Business Intelligence with Maximizer CRM 10:

Transcription

1 Technical White Paper Business Intelligence with Maximizer CRM 10: Actionable Insight through Dashboards, Reports, and Analytics

2 Contents Introduction...3 Maximizer CRM Dashboards...4 Reporting... 7 Crystal Reports...8 Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Ad-Hoc Reporting Microsoft Excel Microsoft OLAP Analytics Business Activity Monitoring Summary About Maximizer Software...17 Contact Maximizer Software...17 This document is confidential and contains proprietary information, including trade secrets of Maximizer Software, Incorporated. Neither this document nor any of the information contained herein may be reproduced or disclosed to any person or parties under any circumstances without express written permission of Maximizer Software, Incorporated. Any disclosure of the information contained in this document to competitors or third parties will result in legal recourse from Maximizer Software Inc. 2008, Maximizer Software Inc. Maximizer is a trademark of Maximizer Software Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 2/17

3 Introduction In today s fast paced business world, decisions have to be made quickly and accurately and there is not time to second guess. Business Intelligence (BI) tools such as reports and dashboards provide managers and executives with actionable insight business performance metrics in which to gauge the status and forecast of the business. These metrics summarize, analyze, and display business data in a meaningful way in order to formulate fact-based decisions. Maximizer CRM provides BI tools like reports and dashboards, putting actionable insight into the hands of sales, marketing and service managers and executives. Key performance metrics and status reports enable you to solve problems, seize opportunities and refine everyday processes. This white paper covers the BI tools provided and supported by Maximizer CRM and how these can be used. In addition to powerful out-of-the-box reports and dashboards, Maximizer CRM enables you to customize your reports and metrics to meet your unique processes using industry-leading reporting tools Crystal Reports or Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 3/17

4 Maximizer CRM Dashboards With real-time snapshots of departmental and company performance in CRM dashboards, executives and managers can adjust tactics or resources quickly and recognize trends and performance patterns across all customer-facing teams. Pre-defined key performance indicators (KPIs) make insight highly visual and easily interpreted. Users can create their own dashboard using drag & drop and include the desired KPIs, all from the Maximizer CRM interface. Figure 1 Sales Dashboard In Maximizer CRM, dashboards are viewed from the Dashboard tab of the My Work Day window. Dashboards are available from both the Maximizer CRM desktop client and the Maximizer Web Access client. In addition, KPIs for sales and customer service are available as Maximizer Vista Dashboard Gadgets for users with Microsoft Windows Vista. A dashboard is made up of one or more KPIs. A KPI returns a single value from a query in Maximizer CRM (or another database), and is visually displayed as an Angular Gauge, Linear gauge, Numeric LED, Numeric gauge, Thermometer, or Color Bar. KPIs can be grouped together and displayed as a single entity, either a pie chart (as illustrated by the Opportunity Status indicator in figure 1) or as a bar chart. Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 4/17

5 Maximizer CRM includes over 45 out-of-the-box KPIs for Sales, Marketing, Customer Service & Support. Each system-created KPI has an associated drill-down report for further, detailed analysis. New KPIs can be created or existing indicators can be modified from the Administrator module. Out-of-the-box KPIs include: Sales: o Pipeline: 30/60/90-days o $ of Opportunities in progress o Opportunities created today o Opportunities won today o Opportunities lost today Marketing: o Leads/contacts entered today o Campaigns in progress o Campaigns abandoned Customer Service & Support: o Average days for case resolution o Cases entered today o Cases resolved today o Cases abandoned today Figure 2 The flow from indicator definition to click through report. Figure 2 illustrates the individual parts that make up a Maximizer CRM dashboard. From left to right 1) Indicator definition 2) Indicator properties 3) Dashboard within My Work Day 4) Drilldown parameter page and 5) Drill-down report. (Maximizer IIS Components for IIS must be installed for drill-down reporting). If you are the manager of customer service and have set a department goal to reduce the average days to resolution of customer service cases, you could use Maximizer CRM dashboards to monitor the progress of this objective and to ensure staff are performing towards these. You could create a dashboard with the desired KPIs to measure and monitor your departmental goals daily. Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 5/17

6 In Maximizer CRM, dashboards are easy to create. From the Company Library window, drag & drop a dashboard template to the Dashboards folder. Figure 3 Create new blank Dashboard The new Dashboard appears under the Dashboard tab of the My Work Day window. Figure 4 New Dashboard under My Work Day Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 6/17

7 The Properties option displays the available dashboard KPIs (Indicators) and provides access to indicator properties how you want the visual indicators to appear. Figure 5 Indicators and Indicator Properties You set the Indicator s properties from the properties dialog box and have access to set the indicator s type, color and gauge setting. In addition, you can enable an alarm. This is useful if you want to be notified when one of your Indicators passes a certain level; number of lost opportunities gets too high, for example. Reporting Maximizer CRM includes over 175 pre-configured reports in three different formats: Maximizer, Crystal Reports, and Microsoft SQL Reporting Service. These pre-configured reports include standard reports for sales, marketing, customer service and administration reports: pipeline funnel reports, campaign status, lead status, overdue & unassigned case reports, case analysis, sales quotes, and more. For on-the-fly ad-hoc reporting, business users and managers can easily perform queries, change data views with flexible column set-ups, then further analyze data by exporting data to Microsoft Excel, and share reports with colleagues in PDF, Word, HTML and other standard formats. Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 7/17

8 Crystal Reports Crystal Reports (by Business Objects, an SAP Company), is the leading reporting and business intelligence tool for small and medium-sized businesses. So Maximizer includes over 70 preconfigured reports in the Crystal Reports format (RPT), including standard reports for sales, marketing, customer service and administration reports: pipeline funnel reports, campaign status, lead status, overdue & unassigned case reports, case analysis, sales quotes, and more. Maximizer CRM Server creates a shared folder for reports on the server machine, where preconfigured reports and new reports are stored. All reports are then accessible from each Maximizer CRM client on the network. Personal templates are stored in a default local folder on the user s machine and are also accessible from the Reports menu in the application. Examples of Crystal Reports reports within Maximizer are 1) all the reports located under the Maximizer Reports > Crystal Report menu 2) the Appointment detail report from the Calendar and the Opportunity Pipeline report from the Opportunity view bar 3) the Reporter module and 4) click through reports for system-created indicators. Figure 6 Lead Summary and Opportunity Pipeline reports Crystal Reports reports can be created or any of the out-of-the-box Crystal Reports templates can be modified using Crystal Reports Standard (Maximizer CRM 10 includes Crystal Reports XI viewer; Crystal Reports XI Standard for designing reports can be purchased as a separate add-on from Maximizer Software). Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 8/17

9 New reports can be created and existing reports and be modified from the Maximizer Reports > Crystal Reports > Personal > Custom Reports menu. Figure 7 Custom Report When creating a new custom report template, if the report is saved to the MaximizerReports folder, it will be available from the Personal menu under the Report > Crystal Report menu in Maximizer CRM. Figure 8 Saving a New Report to the MaximizerReports folder Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 9/17

10 Figure 9 Crystal Reports XI Standard for designing reports Crystal Reports Standard opens and is connected to the current Maximizer CRM database. The initial database structure for a new report is created for you by Maximizer CRM based on the current Maximizer window making it easy to start and create your own custom report. The Maximizer User s guide contains a complete outline of the database structure and provides tips on filtering and joining tables together. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is a comprehensive report design tool that works with a diverse set of data sources. SSRS is installed and configured as part of the Microsoft SQL Server installation and provides another method of analyzing your data in Maximizer CRM. SQL Server Reporting Services reports are created using an RDL application such as Microsoft Report Builder or Visual Studio and accessed via Microsoft Internet Information Server using the Microsoft Report Viewer. Maximizer CRM Professional and Enterprise Edition include the Microsoft Report Viewer as part of the installation. Sample SSRS reports (Automated Campaigns, Case Assignments, and Lead Summary) for Maximizer CRM are included as part of the Maximizer Server installation. SSRS reports can be viewed from the Maximizer CRM desktop client from the Report menu after the SQL Server Reporting Server URL (see below) has been defined in Maximizer. A user s ability to see a SSRS report is controlled under the SSRS security model. The user must be granted the appropriate Windows security rights in order to access the reports, only those reports the user has access to view will be visible to the user in Maximizer s Report menu. The Configuring SQL Server Reporting Services section of the Maximizer Administrator s Guide provides detailed information on how to enable viewing SSRS reports from a Maximizer desktop client. The Maximizer sample SSRS reports must first be deployed to the SSRS server. Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 10/17

11 When the SQL Server Reporting Services URL has been specified, the reports under the specified Reporting Services Path appear under the Report > SQL Server Reporting Services menu in Maximizer. Figure 10 Maximizer SQL Server Reporting Services Setting To create a SQL Server Reporting Services Report, an RDL compliant application (like Microsoft Visual Studio ) must be used. In order for the report to be visible from within Maximizer CRM, the report must be uploaded to the SSRS server (to the Reports folder specified under the SQL Server Reporting Services Settings). This includes the sample SSRS reports included as part of the Maximizer Server installation. By default, when the report is accessed from the Maximizer Reports > SQL Server Reporting Services menu, the report will connect to the database source used during the report creation. To allow the report to report on the current Address Book, multiple Address Books and/database servers, the report s connection string must be modified. The RDL file is an XML format-based file. The file can be modified using Microsoft Visual Studio, or the RDL file can be edited directly with a text editor such as notepad. The ConnectString element is contained within the DataSources element. The following report connection properties would only connect to the EsconaTutorial database within the WIN2000 server. <DataSources> <DataSource Name="EsconaTutorial"> <ConnectionProperties> <ConnectString>Data Source=WIN2000;Initial Catalog=EsconaTutorial</ConnectString> Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 11/17

12 <DataProvider>SQL</DataProvider> </ConnectionProperties> <rd:datasourceid> a784-4a1b-a a227a389</rd:datasourceid> </DataSource> </DataSources> In order to allow Maximizer to set the connection string based on the current Address Book, the ConnectString properties would be changed as follows: <ConnectString>Data Source=& Parameters!MxServer.Value &Initial Catalog=& Parameters!MxWorkspace.Value </ConnectString> The connection properties for the sample SSRS reports, installed during the Maximizer Server installation, have already been modified with the connection parameters. Ad-Hoc Reporting Business users with no SQL skills can also utilize powerful querying and ad-hoc reporting for their own on-the-fly reporting. Ad-hoc reporting through simple queries (of leads, customers, opportunities, or customer service cases) provides users with a powerful method of analyzing real-time data directly from Maximizer CRM using the search and column set-up features. The ability to quickly sort data and control what data is made visible (via column setup) enables users to perform complex ad-hoc queries and format the results as desired. For example, to mine your own customer list for potential up-selling opportunities, you could simply search your Address Book entries not modified since a given date. Figure 11 Search for Address Book Entries Not Modified Since search This search is located under the Search > Other > Not Modified Since (when the Address Book window has focus). In the case of figure 11, the search returns all Address Book entries that have not been modified since April 26, A column setup can then be modified or created to quickly identify how best to contact the Address Book entry. The column setup can be modified to include the Last Modified date, the Address Book entry s Account Manager, and the users Do not solicit field properties (phone, , fax). Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 12/17

13 Figure 12 Results from entries not modified since search The search results can be printed (File > Print > Column Report) or be further analyzed by exporting to Microsoft Excel a familiar and easy tool for most business users. Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is one of the most widely used analysis tools in the business world. Its ease of use and pervasiveness makes it natural choice for many business users. Maximizer support for direct export to Microsoft Excel provides one method of analyzing your customer, sales, and service data within Microsoft Excel. Figure 13 Export to Excel Figure 13 illustrates the Export to Excel and Advanced Export to Excel options that are located on the Maximizer Toolbar. The Export to Excel option will be available from the Maximizer CRM toolbar if Microsoft Excel is detected during the Maximizer installation. The Advanced Export to Excel will be available if Microsoft Excel 2007 is detected during the Maximizer installation. Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 13/17

14 The Export to Excel and the Advanced Export to Excel options export the current selected list to Excel. If there are no selected entries in the current list then all entries in the current list are exported to Excel. The current column setup defines which fields to export, and automatically includes column headers and summaries for numeric fields. (The business user must be provided with export privileges to use these features.) Figure 14 Export to Excel The export creates a new Excel workbook with a worksheet named Address Book. The first row contains the names of the columns as they appear in Maximizer. In the case of the Advanced Export to Excel the user is prompted for conditional formatting for numeric fields. Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 14/17

15 Figure 15 Advanced Export to Excel The Export to Excel and the Advanced Export to Excel options provide a quick and easy way to export data from Maximizer into Microsoft Excel. The power of Excel can then be used to further analyze the data. These options allow the export of any data that can be included in a column setup, including leads, customers, sales opportunities, and customer service cases. Microsoft OLAP Analytics A more advanced BI option is to use the Maximizer Analytics feature in conjunction with Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Manager to gather data from your Maximizer CRM database for the purposes of online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining. Analytics help you gain a deeper understanding of your data. SQL Server cube compliant tools can then be used to slice and dice the information. Before using this feature, you must have Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services installed. Analysis Services is not installed automatically when you install Microsoft SQL Server, but it is available separately on the Microsoft SQL Server CD. Using Analytics is a two-step process: Generating the analytics database Viewing the analytics database Refer to the Maximizer Administrator s Guide Generating Address Book Analytics for information on setting up and viewing Address Book analytics. Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 15/17

16 Business Activity Monitoring Workflow Automation Server Powered by KnowledgeSync is a Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) tool which also provide insight into business performance metrics in real-time. Workflow Automation Server offers the ability to distribute Crystal Reports either on a scheduled basis, or triggered by user configured business events. For example, every Monday morning, a sales manager could receive an updated sales pipeline report in his inbox, saving staff the time it takes to manually run and distribute reports. It can also monitor your business activities inside Maximizer CRM and provide alerts via when critical events take place. With over 90 pre-configured queries and alerts, these include leads not followed-up, abandoned sales opportunities, unassigned customer service cases, and many more. Instead of alerts, another option is for alert messages to be dynamically posted to web pages. This delivery method is particularly useful to reduce clutter and multi-user access to updated reports through the web. Summary Every organization, regardless of size, needs to monitor its activities, productivity and performance, to identify areas where resources are being effectively utilized and where they need to be adjusted for improvement. For front-line managers and executives to get the insight they need into business performance, Maximizer CRM offers many business intelligence options: Dashboards by role Crystal Reports Microsoft SQL Reporting Services Ad-hoc, on-the fly reporting for business users Microsoft Excel exporting Microsoft OLAP Analytics Business Activity Monitoring Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 16/17

17 About Maximizer Software Maximizer Software is a leading provider of simple, accessible, customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, providing the best value for small and medium-sized businesses. Built on a web-based architecture, Maximizer CRM offers sales, marketing, and customer service users and managers their choice of access to customer information through the desktop, web, or mobile device. Maximizer Software has sold more than one million licenses to over 120,000 customers, ranging in size from entrepreneurs to multinational organizations, including: Siemens, Société Générale, HSBC, TD Securities, Lockheed Martin, Brian Tracy International, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Oxford University Press, and Cathay Pacific. Maximizer Software is a global business with offices and over 400 business partners in the Americas, Europe/ Middle East/Africa and Asia Pacific. Contact Maximizer Software Americas (Headquarters) Europe, Middle East, India Australia/New Zealand Asia Africa +61-(0) (852) (0) Technical White Paper - Business Intelligence Page 17/17