Alert Stratus Tips & Tricks

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1 100% web based project management and field service software Alert Stratus Quick Start Tutorial Series Alert Stratus Tips & Tricks Tips & Tricks to Enhance CRM & Alert Stratus Performance March 8, Fieldpoint Service Applications, Inc.

2 Table of Contents CRM Tricks and Tips... 2 Recently Visited Menu... 2 Hide the Getting Started Pane... 3 Set Personal Options... 3 Setting your Personal Options... 4 General... 4 Workplace... 4 Activities... 4 Formats, Templates, , Privacy & Languages... 5 Field Lookups... 5 Filter Options... 6 Edit Multiple Records... 6 CRM Activities & Links to Alert Stratus... 7 Task... 7 Fax... 7 Phone Call Letter... 7 Appointment... 7 Service Activity... 8 Campaign Response Fieldpoint Service Applications, Inc. Alert Stratus Project/Case Items 1

3 CRM Tricks and Tips This document is designed to help you get the most out of your CRM and Alert Stratus solution. Many of these tips are native to CRM so you can use them throughout your whole system. This document will continue to be updated as new tricks and tips become available. Recently Visited Menu Anytime you click on a section of your CRM solution, the navigation pane on the lower left side will be changed to reflect the section you have entered. For example, in the screenshot below we have entered the Alert Stratus solution. You also have two quick navigation icons: the first icon is the House Icon which will quickly take you back to your CRM home page. The section icon is the Recently Visited menu. This menu shows you a real-time view of the records and views that you last opened. This can be very helpful if you are frequently tabbing between two different entities like Accounts or Projects. Clicking on any of the items in the list will take you directly to that item. If you find that there is a record or view that you are constantly using - or will be using for a period of time - you can use the Pin feature to make sure that the link remains in the Recently Visited list. To do this, simply select the Push Pin icon to pin the item to the Recently Visited list Fieldpoint Service Applications, Inc. Alert Stratus Project/Case Items 2

4 Hide the Getting Started Pane When you first start using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, you will notice that there is a Welcome to Microsoft Dynamics CRM or Getting Started pane that shows on your home page. This is a great feature that will help you get started with your new CRM system. However, once you have become comfortable with CRM you will likely find that it takes too much screen space. To hide this pane, you can do so from the CRM Options screen by selecting File >> Options You will be presented with a form to Set Personal Options. Set Personal Options The first section in the General Tab contains a checkbox called Show Get Started panes on all lists. You may uncheck this box to hide the panel from your CRM views Fieldpoint Service Applications, Inc. Alert Stratus Project/Case Items 3

5 Setting your Personal Options In the tip above you can see how to open your Set Personal Options window. To refresh, you simply need to select File >> Options Most of the items are simple and straightforward, and below is a brief overview: General Default Pane and Default Tab Here you can select the Pane and Tab you would like to see each time you log into CRM. Records Per Page CRM uses paging on the lists to make sure you are not overloaded with information and it helps with the responsiveness of the system. You may find that with the monitor you are using it might be better to have a few more or less items on each page. Note: It might seem at first that it would be a good idea to set this value to the maximum so that you have fewer pages to move through. However, loading that quantity of records could result in much longer load times. Advanced Find If your CRM installation has thousands of records, you may wish to consider taking advantage of the detailed search functionality. Time Zone and Currency You would only need to change these items if you plan on using the system for a different Time Zone or Currency than the set defaults for your organization. Workplace The Workplace tab allows you to modify your Workplace menu on the lower left area of your CRM system. You may wish to add additional sections so that you have quick access to other entities. Activities The Activities tab enables you to define your workday. This will help you when you are entering time for your appointments and activities because it will narrow your window to your personal business hours. You can also select a Default Calendar view to fit your preferred calendar style Fieldpoint Service Applications, Inc. Alert Stratus Project/Case Items 4

6 Formats, Templates, , Privacy & Languages The rest of the tabs (Formats, Templates, , Privacy & Languages) contain settings that you may wish to change. These tabs contain options and preferences which are much more detailed and specific in nature. If you are looking for more information on these CRM features, please refer to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 documentation. Field Lookups Some of the fields in CRM are Lookup fields. You can see an example of this in the screenshot below: The icon on the right (with the magnifying glass) is what is used for the lookup. The basic functionality here is that you can select the lookup feature and then use the resulting pop-up to find the record you would like to select. Another option is to type in a portion of the name you are looking for. Using the example in the above screenshot, you could type Advan and then press the Tab key. By doing so, CRM will attempt to find the record you are looking for. If it finds only one match, it will fill in the details. If it finds multiple matches, it will place a warning sign in the field. If you select the warning sign it will show you the possible matches. Finally, if no match is found it will place a red X in the field stating that nothing currently in the system matches your search Fieldpoint Service Applications, Inc. Alert Stratus Project/Case Items 5

7 Filter Options CRM 2011 gives you a few different filter options. You have the search option at the top of any list view. This option simply lets you type in your search criteria. However, you will notice that you cannot type in part of a word and have it match. That would be referred to as a wild card search and it would be completed with a * symbol. For example, if you have an Account named The Best Bike Store you might want to search for Accounts with the word Best in it. If you simply type Best into the search box, you will not get the Account you are looking as you might get an Account that starts with the word Best instead (perhaps a store named Best Store for Bikes would be in the results). If you want to make sure you get all the accounts with Best in the name, you need to run your search like this: *Best Another option for filters is to activate the filter options on a list. Anytime you are viewing a table or list in CRM, the ribbon will have the Data section shown like the above screenshot. Selecting that filter option will activate filter options like those found in Excel. Each column header will have a drop-down with all the options for Sorting and Filtering. Edit Multiple Records Something that might come up once in a while that could require a lot of time-consuming data entry is a situation where a whole group of records need to be updated with the same information. For example, you might have a Customer change phone numbers. This might mean that you only need to change the Account record, or it could mean that you need to edit all 20 Contacts for that Account and edit the listed Business Phone Numbers. When you are viewing a list or table, you will find a checkbox on the far left side of the screen. Select this checkbox for each of the records you are looking to update and then select Edit from the ribbon. You will be presented with the Edit Multiple Records pop-up. Enter your edits in the form and then click Save to publish the edits to the selected records. Fields that you do not edit will not be changed Fieldpoint Service Applications, Inc. Alert Stratus Project/Case Items 6

8 CRM Activities & Links to Alert Stratus Activities track the incoming and outgoing communication with your customers as well as the work being completed, or to be completed, by you or others while resolving a Case. By relating activities to the Case, you can view all of the work for that Case in one place. Using different types of activities, you can record the interactions and communications you have with customers while conducting your daily business. Use the Set Regarding function to reflect the Account you performed the activity for and the information will be available in that record. Below are the types of activities: Task Fax Use Tasks to create a to-do list. When Cases are created from a Contract PM, a Task will be created within the Case for the preventative maintenance items that need to be completed. This feature is important when you are creating one Case per Contract Address because you are very likely to have more than one activity to complete during your visit. You can also use the Tasks yourself to setup a list of items that the Customer would like you to reference during your visit or appointment. Notes the details of the faxes that you sent and received. Alert Stratus does not use this feature within the standard workflow. Phone Call Use the Phone Call activity to track who you spoke with and what you spoke about. You can even track whether you made or received the call. Alert Stratus does not use this feature within the standard workflow. Send s to your Contacts and Accounts directly from Microsoft Dynamics CRM, or simply record s that you sent through other systems. Alert Stratus can be setup to send s from within the system. Letter Use the Letter activity to log the letters you have sent and received. Alert Stratus does not use this feature within the standard workflow. Appointment Appointments can help you track when you have meetings or other engagements. They appear in your Calendar section, helping you plan your day or week Fieldpoint Service Applications, Inc. Alert Stratus Project/Case Items 7

9 Service Activity Schedule a service, such as repairing a product, either manually or by using Microsoft Dynamics CRM scheduling to search for and select an available time and resource. Alert Stratus uses Appointments and Service Activities to determine the cost of a Case or Project. When you schedule a technician or consultant to a Case or Project, you can use Appointments and Service Activities interchangeably. You may want to create internal rules to differentiate between using Appointments and Service Activities. The breakdown that Microsoft s CRM Documentation suggests is that Appointments should be used for meetings while Service Activities should be used for technical service work. However, these definitions might not work for your company so feel free to determine your own breakdown that will function best for your business. Campaign Response Determine the success of your marketing efforts by tracking campaign response items separately from other activities and assigning them to the related campaign. Alert Stratus does not use this feature within the standard workflow. Although Alert Stratus does not use all of the different Activity types directly within its standard workflow, you are free to use any of the other Activity types for your own usage Fieldpoint Service Applications, Inc. Alert Stratus Project/Case Items 8