Customer Relationship Management - Setup and Maintenance Overview

Before you can use the CRM application, you must follow the setup procedures outlined below. Follow the setup procedures carefully, because the choices you make determine how the system operates.

Use the functions on the Setup and Maintenance menu to set up CRM. Although organized in order of use on the menu, use the functions in this order to set up the application:

To set up the CRM application, follow these steps:

  1. Use the Business Rules function first to specify the applications you want to interface CRM, and to select the options that control how the system works in general.
  2. Use the Activity Types, Task/Response Types, Campaign Types, and Opportunity Codes functions to enter descriptions for the activities, tasks, campaigns, and opportunities you manage in CRM. Later, when you create an activity, task, campaign, or opportunity, you can select from the descriptions you enter here.
  3. Use the Contact Status function to enter descriptions for contact statuses used by the system.
  4. Use the Contact Methods function to enter different types of contact methods to use.
  5. Use the Contact Access function to grant access to contact information by sales reps and customers in conjunction with the System Manager Administration User Mapping function.
  6. Use the Contacts function to enter information about the contacts you want to manage with CRM. You can automatically set up contacts from your Traverse vendor, customer, and employee data.
  7. Use the Campaigns function to enter information about the campaigns your company plans to run.
  8. Use the Define Communication function to design fax, email, and print communications to send to your contacts.

Once you’ve set up the system, you may return to these functions only infrequently to maintain or enter new information. After you set up or change information, print the corresponding master list to verify that the information is correct.

Selecting Business Rules

Use the Business Rules function to interface CRM with Project Costing (all other applications are automatically interfaced) and select the options that control how the system works.

Interfacing applications allows you to get the most from your Traverse system. When CRM is interfaced with other Traverse applications, you can transfer information between the applications to reduce data entry time and errors. For example, with the interface to applications, you can use the vendor, customer, and employee information within Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Payroll to quickly set up contacts within CRM, reducing setup and data entry time. When you make a change to contact information in CRM, you can then copy those changes back to the original record as needed.

After you interface CRM with other Traverse applications, select the options you want to use to control how CRM works. Your selections here control how CRM acts for certain functions, auditing changes made to contacts, how images are stored and whether it prompts you to copy contact changes to interfaced applications when you switch between contact records or exit the Contacts screen.

Entering Type Descriptions

Once you’ve selected options and interfaced CRM with other applications, enter the descriptions used throughout the system. These descriptions allow CRM to be as flexible as possible and helps you organized activities, tasks, and campaigns as it makes sense for your business.

  • Use the Activity Types function to enter type descriptions to organize activities. Because activities record all actions related to specific contacts, examples of activity types might include Initial Call, Follow Up, Quote, or Request. Keep in mind that some activity types are reserved for use by the system, such as the created, deleted, and updated activity types. You can choose to display or hide these system activity types as needed.
  • Use the Task Types function to enter type descriptions for tasks. Tasks record those things that you (or your employees) need to do to further communication with a client, so examples of task types might include Follow Up, Resolve Issue, Get More Information, and Send Materials. Because activities and tasks are similar, there may be some overlap between their type descriptions.
  • Use the Campaign Types function to enter descriptions of the campaign types your company uses. Examples of campaign types might include Newspaper Ad, Postcard, Web Special, and Regional Coupon. When you set up a campaign, you can include (or exclude) certain types from that campaign.
  • Use the Opportunity Codes function to enter descriptions about opportunities. You can set up three types of opportunity codes: status codes (such as New, Pending, Closed, On Hold), probability codes (such as Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, or 23%, 50%, 75%), and resolution codes (such as Good Sale, Lost to Competition, Project Complete).

Entering Contact Status Descriptions

Contact statuses allow you to organize your contacts into groups that make sense for your business and filter bulk communications, contact labels, and contact inquiries. Examples of contact statuses might include Active, Inactive, and Out of Business. Or you could group contacts by the industries they represent: Retail, Service, Not for Profit, Consulting. Use the Contact Status function to enter descriptions for the statuses you use, then assign them to contacts in the Contacts function.

Setting Up Contact Methods

CRM allows you to set up as many contact methods, which equates to custom fields, as you need to capture additional information about your contacts. Use the Contact Methods function to set up these fields.

Before you set up contact methods, take some time to plan them out. Ask yourself what type of information you want to capture and for what entities. For example, do you want to record additional phone numbers just for the business itself or for all of the individuals you deal with at that business? Determine the format of this information: is it numeric or simple text? Is it a date, time, phone number, or quantity? How should it be aligned on reports? Some time spent planning now can save time and hassle later.

Setting Up Contacts

Contacts form the basis of the CRM application: you record activity against a contact record, assign tasks to be completed concerning a contact, push bulk communications to contacts, and follow up on opportunities related to a contact’s response. Use the Contacts function to set up contact records. If you link CRM with Customers, Vendors, and Employees, you can copy existing information from your customer, vendor, and employee records to shorten this setup time.

Keep in mind that contact records generally represent a single business instead of an individual. Individuals will be set up as contact records and assigned as members of the contact record for the company.

Setting Up Campaigns

Use the Campaigns function to enter details about your company’s campaigns. When you set up a campaign, you can enter the dates it is valid, the campaign types to include in the campaign, and (if CRM interfaces with Project Costing) the project, phase, and task to use for its costs.

Defining Communications

Use the Define Communications function to create the mass fax, e-mail, and direct mail communications you send to contacts. You can enter the text of the message directly into the Bulk Communications screen or you can link the record to an external file (such as a Word® document, Excel spreadsheet®, or .PDF file). If you attach a file to the bulk communication record, the system automatically uses that file when you generate the communication.

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