Supplier relationship management Think Different Materi ERP openerp book v6

120 Figure 10.10: Example of profiling customer prospects by the OpenERP company The sales person starts by asking the questions mentioned above and then with a couple of minutes of work can decide what to propose to the prospective customer. At the end of the exhibition prospects’ details and their responses to the questionnaire are entered into OpenERP. The profiling system automatically classifies the prospects into appropriate partner categories. This enables your sales people to follow prospects up efficiently and adapt their approach based on each prospect’s profile. For example, they can send a letter based on a template developed for a specific partner category. They would use Open ERP’s report editor and generator for their sales proposition, such as an invitation to a training session a week after the show.

10.8.3 Using profiles effectively

To use the profiling system you will need to install OpenERP’s crm_profiling module. It is part of the core OpenERP system in version 6.0.0 so you do not have to download it separately from addons-extra. You can also use the Reconfiguration Wizard and add Profiling. Once the module is installed you can create a list of questions and the possible responses through the menu Sales → Configuration → Leads Opportunities → Questions. To obtain the scheme presented earlier you can create the following questions and responses: Table 10.1: Questionnaire for defining profiles Questions Possible Responses Journalist ? Yes No Industry Sector ? IT ERP Consultant Services Industry Others Number of Staff ? 1 2-20 21-50 51-100 101-500 500+ Contact’s job function ? Decision-maker Not decision-maker Already created a specification for the work ? Yes Soon No Implementation budget ? Unknown 100k 101-300k 300k For instance, a sales person specializing in large accounts for the service sector could have a profile defined like this: • Budget for integration: Unknown , 100k-300k or 300k , • Already created a specification for the work? Yes , • Industry Sector? Services . When entering the details of a specific prospect, the prospect’s answers to various questions can be entered in the Profiling tab of the partner form. OpenERP will automatically assign prospects to the appropriate partner category based on these answers. Customers corresponding to a specific search profile can be treated as a priority. The sales person can access the profile of the large active accounts easily. 121 CHAPTER ELEVEN COMMUNICATION TOOLS OpenERP provides all the information you need to pursue your company’s business opportunities effectively. But to stay productive with all the information you have to handle it is essential that you can keep using your normal communication tools by interfacing them with OpenERP, and not be limited just to OpenERP’s interface. OpenERP can do most things you need to pursue your business opportunities. But there can be quite a bit to learn, which reduces your efficiency while you are learning. And if that is true for a heavy user of the system, it is double true for an occasional user or someone who already makes heavy use of standard mail clients and cannot easily change. So for those who need to continue using their traditional mail clients to maintain their efficiency, OpenERP can be connected to Outlook and Thunderbird. Your users can participate in many OpenERP-maintained processes without ever leaving their familiar environment, and can avoid double data entry yet easily link information to OpenERP’s database automatically. The two following modules are described: • Mozilla Thunderbird Interface, • Microsoft Outlook Interface. The chapter is a mix of installation and configuration instructions, and basic interaction exercises. For this chapter you should start with a fresh database that includes demo data, with sale and crm and their dependencies installed and no particular chart of accounts configured. You will also need to have administrator access to your Windows PC to install the Outlook adapter described in the chapter.

11.1 Microsoft Outlook interface

The Microsoft Outlook plugin enables you to carry out a series of OpenERP operations directly from the Outlook e-mail client: • create a contact or partner from an e-mail, • save an e-mail and its attachments in OpenERP, • send any attachment to an OpenERP document such as proposals, projects, and tasks. This might be useful for sending documents about a customer project to the corresponding project in OpenERP, at- taching documents to an order such as proof of payment and order receipts, attaching documents to an employee file such as a CV or annual appraisal. Tip: Outlook versions The Microsoft Outlook plugin works with Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007 but not with Outlook Express 122

11.1.1 Installing the Outlook plugin

• Step 1: install the Outlook plugin in OpenERP Use the OpenERP Configuration Wizard and install the Customer Relationship Management applica- tion. In the CRM Application Configuration dialog under Plug-In, select MS-Outlook. Then the Outlook Plug-In wizard appears. Next to the Outlook Plug-in field, click the Save As button to save the plugin to your desktop or any other location on your computer. You can also download the installation manual by clicking the green arrow next to Installation Manual. Another way to use the Outlook plugin, is by installing the OpenERP module outlook. When you install this module, the same Configuration Wizard as explained before will be displayed. Follow the same instructions. • Step 2: Prerequisites 1. Install Python 2.6+ Download from http:www.python.orgftppython2.6.6python-2.6.6.msi or for 64bit system http:www.python.orgftppython2.6.6python- 2.6.6.amd64.msi . Run the .exe file to install the software. 2. Python for Windows extensions - PyWin32, this module for python must be installed for the appropriate version of Python. http:sourceforge.netprojectspywin32filespywin32Build20214pywin32-214.win32- py2.6.exedownload or for 64bit system http:sourceforge.netprojectspywin32filespywin32Build20214pywin32-214.win-amd64- py2.6.exedownload 3. Specify the python folder in the system path typically with this installer C:Python26 How to set the path in Windows XP For Windows XP: http:www.computerhope.comissuesch000549.htm How to set the path in Windows 7 To change the system environment variables, follow the steps below. - From the Windows button, select Control Panel, then click System. - Click Remote Settings to open the System Properties window. - In the System Properties window, click the Advanced tab. - In the Advanced section, click the Environment Variables button. - Finally, in the Environment Variables window as shown below under System Variables, highlight the Path di- rectory, click Edit and add ;C:Python26. See also http:geekswithblogs.netrensoarchive20091021how-to-set-the-windows-path-in-windows-7.aspx 4. If you are using MS Outlook 2007 than you are required to install ”Microsoft Ex- change Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1 CDO 1.21” from http:www.microsoft.comdownloadsendetails.aspx?FamilyId=2714320D-C997-4DE1-986F- 24F081725D36displaylang=en . Double-click Exchange Cdo to install it. 5. If you are using MS Outlook 2003, be sure to install the builtin Cdo component. • Step 3: install the OpenERP extension in Outlook. 1. Double-click the file ‘‘OpenERP-Outlook-addin.exe‘‘that you saved on your desktop. Confirm the default settings. 2. Double-click the file ‘‘Register plugin‘‘in the OpenERP Outlook Addin folder typically in C:Program Files. 3. Start Outlook.