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.
Note
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.
7.6.4.1. 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 Address Book submenu
Choose the "List CRM Accounts" option
Click on the TTOYS Account
Click the EDIT button
The following screen will appear:
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 Address Book submenu
Choose the "List Contacts" option
Locate your name on the list of Contacts
Double-click on your Contact name
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 Book submenu
Choose the "List Addresses" 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
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.
7.6.4.2. 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 Management submenu
Choose the "Incident 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:
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:
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 TTOYS in the "CRM Account" field
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
Click the browse button next to the "Assigned To" field
Double-click on your User on the Active Usernames screen
Enter YTRUCK1 in the "Item Number" field
Enter the following text in the "Summary" field: "Evaluate for
Related Product"
Enter the following text in the "Description" field: "TTOYS has
enquired about a derivative product similar to the truck but smaller
and with a NASCAR logo on it."
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 the NEW button on the To-Do List Items tab
Enter the following text in the "Task Name" field: "Check With
Legal About NASCAR Logo"
Enter a date +7 days from today in the "Date Due" field
Enter "10" in the Sequence # field
Enter the following text in the "Description" field: "Check With
Legal About NASCAR Logo"
Click the SAVE button
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: "Build Prototype and Send to Customer"
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: "Get Written Customer Approval"
Date Due: +21 days from today
Sequence #: 30
Description: "Get Written Customer Approval"
Your Incident screen will now look like this:
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
7.6.4.3. 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 List Management submenu
Choose the "To-Do 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:
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 display
Note
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.
