US Patent 9798757 Automatic tracking of contact interactions

Difficulty exists in ensuring a consistent level of activity tracking in a Customer Relationship Management System, Applicant Tracking System, or other tracking application among users (e.g., recruiter or sales representatives) within a single firm. This difficulty is due in part to the manual and time consuming mechanics of logging the activity. Example embodiments of the present invention include a system that automatically logs such activity. The system determines the sender and recipient of the email, as well as, whether the email contains calendar event information. The system then searches a database to determine if the sender or recipient is a contact in the tracking application. If a match is found, the system automatically adds the email to the contact's activity record as an inbound or outbound email or appointment. Activity tracking is, thus, consistently maintained among users of the firm, ensuring a higher quality of activity-based metrics.