The database itself holds details of a large number of contacts (human beings with whom you have occasion to communicate). These details are initially presented as a formal list in the List Window as follows:
A Nexus database holds the following types of information for each contact on a List. (These windows are all linked via the View menu.)
The Identification Window also holds data which enables you to contact a specific person. This includes their name and address (or vehicle index number) and their public communications network numbers (eg. for telephone, fax, data comms etc.). It is not necessarily the only set of data on file for making contact with that same person.
The Identification Window can also access a Communication Window which provides the means of communicating with the contact through a choice of media and in various modes.
To classify a contact you first go into Edit mode and then mark the name of a key in the left-hand dialogue box. In the example below the Type of Contact key has been selected. The list of possible values this key can have is then displayed in the right-hand dialogue box. You then mark one or more of these values (up to the predetermined maximum number for this particular key) which pertain to the contact (person) concerned.
This contact is shown as being both a chum and an advisor. However, when you open the Classification & Status window it is normally in view mode as shown below. This displays the key names in the left-hand dialogue box as before, but only summarises the selected values of the key, ie the items in that key's list, which are currently marked:
Other options within the Edit menu allow you to enter or change the names you want to use for your keys and their respective lists of values. This is only normally done at implementation time.
The formal event type for a given diary entry is selected from a prescribed list which is set up at implementation time (but can with care be amended afterwards). This is done through a child Events Window accessible from the Diary Window.
The first few prescribed event types (eg. phone call, fax, letter, data file transfer) are reserved types: they cannot be changed by the user. This is because the Communication Window automatically updates the diary whenever it connects a successful phone call, sends a fax, produces a letter for mailing or conducts a file transmission to the person concerned.
Text messages (letters, faxes, telexes, RTTY messages etc.) pertaining to any of the last 12 events in the diary may be viewed in a Correspondence Window. Printed copies should be archived in paper correspondence files for permanent reference.
The dossier file is a word processor file attached to each contact record in which unlimited free-form comments about that contact may be entered.
In the Target Profile window you enter the broad classification and status of the type of contact you want on your shortlist. Nexus then scans the details of every contact currently on the database, putting those who fall within the scope of your Target Profile on to the shortlist. You can then view the shortlist in the Target List window and cull off any individuals you specifically do not want. You are also free to add individual contacts to your new target shortlist as follows:
Up to 16 Target Profiles may be held on-file at any time, each of which may have an associated shortlist which it has been used to generate.
The window structure of the Target Short-listing facility is as follows:
The Target List window is the main window and the Target Profile window is one of its child-windows. The above sample target profile will extract a shortlist of all contacts who are marked as chums and advisors. Other keys (not visible in the above illustration may impose further restrictions on who is and is-not included on the shortlist. A target profile may be edited at any time and a new corresponding shortlist generated.
Any previously-generated target list is accessible from within the Target List window. The Identification, Classification, Diary and Dossier windows of any contact appearing on a Target List are accessible from his line entry in the target list concerned:
These generated target lists are then automatically accessible from the Communication Window for mailshots and multi-point communications such as telephone sessions and selective broadcasting of data files. The lists can also be exported as text files for such uses as mail-merging by word processing packages. A target list can also be exported as a new child Nexus database or transferred to another existing Nexus database:
A further child of the Target List window is a Statistics Window. This shows bar charts of the percentage of contacts who are on the current target list which have a given value of a given key. For example, the third bar down in the right-hand window below shows that 40% of the contacts on this target list are chums.
The example in the left-hand window shows a map of the U.K. which in reality would be divided up into a set of user-defined geographic areas. The accompanying bar chart shows what percentage of the contacts on the target list concerned are located in each area.
Nexus provides the means for communicating with a selected contact both by voice and by text.