When designing Workflows within CRM you will be able to add rules to the Workflow. Below are details of the different options you have and a brief description for each different type.
Primary
The Primary Rule is used at the start of the Workflow to create a new entity that is part of the workflow. A light purple arrow in the workflow tree symbolizes a Primary rule. From a user point of view the rule would replace the ‘New’ icon in Opportunities, however it would be possible to name the Rule New Opportunity and the new.gif file as the alternative image.
Primary rules are only effective for Cases, Opportunities, Solutions and Leads (not Companies and People).
Transition.
If you want to connect two different states within a workflow, you would use transitional rule. A Purple arrow in the workflow symbolizes a Transition Rule.
Conditional
A conditional rule can be used within the workflow to create two sets of actions. One is executable when the JavaScript condition is true, the other when the JavaScript is false. When the user selects the rule then the actions will be executed. Two Purple arrows symbolize the Conditional Rule, one with a green tick (true) and one with a red tick (false).
Escalation
An Escalation rule can be used to trigger an action or series of actions based on SQL Where clauses. A Blue arrow in the workflow symbolizes an Escalation Rule.
Global
By using the Global Rule the rule will always be available, but they do not workflow into another State. A Blue arrow with a Purple Circle symbolizes a Global Rule.
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Monday, 11 August 2008
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Inline Translations
In Line Translations
In line translations gives you the option to rename fields in the system as you go along. To activate this go to Administration>Customisation>Translations and check the Inline Translation Mode box.
Once this is ticked, when you go back into the system you will notice that the fields you can change will be displayed differently. They will now have an underline and asterisk which if you click on will you allow you to change the label of the field to something you want, e.g state changed to County.
When you have finished go back to Translations and uncheck the tick box to turn Inline Customisation off.
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In line translations gives you the option to rename fields in the system as you go along. To activate this go to Administration>Customisation>Translations and check the Inline Translation Mode box.
Once this is ticked, when you go back into the system you will notice that the fields you can change will be displayed differently. They will now have an underline and asterisk which if you click on will you allow you to change the label of the field to something you want, e.g state changed to County.
When you have finished go back to Translations and uncheck the tick box to turn Inline Customisation off.
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Workflows
Listed below is a brief guide to creating a new workflow.
Before you start
When building a new workflow it is a worth while exercise to do the following
- Check you have enabled your CRM system to have Workflows running. To do this go to Administration>Advanced Customisation>Workflow and Escalation Configuration
- Create a plan of what you want your workflow to do. Make notes of various stages, tasks to be completed at each stage etc.
- Make sure any work needed to the system has been completed, for examples any customisations to fields or screens.
- Customised any Stage and Status selection lists for Cases, Opportunities, leads or Solutions. Make sure these are right as what may define a state in a workflow could depend on this.
When you are happy you have anything in place you can then start creating your workflow.
Creating a new Workflow
To create a new workflow go to Administration -> Advanced Customisation -> of Workflow and click on the new icon. Give the workflow a name and description and tick weather it is enabled or not.
When you click on Save you will the be shown the workflow tree for you to design. On this page you will be able to add the different States and Rules for your Workflow to work.
To add new states click, on New State and enter the relevant details. Do this for all the states required and when you have completed this drag them from the top of the screen under Available States onto the screen where you want them to be within the workflow tree. When you have the design correct you can then add new rules, to do this click on New Rule, enter the relevant details. When you do this the rules will be added to the left of the tree under the Header Available Rules. To apply click and drag the rule to the state where you want it to apply
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Before you start
When building a new workflow it is a worth while exercise to do the following
- Check you have enabled your CRM system to have Workflows running. To do this go to Administration>Advanced Customisation>Workflow and Escalation Configuration
- Create a plan of what you want your workflow to do. Make notes of various stages, tasks to be completed at each stage etc.
- Make sure any work needed to the system has been completed, for examples any customisations to fields or screens.
- Customised any Stage and Status selection lists for Cases, Opportunities, leads or Solutions. Make sure these are right as what may define a state in a workflow could depend on this.
When you are happy you have anything in place you can then start creating your workflow.
Creating a new Workflow
To create a new workflow go to Administration -> Advanced Customisation -> of Workflow and click on the new icon. Give the workflow a name and description and tick weather it is enabled or not.
When you click on Save you will the be shown the workflow tree for you to design. On this page you will be able to add the different States and Rules for your Workflow to work.
To add new states click, on New State and enter the relevant details. Do this for all the states required and when you have completed this drag them from the top of the screen under Available States onto the screen where you want them to be within the workflow tree. When you have the design correct you can then add new rules, to do this click on New Rule, enter the relevant details. When you do this the rules will be added to the left of the tree under the Header Available Rules. To apply click and drag the rule to the state where you want it to apply
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Monday, 23 June 2008
Views
If you have recently updated a CRM system, and you are having issues concerning Views within the system then you may need to refresh the Metadata. An example of this would be the view is available in CRM, but not within the database when you view it in SQL Enterprise Manager.
To refresh the Metadata go to, within CRM, Administration>System>Metadata and select the option you want to refresh, either Views or All.
Recheck the system and any issues you were having will be resolved.
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To refresh the Metadata go to, within CRM, Administration>System>Metadata and select the option you want to refresh, either Views or All.
Recheck the system and any issues you were having will be resolved.
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Monday, 12 May 2008
Merging Companies
It is very simple for you to merge companies in CRM. If you use the following as an example.
Company Michael’s Chocolate Shop is taken over by Michael’s Bigger Chocolate Company. If you want to merge all the records just do the following.
Find – Michael’s Bigger Chocolate Company and click on Change. From the right hand side of the screen click on Merge Company, this will display an extra tab at the bottom of the page. From the Merge Company tab select the source company – Michael’s Chocolate Shop, and click save. This will move all the data to Michael’s Bigger Chocolate Company. All People will also be moved to the new company.
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Company Michael’s Chocolate Shop is taken over by Michael’s Bigger Chocolate Company. If you want to merge all the records just do the following.
Find – Michael’s Bigger Chocolate Company and click on Change. From the right hand side of the screen click on Merge Company, this will display an extra tab at the bottom of the page. From the Merge Company tab select the source company – Michael’s Chocolate Shop, and click save. This will move all the data to Michael’s Bigger Chocolate Company. All People will also be moved to the new company.
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Thursday, 24 April 2008
Creating Email Templates
Email templates can be created for you to use whenever you need to use them, they can be as simple or as advanced as you need them to be. To create a template follow the steps listed below.
- Go to Administration>Email and Documents>Email Templates, and enter the following details
- Template Name – What you want the template to be called
- Entity – Select what entity you want the template to run against, this will restrict the access of the template to the entity you have chosen, for example if you chose “Person” then you will be able to chose the Person fields to be included in the template.
- From Address – This will use the users default email address, but you can add other email addresses or aliases if you require. To do this you will need the relevant security rights.
- Email Text – In the large field on the screen add the text you want to appear in the template. You can also add fields to the text as well to pull though the data you want to appear in the template for example “Dear #Pers_Firstname#” which would display Dear Steven if the person name was Steven. Include the relevant text for the rest of the template. It is also possible to format the text in HTML format if required.
- Attach any relevant global or local files if needbe
When you have completed this you can click Save which will then add the template to the templates available when sending email from the person entity.
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- Go to Administration>Email and Documents>Email Templates, and enter the following details
- Template Name – What you want the template to be called
- Entity – Select what entity you want the template to run against, this will restrict the access of the template to the entity you have chosen, for example if you chose “Person” then you will be able to chose the Person fields to be included in the template.
- From Address – This will use the users default email address, but you can add other email addresses or aliases if you require. To do this you will need the relevant security rights.
- Email Text – In the large field on the screen add the text you want to appear in the template. You can also add fields to the text as well to pull though the data you want to appear in the template for example “Dear #Pers_Firstname#” which would display Dear Steven if the person name was Steven. Include the relevant text for the rest of the template. It is also possible to format the text in HTML format if required.
- Attach any relevant global or local files if needbe
When you have completed this you can click Save which will then add the template to the templates available when sending email from the person entity.
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Assigning a Default Email Template
To create a email template as the default option users can go to My CRM>Preferences and changing the default email template. It is also possible for the System Administrator to assign these from the User Preferences connected to the User Profile.
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Thursday, 3 April 2008
User Passwords
To log into CRM you will need a valid username and password. To create new users go to Administration\Users\New User and enter the relevant details for the new user.
The password assigned to the user can be changed at any time they want to. When you open the login page to CRM there is a tick box on the login page which if you tick will enable you to type in and confirm your new password. The password is encrypted both within the database and the system itself. Only system administrators can change other user’s passwords but they are unable to view existing passwords.
You can also put in place policies where users have to change there passwords every X amount of days, or have minimum amount of characters etc to improve the security of the users. This will improve the security of your database, and make users feel more comftable saving data to it.
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The password assigned to the user can be changed at any time they want to. When you open the login page to CRM there is a tick box on the login page which if you tick will enable you to type in and confirm your new password. The password is encrypted both within the database and the system itself. Only system administrators can change other user’s passwords but they are unable to view existing passwords.
You can also put in place policies where users have to change there passwords every X amount of days, or have minimum amount of characters etc to improve the security of the users. This will improve the security of your database, and make users feel more comftable saving data to it.
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Thursday, 20 March 2008
Dashboards
Dashboards in CRM are a very good way to display different data within your database on one easy to use screen. For example you could have data displaying how many case logs you currently have open, or stats on opportunities that you currently have in the system.
It is also possible to have more than one dashboard in the system, so in theory you could have different data displayed on dashboards for different departments, or particular users if need be.
To setup a new dashboard is very quick and easy to do, follow the steps listed below to create your own.
Go to My CRM>Dashboard. Depending if there are any dashboards already setup will depend on what screen you will see next. If there are not any then you will be prompted to enter new Dashboard details and create one, if you are using Dashboards at the moment then you just have to click the New Dashboard icon.
From here you will need to enter a name for you new Dashboard and also check the relevant boxes to weather you want it as your Default Dashboard and also available to Mobile Users, then click Continue to display the Dashboard Content page.
- On the Dashboard Content page you will see that it is split into 2 columns, Available Content and Selected Content. Also able to
- On the Available Content panel you will be able to select you will have a list of Categories you can search on, which will list the relevant content below. From here you will also be able to select which Block you want to add the display to, Wide or Narrow.
- By clicking the Add icon it will move the content over to the Selected Panel on the right hand side. Once you have moved across everything you want to view on your Dashboard, you can sort out the position of each option by moving it up or down the list where necessary. To remove any options you do not need, click remove.
- When you are happy with everything click Save.
The dashboard you have created will now be displayed in the drop down list in the top left hand side of the screen. You can select which ever dashboard you want to view by selecting it from the list. Dashboards can also be edited from this location if need be.
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It is also possible to have more than one dashboard in the system, so in theory you could have different data displayed on dashboards for different departments, or particular users if need be.
To setup a new dashboard is very quick and easy to do, follow the steps listed below to create your own.
Go to My CRM>Dashboard. Depending if there are any dashboards already setup will depend on what screen you will see next. If there are not any then you will be prompted to enter new Dashboard details and create one, if you are using Dashboards at the moment then you just have to click the New Dashboard icon.
From here you will need to enter a name for you new Dashboard and also check the relevant boxes to weather you want it as your Default Dashboard and also available to Mobile Users, then click Continue to display the Dashboard Content page.
- On the Dashboard Content page you will see that it is split into 2 columns, Available Content and Selected Content. Also able to
- On the Available Content panel you will be able to select you will have a list of Categories you can search on, which will list the relevant content below. From here you will also be able to select which Block you want to add the display to, Wide or Narrow.
- By clicking the Add icon it will move the content over to the Selected Panel on the right hand side. Once you have moved across everything you want to view on your Dashboard, you can sort out the position of each option by moving it up or down the list where necessary. To remove any options you do not need, click remove.
- When you are happy with everything click Save.
The dashboard you have created will now be displayed in the drop down list in the top left hand side of the screen. You can select which ever dashboard you want to view by selecting it from the list. Dashboards can also be edited from this location if need be.
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Monday, 10 March 2008
Email in CRM
Emailing in CRM
One of the advantages of using CRM to email clients is that you have all your contact information in one place. The benefits of using email is that
- You don’t need to remember everyone’s email address
- You can file emails against your contacts record
- You can associate them against a Lead, Opportunity or Case
To send an email to a contact, go the contacts record and click on the email address hyperlink. This will open a blank email window for you to complete as necessary. The From field will be automatically filled with your default email address, however if you have permissions to send email on other peoples behalf you can change this. Once you have filled in the email and attached any relevant documents you can send the email and save it in the communications of the client.
The benefits of saving any emails in the communications are that any users that have access to the contact can see any emails that have been sent or received from that contact. This would make it easier for other users to see what is happening with any cases, opportunities etc with that contact and carry out work without having to check what has already been done.
It is also possible to create templates to use within an email to save you having to type out the full email. This could be useful in terms of sending out quotes to new contacts etc.
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One of the advantages of using CRM to email clients is that you have all your contact information in one place. The benefits of using email is that
- You don’t need to remember everyone’s email address
- You can file emails against your contacts record
- You can associate them against a Lead, Opportunity or Case
To send an email to a contact, go the contacts record and click on the email address hyperlink. This will open a blank email window for you to complete as necessary. The From field will be automatically filled with your default email address, however if you have permissions to send email on other peoples behalf you can change this. Once you have filled in the email and attached any relevant documents you can send the email and save it in the communications of the client.
The benefits of saving any emails in the communications are that any users that have access to the contact can see any emails that have been sent or received from that contact. This would make it easier for other users to see what is happening with any cases, opportunities etc with that contact and carry out work without having to check what has already been done.
It is also possible to create templates to use within an email to save you having to type out the full email. This could be useful in terms of sending out quotes to new contacts etc.
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Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Locking System Down
When you want to update the system, add territories, create new entities or import data it is possible to lock the system which will stop users from logging into the system. To do this is very simple, go to -
Administration>System>Lock System.
This will display how many users you have in the system, and you can if need be contact them to tell them they can’t use the system. Once you are happy you can then press continue to lock the system. When you have the system in a restricted state you can then make the changes you need to before unlocking the database.
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Administration>System>Lock System.
This will display how many users you have in the system, and you can if need be contact them to tell them they can’t use the system. Once you are happy you can then press continue to lock the system. When you have the system in a restricted state you can then make the changes you need to before unlocking the database.
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Monday, 25 February 2008
MetaData
Metadata
The Metadata is data about the database itself. This will include User Configuration, and the definition of a screen. Normally the system will refresh itself, however you can do this manually when required by going to Administration>System>Metadata.
You have 6 options to pick from:
- Refresh All
- Refresh System Parameters
- Refresh Table Columns
- Refresh Custom Objects
- Refresh Translations
- Refresh Views
As you can see you can chose what you want to run, and when by ticking the check box against each option, or by selecting Refresh All which will update everything.
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The Metadata is data about the database itself. This will include User Configuration, and the definition of a screen. Normally the system will refresh itself, however you can do this manually when required by going to Administration>System>Metadata.
You have 6 options to pick from:
- Refresh All
- Refresh System Parameters
- Refresh Table Columns
- Refresh Custom Objects
- Refresh Translations
- Refresh Views
As you can see you can chose what you want to run, and when by ticking the check box against each option, or by selecting Refresh All which will update everything.
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Can’t open Excel when exporting to Excel
Have you ever exported a Group or a Report to Excel and not been able to open the document you have created? If so check the following settings –
Internet Explorer>Tools>Internet Options>Security>Custom Level, and scroll down to Downloads, and change the Automatic prompting for file downloads to Enable.
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Internet Explorer>Tools>Internet Options>Security>Custom Level, and scroll down to Downloads, and change the Automatic prompting for file downloads to Enable.
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Friday, 15 February 2008
Merging Duplicate People
If you have more than one contact record for the same person you may want to merge the data into one record. To merge duplicate person entries within CRM, you will need to do the following.
- Find the person who you want to keep and use as the Destination person. This could be the person with the most data stored against there record. When you have found them click on the Hyperlink of there name
- Click on the Change button followed by Merge Person. You will now see an additional panel “Merge Person”.
- You now want to search for and select the Source person, to do this click on the magnifying glass and search for the relevant person.
- Click the boxes for the information that you want to merge, you also have the opportunity to delete or keep the source person .
- Select the Save Button. The Destination Person Summary page is now displayed, and a review of the tabs shows the information associated with the source person has been copied across to the merged person.
If you checked the Delete Source Entity box, then the Source Person will have been deleted from the system as well.
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- Find the person who you want to keep and use as the Destination person. This could be the person with the most data stored against there record. When you have found them click on the Hyperlink of there name
- Click on the Change button followed by Merge Person. You will now see an additional panel “Merge Person”.
- You now want to search for and select the Source person, to do this click on the magnifying glass and search for the relevant person.
- Click the boxes for the information that you want to merge, you also have the opportunity to delete or keep the source person .
- Select the Save Button. The Destination Person Summary page is now displayed, and a review of the tabs shows the information associated with the source person has been copied across to the merged person.
If you checked the Delete Source Entity box, then the Source Person will have been deleted from the system as well.
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Monday, 11 February 2008
Wildcards
Just a quick one, did you know that you can use wildcards when searching for information on a find screen? For example, when searching for a Person called Jane, but you cannot remember if it is "Jane" or "Jayne", then you can search for "Ja%ne" and it will pick up all instances where there is a match. This can be very useful when used in multiple fields!
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CRM – Single or Multiple Currency?
Within a CRM System, you can choose weather you want to use a single currency or multiple currencies.
Why would you want to use multiple currencies?
To give you an example of where Multiple Currencies would be hopeful would be in the sales process in CRM. It might be the case that you deal with clients overseas, so by using the multi currency option you will be able to workout how much an opportunity is worth to your client in there local currency, while keeping a record of what it is worth to you, in the currency you deal in.
To set this up is very simple, go to Administration>Data Management>Currency Configuration. From here you will have 2 fields to configure, Base Currency and Is Single Currency. The Base Currency will be the currency you will use as your default option, e.g. £, and the Is Single Currency is where you would select Yes or No depending if you wanted to use a single currency within your CRM system. If it is set No, then this activate the multiple currency settings in Forecasts, Products, Quotations, Orders, Reporting and Data upload.
There will be some considerations if you want to use multi currencies, these include the following.
- Deciding when and by whom the currency rates will be maintained against the Base Currency
- The value of an Opportunity remains the same in the database record regardless of changes in the exchange rate. Changes in exchange rate will only be displayed in reports, if the exchange rate has changed.
- The default Currency for a user is held in there preference settings.
- Converted values of Currency fields are calculated using Triangulation.
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Why would you want to use multiple currencies?
To give you an example of where Multiple Currencies would be hopeful would be in the sales process in CRM. It might be the case that you deal with clients overseas, so by using the multi currency option you will be able to workout how much an opportunity is worth to your client in there local currency, while keeping a record of what it is worth to you, in the currency you deal in.
To set this up is very simple, go to Administration>Data Management>Currency Configuration. From here you will have 2 fields to configure, Base Currency and Is Single Currency. The Base Currency will be the currency you will use as your default option, e.g. £, and the Is Single Currency is where you would select Yes or No depending if you wanted to use a single currency within your CRM system. If it is set No, then this activate the multiple currency settings in Forecasts, Products, Quotations, Orders, Reporting and Data upload.
There will be some considerations if you want to use multi currencies, these include the following.
- Deciding when and by whom the currency rates will be maintained against the Base Currency
- The value of an Opportunity remains the same in the database record regardless of changes in the exchange rate. Changes in exchange rate will only be displayed in reports, if the exchange rate has changed.
- The default Currency for a user is held in there preference settings.
- Converted values of Currency fields are calculated using Triangulation.
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Monday, 4 February 2008
Relationships between Companies
I was recently asked how to create relationships between companies in CRM and by following the steps below, you can create a relationship tab that will link companies to each other
In the first instance, do a backup of your system – always better to be safe than sorry.
You will need administrator rights to go through the steps below:
Go to Administration / Customisation and select the Company entity
Select the Tab tab and click on the Company hyperlink
In the properties screen type Company Relationships (or chosen heading)
Select Action as Other
Select System Act as relatedcompanylist
Click on Add
Save
Return to the Main Menu and select a company, click on the Company Relationship tab click on New
If the relationship type field pick list is not showing the choices that you would like you can either change the existing or create new options. Be warned this is not like the usual picklists in CRM, this one is based on Translations.
Be prepared and have the picklist agreed and ready to hand.
Go to Customisation / Translations
In the Caption Family type Company_Reltype and click on find
7 translations will be displayed in the grid below, click on the hyperlink in the Caption Code column to go into them in turn.
Note the next screen the fields in the Caption Family Type and the Caption Family. Click on Change to change the Caption Code and translations to the required name. By placing a number other than 0 in the Caption Order field will set the picklist order.
If you wish to create new options rather than changing the old ones, click on the New icon in the Translations screen and when you have a new screen, make sure that the Caption Family type = Company_reltype and the Caption family = Choices .
In the first instance, do a backup of your system – always better to be safe than sorry.
You will need administrator rights to go through the steps below:
Go to Administration / Customisation and select the Company entity
Select the Tab tab and click on the Company hyperlink
In the properties screen type Company Relationships (or chosen heading)
Select Action as Other
Select System Act as relatedcompanylist
Click on Add
Save
Return to the Main Menu and select a company, click on the Company Relationship tab click on New
If the relationship type field pick list is not showing the choices that you would like you can either change the existing or create new options. Be warned this is not like the usual picklists in CRM, this one is based on Translations.
Be prepared and have the picklist agreed and ready to hand.
Go to Customisation / Translations
In the Caption Family type Company_Reltype and click on find
7 translations will be displayed in the grid below, click on the hyperlink in the Caption Code column to go into them in turn.
Note the next screen the fields in the Caption Family Type and the Caption Family. Click on Change to change the Caption Code and translations to the required name. By placing a number other than 0 in the Caption Order field will set the picklist order.
If you wish to create new options rather than changing the old ones, click on the New icon in the Translations screen and when you have a new screen, make sure that the Caption Family type = Company_reltype and the Caption family = Choices .
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