4 replies to this topic

[bsd]

hi,
i have some questions:
- accounts = customers; can they be split in private individuals and legal entities?
- when a lead is converted into an account, the status shouldn't be customer?
- it wouldn't be interesting for a customer/account view , which will show current customer portfolio?
- could the load of account be made like a schedule job?
- also transforming a lead into an account could be access from outside?
- do you consider using triggers? like before insert (lead, account, etc), after insert;
- do you consider developing services (soap) for accessing core functionality?


regards,
bsd

[raysto]

- accounts = customers; can they be split in private individuals and legal entities?
An Account is a company or organization (non-human). You can have a Contact (human) that is associated with the Account. Or you can use the "Type" field on the Account to distinguish between individuals and legal entities (although I would still recommend using Contacts for all humans)
- when a lead is converted into an account, the status shouldn't be customer?
It depends on what you want the Status to be. What is your criteria for converting a Lead? When you convert, does it mean you have a paying customer? If so, then the Contact Status of "Customer" is appropriate. If not, then you might want to go with "Qualified" or some other Status that makes sense for you.
- it wouldn't be interesting for a customer/account view , which will show current customer portfolio?
What do you mean by customer portfolio?
- could the load of account be made like a schedule job?
What do you mean by schedule job?
- also transforming a lead into an account could be access from outside?
Right now, it would only be done by internal users. Can you elaborate what you mean by "from outside"? We are working on a portal construct where external users can access the CRM. I'm not sure if you want outside users (non-employees) converting Leads, but it's possible once the portal is completed
- do you consider using triggers? like before insert (lead, account, etc), after insert;
We will be building a full Workflow Engine so you can do automated triggers. It will be in an upcoming release: http://zurmo.org/roadmap
- do you consider developing services (soap) for accessing core functionality?
We have a full REST API for integration: http://zurmo.org/wiki-subject/api. Does that work?

[Jason]

I would also like to add about the triggers. You can do triggers now in the code in an upgrade safe way. If you look at the gamificationObserver you can see an example of using triggers.

[bsd]

- accounts = customers; can they be split in private individuals and legal entities?
An Account is a company or organization (non-human). You can have a Contact (human) that is associated with the Account. Or you can use the "Type" field on the Account to distinguish between individuals and legal entities (although I would still recommend using Contacts for all humans)
- when a lead is converted into an account, the status shouldn't be customer?
It depends on what you want the Status to be. What is your criteria for converting a Lead? When you convert, does it mean you have a paying customer? If so, then the Contact Status of "Customer" is appropriate. If not, then you might want to go with "Qualified" or some other Status that makes sense for you.
- it wouldn't be interesting for a customer/account view , which will show current customer portfolio?
What do you mean by customer portfolio?
- could the load of account be made like a schedule job?
What do you mean by schedule job?
- also transforming a lead into an account could be access from outside?
Right now, it would only be done by internal users. Can you elaborate what you mean by "from outside"? We are working on a portal construct where external users can access the CRM. I'm not sure if you want outside users (non-employees) converting Leads, but it's possible once the portal is completed
- do you consider using triggers? like before insert (lead, account, etc), after insert;
We will be building a full Workflow Engine so you can do automated triggers. It will be in an upcoming release: http://zurmo.org/roadmap
- do you consider developing services (soap) for accessing core functionality?
We have a full REST API for integration: http://zurmo.org/wiki-subject/api. Does that work?

you are thinking more like B2B, but for some business a crm could be implement for B2C;
i will give an example:
let's say that i would have to sell banking products; i would have targets on individuals and on legal entities;
in that perspective, my leads/accounts (customers) are both
after i've made a deal and sold something to an account (closing an opportunity) this will mean that my account has buy a product. I would like to have a customer view with all the products that a customer have, to quickly understand who i am dealing with.
does this make sense?
------------------------------
i believe that all that the rest services it's ok. i do not know about the rest, but if you can build interfaces with other applications it's what I was asking for;
"from outside" , i mean from other application, not non-employees to have access ;-)

thanks,

[raysto]

you are thinking more like B2B, but for some business a crm could be implement for B2C;
i will give an example:
let's say that i would have to sell banking products; i would have targets on individuals and on legal entities;
in that perspective, my leads/accounts (customers) are both
after i've made a deal and sold something to an account (closing an opportunity) this will mean that my account has buy a product. I would like to have a customer view with all the products that a customer have, to quickly understand who i am dealing with.
does this make sense?
------------------------------
i believe that all that the rest services it's ok. i do not know about the rest, but if you can build interfaces with other applications it's what I was asking for;
"from outside" , i mean from other application, not non-employees to have access ;-)

thanks,

OK, I see what you are saying. When it comes to selling B2C, you might need a "householding" concept, which you can create using a family Account, with associated Contacts. I explained it a bit here: http://zurmo.org/for...-relationships/

For tracking Products, Zurmo does not have anything for this yet. You could add some fields on the Opportunity or Account module (such as a Products field that has a dropdown of all the different banking products you sell) and then select which ones the customer has bought. You could then do an Advanced Search to pull a list of all Accounts that have a certain Product associated with them.

Yes, the REST API should give you a baseline to integrate with other applications. The portal construct would allow you to have outside users access the system and we will have that in an upcoming release too. Great questions! Keep them coming!
Thanks,
Ray