Simple CRM now allows the creation of project templates.
This feature allows you to:
save time in performing time-consuming and repetitive tasks
to formalize your business processes in order to increase the quality of your services.
Create a project model
To create a project template:
open the application launcher
click on the "Project Template" icon
You are now on the project template list.
Click the "Add Project Template" button.
A first form allows you to fill in the basic data of the project model:
Project name: this is the name that will be assigned to the project once generated
Default project manager: choose a user if it is always the same one who will manage the projects resulting from this model. If not, do not choose a user. You will be asked when generating a new project
Status: Default status of the project once generated
Note: a free comment that will be reproduced in the generated project
Fill in the fields and click Save.
You will then get to the detail of the project model.
The project template is divided into several sections, which correspond to the same sections in a project.
First, the project template master data, which you can edit by clicking "Edit Project Template".
Then, the companies and contacts that will be linked to each generated project.
Note the presence of check boxes "Main project companies" and "Main project contact".
The main company and contact of the project will be chosen when the project is generated from the model.
This feature allows you to automatically link the client, which changes each time, to the generated project.
If you always want to link the same company and contact to each generated project, for example if you build houses, you will take the same architect for each project.
Below you will find the list of users of the project template. These users will be reproduced in the generated project.
Below you will find the list of project model interactions. These interactions will be processed and linked to the generated project.
In the first column, choose the interaction model that will be used (to manage the interaction models, see the FAQ)
The next column allows you to assign the contact person and company code
main project to generated project (this is the contact and company you will specify when generating the project).
You can then choose the user who will be assigned to the interaction. From the list, you can choose either a specific user, the user assigned to the interaction model, or the project manager assigned at the time the project is generated.
The last column allows you to choose the interaction date based on the number of days after the project start date you will enter when the project is generated.
Once you have set up the interactions, click the Save button.
Generation of a project from a model
To generate a project from a model, two solutions :
from the list of models, click on the button "Generate a project" on the line of the model to use
from a project template, click on the "Generate project" button
You arrive on the model generation form.
In the "Project Manager" field, choose the project manager that will be generated.
In the "Main project company" field, select the main company that will be linked to the project. Typically, on a commercial project, it is the client. The same applies to the Main Contact.
In the "Project start date" field, enter the project start date. This date is important because it is the baseline date on which project interaction start dates will be calculated.
In the "Project end date" field, enter the project end date. This end date has no impact on the interaction dates.
Click on the button "Generate a project", you arrive then in the project which has just been created.
Showing posts with label Project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project. Show all posts
2018/04/24
How to link a contact and / or a company to a project?
Open the project in Simple CRM.
In the list of companies and contacts related to the project, click in the Company field and type some letters of the company you are looking for.
Once the company code appears in the list, select it.
The Contact field now shows contacts related to this company.
Select the appropriate contact from the list.
Now click on the "Save" button.
You can also link a contact without a company code to the project. To do this, search directly for a contact without choosing a company first.
In the list of companies and contacts related to the project, click in the Company field and type some letters of the company you are looking for.
Once the company code appears in the list, select it.
The Contact field now shows contacts related to this company.
Select the appropriate contact from the list.
Now click on the "Save" button.
You can also link a contact without a company code to the project. To do this, search directly for a contact without choosing a company first.
2018/04/15
What is Project Management used for in Simple CRM?
What is Project Management for? Simply to better manage your work!
Managing Projects means managing time and risk of delays, managing budgets, and their balance.
Project management in this way will allow you to anticipate problems before they occur.
In case of delay in one of the steps of a Project, Simple CRM will re-plan for you all the sub-steps. You will thus have total control of your schedules, even in the event of problems, because you will know the real impact of these problems and will, therefore, be able to make the right decisions.
Time will be manageable via Interaction lists, Project Calendars, and Gantt charts.
In a Project, you can link the Project budget (administrative budget or tied sale), but also the purchases and production costs. Production costs will be calculated using a stopwatch integrated into the Interactions. When a user starts working on an Interaction assigned to him, he will start the stopwatch by clicking START and stop it by clicking STOP. On the basis of the employee's hourly cost (the average in France-Belgium being 28 Euro per hour), which your internal Simple CRM Administrator will have defined in the user's profile, the chronometer will automatically enter the cost of the service:
Thus, in a Project, you can immediately monitor your financial statements:
Of course, not all users will be able to see the financial statements. The Administrator of your Simple CRM will define who can or cannot see this information (by default, you will not be able to).
Attention that if the Administrator changes a profile, he must re-enter the password and the ICAL feed allowing the synchronization of the calendar on mobile phone or other will be modified. It will therefore be necessary to reconfigure the mobiles.
Another important innovation: Project makes data invisible to other users. Indeed, a Project that is not public cannot be seen by others. Similarly, there is a new type of user called "Project" users: they will see NOTHING Simple CRM except for Projects they have invited to work on, a perfect option for the management of external freelancers, trainees, etc..
Managing Projects means managing time and risk of delays, managing budgets, and their balance.
Project management in this way will allow you to anticipate problems before they occur.
In case of delay in one of the steps of a Project, Simple CRM will re-plan for you all the sub-steps. You will thus have total control of your schedules, even in the event of problems, because you will know the real impact of these problems and will, therefore, be able to make the right decisions.
Time will be manageable via Interaction lists, Project Calendars, and Gantt charts.
In a Project, you can link the Project budget (administrative budget or tied sale), but also the purchases and production costs. Production costs will be calculated using a stopwatch integrated into the Interactions. When a user starts working on an Interaction assigned to him, he will start the stopwatch by clicking START and stop it by clicking STOP. On the basis of the employee's hourly cost (the average in France-Belgium being 28 Euro per hour), which your internal Simple CRM Administrator will have defined in the user's profile, the chronometer will automatically enter the cost of the service:
Thus, in a Project, you can immediately monitor your financial statements:
Of course, not all users will be able to see the financial statements. The Administrator of your Simple CRM will define who can or cannot see this information (by default, you will not be able to).
Attention that if the Administrator changes a profile, he must re-enter the password and the ICAL feed allowing the synchronization of the calendar on mobile phone or other will be modified. It will therefore be necessary to reconfigure the mobiles.
Another important innovation: Project makes data invisible to other users. Indeed, a Project that is not public cannot be seen by others. Similarly, there is a new type of user called "Project" users: they will see NOTHING Simple CRM except for Projects they have invited to work on, a perfect option for the management of external freelancers, trainees, etc..
Customer case study: alarm installation and maintenance company and anti-intrusion systems
In this case of Simple CRM configuration study, data security is paramount.
Indeed, both commercial and technical information is confidential.
Therefore, each employee cannot have access:
only the customer records to which they can have access
that at their personal appointment
only a limited amount of information concerning customers
To illustrate our configuration, we will, therefore, imagine that there will be 3 users :
A Director General
A salesman
A technician
The Executive Director shall be an ADMINISTRATOR.
The commercial and the technician, because of the confidential nature of the data, will, of course, be users Projects.
As a reminder, the full explanation of user rights is available at http://www.simple-crm-support.com/2014/09/comment-limiter-lacces-dun-utilisateur.html
For each client there will be 4 families of information:
the customer's contact details
commercial information
technical information
the alarm unlock codes
The contact details of the customer can be found in the Company and/or Contact form. These record(s) can be created either by the general manager, or not by the sales representative, or by the technician.
Once the Company/Contact(s) form has been created, the general manager will create 3 non-public projects that he will appoint for example :
Company ID ID CONTACT / Company Name / Contact Name / Business File
Company ID ID CONTACT / Company Name / Contact Name / Technical File
Company ID ID CONTACT / Company Name / Contact Name / Alarm Codes
In the commercial file, the general manager will bind the commercial.
The general manager will bind the technician to the technical file.
To the project containing the alarm codes, it will not bind anyone because nobody can read the codes except the general manager.
In the commercial file, the commercial will create an Interaction, in which he will store quotes and order forms. It will not link this Interaction to the company/contact. Indeed, if it links this interaction to the company/contact, the documents will be visible from the company/contact file.
This poses no problem from a practical point of view, since in the list of its Interactions, the interaction is linked to the project. So to consult the customer's details, all the salesperson has to do is click on the name of the project to access the customer's details from the project:
The same technique is to be applied to the technical project, where an interaction not directly related to the company/contact will contain the technical documents.
Finally, the "Alarm Codes" project will simply contain the alarm codes written in the Project's memo field, this project being only accessible to the General Manager.
Indeed, both commercial and technical information is confidential.
Therefore, each employee cannot have access:
only the customer records to which they can have access
that at their personal appointment
only a limited amount of information concerning customers
To illustrate our configuration, we will, therefore, imagine that there will be 3 users :
A Director General
A salesman
A technician
The Executive Director shall be an ADMINISTRATOR.
The commercial and the technician, because of the confidential nature of the data, will, of course, be users Projects.
As a reminder, the full explanation of user rights is available at http://www.simple-crm-support.com/2014/09/comment-limiter-lacces-dun-utilisateur.html
For each client there will be 4 families of information:
the customer's contact details
commercial information
technical information
the alarm unlock codes
The contact details of the customer can be found in the Company and/or Contact form. These record(s) can be created either by the general manager, or not by the sales representative, or by the technician.
Once the Company/Contact(s) form has been created, the general manager will create 3 non-public projects that he will appoint for example :
Company ID ID CONTACT / Company Name / Contact Name / Business File
Company ID ID CONTACT / Company Name / Contact Name / Technical File
Company ID ID CONTACT / Company Name / Contact Name / Alarm Codes
In the commercial file, the general manager will bind the commercial.
The general manager will bind the technician to the technical file.
To the project containing the alarm codes, it will not bind anyone because nobody can read the codes except the general manager.
In the commercial file, the commercial will create an Interaction, in which he will store quotes and order forms. It will not link this Interaction to the company/contact. Indeed, if it links this interaction to the company/contact, the documents will be visible from the company/contact file.
This poses no problem from a practical point of view, since in the list of its Interactions, the interaction is linked to the project. So to consult the customer's details, all the salesperson has to do is click on the name of the project to access the customer's details from the project:
The same technique is to be applied to the technical project, where an interaction not directly related to the company/contact will contain the technical documents.
Finally, the "Alarm Codes" project will simply contain the alarm codes written in the Project's memo field, this project being only accessible to the General Manager.
How to limit a user's access to certain contacts, companies, interactions and projects, and leave full access to other users?
You want to limit a user's access to certain contacts, companies, interactions and projects that directly concern them. On the other hand, other users must be able to access all contacts, companies,...
Examples of use: prospecting by geographical sectors, trainees, external speakers...
To do this, you must create one project per user with limited rights.
A project user is a user who sees nothing, except what he is allowed to see through projects to which he is invited to work.
Proceed as follows:
1) In the Admin module, change the user type for each user whose rights you want to limit (change them to "Project User").
2) Create one non-public project per user
Name the project, for example: "Southeast Prospecting"
Uncheck the "Public Project" box
Save the project.
3) Link this project to the user concerned
In the project user list, select the relevant user.
Click Save.
4) In the project, link the contacts that are concerned by the user to the limited rights.
5) Last step: Assign a default project to the user following the explanations on this article.
That way:
each "Project User" will only have access to the contacts, companies and interactions that concern him, and only those ones
other related users will have access to relevant contacts, companies and interactions
administrators will have access to all information, no matter what happens.
To know how to manage projects, please refer to the Simple CRM documentation downloadable here: http://crm-pour-pme.fr/pdf/DocumentationSimpleCRMv2_0.pdf
See pages 46 and following for project management, and pages 70 and following for user type management.
Practical example
Pierre is a sales representative who manages a portfolio of 200 clients in his "Southeast" geographic area, whom he must contact regularly.
Here is the procedure to limit Pierre's access to these 200 clients:
1) In the Admin module, the Simple CRM administrator changes Pierre's user type. From "User", Pierre becomes "Project User".
2) In the Project module, the Simple CRM administrator creates a non-public project called "Southeast Prospecting". He adds Pierre to the users of this project.
3) The Simple CRM administrator selects and adds Pierre's clients to the project, either one by one, or directly from an area of interest, through a prospecting campaign.
You can see the video explanation here: http://comment-utiliser-simple-crm.blogspot.fr/2014/04/comment-organiser-une-campagne-de.html
4) Done. Pierre does not see any clients except those assigned to him through the "Prospection Sud-Est" project.
5) Last step: assign a default project to Pierre following the explanations on this article.
Assignment of customers to another sales representative
Now suppose Pierre leaves the company. It is Paul who takes over Pierre's client portfolio.
Here's how to assign all of Peter's clients to Paul:
1) Open the "Southeast Prospecting" project
2) Remove Peter's access to this folder
3) Add user Paul to this folder
4) It's done! In 4 clicks, you assigned Peter's clients to Paul.
Examples of use: prospecting by geographical sectors, trainees, external speakers...
To do this, you must create one project per user with limited rights.
A project user is a user who sees nothing, except what he is allowed to see through projects to which he is invited to work.
Proceed as follows:
1) In the Admin module, change the user type for each user whose rights you want to limit (change them to "Project User").
2) Create one non-public project per user
Name the project, for example: "Southeast Prospecting"
Uncheck the "Public Project" box
Save the project.
3) Link this project to the user concerned
In the project user list, select the relevant user.
Click Save.
4) In the project, link the contacts that are concerned by the user to the limited rights.
5) Last step: Assign a default project to the user following the explanations on this article.
That way:
each "Project User" will only have access to the contacts, companies and interactions that concern him, and only those ones
other related users will have access to relevant contacts, companies and interactions
administrators will have access to all information, no matter what happens.
To know how to manage projects, please refer to the Simple CRM documentation downloadable here: http://crm-pour-pme.fr/pdf/DocumentationSimpleCRMv2_0.pdf
See pages 46 and following for project management, and pages 70 and following for user type management.
Practical example
Pierre is a sales representative who manages a portfolio of 200 clients in his "Southeast" geographic area, whom he must contact regularly.
Here is the procedure to limit Pierre's access to these 200 clients:
1) In the Admin module, the Simple CRM administrator changes Pierre's user type. From "User", Pierre becomes "Project User".
2) In the Project module, the Simple CRM administrator creates a non-public project called "Southeast Prospecting". He adds Pierre to the users of this project.
3) The Simple CRM administrator selects and adds Pierre's clients to the project, either one by one, or directly from an area of interest, through a prospecting campaign.
You can see the video explanation here: http://comment-utiliser-simple-crm.blogspot.fr/2014/04/comment-organiser-une-campagne-de.html
4) Done. Pierre does not see any clients except those assigned to him through the "Prospection Sud-Est" project.
5) Last step: assign a default project to Pierre following the explanations on this article.
Assignment of customers to another sales representative
Now suppose Pierre leaves the company. It is Paul who takes over Pierre's client portfolio.
Here's how to assign all of Peter's clients to Paul:
1) Open the "Southeast Prospecting" project
2) Remove Peter's access to this folder
3) Add user Paul to this folder
4) It's done! In 4 clicks, you assigned Peter's clients to Paul.
2018/04/08
How do I manage a project in Simple CRM?
Project management being a complex thing, please consult the complete documentation of Simple CRM via the url: http://crm-pour-pme.fr/pdf/DocumentationSimpleCRMv2_0.pdf
How many contacts and companies can be assigned to a project?
Project users have limited access rights to the information contained in Simple CRM. Contacts, companies, authorized interactions must be contained in a project linked to the project user. See the FAQ on this subject: How to limit a user's access to certain contacts, companies, and interactions, and leave full access to other users?
After for example a data import (see How to use CSV format related contacts and companies import?), if you want to assign newly imported contacts and companies to a user-project, follow the procedure below.
1) Go to the Query module (top menu -> Query)
2) Click on the center of interest corresponding to the import (for example: "Import 2015-08-05 15:22:45").
Click on "Search".
3) You get the list of imported contacts and companies.
Click on the button "Add to a project".
4) A form appears, allowing you to choose the project with which to associate the contacts and research companies.
Choose the project and click the "Add to Project" button.
The contacts and companies are now linked to the project you have specified.
Project users' rights take into account imported elements.
After for example a data import (see How to use CSV format related contacts and companies import?), if you want to assign newly imported contacts and companies to a user-project, follow the procedure below.
1) Go to the Query module (top menu -> Query)
2) Click on the center of interest corresponding to the import (for example: "Import 2015-08-05 15:22:45").
Click on "Search".
3) You get the list of imported contacts and companies.
Click on the button "Add to a project".
4) A form appears, allowing you to choose the project with which to associate the contacts and research companies.
Choose the project and click the "Add to Project" button.
The contacts and companies are now linked to the project you have specified.
Project users' rights take into account imported elements.
How to assign a default project to a user?
To assign a default project to a user:
1) Log in to Simple CRM as Administrator
2) Go to the CRM admin: top menu -> CRM Admin
3) Click on the "User List" tab
4) Click on the name of the user concerned
5) In the "Default project" field, select the project
6) Enter the Simple CRM user password twice and click the Save button.
In this way, each time the user creates a contact or company, this contact or company will be automatically attached to the project.
1) Log in to Simple CRM as Administrator
2) Go to the CRM admin: top menu -> CRM Admin
3) Click on the "User List" tab
4) Click on the name of the user concerned
5) In the "Default project" field, select the project
6) Enter the Simple CRM user password twice and click the Save button.
In this way, each time the user creates a contact or company, this contact or company will be automatically attached to the project.
How to permanently delete an element in Simple CRM?
To avoid erasing important information by mistake, Simple CRM does not delete items, it archives them.
To archive an element in Simple CRM :
1) Go to the file of the element concerned (contact, company, project)
2) Click "Edit".
3) The editing window of the element is displayed.
4) Click on "Archive", then click on "Validate" on the confirmation message.
5) The item appears in the "Archived" list (at the bottom of the Contact, Company, Project modules).
If you want to DEFINITIVELY delete the archived items:
1) Go to the Admin module (top menu -> Admin)
2) Click on the "Delete archives" tab
3) Follow the instructions.
To archive an element in Simple CRM :
1) Go to the file of the element concerned (contact, company, project)
2) Click "Edit".
3) The editing window of the element is displayed.
4) Click on "Archive", then click on "Validate" on the confirmation message.
5) The item appears in the "Archived" list (at the bottom of the Contact, Company, Project modules).
If you want to DEFINITIVELY delete the archived items:
1) Go to the Admin module (top menu -> Admin)
2) Click on the "Delete archives" tab
3) Follow the instructions.
2013/11/07
How to manage a Project with Simple CRM?
Go to Interaction, create the User , define TOPIC ( Project/…/ action to
do, indicate the DEADLINE, then NEXT STEP, CONTACT (key user to your client),
COMPANY (your client) , ref Document (if the case), BUDGET (example – 1500
because, project execution is a financial/production cost and in your Analytic
you can have a clear image between your sales and your production costs) and
choose the PROJECT type ( kickoff meeting/specifications/execution etc.) . If
the case you can add some NOTES and chose the favorite communication channel
and the status.
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