Set up customers and contacts

Add your first customers

Open Customers and add the organizations whose requirements you need to track.

Use the customer name your team will recognize in normal work. Add notes that help explain the relationship, such as the customer’s usual portal, renewal cycle, or administrative contact. Avoid turning the customer note into a second filing cabinet. Record the context someone would actually need when returning to the account later.

If the customer uses a required platform such as Avetta, ISNetworld, Veriforce, or a customer-specific portal, assign that platform to the customer. Sidecar tracks the work around those platforms; it does not replace them.

For the first setup, add customers before adding a large number of standalone documents. Customer Detail is where the operational story comes together, so beginning there gives the rest of the records a clear home.

Add the contacts used for requests and follow-ups

Contacts allow Sidecar to prefill request recipients and preserve the reason a person belongs to the workflow.

A contact can be identified as a:

• Customer contact
• Broker
• Platform contact
• Employee
• Internal team member
• Other operational contact

Add the contacts you actually expect to email. Mark the primary contact for each type when there is a clear default.

For example, a customer may have one primary administrative contact and a separate broker contact. An employee training request may need to go to a field supervisor instead of the customer. The contact type helps Sidecar choose the most appropriate recipient when a request or follow-up is prepared.

You can manage contacts from the customer page, and workspace settings provide a broader view of configured customer contacts.

Record who a document belongs to

Some documents belong to your company. Others belong to a subcontractor, employee, crew, vendor, or another tracked party.

When adding a document or requested item, use the subject or tracked-party field when ownership matters.

Examples:

• A company W-9 may belong to the workspace or primary company.
• A COI may belong to a subcontractor.
• A First Aid/CPR card may belong to an employee.
• A training roster may belong to a field crew.

This context matters when two records have similar names. “Missing COI” is useful. “Missing COI for Apex Trenching LLC” is much more useful at 8:12 on a Monday morning.