Whatever is the version that you are using (NAV, BC on-Prem or hopefully BC SaaS), the Contacts functionality is still there.
I agree that a lot of companies don't use it and Microsoft's focus on this area is obviously Contacts in Dynamics 365 CE. And that's completely fine.
But suddenly, you might be involved in a business case with the right fit for Contacts management inside Business Central:
Contact master information required
No offline requirement
Dynamics 365 CE is too much for the real need.
And this can be the challenge! No recent functionality released by Microsoft and therefore no recent information published.
Tip #1 - Setup Required
To use Contacts in Business Central it's required to setup Marketing Setup.
Select the fields to have the values inherited from Customers, Vendors, Bank Accounts or Employees.
Define the Number Series for Contacts.
And finally define the relationship between Customers, Vendors, Bank Accounts or Employees and the Contacts. More details later on this post.
Tip #2 - How to create one Contact manually
To create one contact manually in Business Central, access Contacts page and create a new record filling the fields.
By default this new contact created is not related with any of the previous master tables Customers, Vendors, Bank Accounts or Employees.
Tip #3 - How to create one Contact automatically (Company)
Setup Required
To follow this method it is required to have Bus. Relation Code configured in Marketing Setup.
Example: To create contacts from Customer card, it is required to have the Bus. Relation Code for Customers configured in Marketing Setup. Same logic for Vendors and so on.
Once this setup is configured, the creation of the contacts is automatic while the customer is created by the end user.
To verify the related contacts created, access the source master table (Customers, Vendors, Bank Accounts or Employees) and select Process > Contact.
New Contact will be created inheriting the related master card information (Customer master card for example and depending on Inherit configuration in Marketing Setup).
Important Note: New Contact created with be with Type = Contact
Tip #4 - How to create related Contacts automatically (Company & Person) from Customer
Setup Required
To follow this method it is required to have Bus. Relation Code configured in Marketing Setup.
This step by step only occurs when the action starts from Customer. This automation is not available for Vendors, Bank Accounts or Employees.
Once this setup is configured, the creation of the contacts is automatic while the customer is created and the field Contact name is filled.
To verify the related contacts created, access to Customer records and select Process > Contact.
Two new contacts will be created inheriting the related master card information: one with type = Company and other with type = Person. Both contacts created will be automatically linked between them.
Conclusion:
With the Bus. Relation Code configured in Marketing Setup, the creation of related contacts is automatic. No action is required from the End User.
Tip #5 - How to create Contacts automatically in bulk
With the Bus. Relation Code not configured in Marketing Setup, the creation of related contacts is not automatic. To help to create the missing contacts in bulk, there are three functions available to be used:
Create Contacts from Vendors
Create Contacts from Customers
Create Contacts from Bank Accounts.
The function to create Contacts from Employees does not exist as OOB functionality.
Selecting one of these functions, it's possible to filter (if required).
All the missing contacts will be created automatically based on the filters selected.
Tip #6 - How to create one Contact manually (Person) and link with related Company
Same process as described in Tip #3 and additionally select type = Person and select the corresponding company in field "Company No.".
Inherit fields will be filled automatically based on Marketing Setup configuration.
Final Tip: If you have Contacts and you don't know why, please review your Marketing Setup configuration "Bus. Relation Code"
Thanks for reading!