Before you can start working with the CRM system you must identify yourself to the CRM system as an authorized user. This is done by a login procedure which requires a Username and a Password. Both are provided to you by your CRM system administrator.

For the simple use of the CRM system you do not need to install any software on your computer system. You operate the CRM system solely by your favorite browser only.

	Note
	If you want to have your office environment linked to the CRM system, you may install some extensions on your computer later. For this purpose please refer to the appropriate other manuals listed in Appendix: Ressources.

Please note the following minimum requirements and follow the browser setup instructions.

Your browser configuration must meet the following requirements:

Your CRM system administrator will provide you with a URL to be used as the access address to the CRM system at your browser. You will also need the Username and the Password of your CRM account.

Figure 1.1. Login screen

Upon starting the CRM software, the Login screen will appear as shown in figure: Login Screen. The user must type an Username and Password into the available edit fields in order to continue on the program. A user may also choose a different Theme or Language. Username, Password, Themes and Languages are provided by the system administrator. After entering the Username and Password, press <Enter>, or the Sign in Button.

	Caution
	Most browsers are able to store your Username and Password to simplify usage. However, this may be a security risk if you cannot make sure that nobody else has access to your computer. Unauthorized persons may get access to your confidential data. This is especially true if you are using a notebook that can get lost.

After login, you will be shown a Home page screen as shown in figure: CRM Home page.

Figure 1.2. CRM Home Page

Based on the theme you selected, the system settings done by your administrator, and the data stored at the CRM system, your actual screen may look different. The following chapters will explain how you can customize the Home page and how you can use the CRM functions.

Home Page Content

The main area of the Home page, as illustrated in the center of figure: CRM Home page, displays a block summary of the most important CRM information. You can change the order of theses blocks by dragging and dropping. You can also change the content of your home page as explained in section: My Preferences.

Table 1.1. List of block information at Home

Homepage Dashboard:	This dashboard displays the data stored at the CRM system as a graphic. This graphic summarizes all information that are related to the user logged in.
My Top Accounts:	Here you can see a list of your top accounts. The content of this list is generated by adding all amounts listed at potentials related to individual accounts.
My Top Open Potentials:	This is a list of your potentials. It does not include the potentials of other users.
My Group Allocations:	This a list of CRM entries which have been assigned to a group where you are a member.
My Trouble Tickets:	This is a list of tickets assigned to you or to a group where you are a member.
Key Metrics:	The key metrics is a powerful tool. Its function depends on your list view settings. For the data displayed in each CRM module, you may create list views based on criteria that meet your special needs. These criteria can be met, for instance, by using the filter functions. The key metrics will add up the number of CRM entries that meet these criteria. For instance, you build a list view of all quotes which has been drafted. Then the key metrics will show you the total number of these quotes.
My Top Open Quotes:	Here are your open quotes listed. All entries are sorted by their amount.
My Top Open Sales Orders:	Here are your open sales orders listed. All entries are sorted by their amount.
My Top Open Purchase Orders:	Here are your open purchase orders listed. All entries are sorted by their amount.
My Top Open Invoice:	Here are your open invoices listed. All entries are sorted by their amount.
My New Leads:	Here are the new Leads displayed. You may select at the My Settings menu what you consider as new.
Upcoming & Pending Activities:	This lists the upcoming and pending activities from your calendar. Pending activities are overdue and not closed.
My Recent FAQs:	This is a list of your entries at the knowledge base.

	Important
	Please note that all data stored at the CRM system have an owner. The owner is marked by an "[assigned to:]" entry. If you make a new entry, the data will automatically be assigned to you unless you change this intentionally. At the Home page only data assigned to you will be shown.

In the right-hand area of the CRM's Home page, you see a list of your upcoming and pending activities as well as the tag cloud. The activity features of the CRM system are described in section: Calendar and Activities. The purpose and the functions of the tag cloud are explained in section: Tag Cloud.

Navigation

The smart design of the CRM system will allow you to get most information quickly. You can navigate within the CRM as if you were browsing websites.

	Caution
	It is not recommended to use the back and forward buttons of the browser. These buttons can cause problems when browsing through pages with dynamically generated content.

It is recommended to use the icons and links provided by the CRM system. Advanced users may switch to tabbed browsing (offered e.g. by the Firefox Browser or IE7) to speed up the handling process. You may reach each CRM page by a few clicks. All CRM pages are in hierarchical order. You may switch between pages at the same hierarchical level or you may access a page directly. Based on the content of each individual page you may use the following keyboard shortcuts:

• [Alt+E:] Edit

• [Alt+S:] Save

• [Alt+Q:] Search

• [Alt+C:] Empty

• [Alt+G: ]Select

• [Alt+D: ]Delete

• [Alt+U:] Copy

At the Top of the CRM system, as illustrated at figure: Top Area you have access to different area types and functions to navigate and to work with the CRM.

Figure 1.3. Screen Top Area

Login area:

In this area you may access your preference data, get help or release information, or leave the CRM system.

Navigation area:

Here you can swap between the functions and data lists offered by the CRM system.

Quick-Menu:

Here you can quickly reach data entry pages.

Search:

Here you can search you entire data base.

Tools:

By clicking these icons, you get a quick access to the calendar, the clock, the calculator and other functions. In addition, you may use the Open Selection Menu icon for a quick access to all CRM modules. These icons are available at all CRM menus if appropriate.

My Preferences

When you click My Preferences a new window opens as displayed in figure: My Preferences. This allows you to view and edit user information and to set your own preferences.

Figure 1.4. My Preferences

Most of these fields are self-explanatory. The highlighted fields in figure: My Preferences are fields that serve special purposes and are explained in the following table:

Table 1.2. List of special fields at My Preferences

User Login & Role - Admin:	If the check box is marked, the user has administrator privileges. This field cannot be edited by a user; it can only be changed by the administrator.
User Login & Role - Role:	This field displays the role assigned to the user. This field cannot be edited by a user; it can only be changed by the administrator.
User Login & Role - Status:	This field shows whether a user is active (only important for administrators). Inactive users are not allowed to access the CRM system. This field cannot be edited by a user; it can only be changed by the administrator.
User Login & Role - Default Lead Display:	This Field defines how long a Lead is considered as new and displayed at the home page.
More Information - Signature:	This defines the signature which is automatically added to outgoing e-mails.
More Information - Internal Mail Composer:	This defines whether the internal CRM mail composer is used when clicking on an e-mail address. If switched off the mail composer installed on your computer is used.
More Information - Reports To:	Here the supervisor of a particular user is defined. This does not influence the security settings at all.
User Photograph:	Here an image or photo of an user can be stored.
Home Page Components:	This defines which CRM information is displayed at the users home page.
Tag Cloud Display:	This defines whether the tag cloud is displayed.
My Groups:	If a user is a member of a group, a list of the membership is shown.
Login History:	That displays the login history for the CRM system.

Every user can define and change his own password. It is recommended to change the password frequently.

Important

User name and passwords have to be a combination of small or capital letters and numbers. It is recommended that you use at least 8 digits. As more digits you have, the more secure CRM access is. The use of special characters such as %, / or umlaut (such as ä, ö, ü or ß), as they are used in other languages, is not allowed. A good password for example looks like Dhe4K39b. User names once created cannot be changed. However, you might create a new user and transfer all data to the new user.

Click on the [Edit] button to make changes. Alternatively you may move your mouse pointer over an entry. An edit function is then offered, which you can use to change one particular entry.

The View Audit Trail button is only functional, if the CRM system administrator enables this function. Please refer to section: Audit Trails for further information.

The order and the content of the blocks shown at Home can be modified for each individual user. You may change the display order of these blocks at home by drag and drop. You may change the content by clicking [My Preferences] and the [Edit] button. Mark the information blocks you want to see at your home page display.

In addition, you may define the conditions of displaying entries such as the Default Lead View and Default Calendar View.

Global Search Function

The Home pages provides a powerful search function that allows you to search the entire database. You may search for any terms. Fill in the search field and hit the [Find] button, as shown in figure: Global Search.

Figure 1.5. Global Search

	Tip
	The % character can be used as a wild card for the search. For example, if you have two contacts spelled "Meyer" and "Mayer" you may search for both by entering "M%yer" as a search term.

Quick-Menu

The Quick-Menu at Home allows you to jump quickly to an entry page. At the drop down menu select the new entry you want to make.

	Note
	The Quick-Menu has only limited capabilities for entering data. For the full set of options available look at section Chapter 2: Data Entries.

Your access privileges to the CRM system are set by the administrator when configuring the CRM system. The following privilege types are available:

The CRM system makes sure that you can only exercise certain operations if you have the proper privileges. You may get further information at Chapter 4: Administrative Tasks. Please contact your system administrator if you want to know more about the privileges set in your system or if you want to have them changed.

To best use, the CRM system needs to be configured based on your company's needs. Every user with administrator privileges is allowed to modify the basic settings. All the possibilities are described in chapter: User Administration of this manual. In addition, there are many functions available which allow users to configure the presentation of data without changing the basic settings and without administrator access privileges. All the options will be explained in the following sections.

Even without a lot of configuration you will quickly be able to start with the CRM system. The data about customers are the core of each CRM system. So you may start to enter such data. Since the CRM system is much more than a simple storage system, I recommend that you make yourself familiar with the sales process as described in section: The Sales Process. Start with entering customer data as a Lead. Then convert such a lead into a Sales Potential. Watch how contacts, accounts and potentials are generated automatically. You may also import lead data from your existing office environment to speed up the process.

As the first step I recommend to start with entering the most important contact information of your active customers. You may add further information later. You will also need to enter your company as an account and employees data as contacts. You will need these data to efficiently communicate with other users. For further instructions please refer to section: Customer contacts. After you have entered your contacts, you will have a wide variety of automated CRM functions available.

As the second step I recommend that you begin with entering your product and/or service offerings. In section: Product Related Entries you will find detailed instructions for entering product and service information as well as price books. Again, start with entering only the most important information. You may append the data later.

If multiple users start using the CRM at the same time, please keep in mind that you have to enter any kind of information only once. Make sure that you communicate with the others.

Use your CRM data immediately when you schedule the next customer contact. Get yourself familiar with the activity functions as they are described in section: Calendar and Activities and define your sales process by different sales stages.

Over time you will improve your capabilities to operate the system step by step. In a short time you will experience the use of the system as a habit.