Managing Contacts and People
Every company in CX has a People tab that organizes the individuals connected to that client relationship. This includes your internal team members, contacts at the client company, and third-party professionals like financial advisors or CPAs. Keeping this information accurate ensures the right people receive portal invitations, task assignments, email notifications, and client reminders.
Prerequisites
You need clients/w (write) permission to add or edit contacts on company records.
To grant portal access to a contact, the company must have a portal-eligible status (Active, Onboarding, or Terminating).
Understanding Contact Types
CX organizes contacts into three categories on the People tab. Each serves a distinct purpose:
Internal Contacts — internal team members at your firm who are responsible for this client relationship. Assignees control which companies appear on a user's dashboard (users without the clients::all permission only see companies where they are an assignee). Assignees also appear in filters, reports, and workload distribution views.
Company Contacts — people at the client company. These are typically HR directors, plan sponsors, CFOs, payroll administrators, or other employees who interact with your firm about their retirement plans. Company contacts can be invited to the client portal.
External Contacts — third-party professionals connected to the client relationship but not employed by the client company. Common examples include financial advisors, CPAs, attorneys, and insurance brokers. External contacts can also be granted portal access.
A single person can appear as a contact on multiple companies. For example, a financial advisor who works with several of your clients would be added as an external contact on each relevant company record.
Add an Assignee
Open the company record and click the People tab.
Under the Internal section, click Add.
Search for the team member by name and select them from the dropdown.
The assignee is added immediately. They will now see this company on their dashboard and in their filtered views (unless they already have the clients::all permission, which shows all companies regardless of assignment).
Tip: Most firms assign a primary relationship owner plus a backup. This ensures coverage during PTO or staffing changes without reassigning the entire book of business.
Add a Company Contact
On the People tab, scroll to the Contacts section.
Click Add Contact.
Enter the contact's name and email address (required).
Assign a role to describe their function (e.g., Plan Sponsor, HR Director, Payroll Administrator). Roles are informational and help your team understand who to reach out to for specific needs.
Optionally add a phone number and any notes.
The contact is now linked to the company and eligible for portal invitation if the company has a portal-eligible status.
Add an External Contact
On the People tab, scroll to the External Contacts section.
Click Add Contact.
Enter the contact's name, email, and role (e.g., Financial Advisor, CPA, Attorney).
External contacts function the same as company contacts for portal access and communication purposes. The distinction is organizational — it helps your team quickly understand whether a contact works at the client company or is a third party.
Edit or Remove a Contact
On the People tab, find the contact you want to modify.
Click the contact's name to open their detail view.
Update any field (name, email, role, phone) — changes save automatically.
To remove a contact from the company, click the remove option. This unlinks them from this company but does not delete the contact from CX entirely — they may still be linked to other companies.
Important: Removing a contact who has active portal access will revoke their portal access for this company. If the contact needs to retain access, do not remove them.
Manage Portal Access for Contacts
Company contacts and external contacts can be invited to the client portal, which gives them a dedicated workspace to collaborate with your team on tasks, documents, and requests.
On the People tab, find the contact you want to invite.
Click the portal access toggle or invitation option next to their name.
The contact will receive an email invitation to set up their portal account.
Portal permissions can be configured to control what each contact can see and do. See Client Portal Permissions for detailed configuration options.
Best Practices
Keep assignees current — when team members change roles or leave the firm, update assignees promptly. Stale assignments mean companies won't appear on the right person's dashboard.
Use roles consistently — agree on a standard set of role labels across your team (e.g., "Plan Sponsor" not "Sponsor" or "PS"). Consistent roles make it easier to filter and report on contacts.
Verify email addresses — correct email addresses are essential for portal invitations and email linking. A typo in a contact's email will prevent portal access and may cause email threads to be unlinked.
Add all relevant stakeholders — even if a financial advisor or CPA doesn't need portal access today, adding them as an external contact gives your team a complete picture of who is involved in the client relationship.
Related Articles
Companies Overview — understand how company records anchor client relationships in CX
Creating and Editing Companies — add and update company records
Client Portal Permissions — configure what contacts can see and do in the portal
Inviting Clients to the Portal — set up portal access for plan sponsors and contacts