| # Relation Management - functionality You can use the Relation Management module to carry out the following actions: Carry out opportunities Opportunities Define activities Activities View appointment schedules Appointment schedules Define and use the info screen Info screen Create letters Letters Create selection expressions Selection expressions Create reports Reports Use the relation management dashboard session Relation management dashboard View activity history Activity history Opportunities Opportunities are used to group activities and link them to business partners to perform marketing tasks sequentially over time. To use opportunities, you must first select the Use Opportunity check box in the Relation Management Parameters (tdsmi0100s000) session. Next, you can create opportunities in the Opportunity (tdsmi1610m000) session. Note You can use the data in this session to: Assign contacts to an opportunity to show who to contact at the business partner for this opportunity. First, the contact must be defined in Common in the Contacts (tccom4540m000) session. Next, the contact must be linked to the business partner in the Contacts by Business Partner (tccom4545m000) session before the contact can be linked in the Contacts by Opportunity (tdsmi1122m000) session. Globally add feature definitions to an opportunity. Maintain, add, or delete activities. Activities An activity is an event or task that is scheduled to occur with business partners. Activities include, for example, phone calls, mailings, visits, surveys, and so on. The activities are first defined in a generic sense by creating them. Then the activity is scheduled with a business partner, either by itself, or as part of an opportunity. The procedure to define and schedule activities includes the following steps: Step 1. Define activities An essential part of the relation management functionality is the ability to define tasks to schedule with business partners and track the progress of these tasks. These tasks are defined as activities and are created in the Activity Definitions (tdsmi0154s000) session. As a result, before activities can be carried out for business partners, they must be created in the Activity Definitions (tdsmi0154s000) session. Step 2. Link activities to business partners After activities are defined, they are scheduled with business partners, or with business partners and opportunities. You can manually schedule activities one at a time in the Activity (tdsmi2600m000) session. Notes The Closed check box indicates whether the activity is complete or not. You can link features to an activity. For example, the activity is a survey, and the questions to be asked to the business partner are created as features and linked to the activity. When employees perform this activity, they open the feature fields and enter the answers to the survey in the feature fields as they obtain the information over the phone. You can add activities to multiple business partners at one time in the Global Addition of Activities (tdsmi2210m100) session. This session is used to add activities to multiple business partners or opportunities by means of a job. A job session maintains job information by job number, which enables the user to run a job whenever required. ERP LN schedules the activities using the activity duration information, start dates and times, and the current schedules of the representatives and relation management employees. ERP LN does not schedule a relation management employee or representative for two activities at the same time. However, you can manually schedule someone for two activities at the same time. ERP LN takes into account availability, and whether the activity requires a representative or relation management employee as defined by zip code, area, or line of business guidelines. Step 3. Globally delete activities The Global Deletion of Activities (tdsmi2210m200) session is used to delete activities from a group of business partners or opportunities in one run. This session can be helpful if a mistake was made while running the Global Addition of Activities (tdsmi2210m100) session. To globally delete activities is also helpful if, for example, an organization plans to call disgruntled customers and follow up with a survey, but actually only conducts a survey. This session can be helpful if, for example: A mistake was made while running the Global Addition of Activities (tdsmi2210m100) session. An organization plans to call disgruntled customers and follow up with a survey, but actually only conducts a survey. Appointment schedules Either relation management employees or sales representatives are scheduled to perform the activities when the employees or representatives are linked to a business partner. The sessions, which show the schedules of these employees, give the same data as the Activities (tdsmi2500m000) session, but in a different format. Changes made to the schedules affect the Activities (tdsmi2500m000) session and vice versa. The following sessions show which activities are scheduled for a particular relation management employee/representative: Appointments by Relation Management Employee (tdsmi2500m200) Appointments by Representative (tdsmi2500m100) Note If, in the Representatives by Activity (tdsmi2130m000) session, the To iCalendar check box is selected and sales representatives are entered, appointment requests can be sent to the external calendars of the defined representatives for the activity. Use the Update iCalendar button in the Activity (tdsmi2600m000) session to send these requests. Info screen Activities can be viewed in multiple places in the Relation Management module. One specific way to view activities is to use the info screen defined in the Info Screen (tdsmi0140m000) session. In the Info Screen (tdsmi0140m000) session, you can set the order in which the activities must be displayed, set activities to open or closed, and specify whether the first or the last occurrence of an activity must be displayed if the activity is defined more than once for a particular business partner. This session determines the activity information that can be viewed in the Opportunities (tdsmi1510m000) session. Note The Opportunities (tdsmi1510m000) session displays activities in the Activity group box based on the info screen sequence. Only three activities are shown at a time. Letters Letters to business partners and mass mailings are common marketing activities. In the Relation Management module, you can create, save, and modify letters. The mail merge functionality enables you to print a generic letter with specific business partner information merged in. You can export letters to other word processing programs to use functionality such as spelling checks. The procedure to create and print letters includes the following steps: Step 1. To create letters In the Letters (tdsmi1150m000) session, you can create letters to send to business partners. You can create the letters in a generic format, which you can merge later with specific business partner information. You can use a text editor to define the actual body of the letter. For more information, refer to Relation Management - Text Editor. Step 2. To use mail merge In the Mail Merge by Standard Letter (tdsmi2410m000) session, you can print or process letters for business partners (prospects or customers), opportunities, contacts, or activities. The Mail Merge by Standard Letter (tdsmi2410m000) session is a job session. In this session, data is stored in a job for repeated use. You can specify a range of data that must be printed in the mail merge. Selection expressions A selection expression enables a user to define search criteria to create a target group. This target group can be used to define the relations who are included in a particular action. Selection expressions are used to create targeted ranges for opportunities, global additions of features and activities, mail merge (letters), and reports. Selection expressions are similar to targeting criteria used in spreadsheet and database programs, such as Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel. Selection expressions are created in the Selections (tdsmi0170m000) session after which they are used for letters, reports, and so on. They can be simple or complex, which depends on the criteria used. You can use a text editor to define the expressions. For more information, refer to Relation Management - Text Editor. Example A company has created a feature to attach to their business partners that lists the date on which the business partners became a business partner. A selection expression can be created to find the business partners who became a business partner during the last 45 days. The selection expression can use the feature to come up with that target group. The company also uses phases to track the progress they made with their business partners. One phase indicates that the business partner requires extra information. The selection expression can use that phase to target the business partners that the company must call or send information. The Selections (tdsmi0170m000) session lists the codes and descriptions of the selections defined by the users. Check boxes indicate if text is present for a selection or if an expression is defined for a selection. Both text and expressions are created by means of the text functionality on the Edit menu. On the Specific menu, you can select Compile Expression to check the syntax of the selection expression. This is not mandatory, but you can use this option as a precaution. Reports You can define reports to view user-defined data. The information included in a report is determined by various criteria. In the Relation Management module, you can create reports to view data based on your requirements. The procedure to define reports includes the following steps: Step 1. To define a report To create a report, you must first define a code, a description, and some general header and footer information in the Reports (tdsmi0180s000) session. Step 2. To create report layouts The column definitions, which indicate the information that must be included in the report columns, are defined in the Report Layouts (tdsmi0181s000) session. This information can include table fields or feature definitions. Step 3. To print reports The Flexible Printing (tdsmi2410m100) session is a job session used to print reports defined in the Relation Management module. The job enables the data to be saved by number for repeated use. Note You can use the Reports by Activity (tdsmi0130m000) session to assign any report, either in ERP LN or defined by a user in the Report Templates (ttaad3530m000) session, to an activity. If you print activities or activity history in the Print Activities (tdsmi2400m000) session or the Print Activities (History) (tdsmi2405m000) session, this report can also be printed by selecting the Use Pre-Defined Reports check box in these sessions. Relation management dashboard In a company, account managers are responsible for maintaining relations with sold-to business partners, also referred to as accounts, or trade relations. They spend a lot of time on handling business partner requests and proposals. As a result, they must have a good insight in the status of the sold-to business partners they are responsible for. Buyers are responsible for procuring materials and for negotiating with various buy-from business partners and internal agencies on these materials. As a result, they spend a lot of time on tracking materials and answering supply-, quality-, and payment-related questions. The Relation Management Dashboard (tdsmi1500m000) session provides an overview of sold-to or buy-from business partner information and enables an account manager or a buyer to easily perform multiple business partner-related tasks.With this session, account managers are supported in their daily tasks of handling business partner requests and proposals in a flexible and correct way. For buyers, the negotiation process is smoothened. Note If you select the Only show the Business Partners for Account Manager or the Only show the Business Partners for Buyer check boxes in the Relation Management Dashboard (tdsmi1500m000) session, only the business partners that are relevant for the specific account manager or buyer are displayed. Activity history The Activities (History) (tdsmi2505m000) session displays information on all activities, including the features that are linked to activities, regardless of their status. If required, you can globally delete activity history in the Global Deletion of Activities (History) (tdsmi2210m300) session. Related topics Overview of Relation Management Relation Management - master data Relation Management - Text Editor |