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Template Automation |
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You can now set Template buttons to perform
key TCM functions such as set a call-back, create a Service Call, a forecast,
print a letter, even create an Asset - all from the single click of a Template
button. Consider the scenario - you click the Template button for 'Send a
brochure', and now you can set TCM to print a covering letter, schedule a
return call in 5 days, and set a sales forecast all from that single click. You
can set multiple actions for each Template button, and you can have multiple
actions of the same type for each button (to print 4 different letters to the
same person, for example).
Here is a list of the automation features that are now available:
| Pop-up
message |
Displays a Windows Message box. You can set
the message, the title and the icon.
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, this box appears reminding them to
tell the caller about this weeks special offers. |
| Write a
letter |
Creates a letter in the Contact's folder as
though you had used TCM's Write a letter feature. Mail-merge fields are filled
in, and you can print up to 99 copies of the letter.
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, a covering letter is printed and
also a shipping note is printed for the dispatchers. |
| Send an
e-mail |
Creates an e-mail in the Outbasket, based on
one of your existing library e-mails.
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, an e-mail is sent to the Contact
confirming their order. |
| Schedule a
call-back |
Schedules a call-back for either the current
user or a specified user. The choices of date and time are not as flexible as
the choices in the Call-back screen due to the nature of being able to click a
Template button at any time of day and on any day of the week, but the most
common time intervals are catered for.
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, a reminder goes into their diary to
call the Contact back in a week to follow up the potential sale. |
| Write to a
field |
Not yet supported.
Will allow you to update one of the Contact's fields.
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, the field 'Most recent call' is set
to today's date. |
| Open |
Not yet supported.
Will allow you to open one of the TCM screens or any Windows application
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, Excel opens ready to calculate a
quote. |
| Create a
To-Do |
Not yet supported.
Will allow you to add a To-Do task to either your or another user's To-Do list.
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, a To-Do item goes to Frank to post
a free sample. |
| Create an
Asset |
Creates an Asset using the default values as
set in the Template.
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, an Asset of type Brochure is
created. |
| Create a
Service Call |
Creates a Service Call (Job) using the
default values as set in the Template.
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, a Job is created to organise
maintenance on the caller's washing machine. |
| Change
cold-call status |
Used in conjunction with the cold-calling
feature where a Virtual Folder is used as the source list for a cold-calling
exercise.
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, the cold-call status is changed to
Sent information and the caller is moved into a 'hotlist' of follow-up
calls. |
| Create a
Forecast |
Creates a Forecast using the default values
as set in the Template.
Eg: When the user clicks a template button, a Forecast is created to indicate
that the caller was interested in the sales pitch. |
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Notify-Me! Module replaces the CEFile |
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The setup area for the Notify-Me! module has
been in TCM for some months now, and you can finally activate the module which
ships with this Service Pack and will load when Windows starts up, replacing
the old CEFile module entirely. Here is what the new Notify-Me! module can do:
• Remind you about Diary appointments and To-Dos
This is basically the same functionality as the CEFile offered, which notifies
you in advance of diary appointments (provided that you have set reminders for
your appointments) and To-Do list item completion times. Note that problems
with the CEFile regarding alarms not sounding have now been corrected. We have
also added Automatic Reminders which will remind you about certain types of
events even if you haven't set a specific reminder; for example, by default it
will remind you about all birthdays and anniversaries two days in advance.
• Notify you of folder activity
You can tell TCM to 'watch' specific folders in the database and notify you
when activity takes place in those folders. Say for example you want to know
when Jennifer Cox gets in touch and someone else in the office takes the call?
Simply add Jennifer to your list and you'll be notified when anyone except you
deals with her.
• Notify you of new e-mails
TCM will monitor all your e-mail accounts and notify you when you have mail
waiting. It will also remind you if you have written e-mails but not sent them
yet (this reminder replaces the same reminder that was given by the Help
Agent).
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Sage® Invoicing |
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You can now right-click on a Job in the Big
Board and choose Invoice Now to raise an invoice in Sage® Accounts based on
the Job details. TCM allows you to pre-define any number of invoices containing
standard items if you wish (such as postage, VAT and so on) which you can then
choose from before opening the Sage® Invoicing module. Details of the
invoice are returned to TCM and can be used to produce a printable HTML invoice
that is stored in TCM as part of the Job history.
Note: This feature requires the Sage® Module to be activated in your
Activation Code.
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Improved Error Handling |
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We try to make sure that there are no errors
in TCM because we know how frustrating they are for users, but the bottom line
is that all software contains errors. We operate a policy of prioritising bug
fixes above development work and our Service Packs usually contain
several fixes (see below). In order to help us when you encounter an error we
have designed a new error message box which shows more precicely where in the
program the problem occured. If you wish, and if you have internet access, you
can then open a Bug Report form and tell us about the error - obviously we
can't fix it if we don't know about it! |
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New Filters and Reports in the CSM Big Boards |
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If you have access to the Customer Service
Management features of TCM then you'll be familiar with the Big Boards in the
To-Do screen, which list all current jobs. We have added two new features to
this screen; a drop-list of customisable filters and a drop-list of fixed
reports.
With the filters you can home-in on a specific period, filter on Engineers, Job
Statuses, Job Types and Job Flavours, and now for the first time you can filter
on jobs that have been completed. For example, you could list all jobs that
were started in a particular week last year. You can create any number of
filters and apply them as required.
The fixed reports offer many different ways to summarise and break down the
jobs that are listed in the Big Board. For example you can create a summary of
jobs by type, and then by user within each type. A new type of report is called
By Escalation, and this looks back through the history of each job to find out
when the status was changed (or escalated), so that you can see the progression
of your jobs.
As a final feature, when you strike upon a filter and report combination that
you particularly like you can save it as a Report Layout. This allows you to
quickly produce standardised reports on a daily, weekly or on-demand basis.
Note Unfortunately it is not possible to build the files that TCM
requires in order to produce Escalation Reports if you have existing jobs in
TCM. The escalation information will only be stored when you start using this
version of TCM. |
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Improved Anti-Spamming (Auto-Delete) |
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Drowning in a sea of junk e-mails is no fun,
but coming up with rules to combat them is no easy task. Still, we've added a
few more rules to the Auto-Delete function to help filter out the legitimate
e-mails from the junk. Please bear in mind that no anti-spam system is perfect
and even with these new options many junk e-mails will still get through, and
TCM may also treat perfectly legitimate e-mails as potential junk. Note
In all cases below, TCM does not automatically delete e-mails that match the
criteria, it simply offers them to the user as being potential junk e-mails,
the user must decide whether to delete or keep them.
• Subject contains more than 60% incorrectly spelt words
You can change the percentage threshold from 60% if you wish, but the basic
idea of this rule is that if the subject of an e-mail contains several spelling
mistakes then it's probably a junk e-mail. This is specifically to combat
e-mails where each letter in a word is separated by a colon, space or other
character (such as G:I:R:L:S), or where numbers are used to represent letters
(such as 501L instead of SOIL).
• Subject contains multiple consecutive characters
This option is designed to combat e-mails where there is a normal subject
followed by lots of spaces and then a final word at the end (which is usually
off the far-right end of the screen where you can't see it).
• Sender appears to be random letters and numbers
Many junk e-mails originate from reputable hosts (such as aol.com and
hotmail.com) but are purely random names such as Hbf7tW89d@aol.com, and this
option is designed to trap these seemingly random addresses. If a friend's
e-mail address is something like petesmith321@aol.com then TCM will allow it
through the filter, but others may be caught by the filter despite being
perfectly legitimate, it's a difficult balance to strike.
• Sender is not in the database
This option is not active by default because it's a very blunt instrument, in
that TCM will treat as junk any e-mails that are not from people who are in the
TCM database. This is more likely to appeal to home users who only want to
receive e-mails from trusted sources such as friends and family, and treat all
other e-mails as junk.
We have also added four new filter rules. Previously in TCM the filters dealt
with either the Sender's Address or the Subject, we have now added Sender's
name (or alias) to the list of options, which are:
• Sender's name is ...
• Sender's name begins ...
• Sender's name ends ...
• Sender's name contains ...
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Ability to isolate TCM's registry
settings |
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For each set of paths that you create in TCM,
you can now choose to isolate the TCM Registry settings and apply them only to
that set of paths. This allows you to set up independent demo databases each
with their own specific settings. This feature is intended only for TCM
dealers, as having multiple registry branches for TCM can be confusing.
To isolate the TCM Registry settings for a particular set of paths, simply tick
the Isolate option in Setup > Paths. |
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Who is using TCM? |
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Updating TCM on a network can be tricky
because all users must close down TCM and the Notify-Me! module before the
update can be done. To help network administrators figure out who is using TCM,
you can now open a file in the same folder as the TCM.EXE file called
LOGGEDON.TXT which holds information about each computer on the network and
whether TCM is running on that machine.
Note that this file is created and updated by the Notify-Me! module on each
workstation, and so it will only exist after you have installed this Service
Pack and be of use to you next time you do an update. It will also only be
accurate if the Notify-Me! module is running on each machine (the file is still
updated even if Notify-Me! is in suspended or snooze mode).
Also note that this file can only be created and updated if all users have
access rights to create, read and write to the folder which holds
TCM.EXE. |
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