Other Enhancements in this Update

New>> Canon Configurator Shortcut 

• We added a shortcut under the “Sales” menu to Canon’s Configurator Portal

BETA>> Canon Financial Services  

• We have developed an automated API to manage the lease portfolio. 

Great America Leasing Integration 

• We added a variable setting to enforce the finance company requirements of specific data before allowing the users to submit credit applications via the SalesChain API leasing portal.  
• In this case, GAL requested that a phone number and internal contact be provided to speed up processing times. 

Service Takeover (FM Audit Import) 

•  We have added the ability for sales reps to import FMAudit sourced DCA (Data Collection Agent) reports within the service takeover utility saving the time and effort of manual entry. 

Make Public Views  

• We added the ability to create “Public” views so that with our popular views feature, manager and admin users can create useful views and share them with others in the company. 

Expanded Order Fulfillment Workflow  

• This notifications feature will include dynamic HTML based email templates with expanded data merge capabilities.  

• Communicate order status changes to sales and operations more clearly and with more detailed information. 
• Added flexibility for better operational workflow by allowing tailored messaging to the right people involved in fulfilling orders. 
• More informed employees make more informed customers, which makes happier customers. 

Order Status Change History  

• We added a table to the OBD general table that shows the history of the order status changes. We also added a new popup note entry field so that when a user changes the status of an order, they can enter an optional note to describe what/why the change is being made. [@workflow, @communication] 

Tiered/Scaled Commission Rates  

• We enhanced our tiered commission scaling to allow for “Cap” and “Floor” settings which provide limits and consequences based on performance and commission level. Dealers can offer a “Skinny Deal” commission schedule with a floor of X that below pays zero or high level that pays zero to force the sales rep to switch to the next level plan. 

Scaled Commissions  

• We added a scaling mechanism to the percentage-based commission role to allow for dollar-based tiers for computing commissions. For example, if you wish to pay a referral fee based on deal size, you may create tiered ranges of 0 – 10k, 10k – 20k, etc…. and pay more for larger deals. [@commissions] 

Link Price Level with Commission Level 

• We added a feature to optionally set the commission level on an order based on the selected price level. This allows the dealer to publish special pricing levels with specific commission plans. It also eliminates the need for the sales rep to select the right plan for a special deal.  

Service Chargeback  

• This will be limited to a certain number of months based on the contract term. 

Lease Desk  

• We expanded the filtering to include the Sales Rep Category so that dealers that are selling multiple products (like IT and Water and Mail) can view the lease portfolio from their perspective. Water sales reps want to see water leases. [@bundled, @water, @forecasting] 

• Sales reps can access data specific to their needs and not have to sort through other data, thus saving time. 

Credit Desk  

• We add the save preferences “Cog” feature to further allow users to customize their use of SalesChain by saving preferences. 

Pickup & Movement Dispositions  

• We added an admin user maintenance option so that Dealers can customize the disposition types. Prior to this, the values were hard coded by SalesChain. 

Block Of Time & E-Automate Sales Order Create  

• We added the block of time schedule to the sales order within e-Automate, further integrating the two systems. We also expanded the data merge properties available for seamless document creation. [@blockoftime, @eautomate, @documentation, @integrations] 

Order Desk  

• We added Credit Status filtering criteria to the Order Desk providing more flexibility in searching orders by their credit status. A credit status indicator was added for each order to clearly present information as to the credit status of orders. [@creditprocessing, @workflow, @informationsharing] 

E-Sign  

• We removed the CC and BCC properties from the email template when sending a request for signature. These fields were previously locked, making it unnecessary to view them. 

User Activity Reporting  

• We added the ability to create User Activity Groups, which sum the combined value of actions. This allows managers to add columns to the activity summary report that shows “Touches” as the sum of Phone Calls, In Person Prospecting, and Customer Care Calls.  

Prospect Classification  

• We added logic to the proposal and order pricing tool to allow users to manipulate the prospect classification properties from within the General tab of the OBD. This way reps can update properties to better manage their forecasting and sales metrics without having to go into other forms. 

E-Automate Configurations  

• We added a feature to allow dealers to utilize the e-Automate Configurations within the IT Products catalog lookup utility to accommodate dealers that have configured technology catalogs such as Point of Sales Production within the DQM project module.  

Recurring Revenue  

• We have added the ability to define “Recurring Revenue” catalog items and have added a breakout column on the pricing grid to allow for the mixing of revenue and recurring revenue-based products. 

Other Enhancements in this Update

NEW>> SalesChain Learn 

• SalesChain is announcing the release of a new online learning format titled “SalesChain Learn.” This online platform contains a series of courses that allow busy sales representatives, managers, and administrative staff, who require an efficient and effective way to get up to speed quickly, to engage in self-directed training. 
• The platform’s courses cover many aspects of the SalesChain system – including basic navigation, CRM, and CPQ, as well as management functions. More courses are on the way as we continue to expand the project.  

New>> Tiered Commissions Schedule

• We expanded our commission utility to include a new feature that allows dealers to define a “Tiered Schedule” for commission rates. Managers can now create a stepped structure for commission. For example, if the sales rep order generates a given range of achievement (in GP or Revenue for example), they may earn a given value or percentage of that base.

Customer Profile Targeting Viewer

• We’ve added columns to the Customer Profile Target Viewer for each of our 6 priority contacts. Each of these columns displays the priority contact’s name, email, and title. The priority contact type is displayed in the column header.
• The industry column, which contains the SIC code description, was renamed to SIC Description to avoid confusion. An Industry Groups column (Which represents filtering for multiple SIC codes) was also added to correspond to the drop-down search on the left for Industry Groups.

Task Viewer User Interface

• We created a new version of the Task Viewer form as part of the continuation of our interface redevelopment project.

IT Products Catalog Lookup

• We modified the drop-down selection lists for MFG, Vendor, and Model to only show values that have existing catalog items for the criteria selected.

Managed Services Product Lookup

• We expanded the search options within the grid to include “Contains”, “Equals”, “Not Equal”, and “Begins With”.

ZoomInfo Integration

• We’ve expanded the amount of data that can be returned from ZoomInfo. Many dealers are utilizing ZoomInfo to cleanse and augment their customer and prospecting data.  This upgrade includes added social media links to the Customer Profile form for Linked In, Zoom Info, and Twitter.

Forecast 30-60-90

• We modified this report to provide the option to view by month or by dates out from today.

Forecast by Status

• We updated this report as part of the user interface upgrade project.

Sales Rep Activity Detail Report

• We added the ability to include Private Groups criteria in this report. Administrative users may view and use private groups of users within their hierarchy.

Customer Profile

• We modified the form to enforce the rule of the e-Auto locked field. Previously, users would be allowed to edit name, address, county, etc. but when saved, the database would not actually be updated.  After saving, the view form was not updated to show the user that the fields were not actually updated, causing a false presentation of the data.

Bulk Import Utilities

• As more dealers join the SalesChain family, more data from varying sources is being imported into our system. Over the past year, we’ve greatly expanded our data import utilities to expedite this data migration.  Here are just a few of the recent enhancements:
  • Importation of company, contact, and contract documentation from ConnectWise Manage
  • Complete CRM conversions for Microsoft Dynamics, and SalesForce.com

Document Generation

• We have added several new data merge fields that include:
• Subtotal and subtotal rollup data merge properties for bundled solutions.
• Added CM merge fields to delivery job documentation.
• We added rollover document logic for document management and scanning service templates.
• We added an icon to the OBD Documents form that allows users to generate an e-Sign History report for document packages marked for e-Sign.