{{indexmenu_n>2}} ====== 2 Using Thinx! CRM ====== The Thinx! CRM module consists of three main user interfaces: **Desktop**\\ The Desktop page is intended to be the landing page for CRM. The page contains several widgets enabling end users to quickly find and manage contact and organization objects, manage any assigned tasks, and create or mange any personal notes. The widgets on the Desktop page will be discussed in further detail later in section 3. \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_desktop_image.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ **Contacts Landing Page**\\ The Contact Landing page lists all contacts currently in the system. End users can scroll through the list of contacts or search for contacts by name or email. Additionally, several filters are provided that help to restrict the list of contacts available. As the number of contacts within CRM could be quite large, utilizing the search capabilities within the Desktop and Contacts Landing Page is more critical. \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_contacts_image.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ Above the Contact listing, two metric widgets are available: * Contact Count: this widget displays the total number of contacts and the number added within 1 month of today. * Overdue contact tasks: this widget lists the number of tasks assigned to contacts whose due date is in the past. This metric encompasses all tasks for all contacts, regardless if they are assigned to the current user. The metric widgets can be deactivated for all users by updating the CRM_CUSTOMER_SHOW_METRICS global configuration parameter to false. **Organization Landing Page**\\ The Organization Landing page lists all organization currently in the system and is very similar to the Contacts landing page. End users can scroll through the list of organizations or search for organizations by name. Additionally, several filters are provided that help to restrict the list of organizations available. \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_organization_image.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ Above the Organization listing, two metric widgets are available: * Organization Count: this widget displays the total number of organizations and the number added within 1 month of today. * Overdue contact tasks: this widget lists the number of tasks assigned to organization whose due date is in the past. This metric encompasses all tasks for all organizations, regardless if they are assigned to the current user. The metric widgets can be deactivated for all users by updating the CRM_ORG_SHOW_METRICS global configuration parameter to false. ===== 2.1 Viewing Objects ===== To view either contacts or organizations, navigate first to the appropriate landing page discussed above or find them using the search feature on the Desktop page. Clicking an individual contact or organization will render the detail page. **Contact Detail Page**\\ The contact detail page displays detailed information about the selected contact. The page consists of the following components: * Activity Tab * Information Tab * Extended Tab * Documents Tab * My Notes Widget * Key Contacts Widget * Key Organization Widget \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_contacts_imformation_image.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ The Activity tab displays a quick summary of tasks, comments, and any activity regarding the selected contact. The tab also contains a summary of the contact’s information at the top. This summary contact information appears on all tabs. The Task section displays any tasks opened on the contact. This section integrates with the Thinx! Task module. In this section, CRM users can create follow up tasks, such as “Follow up with Customer regarding their experience,” and assign the task to themselves or another CRM User. The comment section displays any comment made regarding the contact, including the audit trail details. CRM users may add a descriptive tag on any contact as well. The Activity section displays a timeline of any action taken on the contact. The Information Tab displays all structured data associated with the contact. The following fields are available: //Contact Details// \\ * Opt Out: indicates that the contact has chosen to opt out of communications. The system will not prevent CRM users from emailing the contact, but the flag should be consumed by any campaigns sourcing customers from the CRM. * Assistant Name: The name of any assistant associated to the contact. * Assistant Phone Number: The direct contact phone number of the assistant. * Contact Details Table: The forms of communication available for the contact. Options include email, fax, phone, mobile and fax. //Contacts// \\ The contacts table displays the list of contacts to which the currently viewed contact has a hierarchy relationship. The currently viewed contact is a “parent” of the contacts within this table. {| border="1" align="center" style="width:100%" |- style="background:#222626;color:white" ! style="padding-left: 10px;width:150px"| Note |- | style="padding-left: 10px;background:#c9c9c9"|If John Smith appears in the contacts table for Mary White, then Mary White is a parent of John Smith. If you were to navigate to the contacts table on the Contact Details page of John Smith, Mary White would NOT appear. Hierarchy relationships are unidirectional. |} //Organizations// \\ The organizations table displays the lists of organizations to which the contact is associated. These organizations represent affiliation or key relationships. As a result, when navigating to the Organization Details page of an organization listed in this section, the currently viewed contact will appear in the page’s contact table. //Addresses// \\ The addresses table displays known addresses for the contact. CRM supports the following types of addresses: * Home * Office * Shipping * Business * PO BOX * Permanent * Temporary * Residential There is no limit to the number of addresses and duplicate types may be entered. //Web/Social// \\ The Web/Social table displays the known web or social media handles for the contact. //Dates to Remember// \\ The Dates to Remember table displays the important dates for the contact. The Extended tab contains the unstructured data for the contact. The contents of this tab are wholly dependent upon the configuration of the contact schema. The Documents tab contains any files or documents associated to the contact. The My Notes widget contains any notes about the currently viewed contact created by the currently logged in user. These notes are not visible to any other user. The Key Contacts widget highlights the “child” contacts which are marked as “key contacts.” These contacts will also be displayed in the contacts table on the Information tab. This table has a key column indicator as well. The Key Organization widget displays the organizations associated to the contact which are marked as “key organizations.” Like the key contacts, the key organizations can also be found on the organization table on the Information tab for the currently viewed contact. When viewing the Organization Details page of one of these organizations, the currently viewed contact will show up in the Key Contacts widget of the organization. **Organization Detail Page**\\ The Organization Detail page displays detailed information about the selected organization. The page consists of the following components: * Activity Tab * Information Tab * Extended Tab * Documents Tab * My Notes Widget * Key Contacts Widget * Key Organization Widget \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_organiztion_detail_page.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ The Activity tab displays a quick summary of tasks, comments, and any activity regarding the selected organization. The tab also contains a summary of the organization’s contact information at the top. This summary information appears on all tabs. The Task section displays any tasks opened on the organization. This section integrates with the Thinx! Task module. In this section, CRM users can create follow up tasks, such as “Follow up with Sales Proposal,” and assign the task to themselves or another CRM User. The comment section displays any comment made regarding the organization, including the audit trail details. CRM users may add a descriptive tag on any organization as well. The Activity section displays a timeline of any action taken. The Information Tab displays all structured data associated with the organization. The following fields are available: //Contact Details// \\ The contact details table contains the forms of communication available for the organization. Options include email, fax, phone, mobile and fax. //Organizations// \\ The contacts table displays the list of organizations to which the currently viewed organization has a hierarchy relationship. The currently viewed organizations is a “parent” of the organization within this table. {| border="1" align="center" style="width:100%" |- style="background:#222626;color:white" ! style="padding-left: 10px;width:150px"| Note |- | style="padding-left: 10px;background:#c9c9c9"|If ABC Company appears in the organization table for Company XYZ, then Company XYZ is a parent of ABC Company. If you were to navigate to the organization table on the Organization Details page of ABC Company, Company XY would NOT appear. Hierarchy relationships are unidirectional. |} //Contacts// \\ The contacts table displays the lists of contacts to associated with the organization. These contacts have affiliation or key relationships. As a result, when navigating to the Contact Details page of a contact listed in this section, the currently viewed organization will appear in the page’s organization table. //Addresses// \\ The addresses table displays known addresses for the organization. CRM supports the following types of addresses: * Home * Office * Shipping * Business * PO BOX * Permanent * Temporary * Residential There is no limit to the number of addresses and duplicate types may be entered. //Web/Social// \\ The Web/Social table displays the known web or social media handles for the organization. //Dates to Remember// \\ The Dates to Remember table displays the important dates for the organization. The Extended tab contains the unstructured data for the organization. The contents of this tab are wholly dependent upon the configuration of the organization schema. The Documents tab contains any files or documents associated to the organization. The My Notes widget contains any notes about the currently viewed organization created by the currently logged in user. These notes are not visible to any other user. The Key Contact widget displays the contacts associated to the organization which are marked as “key contacts.” The key contacts can also be found on the contacts table on the Information tab for the currently viewed organization. When viewing the Contact Details page of one of these contacts, the currently viewed organization will show up in the Key Organizations widget of the contact. The Key Organization widget highlights the “child” organization which are marked as “key organizations.” These organizations will also be displayed in the organization table on the Information tab. This table has a key column indicator as well. ===== 2.2 Creating Objects ===== Contacts and Organizations can be created through the CRM UI or using the corresponding APIs. For more information regarding creating contacts and organizations through the API, see the API reference section below. **Step 1:** Click the Create Contact/Organization option in the Action drop down Contacts and Organizations can be created from their respective landing page using the Actions menu. For example, to create a contact open the Actions menu on the Contact Landing page and select the Create Contact menu item. \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_contacts_pagre_image.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ **Step 2:** Fill out the form\\ The Contact or Organization form will render after the Create option is selected in the Action drop down. The form fields for the structured data elements render first, followed by the unstructured data elements in the Extended Section at the end. Required fields are noted with an asterisk. Some structured elements are required and are noted as such. The unstructured data elements in the Extended section may or may not be required depending on the configuration of the respective fields in their entity schemas. If required, these fields are also noted with an asterisk. **Step 3:** Click the Save button\\ After filling in the required fields and any additional fields, click the Save button to persist the contact or organization. The appropriate landing page will then render. Conversely, clicking the Save and New button will persist the contact or organization, but will open another blank Create form. This option is useful if the user needs to create more than one contact/organization in one sitting. ===== 2.3 Restricting Access ===== By default, contacts and organization objects are visible to all users with CRM module access. However, the visibility of the objects can be restricted by assigning one or more permissions to them. If at least one of the assigned permissions is found in the user’s permissions set, then the object will be visible. First, use the Permission found in the User Management folder in the My Account site area to create a custom permission. The permission must be created within the CRM module scope. It is possible that any permission can be used to restrict the visibility of an object, but these system permissions drive additional access control behavior in the CRM module. **Step 1:** Navigate to the Contact/Organization Edit Form\\ Scroll down to the Permissions section of the Edit form. By default, the visibility is set to EVERYONE. \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_permission_everyone_image.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ **Step 2:** Change the visibility to PERMISSION\\ Change the visibility to PERMISSION. The screen will render a table with add and remove buttons. \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_permission_add_remove_btn.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ **Step 3:** Add Permission(s)\\ Click the Add Permissions button to display the Add Permission popup. This popup will be populated with the permission set for the CRM module. Select the permission(s) which you wish to assign to the current contact and click the Add button. \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_add_permission_table.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ **Step 4:** Save the contact/organization\\ After the permission(s) has been added, they will appear in the table in the Permission section. Be sure to click the Save button to persist the permission changes to the backend. The permission access list takes effect immediately. \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_permission_con_org.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ {| border="1" align="center" style="width:100%" |- style="background:#222626;color:white" ! style="padding-left: 10px;width:150px"| Note |- | style="padding-left: 10px;background:#c9c9c9"|If you assign a permission set to the contact/organization and your user does not have at least one of those permissions in the set, then you’ll immediately lose visibility to the object. |} ===== 2.4 Notifications ===== The CRM module offers a robust set of notification capabilities for both contacts and organizations. The capabilities leverage the Thinx! Platform’s Message module to send and receive messages. The CRM module will associate any emails generated from CRM and any emails received in the audit activity for the individual contact/organization. In order for a reply to be associated to a contact/organization: * the email address of the sender should must be associated to contact or organization * the TO inbox must be configured to interact with the CRM API The CRM can generate emails to individual contacts/organizations from one of two locations: From the Summary Page, using the Options menu in the row associated to the desired contact/organization: \\ \\ {{:crm:crm_opstion_send_email_menu_btn.png?nolink&400|}} \\ \\ From the Actions menu on the Details page of the selected contact/organization: \\ \\ {{::crm:crm_actions_send_email.png?nolink&400|}} \\ \\ Once the Send Email link is selected, the Send Email popup will display. The Thinx! Messaging module utilizes email templates to enable your users to quickly compose emails. On the Send email popup, the messaging templates associated with the CRM module are retrieved and displayed in the Template drop down. Once selected, the template subject and body is loaded in the Subject and Message Body advanced editor, respectively: \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_send_email_create.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ The Subject and Message Body may be edited before being sent. The Message Body makes use of variable substitution of contact/organization at the time of sending. These variables represent placeholders for contact/organization attributes of the current object. The message template may have some of these variables included in the body already. All object attributes may be substituted in the body using the given format: %%{{$.attributename}}%% Some of the commonly used attributes are available for preselection in the Message Body Advanced editor: \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_message_body.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ {| border="1" align="center" style="width:100%" |- style="background:#222626;color:white" ! style="padding-left: 10px;width:150px"| Note |- | style="padding-left: 10px;background:#c9c9c9"|Message Templates are maintained in the Messaging Template Configuration screen in the My Account site area of the Thinx! Platform. If you want to compose a message from scratch, configure a blank template. |} If the contact or organization has an email associated to it, then the To field in the Send Email popup is defaulted with that email. If there is not, then the To field will be empty. There is an optional CC field available as well. Both the To and CC fields are editable. {| border="1" align="center" style="width:100%" |- style="background:#222626;color:white" ! style="padding-left: 10px;width:150px"| Note |- | style="padding-left: 10px;background:#c9c9c9"|Notifications are sent asynchronously. The request to send the notification is queued. Therefore, recipients may notice a slight delay in receiving the notification. |} ===== 2.5 Task Integration===== The CRM Module integrates with the Thinx Task module. Users can create and assign tasks about contacts and organizations, directly in the CRM module UI from the Contact/Organization Details page. Tasks created from these screens are coupled to the specific object and are visible to all users with access to the individual contact/organization. Additionally, any task assigned to the currently logged in user are also available in the Task widget on the CRM Desktop as well as the My Task page within the Task module’s navigation structure. \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_contact_information_task.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ To create a new task for an object, navigate to the Contact/Organization Details page and click on the New Task button to display the Create New Task popup. \\ \\ {{ :crm:crm_create_new_task.png?nolink |}} \\ \\ All fields are required. The Task must be assigned to an owner. By default, the currently logged in user is displayed in the Assigned to field. To change it, start typing the name of the new user you to which it should be assigned. {| border="1" align="center" style="width:100%" |- style="background:#222626;color:white" ! style="padding-left: 10px;width:150px"| Note |- | style="padding-left: 10px;background:#c9c9c9"|Tasks Categories must be configured first in the Task module before they are available in the Create New Task popup. |}