Well the term of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can cover a lot of ground and is definitely open to interpretation. InBizness SOHO is a framework application for business owners. InBizness SOHO is a very comprehensive package and open for customization using FileMaker Pro, an Award-winning, easy-to-use database software for Windows, Mac and the Web
Chances are, your business is an elaborate balancing act between fulfilling customer requests, managing projects, interacting with inventory and much more. InBizness SOHO was designed to an enabling resource that records and unifies the dizzying amount of data that comes in and goes out each business day.
This means you can combine information such as client management, invoicing, inventory, task management, finances, customer support and even media materials such as manuals, spreadsheets and reports. View client information, linked incoming and outgoing emails, view linked activities ( calls, meetings, to do ), view related purchases and even view related files such as pdf documents, excel spreadsheets, word documents and more!
Although InBizness has almost 50 tables, it is broken down into the six main sections of People, Sales, Projects, Purchases, Finances and Support. So you can see, it really isn’t that complicated. Here is a breakdown of each of the main sections ...
People - Clients, Contacts, Vendors, Staff and Leads
Sales - Proposals, Quotes, Sales Orders, Invoices, Payments and Inventory
Projects - Campaigns, Events, Emails, Timecards and Media Files
Purchases - Purchase Orders and Vendor Bills
Finances - Finance and Bank Deposits
Support - Credit Memos, Return Merchandise Authorizations and Support Calls
Each section and each module within a section can be cross linked. So you really can get that 30,000 foot in the air view of your business as well as what is happening at ground zero.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Introducing The Support Module
The support module is used for documenting the customer support experience for a company. It can be used by multiple staff members to record the possible multiple steps in a problem resolution.
Key Features Of The Support Module
- Ability to record support issues from clients
- Can link to a contact and staff record
- Can link to a campaign record
- Can link to a vendor record
- Ability to link to media files
Introduction To The Returns Module
The RMA module is design to record instances where a customer was issued a confirmation to return a product for repair or return. You can record what we returned via line items (just like the line items on an invoice). You can even link a return to an invoice and you can quickly view all the returns given to a client from their client record. This is available via a customer satisfaction tab found within each client record.
Key Features Of The Returns Module
- Ability to record returns from clients
- Ability to record technician comments
- Ability to record receiving comments
- Ability to link returns to media files
Introduction To The Credit Memo Module
The credit memo module is design to record instances where a customer was issued a refund. You can record what we returned via line items (just like the line items on an invoice). You can even link a credit memo to an invoice and you can quickly view all the credit memos given to a client from their client record. This is available via a customer satisfaction tab found within each client record.
Key Features Of The Credit Memo Module
- Ability to record credits to clients
- Ability to link credits to media files
Key Features Of The Clients Module
Key Features Of The Clients Module
- Ability to link to multiple modules
- Ability to set default payment methods
- Ability to see multiple linked aspects of Sales / Marketing
- Ability to see multiple linked aspects of Customer Satisfaction
- Ability to see multiple linked aspects of Events and Emails
- Ability to see multiple linked staff time cards
- Ability to see multiple linked media file records
- Ability to see linked web site information
- Limited data auditing on record changes
- Multiple client related report activities
- Ability to link to multiple modules
- Ability to set default payment methods
- Ability to see multiple linked aspects of Sales / Marketing
- Ability to see multiple linked aspects of Customer Satisfaction
- Ability to see multiple linked aspects of Events and Emails
- Ability to see multiple linked staff time cards
- Ability to see multiple linked media file records
- Ability to see linked web site information
- Limited data auditing on record changes
- Multiple client related report activities
Version 2.5
Version 2.5
I'm adding this post when InBizness SOHO is on version 2.6 but wanted to have this information available for reference.
NEW BANK DEPOSIT MODULE
Added a new module for quickly creating deposit slips for customer check payments.
NEW SUPPORT CALL MODULE
Added a new module for documenting the customer support experience for a company.
MAIN MODULE CHANGES
Added a sub tab to the Version History tab to document the changes in version 2.5
Removed The Emails And Events buttons to make room for new modules.
These two buttons are still in the Take Me To screen and the navigation custom menu.
Added a sub tab panel to the Preferences tab in the Main module including General, Invoice and Purchase Orders
Added a global field (in preferences) to help tailor the message on email invoices about how to make balance due payment
CAMPAIGN MODULE CHANGES
Added a relationship from Campaigns To Timecards, a tab to see this in a portal and you can create a timecard from this module.
CLIENT MODULE CHANGES
Added a button called "List These" that does a GTRR to related records and show them in a list view. This button can be used to show related invoices, sales orders, quotes, proposals, campaigns, credit memos, returns, emails and events.
Tightened up the bottom tab order to show more data and be organized into logical group tabs.
Combined Emails And Events into the same tab and added this data as a subtab.
Added a relationship from Clients To Timecards, a tab to see this in a portal and you can create a timecard from this module.
Added A Support Call portal in the Customer Satisfaction Primary Tab
Added button and custom menu to create a new linked support call record from the clients module.
Added a pull down list of countries for the billing country and shipping country fields
Added a country code field for shipping and billing that uses a custom function to auto entry the code to correspond to the country
Added another subtab within the Emails/Events/Time tab called Timecard billing, which can be used to calculate and communicate consulting billing timecard entry.
Tweaked the Web Viewer tab panel to become Media Files / Web and added a sub tab with a portal to see linked media files
CONTACT MODULE CHANGES
Added a relationship from Contacts To Timecards, a tab to see this in a portal and you can create a timecard from this module.
Added a tab for viewing linked media files, added portals to view the files, added GTRR for access and button to create new linked media records.
EVENTS MODULE CHANGES
In many modules, you can see a related event in the Events Dialog box (a smaller layout linked to the Events module). I added a button on that dialog layout to go to full screen view of the event record.
FILES / MEDIA MODULE CHANGES
Added a relationship from Files To Contacts and a magnifying glass icon to GTRR the related contact
INVOICE MODULE CHANGES
Added a button in the payments tab to automatically add a payment that is equal to the balance due for the invoice.
Turned off the validate always selection for the invoice number field because it was interfering with importing legacy data
Added a customization options area in the text invoice tab to allow for customization options for each invoice that might be emailed.
The first text invoice customization allows for including balance due information on outgoing invoices.
Tweaked the text invoice information to include a message about how payments can be made for invoices with a balance due.
LEADS MODULE CHANGES
Added a relationship from Leads To Timecards, a tab to see this in a portal and you can create a timecard from this module.
To be consistent, the lead contact field has been broken up into a first and last name fields.
Added the ability to create a proposal from a lead and added a tab with portal to see related proposals for a lead
PROPOSAL MODULE CHANGES
Added a button and custom menu option within the Proposal module that will convert the proposal record to a new campaign record. The proposal milestones become campaign events and everything is attached to the related client.
Shortened the tab name Terms Agreement to Terms and added a Products tab
Added a tab for products and now you can add products from inventory to a proposal
Made Background a master tab with the sub tabs of Background, Research and Objectives
Removed the main tabs of Research and Objectives and made them sub tabs within the Background tab
Added a Questions tab / field in the Statements tab, this allows you to include proposal questions about areas within a proposal draft
STAFF MODULE CHANGES
Added a new sub tab in the Events tab titled "Range / Working / Date Sort". It allows a staff member to set a start and end date range to see all their events in "Working" status. Added a large number of buttons to help set the range including Today, This Week, Last Week, Next Week, This Month, Last Month, Next Month and YTD. I also added a button to set all the events that have working status before the current date for a staff member to the current date. Also added the Set Previous Working feature as a custom menu for the Staff menu.
Added summary fields to the Timecard tab for overall timecard time (by range), overall billable time and billable amount.
Added New Timecard light gray button in the top button row, not sure how I missed that until now.
Added a tab for viewing linked media files, added portals to view the files, added GTRR for access and button to create new linked media records.
TIMECARD MODULE CHANGES
Updated the client id field to auto enter via a lookup to an associated campaign record
Added a button next to the timecard email field to send timecard information to the linked client
UNDER THE HOOD - BaseElements Error Free
I acquired a copy of BaseElements 2.0 and used it to evaluate InBizness SOHO 2.5. There wasn't any major problems but there were reports of a lot of smaller issues and warnings. At this release date, InBizness SOHO 2.5 has no reported errors or warnings.
UNDER THE HOOD - CUSTOM FUNCTION ADDITION (insert_commas)
Added the custom function of insert_commas, which inserts commas before every third digit before a decimal point. Uses recursion to handle any number, including negative values and decimals. This allows me to have a calculated number in a text calculation field and still show the commas. So a calculated value of 2,000 will look that way instead of 2000. The name of the function is insert_commas and I got it from the briandunning.com web site. The credits for uploading this function to that site are noted as Matthew Stetson, Antidote Solutions (http://www.antidotesolutions.com)
UNDER THE HOOD - CUSTOM FUNCTION ADDITION (_cf_Country_Letter_Code)
This is a list of countries (sorted partially by their first letter) and their equivalent letter code. The name of the function is _cf_Country_Letter_Code and I got it from the briandunning.com web site. The credits for uploading this function to that site are noted as Edward Souza, Duana A. S. Designs.
UNDER THE HOOD - CUSTOM MENU CHANGES
In the Staff module, added the custom menu of Set Previously Working Events To Today.
In the Proposal module, add a custom menu to covert a Proposal (with milestones) to a Campaign (with events).
Removed all aspects that allowed general FileMaker users to install standard FileMaker menus vs custom menus
UNDER THE HOOD - LAYOUT CHANGES
Went through and renamed all layouts to a new centralized naming convention
Went through and reorganized all layouts by module name and purpose
UNDER THE HOOD - SCRIPTING
Added a new naming convention for all scripts so they can uniquely identify what module they focus upon
UNDER THE HOOD - RELATIONSHIP GRAPH CHANGES
I had my Relationship Graph in very good shape for my InBizness SOHO product. However, I have never made sure that it printed perfectly. This is a large task because InBizness SOHO 2.5 has over 200 table occurrences for the 45 tables it currently has. So now, all those table occurrences are in synch with the Page Guide grid. I know that many of my competitors in the FileMaker framework business market could never print all the relationships for their solution from one place and it all fits into the printable grid. All TOGs are sorted alphabetically, fully anchor / buoy, full consistent naming convention and now totally printer friendly.
UNDER THE HOOD - VALUE LISTS
Went through and renamed all value lists to a new centralized naming convention
Added a value list for countries called OVERALL_country and have started assigning it to related country fields in the solution
I'm adding this post when InBizness SOHO is on version 2.6 but wanted to have this information available for reference.
NEW BANK DEPOSIT MODULE
Added a new module for quickly creating deposit slips for customer check payments.
NEW SUPPORT CALL MODULE
Added a new module for documenting the customer support experience for a company.
MAIN MODULE CHANGES
Added a sub tab to the Version History tab to document the changes in version 2.5
Removed The Emails And Events buttons to make room for new modules.
These two buttons are still in the Take Me To screen and the navigation custom menu.
Added a sub tab panel to the Preferences tab in the Main module including General, Invoice and Purchase Orders
Added a global field (in preferences) to help tailor the message on email invoices about how to make balance due payment
CAMPAIGN MODULE CHANGES
Added a relationship from Campaigns To Timecards, a tab to see this in a portal and you can create a timecard from this module.
CLIENT MODULE CHANGES
Added a button called "List These" that does a GTRR to related records and show them in a list view. This button can be used to show related invoices, sales orders, quotes, proposals, campaigns, credit memos, returns, emails and events.
Tightened up the bottom tab order to show more data and be organized into logical group tabs.
Combined Emails And Events into the same tab and added this data as a subtab.
Added a relationship from Clients To Timecards, a tab to see this in a portal and you can create a timecard from this module.
Added A Support Call portal in the Customer Satisfaction Primary Tab
Added button and custom menu to create a new linked support call record from the clients module.
Added a pull down list of countries for the billing country and shipping country fields
Added a country code field for shipping and billing that uses a custom function to auto entry the code to correspond to the country
Added another subtab within the Emails/Events/Time tab called Timecard billing, which can be used to calculate and communicate consulting billing timecard entry.
Tweaked the Web Viewer tab panel to become Media Files / Web and added a sub tab with a portal to see linked media files
CONTACT MODULE CHANGES
Added a relationship from Contacts To Timecards, a tab to see this in a portal and you can create a timecard from this module.
Added a tab for viewing linked media files, added portals to view the files, added GTRR for access and button to create new linked media records.
EVENTS MODULE CHANGES
In many modules, you can see a related event in the Events Dialog box (a smaller layout linked to the Events module). I added a button on that dialog layout to go to full screen view of the event record.
FILES / MEDIA MODULE CHANGES
Added a relationship from Files To Contacts and a magnifying glass icon to GTRR the related contact
INVOICE MODULE CHANGES
Added a button in the payments tab to automatically add a payment that is equal to the balance due for the invoice.
Turned off the validate always selection for the invoice number field because it was interfering with importing legacy data
Added a customization options area in the text invoice tab to allow for customization options for each invoice that might be emailed.
The first text invoice customization allows for including balance due information on outgoing invoices.
Tweaked the text invoice information to include a message about how payments can be made for invoices with a balance due.
LEADS MODULE CHANGES
Added a relationship from Leads To Timecards, a tab to see this in a portal and you can create a timecard from this module.
To be consistent, the lead contact field has been broken up into a first and last name fields.
Added the ability to create a proposal from a lead and added a tab with portal to see related proposals for a lead
PROPOSAL MODULE CHANGES
Added a button and custom menu option within the Proposal module that will convert the proposal record to a new campaign record. The proposal milestones become campaign events and everything is attached to the related client.
Shortened the tab name Terms Agreement to Terms and added a Products tab
Added a tab for products and now you can add products from inventory to a proposal
Made Background a master tab with the sub tabs of Background, Research and Objectives
Removed the main tabs of Research and Objectives and made them sub tabs within the Background tab
Added a Questions tab / field in the Statements tab, this allows you to include proposal questions about areas within a proposal draft
STAFF MODULE CHANGES
Added a new sub tab in the Events tab titled "Range / Working / Date Sort". It allows a staff member to set a start and end date range to see all their events in "Working" status. Added a large number of buttons to help set the range including Today, This Week, Last Week, Next Week, This Month, Last Month, Next Month and YTD. I also added a button to set all the events that have working status before the current date for a staff member to the current date. Also added the Set Previous Working feature as a custom menu for the Staff menu.
Added summary fields to the Timecard tab for overall timecard time (by range), overall billable time and billable amount.
Added New Timecard light gray button in the top button row, not sure how I missed that until now.
Added a tab for viewing linked media files, added portals to view the files, added GTRR for access and button to create new linked media records.
TIMECARD MODULE CHANGES
Updated the client id field to auto enter via a lookup to an associated campaign record
Added a button next to the timecard email field to send timecard information to the linked client
UNDER THE HOOD - BaseElements Error Free
I acquired a copy of BaseElements 2.0 and used it to evaluate InBizness SOHO 2.5. There wasn't any major problems but there were reports of a lot of smaller issues and warnings. At this release date, InBizness SOHO 2.5 has no reported errors or warnings.
UNDER THE HOOD - CUSTOM FUNCTION ADDITION (insert_commas)
Added the custom function of insert_commas, which inserts commas before every third digit before a decimal point. Uses recursion to handle any number, including negative values and decimals. This allows me to have a calculated number in a text calculation field and still show the commas. So a calculated value of 2,000 will look that way instead of 2000. The name of the function is insert_commas and I got it from the briandunning.com web site. The credits for uploading this function to that site are noted as Matthew Stetson, Antidote Solutions (http://www.antidotesolutions.com)
UNDER THE HOOD - CUSTOM FUNCTION ADDITION (_cf_Country_Letter_Code)
This is a list of countries (sorted partially by their first letter) and their equivalent letter code. The name of the function is _cf_Country_Letter_Code and I got it from the briandunning.com web site. The credits for uploading this function to that site are noted as Edward Souza, Duana A. S. Designs.
UNDER THE HOOD - CUSTOM MENU CHANGES
In the Staff module, added the custom menu of Set Previously Working Events To Today.
In the Proposal module, add a custom menu to covert a Proposal (with milestones) to a Campaign (with events).
Removed all aspects that allowed general FileMaker users to install standard FileMaker menus vs custom menus
UNDER THE HOOD - LAYOUT CHANGES
Went through and renamed all layouts to a new centralized naming convention
Went through and reorganized all layouts by module name and purpose
UNDER THE HOOD - SCRIPTING
Added a new naming convention for all scripts so they can uniquely identify what module they focus upon
UNDER THE HOOD - RELATIONSHIP GRAPH CHANGES
I had my Relationship Graph in very good shape for my InBizness SOHO product. However, I have never made sure that it printed perfectly. This is a large task because InBizness SOHO 2.5 has over 200 table occurrences for the 45 tables it currently has. So now, all those table occurrences are in synch with the Page Guide grid. I know that many of my competitors in the FileMaker framework business market could never print all the relationships for their solution from one place and it all fits into the printable grid. All TOGs are sorted alphabetically, fully anchor / buoy, full consistent naming convention and now totally printer friendly.
UNDER THE HOOD - VALUE LISTS
Went through and renamed all value lists to a new centralized naming convention
Added a value list for countries called OVERALL_country and have started assigning it to related country fields in the solution
Version 2.4
Version 2.4
I'm adding this post when InBizness SOHO is on version 2.6 but wanted to have this information available for reference.
NEW CONTACTS MODULE
Added new contacts module so now you can document multiple contacts within a client or vendor record.
NEW LEADS MODULE
Added new leads module for cultivating new clients. This paves the way for a more robust lead to client process.
NEW SALES ORDER MODULE
Added new sales order module and allows you to convert a sales order to an invoice.
NEW TIME CARD MODULE
Added new timecard module so now you can have a staff member log their time and have it associated with a record in another module such as a campaign, a customer, a lead or just about anything!
NEW CREDIT MEMO MODULE
Added new credit memo module to record instances where a customer was issued a refund.
NEW RMA (return merchandise authorization) MODULE
Added new credit memo module to record instances where a customer was issued an authorization to return a product.
MAIN MODULE CHANGES
Edited and reorganized the buttons for module navigation, also updated the Take Me To dialog box
Added a tab to see the dwaynewright.com web site in a tab
CLIENT MODULE CHANGES
Added a portal to add contacts to Client record
Added a portal to add multiple addresses for a Client record
Added the ability to create a new RMA for a client from the Create Related custom menu
Consolidated the Sales and Marketing tabs into one tab
Added new Sales Order sub-tab with related portal within the Sales / Marketing tab
Added new tab called Customer Sat, included sub-tabs to for related credit memos and returns records
Added the related portals for the related credit memos and returns records
INVOICE MODULE CHANGES
Reorganized the top tab panels. It used to be a pair of thinner tab panels. Now it is one long tab and the address information is not seen side by side.
PAYMENTS MODULE CHANGES
Previous to version 2.4, the payment module was accessed via a portal in the invoice module. Now it has its own form, list and print layouts.
STAFF MODULE CHANGES
Added a link to the new timecard module (naturally) with a new tab panel for Timecard with a ranged portal display
VENDOR MODULE CHANGES
Added the tab panel for viewing related contacts via a portal and added the script to create related contacts
CUSTOM MENU CHANGES
Reorganized the Navigation Menu with new module options
USER INTERFACE CHANGES
Tweaked the main screen leveraging even more from the ISO Theme Library
Continued tweaking of form and list view interfaces using the ISO Theme Library materials.
Added a value list for time related data entry, mostly for timecard entry requirements
In most layouts, there is a tab that allows a user to submit customization requests
REPORT CHANGES
Added a new client report that reports on sales by state and ranks them by total sales
I'm adding this post when InBizness SOHO is on version 2.6 but wanted to have this information available for reference.
NEW CONTACTS MODULE
Added new contacts module so now you can document multiple contacts within a client or vendor record.
NEW LEADS MODULE
Added new leads module for cultivating new clients. This paves the way for a more robust lead to client process.
NEW SALES ORDER MODULE
Added new sales order module and allows you to convert a sales order to an invoice.
NEW TIME CARD MODULE
Added new timecard module so now you can have a staff member log their time and have it associated with a record in another module such as a campaign, a customer, a lead or just about anything!
NEW CREDIT MEMO MODULE
Added new credit memo module to record instances where a customer was issued a refund.
NEW RMA (return merchandise authorization) MODULE
Added new credit memo module to record instances where a customer was issued an authorization to return a product.
MAIN MODULE CHANGES
Edited and reorganized the buttons for module navigation, also updated the Take Me To dialog box
Added a tab to see the dwaynewright.com web site in a tab
CLIENT MODULE CHANGES
Added a portal to add contacts to Client record
Added a portal to add multiple addresses for a Client record
Added the ability to create a new RMA for a client from the Create Related custom menu
Consolidated the Sales and Marketing tabs into one tab
Added new Sales Order sub-tab with related portal within the Sales / Marketing tab
Added new tab called Customer Sat, included sub-tabs to for related credit memos and returns records
Added the related portals for the related credit memos and returns records
INVOICE MODULE CHANGES
Reorganized the top tab panels. It used to be a pair of thinner tab panels. Now it is one long tab and the address information is not seen side by side.
PAYMENTS MODULE CHANGES
Previous to version 2.4, the payment module was accessed via a portal in the invoice module. Now it has its own form, list and print layouts.
STAFF MODULE CHANGES
Added a link to the new timecard module (naturally) with a new tab panel for Timecard with a ranged portal display
VENDOR MODULE CHANGES
Added the tab panel for viewing related contacts via a portal and added the script to create related contacts
CUSTOM MENU CHANGES
Reorganized the Navigation Menu with new module options
USER INTERFACE CHANGES
Tweaked the main screen leveraging even more from the ISO Theme Library
Continued tweaking of form and list view interfaces using the ISO Theme Library materials.
Added a value list for time related data entry, mostly for timecard entry requirements
In most layouts, there is a tab that allows a user to submit customization requests
REPORT CHANGES
Added a new client report that reports on sales by state and ranks them by total sales
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