Author: Nikolay Bulava, CEO
In this SugarCRM tutorial, we will consider where and how to find events for TimeLine Viewer, a plugin for SugarCRM.
For this, you should answer several simple questions:
1. What data sources (SugarCRM modules, subpanels, reports) have to be looked through to restore the chronological order of events and grasp the situation.
Example 1: to study out the customer communication history, you should view SugarCRM meetings, calls, emails, tasks, notes, cases etc.
Example 2: to figure out what was happening to the Opportunity, you should add to the communication history the changes in Opportunity statuses, creation of new RLIs, changes in Assigned persons, placed orders, changes in order statuses, and when it comes to the current customer, you should also check if the case is properly or improperly closed in compliance with SLA etc.
Example 3: to see what happened to Lead Portfolio, you should analyze status changes together with communication history.
As you can see, what unites these tasks is that we have to look through several subpanels and several reports based on which we have to restore the time line of events in our minds.
2. What activities of other users in SugarCRM and what changes in other systems you should be aware of.
Examples: Marketing Department sent a mailing to a Customer/Lead; in the delivery system, you see the tick that the case on the Customer was closed with a violation of the SLA etc.
What is common to all these tasks is that they are done by other team members, and it’s important for us to know who and when did this job.
3. Progress or regress of what SugarCRM objects are of interest to you.
Examples: change in Lead status, change in the stage of Customer Journey, change in priority or stage of Opportunity etc.
Clearly, you are interested not only in progress or regress, but also when and who exactly made the changes.
The essential point to remember is that the event data displayed in TimeLine Viewer, while valuable in the moment when it happened (fulfilling the role of notification), should be relevant in days, weeks and months after the event. That is why all events have storage depth to avoid storing data that lost its value.
Yet another important advice when collecting the data on events: pay attention not only to physical nature of the data change, but to its logical point that hides the value.
Example 1. Email messages As a rule, it’s important to understand if the email was sent by you or to you; whether the message was sent within the mailing list or not.
In this case, you might be interested in at least five different logical events:
1. Inbox messages – email that is received and has no attachments.
2. Outbox messages – email that is sent and has no attachments
3. Received document – email that is received and has an attachment
4. Sent document – email that is sent with the attachment
5. Sent mailing – email that is sent within marketing email campaign
Even though it is just the data in emails, such a division can help you to find what’s of interest in TimeLine Viewer feed within seconds.
Example 2. Closure of a customer case. For any business that requires the SLA, it’s important to take into account not only the case closure, but also its adherence to standards specified in the SLA, which assumes having two different logic events for one physical event:
- Closed case within the SLA
- Closed case with violation of the SLA
Cases can be of different types:
- Case “Consultation”
- Case “Error”
- Case “Emergency”
By forming the feed based on the logic value, at a glance at TimeLine View or dashlet you can quickly size up the situation and act.
Want to try TimeLine Viewer? Leave us a request and we’ll be happy to give you access to the demo-environment.
WEBINAR: Productivity Enhancement for Every CRM User with Minimum Effort and Maximum Results
Find out how to be productive wherever you are with regular add-ons such as Customer Journey, Hint, iReports and TimeLine Viewer.
WEBINAR:A Smart Way to Collect Key Business Events in SugarCRM for BI and AI
Find out how you can customize TimeLine Viewer add-on for your specific needs and be able to collect data for BI and AI easily.
Other articles from “SugarCRM tips” series:
- SugarCRM Tips. How to Save 50% of Your Time When Preparing for Communication with the Customer
- SugarCRM Tips. How to Boost the Efficiency of Portfolio Management
- SugarCRM Tips. How to Enhance Efficiency of Manager’s Work
- SugarCRM Tips. How to Improve Team Selling
- SugarCRM Tips. Creating the Reports Which Help to Quickly Figure Out What Happened
- SugarCRM Tips. How to Find Customers or Leads Afforded Insufficient Attention
- SugarCRM Tips. How to Make Your Sales Management Dashboard Even More Powerful