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| Product-Related Entries | ||
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 | Chapter 2. Data Entry for the CRM System |  |
The CRM uses the term product as a comprehensive term for all kinds of goods your company might offer. Similar to a catalog, the CRM provides functions to capture and to categorize your products with various prices and vendors and keeps an inventory if needed. However, for some companies it might be necessary to distinguish clearly between products and services. For this purpose a CRM extension is available as described in Section: Service-Related Entries.
The CRM allows you to link product information with your sales process. To enter a new product, click the plus icon at the Inventory > Products menu for the full set of options. A new window will open as shown in figure: New Product - Create View Master Data.
Table 2.12. Special default master data entry fields for product information
| Product Name: | You have to give each product a name which should be unique. |
| Product No: | The product number is generated by the CRM automatically based on the CRM administrator's setup. Refer to section: Customize Record Numbering for more information. |
| Product Code: | You should give each product a unique order code. This could be a combination of letters and numbers. Customers should use this code with their orders. |
| Active: | By marking this check box, a product becomes active and is available for selection in quotes, orders and invoices. |
| GL Account: | This entry refers to a General Ledger Account and could be useful if you were importing/exporting items from your accounting program. Each account in your General Ledge usually has a number for reference. |
| Description: | This entry will be available at quotes, orders and invoices. |
Table 2.13. Special default master data entry fields for product pricing information
| Unit Price: | You should enter a price per unit. This price may be the list price you pay when you purchase this product from a third party. Note that the selling price can be different as defined in your price lists (see section: PriceBooks). All product prices are entered with the currency as assigned to the user who enters the prices. You have the option to enter a product price in a different currency if the CRM system administrator has configured other currencies as described in section: Currencies. |
| Tax Class: | You may enter a tax in % that applies to a product. Note that your CRM administrator configures the tax types and rates as explained in section: Tax Calculations. Only tax types defined by the administrator will be displayed. You may change the tax amount but not the tax type if necessary. |
The CRM supports you in maintaining a stock of goods. You may specify stock information and assign someone responsible for maintaining the stock at the [More Information] tab.
Table 2.14. Special default master data entry fields for product stock information
| Qty in Stock: | You may enter the quantity in stock. This information is used by the CRM when making quotes, orders or invoices. You may use a workflow as described in section: List Workflows to control your stock. If you do not intend to use the inventory management features of the CRM system, it is recommended that you set the quantity information to a high number, e.g. 100.000 to avoid low inventory warning messages. |
| Handler: | You should assign a responsible person for maintaining the stock. This person will automatically be informed by the CRM system if goods are sold. |
| Reorder Level: | Here you may enter the minimum quantity of goods you want to keep in stock. If the CRM system detects that during the sales process the actual quantity in stock gets close to the minimum amount, the person in charge of the stock will be notified by email. |
| Qty. in Demand: | Here you may note the quantity of goods you usually buy. |
You may add up to 6 product images to your product. The image must be in .jpg, .gif or .png format and have file extensions with small letters (jpg, gif, png). You should keep the image size as small as possible to avoid time consuming downloads every time you display this CRM page. If you add more than one image, your images will be displayed as rotating cube as shown in the next figure:
Here you have a space for further product information if required. These information will be included into the PDF output of quotes, orders or invoices.
Click [Save] to transfer your product information to the CRM system. After saving, the detail view of your product opens. You will see the master data you have just entered. If you click the [More Information] tab you have the possibility to enter additional information or to set relations to other CRM modules as displayed in figure: Product - Detail View More Information.
Table 2.15. Special default master data entry fields for more information to products
| Trouble Tickets: | Here you will find all product related tickets. These tickets may be based on customer complains, product bugs, or other customer related after-sales events. You may find further information about tickets at section: Trouble Tickets. |
| Product Bundles: | Here you may add sub products to your product and bundle these products together for a product selection in quotes, orders or invoices as explained in the next section. Such sub products could be for instance additional parts you are selling in relation to your main product. |
| Parent Product: | The CRM lists the main product if your product is already part of a product bundle. |
You may create product bundles from your existing product listing but not from services. This feature allows to build a hierarchical order of products where you have sub products related to a parent product. A product can be a sub product to an unlimited number of products but a parent product can never become a sub product.
The initial bundle set up is no different to creating a new product or service. Click the [Add Product] button shown in figure: Product - Detail View More Information of a parent product's detail view for the creation of a new related sub product. Enter the product information and save your new product.
To access your product bundles for quotes, orders or invoices, open the product selection menu by clicking on the magnifying glass icon. The new window opens with a list view of your parent products. Click on [Sub Products] to see a list of related sub products as illustrated in figure: Select Products from Bundle.
The CRM allows you to work with an unlimited number of different price lists, called price books. This is very helpful, for instance, if your company has different customer types which require a different pricing. You may use special retail, distribution, end customer price lists or others.
To create a new price book, click the [plus icon] at the Inventory > PriceBooks menu. A new window will open as shown in figure: New Price Book - Create View.
You have to give this Price Book a unique name and a currency. You may add a description for future reference. Mark the check box [Active] if you want to have this price book available for quotes, orders and invoices. Click [Save] to create this new Price Book at your CRM system. The detail view of this new price book opens as displayed in figure: Pricebook - Detail View.
To add a product to your pricebook, click the More Information tab displayed at figure: Pricebook - Detail View. You may add a product or service to your price book by clicking the [Select Product] button.
The new window which opens as shown in figure: Price Book - Product Selection List, lists all the products stored in the CRM. You may pick the products you want to add to this price book by selecting the corresponding check box. You should also set a list price for the product. The entered list price is only valid for this price book. The unit price as set in the product catalogue is shown as a reference. Click [Add To PriceBook] to save your selections.
![[Important]](images/important.png) | Important |
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Only activated products are available for selection. If you do not see a product in the selection list, you may check the product status by opening the detail view of this product. |
The CRM allows you to enter an unlimited number of vendors which provide goods or services to your company or to your customers. Such vendors are stored separately and not part of the contacts or accounts lists. To enter a new vendor click the [plus icon] at the Inventory > Vendors menu. A new window as shown in figure: New Vendor - Edit View will open.
Table 2.16. Special default master data entry fields for vendor information
| Vendor Name: | You have to provide a vendor name and should use the vendors corporate name. |
| GL Account: | This entry refers to a General Ledger Account. Each vendor in your General Ledger usually has a special reference number. |
After clicking the [More Information] tab, you may complete the vendor information by adding address and description information. Click [Save] to create a vendor at the CRM system. Your menu will switch to the vendors detail view containing all the information you just entered. In addition a [More Information] tab is offered to enter relations to product entries, contacts and purchase orders as illustrated in figure: Vendor - More Information. From this view you may also send an email to the vendor. You may view, browse and search your entire vendor list at the Inventory > Vendors menu.
By the export and import functions you can exchange data between the CRM software and a large number of programs on your computer. All product data can be exported or imported. For starting to import or export, click the Inventory > Products menu at the navigation area of your CRM system. The list view of your products will then be shown. Use the icons on top of the list to start the import or export. The icons are only functional if you have the permission to use them. These privileges are set by your CRM system administrator. Please refer to section: Export and Import of CRM Data for further export and import instructions. Use the description of the import procedure accordingly for contacts. You can find sample import data in section: Data Format for Imports. Use the data format described in this section accordingly for your product files.
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