CRM Module (Customer Call Tracking)

Is there anyone out there utilizing the CRM module, and if so can you tell me if it is possible to to use this module for the purpose of Customer Service Call tracking only?

Please and thanks!

Carol

It is not specific to Customers. Anywhere you see an telephone ICON in the
header means you can launch Call Entry. However you can add Call types so
that if you want to filter your calls by say Customer Calls you can add
that as a call type. You can launch CRM Calls from quotes, sales order
entry, customers, AR Invoice entry, Salesperson workbench, etc

You will probably want your own dashboard to view calls. You can use
Salesperson Workbench for that but it tends to be pretty slow to use and a
dashboard would let you filter by call date, customer, call type, etc

Mark Wagner
Sr. Partner

Capstone Alliance Partners 888.597.2227 Ext. 71
<888.597.2227%20Ext.%20714>2 | 904.412.6847 mwagner@capstoneap.com (cell)
| www.capstoneap.com

Thanks Mark,

Your input was helpful. I am just starting to look at the CRM module and it will more than likely only be used for the purpose of tracking Customer Service calls to see what the topic and status are. A dashboard would be perfect. I will scope out the Epicor site to see if I can find any tutorials on it.

Carol

I would still recommend a call type(s) in the event that you expand the
usage of it in the future

Other than setting up call types and launching the from the screens, its
pretty much that you can view the call history in the salesperson workbench

Most of the training is not so much on using Epicor, but giving
instructions as to what kind of input is useable. For example, I have seen
users put comments in like 'left call" or “left message”. There are certain
call comments that add no value so setting some guidelines is helpful for
users

Mark Wagner
Sr. Partner

Capstone Alliance Partners 888.597.2227 Ext. 71
<888.597.2227%20Ext.%20714>2 | 904.412.6847 mwagner@capstoneap.com (cell)
| www.capstoneap.com

Great advice Mark!
Thanks again.
When we get going on this, I may reach out to you with further questions, if okay with you.

Carol

Anytime that’s what we are here for!

Mark Wagner
Sr. Partner

Capstone Alliance Partners 888.597.2227 Ext. 71
<888.597.2227%20Ext.%20714>2 | 904.412.6847 mwagner@capstoneap.com (cell)
| www.capstoneap.com

Mark,

Are you currently using the CRM in your company and does it work well for you?

Thanks
Carol

Carol, my company has been using the CRM module since go-live 1.1.2014. We have also had to customize HEAVILY to make it actually functional as a barely usable CRM platform.
That said, it is working fairly well for us (now), but bear in mind, depending on how much true CRM functionality you’re after, making it function day to day, quarter to quarter, and year to year involves significant ad-hoc effort.

Thank you Andrew for your response.
Depending on your location, would you be averse to having myself and the Customer Service manager visit your company and demonstrate how you are using the module and provide us with the basic steps as to how you set it up. Also, if you could provide me with some insight as to what type of customizations had to be created to make this a usable platform that would be great.

What we are looking for is just basic call tracking, where call information is visible to all throughout the company.

Again thanks!
Carol

We’re in CT and I don’t think there would be a problem with a visit, but it sounds like your requirements are minimal.
We are using Case management to manage samples we send to prospective customers, we do use the Call Logs, but we’ve had to create dashboards to add a bit more functionality in terms of tracking calls and making sure customers and prospects are being attended to (and followed-up with) , price lists are properly managed and communicated to customers, all with territory security ensuring data is properly ‘bordered’.

It sounds like all you need is a dashboard.

I think you are right Andrew. We really just need a dashboard so that the sales rep can view Customer calls / responses.
If you are in Connecticut I don’t think we would be able to work in a visit (although I would love to see CT). We are in Minnesota, so that is probably not a feasible option.
We would like to keep the setup fairly simple and complexity to a minimum if at all possible.
I thank you for your input. If you would be willing to share your dashboard basics, I would love to check it out.
Thanks
Carol

Here are a couple screenshots Carol.
The first thing we did was add a bit of customization to our Call Entry screen - so that we could better refer to them in other programs and dashboards. Here we add the functionality for follow-ups:

Then… Once we’ve sufficiently populated the UD fields with calls, we created a dashboard for managing them:

Our sales team (and mgmt) can see who hasn’t been contacted in a while and schedule calls accordingly.
There are other screens and dashboards where we make use of the other fields like “Followup”, etc.

I hope this spurs some thoughts as to what might be possible in your environment.

1 Like

The checkbox labeled "“Select checkbox to remove this call from this customer”… Does that delete the CRM Call or just a BPM to changed some value on the record?

Through the front-end, a user cannot delete a CRM Call (for some no good reason).

Good catch Thomas. We added a BPM that inspects that box on a “Save” and, if checked, re-associates the call with a dummy customer we’ve created for storing these items that can’t be deleted.

Andrew.

If not too much trouble, do you recall if you re-assign “Key1” field or “CallCustNum” (or Both)?

BTW, this was Epicor’s response to not being able to delete a CRM Call:

“The development team reviewed this behavior. An enhancement has been created under SCR 163005 will change this functionality on a future version, in the meantime an option would be to either create a personalization, customization or BPM”

Interesting Tom. When we went live, our response from Epicor was “why would you ever want to do that?”.
Here’s my BPM:

I have to be honest and state that I do not know how often (or if) this is used. When we went live, the Sales department needed this functionality and it was tested to work - 2+ years ago. Nothing’s changed, so I assume it’s still working.