may affect the firm-level record, subject to DCM rules and confidentiality settings.
How Contact Edits Are Managed
There are two primary ways a firm contact can be edited:
1. Editing Through a Connected Personal Contact
For example, a user updates a business phone number in their personal contact list for a contact that is connected to the firm list. If the contact is shared with the firm, the change may update the firm record according to DCM rules.
2. Directly Editing Firm Contact Information
A user may also edit firm contact information directly within InterAction+™ AI, even if the contact is not in their personal list. These changes are also managed by DCM based on configured rules and contact categorizations.
In both scenarios, administrators can determine whether changes are automatically accepted or require review by a data steward.
New Contact Creation
Users can create new contacts from:
Outlook
IA365
IQ
IA Mobile App
InterAction+™ AI
Depending on configuration settings, Data Change Management can control how new contacts are added to the firm database, including whether they require approval before becoming firm-level contacts.
Data Minder Integration
Organizations using Data Minder can create rules to enforce data standardization (data normalization) for both incoming and existing data. This reduces inconsistencies and decreases the number of DCM review tickets.