Contents
CRM Basics
In this section we will look at how CRM Accounts are used and how they relate to Customers, Vendors, Contacts, and Addresses. Then we will enter an Incident linked to an Account and an Item. Finally, we will add To-Do's to the Incident and assign them to users who must complete the To-Do's before they may close the Incident.
The scenarios described in this section refer to Items and other data found in the xTuple ERP Demo Database. The Demo Database is available for download from the xTuple ERP website.
CRM Table Relationship Diagram
Pictured below is a wire diagram of the table relationships that stem from CRM records. Joins that are tagged with "1-1" mean that one record in the left table is related to one record in the right. Joins tagged with "1-∞" mean that one record in the left table can be related to many records in the right. Some contact associations have special relationships and are identified in a slightly different color with the note (CRM Contacts). This means that the table on the left is joined to the table on the right in the usual way, but the contacts on the right table must also be joined with, and therefore belong to, the same CRM Account that the table on the left belongs to.
Though many contacts may be related to a CRM Account, a contact may only be associated with one parent CRM Account.
CRM Accounts, Addresses, and Contacts
Central to the concept of Corporate/ Customer Relationship Management is the Account. An Account holds information about an entity and serves to define it further as a Customer, Prospect, Vendor, Competitor, or Partner. The creation of an Account enables you to enter new Contact and Address information—or draw from previously created Contacts and Addresses.
In this section we will be modifying an existing Account and defining it as a Vendor. We will then open the Contacts List and Addresses List to see how that information was populated dynamically. Later, we will record a related Incident, along with several To-Do's linked to the Incident.
We will begin by modifying an existing Account. The Customer, TTOYS, will be familiar from the Basic Business Process Flow chapter of the xTuple ERP Demo Guide. To access the master list of CRM Accounts, follow these steps:
- Pull down the CRM Module menu
- Select the Account submenu
- Choose the "List" option
- Click on the TTOYS Account
- Click the EDIT button
- The following screen will appear:
CRM Account Screen
As you can see in our example, the "Customer" option is selected in the "Relationships" portion of the screen. You can also see that the customer is marked as "Active."
We will now update this Account record, modifying it so that our Customer TTOYS is also listed as a Vendor. To update the Account record, follow these steps:
- Select the "Vendor" check box under the "Relationships" section
- Notice the VENDOR button to the far right of the screen
- Click on the VENDOR button
- On the Vendor master, you may set any values you like—with the exception of the following information, which is required for this scenario:
- Vendor Type: STANDARD
- Address: Use the browse button located beneath the Postal Code on the header page to select the first address listed for "Tremendous Toys Inc."
- Default Terms: 2-10N30
- Contact Information tab: Manually enter your own personal contact information for Contact 1; then do the same for Contact 2, using instead the contact information for a colleague or friend
- Addresses tab: Click the NEW button to display the Vendor Address screen; manually enter your own address information; in Contact area at the bottom of the Vendor Address screen, manually enter the contact information for a person whose information you have not already used
- SAVE: Be sure to select the SAVE button to save the information you have entered
- Once back on the Vendor screen, click the SAVE button to return to the CRM Account screen
- If you receive the question "Would you like to update existing contact or create new one?" select the CREATE NEW option
- On the CRM Account screen, click the SAVE button
- Note that on the CRM Accounts screen the TTOYS Account now has a "Y" in the Vendor Column; previously, this Account was only marked as a Customer Account
- Click CLOSE to exit the CRM Accounts screen
Now let's take a look at the new Contacts we created dynamically during the process of updating our Account. To view the list of available Contacts, follow these steps:
- Pull down the CRM Module menu
- Select the Contact submenu
- Choose the "List" option
- Locate your name on the list of Contacts
- Double-click on your Contact name
Contact Screen
- Note that your Contact information is linked to the CRM Account TTOYS
- You may now optionally update the entry with additional information—or link yourself to an existing Address if you would like
- Click the SAVE button to exit the Contact screen
- Click the CLOSE button to exit the List Contacts screen
Now that we have modified an Account and seen how Contact information was created dynamically, let's look at one of the Addresses we generated. To access the master list of addresses, follow these steps:
- Pull down the CRM Module menu
- Select the Address submenu
- Choose the "List" option
- Locate the address you entered on the main page of the TTOYS Vendor master
- Double-click on the address
- Click on the "Uses of the Address" tab
Address Screen
As you can see in our example, the Address we created during the Account editing process is now clearly marked as a Vendor Address, linked to the TTOYS Account.
- Click the CANCEL button on the Address screen to close it
- Click the CLOSE button on the List Addresses screen to close it
CRM Incident Workbench
The next step in this scenario is to create an Incident linked to the TTOYS CRM Account. We will also be linking your Contact information to the Incident—as well as your xTuple ERPxTuple ERP user. To begin the process of creating a new Incident, follow these steps:
- Pull down the CRM Module menu
- Select the Incident submenu
- Choose the "Workbench" option
- Select All Users
- Check all six of the Status boxes at the top of the screen
- Click the QUERY button
- The following screen will appear:
Incident Workbench
The Incident Workbench enables you to monitor and record Incidents that are linked to Accounts, Contacts, Users, and To-Do"s. The flexibility offered by the Incident Workbench enables you to effectively manage a variety of business processes:
- Customer requests
- Customer issues
- Vendor certification
- Outbound product quality tests
- Inbound component quality tests
- Any other processes that require tracking
In the previous example, we displayed information for All Statuses and All Users. What would happen if we changed the search parameters? Let's find out. To change the Incident search parameters, follow these steps:
- UNCHECK all the Status boxes—except for the "New" check box; leave it selected
- Click the QUERY button
- Note that one of the issues which displayed previously has disappeared
As you have probably figured out by now, the fields at the top of the Incident Workbench are filters which enable you to zero-in on the information you are searching for.
We have seen how to locate Incidents—and how to apply search parameters to narrow down our search for information. Now let's create a new Incident. To create a new Incident, follow these steps:
- Open the Incident Workbench
- Click the NEW button
- Enter the following text in the "Description" field: "Evaluate for Related Product"
- Enter TTOYS in the "CRM Account" field
- Click the browse button next to the "Assigned To" field
- Double-click on your User on the Active Usernames screen
- Select "Customer" from the "Category" drop-down menu
- Set the "Status" to "New"
- Set the "Severity" to "Normal"
- Set the "Priority" to "High"
- Leave the "Resolution" blank
- Click the browse button next to the Contact's last name
- Double-click on the name "Mike Farely" on the Contacts List
- Enter the following text in the "Notes" tab: "TTOYS has enquired about a derivative product similar to the truck but smaller and with a NASCAR logo on it."
- Click on the Relationships tab and in the Item Number field enter "YTRUCK1"
We will now enter a To-Do item and associate it with the Incident. To enter a To-Do item from the Incident Workbench, follow these steps:
- Click on the To-Do List Items tab
- Click the NEW button on the To-Do List Items tab
- Enter the following text in the "Task Name" field: "LEGAL"
- Enter the following text in the "Description" field: "Check With Legal About NASCAR Logo"
- Enter "10" in the Sequence # field
- Enter a date +7 days from today in the "Date Due" field
- Click the SAVE button
To-Do List Item
Now that we have added one To-Do item, let's go ahead and add a couple more. Use the following instructions to add additional To-Do items:
- Repeat steps for creating a new To-Do, only using the following new information:
- Task Name: "PROTOTYPE"
- Date Due: +14 days from today
- Sequence #: 20
- Description: "Build Prototype and Send to Customer"
- Repeat steps for creating a new To-Do, only using the following new information:
- Task Name: "APPROVAL"
- Date Due: +21 days from today
- Sequence #: 30
- Description: "Get Written Customer Approval"
- Your Incident screen will now look like this:
New Incident With To-Do's
- On the Incident screen, click the SAVE button
- On the Incident Workbench, click the QUERY button
- Notice your new Incident appears here
- Click the CLOSE button to close the Incident workbench
To-Do List Management
Individual Users have the ability to mange their To-Do Lists using the "To-Do List" display. To access the To-Do List management display, follow these steps:
- Pull down the CRM Module menu
- Select the To-Do submenu
- Choose the "List" option
- Select your username from the Selected drop-down menu
- UNCHECK the "Show Incidents" box
- You will now see your new To-Do"s:
To-Do List
- Double-click on your first To-Do (Hint: It's the one with Sequence #10.)
- You will be presented with the To-Do List Item screen
- Enter today's date in the "Date Started" field
- Enter today's date in the "Date Completed" field
- Enter the following text in the "Notes" tab portion of the screen: "Legal confirms that our agreement with NASCAR covers the requested logo"
- Click the SAVE button
- Note that this To-Do is no longer displayed on the To-Do List screen
- Back on the To-Do List, select the "Completed" check box
- The To-Do you just completed will now displayed
When a To-Do Item displays in black type, this indicates the item has been completed. Red To-Do's are late. Green To-Do's are not yet due.
- Note that this screen has an "Automatically Update" check box in the lower right corner
- Click the Close button to exit the To-Do list screen