Contacts
The institutional knowledge that usually lives in someone's head.
Relationships, referral chains, preferences, history — the institutional memory your firm relies on, captured and searchable. Available to every team member, not just the partner who's been here longest.
The Problem
When a senior partner retires, decades of knowledge walk out the door.
Who referred whom. Which spouse handles the finances. Which client's brother-in-law is also a client. Who used to own what entity. What they mentioned about selling the business at last year's review. The communication preference that prevents an awkward phone call.
This is institutional knowledge — and in most firms, it lives in someone's head. When that person leaves, retires, or is simply out sick, the knowledge is gone. New team members start from zero.
Contacts makes it permanent, searchable, and shared.
Relationships
Every connection mapped. Every relationship navigable.
Sarah Chen is David Chen's spouse, Linda Torres's referral source, and a shareholder in Chen Holdings LLC. Her attorney is James Park. Each relationship is typed and goes both ways — navigate from any person to any connected person.
A single person can appear in multiple contexts: 1040 filer, S-Corp shareholder, referral source for three other clients. Contacts captures all of it in one place.
The Knowledge Layer
Every insight, attributed and timestamped.
Accumulated context that makes every team member as informed as the most experienced partner. Who noted it, when, and why it matters.
"Prefers email over phone — do not call during tax season."
"Considering selling the business within 2 years — mentioned during annual review."
"Brother-in-law (Mark Torres) is also a client — referred by Sarah Chen originally."
Part of the Stack
The full picture, from one profile.
Contacts pulls activity from across the Cairn suite. A single contact profile shows relationships, knowledge entries, and engagement history — without switching apps.
Cairn Returns
Reads household and entity data for tax context alongside relationships.
Cairn Docs
Shows document collection activity per contact.
Cairn Books
Links contact records to bookkeeping engagements.
Capabilities
What Contacts does
Relationships that link both ways — spouse, partner, attorney, referral source
Notes with timestamps and attribution — who learned it and when
Cross-app integration — surfaces activity from Returns, Docs, and Books
Unified directory: individuals, entities, professionals, and prospects
Flexible tagging for client segmentation
Part of the Cairn suite
Contacts works best alongside the rest of your stack. See what else Cairn offers.