Introduction to Microsoft Dynamics CRM4
*** Welcome to Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is designed to help your organization acquire and retain customers and reduce the time spent on administrative tasks. At its core, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online provides a robust account management system that automatically tracks activities and revenue. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online enables you to perform and automate many common business tasks, including:
- Easily access information about business records from one place.
- Schedule activities ( Actions to be performed, such as tasks, or communication items that are sent or received, for example, e-mails, phone calls, letters, faxes, and appointments. The status of activities is tracked and the activity history is stored in the system, so users can view the open and closed activities. ) , track them, and send e-mail.
- Generate reports.
- Manage marketing lists ( Lists of accounts, contacts, or leads that match a specific set of criteria. ) .
- Track advertising and marketing campaigns ( Marketing programs that use many communication vehicles to accomplish specific results. For example, using advertisements and direct mail to increase market share, introduce new products, or retain customers. ) .
Sort customer responses to your sales and marketing initiatives. - Keep detailed notes and an activity history for each business record ( An entry in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online database that stores all the information about a specific item, such as a contact. Records are like individual index cards in an index-card filing system. You can view basic information about records in a list, and you can view or change detailed information about records in a form. ) .
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online also can run from within Microsoft Office Outlook.
*** Sales Force Automation
Sales departements can use Sales Force Automation to track sales-related activities and revenue. This system includes analytical, operational, and collaborative tools that you can use to improve and maintain good customer relations. Using Sales Force Automation, you can:
- Qualify leads ( Potential customers who must be qualified or disqualified as sales opportunities. If a lead is qualified, it can be converted to an opportunity, account, and/or contact. ) and manage opportunities ( Potential revenue-generating events or sales to accounts that need to be tracked through a sales process to completion. ) .
- Manage contacts ( People who represent customers or potential customers, or individuals related to accounts. For example, an individual who purchases products or services for their own use, or an employee of an account. A contact may also be a person involved in a business transaction, such as a supplier or a colleague. ) and accounts ( Companies that might do business with your organization. ) .
- Track quotes ( Formal offers for products or services, proposed at specific prices and related payment terms, which are sent to opportunities, accounts, or contacts. ) , orders ( Confirmed requests for delivery of goods or services based on specified terms. An order is a quote that has been accepted by a customer. ) , and invoices ( Orders that have been billed. An invoice is also a record of a sale to a customer, including details about the products or services purchased. ) .
- Manage and track e-mail, phone call, and other communication activities with customers.
Run direct e-mail ( The distribution of marketing materials in e-mail over an intranet or the Internet, usually to a large number of recipients. The e-mail goes to each recipient individually, giving the appearance of the communication being sent personally. ) - campaigns and measure their success.
- Create and access a database of products ( Items in the product catalog. Products can be linked to other records, such as quotes, campaigns, and cases. ) that your organization sells.
*** Marketing Automation
Marketing departments can use Marketing Automation to manage many marketing-related activities. Using Marketing Automation, you can:- Create targeted marketing lists ( Lists of accounts, contacts, or leads that match a specific set of criteria. ) .
- Plan and run campaigns ( Marketing programs that use many communication vehicles to accomplish specific results. For example, using advertisements and direct mail to increase market share, introduce new products, or retain customers. ) .
- Track each campaign response ( A record of the communication you receive from a potential customer in response to a specific campaign. ) and lead ( A potential customer who must be qualified or disqualified as a sales opportunity. If a lead is qualified, it can be converted to an opportunity, account, and/or contact. ) generated from campaigns.
*** Customer Service Management
The Customer Service area is designed specifically to meet the needs of customer support and product support departments that handle telephone, e-mail, and Web-based service ( A type of work performed for a customer by one or more resources. Services are schedulable activities. ) requests from customers. Using the Customer Service area, you can:
- Track individual cases ( Customer service issues or problems reported by customers and the activities that customer service representatives use to resolve them. ) and manage services ( The types of work performed for customers by one or more resources. Services are schedulable activities. ) .
- Track and share common problems and solutions in a knowledge base ( A feature in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online that provides a process for drafting, submitting, reviewing, and publishing articles about an organization's products and services. Users with manager-level security roles can approve, reject, add comments to, and unpublish articles that are submitted for review. ) .
- Manage customer contracts ( Agreements to provide support during specified coverage dates or for a specified number of cases or length of time. When customers contact customer service, the level of support they receive is determined by their contract. ) .
*** Appointment-based Service Scheduling
Customer service representatives can manage service activities for your business. Using Service Scheduling, you can:
- Define the services ( The types of work performed for customers by one or more resources. Services are schedulable activities. ) you offer.
- Identify available resources ( Users that perform a service, or the equipment or facilities that are required for a service. ) and equipment ( The tools or assets used to perform a service activity. ) for service activities.
- Define work schedules for individual resources, as well as their locations.
*** Reporting and Analysis
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online includes several features to help you generate reports and analyze data:
- Run a default report ( A report that included in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. Default reports may have been customized or removed by your system administrator or system customizer. ) .
- Create an Advanced Find ( A tool used to search for specific records and activities. ) query to find a filtered set of records and then export the list for analysis.
- Create a custom report using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services or other reporting tools.
*** Customization
System administrators can adapt Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to fit the needs of their business organizations. Using the customization capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, you can:- Create new Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online entities ( Structures used to manage data.
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online entities include Account, Case, and Activity. ) , attributes ( Properties of an entity with a specific data type. Attributes are analogous to columns in a database table. When attributes are added to an entity form, they are displayed as fields that correspond to their data type. ) , and application forms without custom programming.
- Customize forms ( Pages that display detailed information that users have entered into Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online about specific records, such as all information about a contact. Information that users enter in a form is stored in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online as a record. ) and views ( Filters applied to a list of records. Users can choose different views that contain all the records or activities of a particular type or that are a subset of that type. ) for enhanced integration with other Web applications, portals, and business systems.
- Apply form validation and add client-side business logic through scripting.
*** Workflow
Beyond the business automation included in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, you can use additional workflows ( Sets of logical rules that define the steps necessary to automate specific business processes, tasks, or sets of actions to be performed on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online records. ) to further automate your organization's business logic. Then you can make your workflows available as an on-demand workflow ( A type of workflow that only runs when a user chooses to apply it to records from a toolbar or menu in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. ) or automatic workflow ( A type of workflow that runs as soon as the conditions defined in the workflow logic are met. No user action is required to start the workflow....
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