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Is there a way for me to create a new contact that is both an Organisation AND an Individual sub-type?

I have a case where I have created a new Individual contact, he is a 'Lecturer' which is a sub-contact type we have created within 'Individual'. But he also Advertises with us so I want to be able to add him as an Organisation - sub-type: 'Advertiser'.

I know I can attach multiple sub-contact types within the main contact type, for example:

[Mr. John Smith] - Individual: [Member], Individual: [Lecturer]

OR [Mr. John Smith] - Organisation: [Society], Organisation: [Advertiser]

I cannot seem to mix the two: [Mr. John Smith] - Individual: [Lecturer], Organisation: [Advertiser]. Is there an easy way to do this other than creating duplicate contacts under each contact type?

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I would rather think like this:

Something he/she is --> contact type

Something he/she does --> group

If he is a person, then the contact type should be Individual. Maybe he works with or owns an Organization, then create a relationship.

To be a lecturer or an advertiser can change ( if he change job), but he will always be an Individual.

So to me it gives more sense to create two groups called Lecturer and Advertiser, and put this contact and the others in the corresponding groups.

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  • Agreed. I was going to suggest using a Tag (unless there is a reason that isn't stated above that would make a sub-type helpful, such as additional custom fields that only apply to advertisers) but a Group is the same idea.
    – Laryn
    Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 21:12
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No, you can not mix the two. To me it does not make sense to combine the two as they should be different legal entities. What I would do rather than create duplicate contact is create duplicate contact_sub_types? Or (if you have no specific data set for the contact_sub_type) use Tags to flag contacts as being a Lecturer? What would also make sense to me is to create Lecturer as a relationship? I assume he/she is Lecturer at some organization? Hope this helps!

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  • We are one main organisation with lots of sub organisations, the lecturers are a separate individual contact because they do not belong specifically to our organisation but will have 'activities' with the sub organisations. The advertisers are separate organisations that again, do not belong to our organisation but have 'activities' with our main organisation. I think perhaps tags will be the way to go on this as it is only a select few lecturers which have dual roles. Thank you for your advice.
    – GN12AD45
    Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 15:10
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What is he advertising? If he is advertising services, perhaps those services are done under a business name-- an Organization that perhaps you might want to record. Then it would make sense to create a relationship between his Individual record and his Organization record.

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  • I believe he is advertising himself (his lecturing services) so his business name is just his own name. So perhaps creating an Organisation under the same name and then creating a relationship between his individual record and the Organisation. Thanks for your help.
    – GN12AD45
    Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 15:21
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Seems to me the issue is that you have set things up so that Advertisers are a sub-type of Organisations, when in fact you have real Individuals who are also Advertisers, which suggests your structure doesn't match reality. What is the value to you have having a subtype for Advertisers at all? Could you have an Org SubType of 'Advertising Org' and a subtype for Individuals of 'Advertising Indiv'?

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  • The reason we have set up all Advertisers as one Org sub-type is because we have completely separate staff who work with the advertisers and also separate staff who work with the lecturers. It is easier for them to have all contacts in one place. Also the majority (330 approx) are Advertising orgs, its only a minority (10 approx) who are dual purpose (lecturers and advertisers).
    – GN12AD45
    Commented Sep 2, 2015 at 9:56

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