<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ManualTopic ID="/baanerp/ff/crm/crm_ff_marketing_sales_utilities" xml:lang="en">
   <Header>
      <Title>Marketing, sales, and utilities</Title>
      <Keyword type="header" order="d1e430450">
         <Level1>Functions and features</Level1>
         <Level2>marketing, sales, and utilities</Level2>
      </Keyword>
      <Keyword type="header" order="d1e430455">
         <Level1>Marketing, sales, and utilities</Level1>
         <Level2>functions and features</Level2>
      </Keyword>
   </Header>
   <GeneralSection>
      <AimSection ID="/baanerp/td/onlinemanual/000422#aim_crm_overview">
         <Paragraph>To remain competitive and profitable, it is essential for a
		company to identify, communicate, and track the requirements of business
		partners. In <GUIRef href="/baanerp/crm" role="package">CRM</GUIRef>, you can
		specify and track sales and marketing data in a flexible way. You can specify
		information on prospective business partners, maintain additional information
		on current business partners, and create, schedule, and report on various sales
		and marketing activities. Contacts and activities can be synchronized between <GUIRef href="/baanerp/crm" role="package">CRM</GUIRef> and Microsoft
		Exchange.</Paragraph>
         <Paragraph> 
            <GUIRef href="/baanerp/crm" role="package">CRM</GUIRef> does
		not have a set of mandatory steps that must be followed. All the information is
		optional, which gives a free flow to use the data.</Paragraph>
      </AimSection>
   </GeneralSection>
   <GeneralSection>
      <List>
         <ListItemHead>
            <Link href="/baanerp/td/onlinemanual/000428#opportunity" role="manual" Update="No">Opportunities</Link>
         </ListItemHead>
         <ListItem>You can use opportunities to record and monitor sales
		  information related to a business partner and to perform marketing tasks
		  sequentially over time. Because a <Link href="/baanerp/td/glossary/glossary#SalesQuotat_td" role="glossary">sales quotation</Link> can be generated from an opportunity, an opportunity can be
		  the basis for product offers to a business partner.</ListItem>
         <ListItemHead>
            <Link href="/baanerp/td/onlinemanual/000428#activities" role="manual" Update="No">Activities</Link>
         </ListItemHead>
         <ListItem>You can use activities to schedule for business objects
		  (business partners, contacts, opportunities, or other activities), and to track
		  the progress of these activities. An activity is an <Link href="/baanerp/td/glossary/glossary#000401" role="glossary">appointment</Link>, <Link href="/baanerp/td/glossary/glossary#000402" role="glossary">call</Link>, <Link href="/baanerp/td/glossary/glossary#000400" role="glossary">task</Link>, <Link href="/baanerp/td/glossary/glossary#000406" role="glossary">mailing</Link>, or <Link href="/baanerp/td/glossary/glossary#000408" role="glossary">e-mail</Link> that must be created or executed by a user and that is registered in ERP Enterprise. Activities
		  include, for example, phone calls, mailings, visits, surveys, and so
		  on.</ListItem>
         <ListItemHead>
            <Link href="/baanerp/td/onlinemanual/000428#letters" role="manual" Update="No">Letters</Link>
         </ListItemHead>
         <ListItem>Letters to business partners and mass mailings are common
		  marketing activities. In <GUIRef href="/baanerp/crm" role="package" Update="No">CRM</GUIRef>, 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.</ListItem>
         <ListItemHead>
            <Link href="/baanerp/td/onlinemanual/000428#selection" role="manual" Update="No">Selection expressions</Link>
         </ListItemHead>
         <ListItem>You can use selection expressions to specify search criteria to
		  create a target group. This target group can be used to specify the relations
		  who are included in a particular action. Selection expressions are used to
		  create targeted ranges for opportunities, global additions of attributes and
		  activities, mail merge (letters), and reports.</ListItem>
         <ListItemHead>
            <Link href="/baanerp/td/onlinemanual/000430" role="manual" Update="No">Text Editor</Link>
         </ListItemHead>
         <ListItem>If you create a letter or a selection expression, you can use
		  the Text Editor to specify the actual layout of the letter or to specify an
		  expression.</ListItem>
         <ListItemHead>
            <Link href="/baanerp/td/onlinemanual/000428#reports" role="manual" Update="No">Reports</Link>
         </ListItemHead>
         <ListItem>You can specify reports to view user-defined data. You can you
		  can print and process reports to view <GUIRef href="/baanerp/crm" role="package">CRM</GUIRef> data based on your
		  requirements.</ListItem>
         <ListItemHead>
            <Link href="/baanerp/td/onlinemanual/000434" role="manual">Synchronizing <GUIRef href="/baanerp/crm" role="package">CRM</GUIRef> contacts and activities to Microsoft Exchange</Link>
         </ListItemHead>
         <ListItem>
            <Link href="/baanerp/tc/glossary/glossary#Contact_tc" role="glossary">Contacts</Link> from ERP Enterprise can be
		  synchronized to Microsoft Exchange. <Link href="/baanerp/td/glossary/glossary#ActiviSMI_td" role="glossary">Activities</Link> of the type <GUIRef href="/baanerp/tc/domains/com.actp#call" role="option">Call</GUIRef> and <GUIRef href="/baanerp/tc/domains/com.actp#appointment" role="option">Appointment</GUIRef> can be synchronized as calendar events between ERP Enterprise and
		  Microsoft Exchange. Calendars are synchronized in both directions.</ListItem>
      </List>
   </GeneralSection>
</ManualTopic>