2.20 Event Management
Apr/11/2007
The Setup Configuration tool also
allows for Event Management through the Category and Status structure. This way
when you establish a category for your customers you can automatically generate
one or more of the steps in a process that will happen automatically when a new
customer is added to one or any of your categories.
Example: If you have an Engineering firm that
offers a range of services from home design and building, government contracts
for schools and public buildings, road and drainage construction then with each
new Customer you are going to have specific processes that have to happen with
each of the mentioned types of Customers.
A new Customer who is building a house may need an
appointment for an initial consultation followed by a meeting to go over the stages of the project and
what is involved from beginning to end. These meetings can automatically be
generated when a new customer is added to the 'private home' Category within
Customers.
Example: A web based company specializing in
sporting goods. For each online sale that Customer will be assigned to a
Category and based on the Events assigned to that Category action items are
automatically generated such as a thank you email will followed with a phone
call to that Customer to confirm their order and verify their shipping
information. Then following the email and follow up phone call a Task will also
be automatically generated to fulfill their order within 48 hours if the
inventory is available.
All of these action items will be generated as soon
as the New Customer is assigned to a specific Category.
As you are setting up your Categories and Statuses
you will notice a row of icons at the bottom of the Setup and Configure Tool.
These icons are all events that can be associated with a particular Category or
Status each time a Contact is assigned to that Category or Status.
Below is a screen view of the Setup and Configure
Tool where Events would be assigned to Categories. The icons highlighted in red
are the icons you click on to assign a particular event with a Category. Each
icon will open a Template for you to assign the details and time frame for each
Event to happen when a Customer is assigned to a specific Category.

The fields with the highlighted blue set of fields
is where the automated action items are listed in relation to the 'Software
Customer' Category. Any Action Items assigned to a Category will be listed in
the section just above the icons.
The first icon is a New Appointment. Choose events
in the order that best matches your workflow process.

This is a template for a New Appointment
that will be generated automatically when
a Customer is created. The view to link a New Appointment is shown
below.

Each of the field has built in calendars and drop
down menus pre-populated with choices to specify your workflow process.
Once you have specified the details for this
Appointment the details will be set within this template and the only details
you will have to insert later will be with each Customer will be specific to
each Customer as Sales are generated.
The template view for adding a New Task
is shown below.

Template details can be added into the fields at the
top of the screen. Each field has pre-populated drop down lists to specify the
parameters and time frame for this task.
Similarly to the New Appointment, once the details
are entered here the only details that will be added later will be specific to
the Customer and sales process that goes on as you conduct
business.
Adding a New Call Log
to a Category is shown below. This
template is only slightly different to the main Call Log Window.
This is also a Template that will automatically
alert you when it comes due as an action item that has to be completed to
complete the sales process. Like the other Event templates fields are
pre-populated to define your sales and post sales process.

When you have added the details in the fields at the
top of the window Save your changes and this template will come up at the
assigned time within a Sales/Post Sales process.
The last action item is a New Email.
This can be an assigned email with a
built in message as a thank you message or as a response further along in a post
sales process.
The view of the email template is shown
below.

This template is general as a template and will be
sent to the Customer that it has been assigned to when that Customer is assigned
to this Category.
Save your changes when you have entered in all the
information and any message to be sent within this email. It will automatically
be generated at the assigned time when a Customer is assigned to a specific
Category.