Common Questions and Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

Customer Relationship Management & Tradepoint Web Module

We have a specific list of categories we need within a CRM package. Does Tradepoint allow for different categories?

Yes, we do allow for categories. You can have literally hundreds of categories and within each category you can have multiple statuses assigned within a drop down list to each category if necessary.

Does Tradeoint allow for multiple databases (i.e.  Such as purchased e-mail lists that do not come with contact information)?

Yes

Does the "Unsubscribe" functionality come with Tradepoint’s email?

Yes

Is merge and de-dup of multiple users included in the email?

Tradepoint can merge with Outlook however, it is designed to replace it using POP3 setting provided by your ISP provider.

Does the website come with this product?

A complete website does not come with the software. The web module provides a full e-commerce web site module that can be customized with your graphics. We have a one time implementation fee if we implement your graphics within the framework for you, or if you have an asp.net programmer or someone familiar with asp.net then you can have them do it within our framework.  We also have graphic designers that we work with that can quote you if you require graphic design work for your web site.

If it comes with the product, are there some templates and is set-up included with the product?

Tradepoint does allow you to manage a website from the Windows application. There are templates that can be adjusted easily to your specification included in the software.  The setup of your graphics within the framework can be done for you by a programmer familiar with asp.net.

Most CRM software is lacking in a secure portal that can be accessed by clients at a different location. Would the web/member services serve as this portal and can clients then view their own relevant information and any forms they need?

Absolutely! The Member services area directly supports clients accessing (with your security settings controlling what they can and cannot see and what they can and cannot update the following:

1. Contact Information
2. Employee Information (contact information, login rights under your company, subscriptions to news letters etc.)
3. Request for Quotations
4. Quotations issued
5. Outstanding Orders
6. Purchase History
7. Referral tracking
8. Client documents (any document that you've stored under the customer record that they have web security to be able to access)
9. Tasks that they are assigned to including adding notes, tracking progress, and documents (see below)
10. Appointments that have been scheduled with them (including confirmations, and declining the appointment which will notify the person that created the appointment and will ask the client on the web site for 3 alternative dates that they might be available.)
11. Full project timelines.
12. Documents under Projects, Tasks, and Appointments with uploading of revisions, and full indexing and key-wording.
13. Incident tracking for support including status, updated details, documents etc.

Would we need to purchase Tradpeoint for Windows for each desktop if we had Tradpeoint ECommerce?

Yes.

If you use Microsoft Infopath, yes.  We are also working on our own form generation tool at this time, but for now we use Infopath, and our template technology under documents to work with forms and all forms can be viewed, edited and printed and are stored directly under the contact with full indexing information so that they can be quickly looked up based on responses etc.

Is it possible to have real time help through the web with clients in filling out forms, so we can actually help them fill them out while they are filling out forms?

You can easily customize the forms that are built by Infopath on the web with detailed help in whatever way you wish to have them show up. Your only limitations are HTML and even then you could use videos, and Flash animations if you wished at any given point.

How much of the web product is cleartext source code and how much is precompiled/obfuscated? I'm primarily interested in using this product as a framework to build my own future development efforts atop and so am hoping that most of the source is cleartext?

The vast majority is in ASP.NET 2.0 easily editable classes and pages, built with MasterPages functionality and XHTML compliance in mind.  Some of the functionality like the URL re-writing functions and some of our search engine optimization tricks are in a compiled DLL, only because ASP.NET requires them to be.

Can multiple forms and templates be accessed by individual customers through the web? Can these forms and templates also be filled out and then faxed or emailed from the same Member Services login?

You can build whatever forms you would like using our web technology.  You can easily create views of those forms that are printable. eiki.com does something similar for it's lens calculator. You simply input the information about your projector and it will present you with a printable form that has all of the information about the lens type that can work with your projector and your requirements.  Once it's printable, then it's faxable and it's also emailable.  You can extend our database system very easily to store custom information in those forms, or you can simply use the Custom Data fields the way dynotrack.com does when filling out their forms.

Alternatively, you can use Microsoft Infopath, integrated with Tradepoint to create forms, and store their information in the document management system, which will automatically keyword and index the XML based Infopath documents.  Using the rich editing tools in Infopath, it is easy to create very complex forms, and using the Infopath publishing system to the web they can be available to the web. You can also then process those forms online and fax them etc.  Depending on the complexity of the forms (i.e. are they multi-step, deterministic forms?) this may be your best bet. 

Can a document be scanned and then uploaded into the web from another location?

Any electronic document can be uploaded into the web from anywhere via the secure member services area.  The scanning has to happen on the client's machine, so the client scans it, and then uploads the resulting file.  So the process is a two step process and the ease of scanning a document into a single file will be determined by the software that came with the scanner.

We're using Exchange/Outlook right now - would we still need Outlook, Exchange or some other mail server (or none of these) in addition to this?

Tradepoint will work with any POP3/IMAP or Exchange server to send and receive email. You don't need Exchange for collaboration or anything else. If you've paid for it though, you might as well install the POP3 connector and just use it like a mail server unless you want to outsource your email. 

We currently collect quite a bit of custom information from our customers during the order process. How expandable/customizable are the fields for the CRM package? We'd want to add tons of new data fields for each order.

The Custom data functionality which is throughout the software on almost every window allows you to enter any data you want, and categorize it and order it however you want. Further, it allows you to define data types so that you can enforce date formats for example, or that the possible answers are from a list, or a number or percent or just about anything else.

Speaking of customizing, could you send me a guide on your API, or any whitepaper you might have? Most of my questions revolve how I can adjust and extend this.

The API generates it's own documentation as it's a .NET .dll library. (self-describing with detailed documentation on every method and function). We'd be happy to show it to you to give you a better idea of it's power and get right into that, but we don't release our API outside of our signed customers (and their contractors) because of the power of what it can do against our software. (and hence why all extensions created have to be digitally signed by the customer)

How many dotcoms can we set up and support with a license of this? It's a server product that we buy, host, extend, etc so we can use it for as many dotcoms as we like, correct? Would these all run and be managed as separate instances/DBs? We have dozens of small, few-page dotcoms we would like to support but only 1-2 "bigger" sites so it's important to us that it's a one-time, purchased license. Speaking of which, since this is a server product it would cost us no more to support 8 employees than it does to support 200, right?

This is actually a full windows application with deep hooks into the web. Microsoft calls our type of application a "smart client" which I think is an appropriate term.  However, even in the case of web applications such as salesforce.com etc. there is a per user fee, and Tradepoint is no different.   Tradepoint sets itself apart from a purely web application in that it can work online and offline. You can be anywhere with or without an Internet connection and it will establish a 3x512 bit encrypted connection and synchronize data as soon as there is an internet connection. That combined with the very rich user interface that we provide sets Tradepoint apart from a purely web based application.

Each web site with a unique URL requires a separate web site license, although you can manage that site and all of the others from one database if you wished.   

Project  Management

Can we schedule and see PROJECTS in a Calendar view?

Yes, the schedule shows in a collaborative form so you can see who is working on the project, what hours they are available and you can track the time that has been spent on the project through the punch clock built into Tradepoint. Billing can also be done based on hours that have been scheduled as well.

Can multiple schedules be created on ONE PROJECT?

Do you mean for multiple individuals or in your case multiple sub-projects within a project(for example installing an electrical system as well as plumbing in a house?). If so, then yes because the system is fully integrated with the collaborative scheduling system and thus every team member can have their own schedule laid out, and all appointments within the detailed plan of the project will also show within their schedules.

Can we upload and assign pictures and docs to a PROJECT?

Yes, documents and pictures can be uploaded in any document type from Microsoft Office, PDF, and numerous picture formats. A link can also be established between high resolution pictures and other documents such as blueprints allowing instant access to these documents that would otherwise take up a great deal of memory.

Implementation & Training

How long does it take?

This can vary depending on how quickly we have the information we need from you. Your channel partner will perform a systems analysis on your current network and need general information on each machine you would like Tradpeoint installed on(processor speed, available memory, type of anti-virus and spyware software used, etc.) In addition if you would like any data files from current applications you are using uploaded they would need that as well. What is included to begin and on an ongoing basis?

There are two types of training, User based and Administrator. The Administrator training encompasses security permission and the related customizations as well as establishing what type of users have access to which information and related functionality of the software. The user based training covers the remaining functionality of the software for those who will be using it on a daily basis(CRM, email, scheduler, Project Management, documents, etc.).

Is this included in set-up?

Generally speaking as part of the set up and installation, no. We do cover customization in training. Tradepoint is customizable throughout the software giving you control over your business process. We recommend the client do their own customization because as your business evolves you will know how to adjust Tradpeoint to meet changing needs in the future. We will show you how to setup custom fields within the system and discuss all of the places that you can add custom fields to during training.