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Overview
Network Management is used to represent your company departments and hierarchy structure and use it to administer record level access rights; i.e. the access right associated with a user handling a specific customer rather than the right to access a menu item. Additionally, it can be used to allow or deny sharing of data (records) between the different departments.
Major features
- Simulate the structure of your business including partners establishing access levels within the system based on this structure. Use communities, groups and teams to represent, the organisation departments and teams respectively.
- Network Entity Types are used to categorize and control access to CRM.COM modules and define the global behavior of these entities within the system.
Setting Up Network Management
Communities
A community represents your organisation. If you have a business with multiple business partners you can create two communities; one which will represent your business and one under which all the partners belong. For each community, you can define a single person or company (Contact Information) who will be in charge and designated as the point of contact.
Community fields
The table describes the sections of Community Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used.
Mandatory
Configurable
| Main Information | |
|---|---|
| |
Groups | |
Displays all the groups that belong to the community, which can be created and added to a community through the Actions > Add New Group, available in the Actions menu or through the Groups page. | |
Units | |
Displays all the units that belong the community, which can be added to a group through the groups or units Data Entry page. | |
Users | |
Displays all the users that belong the Community which can be added to units through the units or users Data Entry page.. |
Groups
A group represents a department of your organisation such as, sales, marketing or finance. For each group, you can define a single person or company (contact information) who will be in charge of the group and designated as the point of contact.
Group fields
The table describes the sections of Group Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used.
Mandatory
Configurable
| Main Information | |
|---|---|
| |
| Contact Information | |
The details of the point of contact. A new contact information must be created. Use ADD MORE INFORMATION to open the contact information Data Entry page. | |
| Covered Geographical Areas | |
When new records are entered in the system, they are usually 'owned by a group', which dictates the users that will have access to this record according to the group they belong to. By setting covered geographical areas to groups, you enable the system to automatically assign a group to new records, using the geographical areas it is covering. Refer to Automatic assignments based on geographical areas for more information on the logic of how the assignment of the group is done. Set as Owner Group automatically based on Covered Geographical Areas: If enabled, the specific group will automatically be set as the of owner of newly created records provided that the location of the customer is within the covered geographical area. You can define Area, District, Town/City and Postal Code as conditions, while if more than one conditions are defined in the same row, they must all be met. | |
Units | |
Displays all the units that belong the group, which can be created and added to a group through Actions > Add New Unit, available in the Actions menu or at the Units Data Entry page. | |
Users | |
Displays all the users that belong the group which can be added to units through the units or users Data Entry page.. |
Units
A unit represents a team within a department such as, team leaders and operators. For each unit, you can define a single person or company (contact information) who will be in charge of the unit and designated as the point of contact.
Unit fields
The table describes the sections of Units Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used.
Mandatory
Configurable
| Main Information | |
|---|---|
| |
| Contact Information | |
The details of the point of contact. A new contact information must be created. Use ADD MORE INFORMATION to open the contact information Data Entry page. An accounts receivable can be also added to the unit's contact information by using REGISTER PRIMARY ACCOUNT. Account information in used by Rewards module where units can be used to represent partners and the account information is used for crediting or debiting them through Reward Settlement Runs. | |
Covered Geographical Areas | |
When a new record is entered in the system, that requires a user to complete it, it is assigned to either a unit or a user, which is responsible for its completion. For example, when a new task (Activity) for installation is created the task is assigned to the 'Installer's Team' and one of the installers will complete the installation. By setting covered geographical areas to units, you enable the system to automatically assign a unit to new records, using the geographical areas it is covering. Refer to Automatic assignments based on geographical areas for more information on the logic of how the assignment of the unit is done. Assign Unit automatically based on Covered Geographical Areas: If enabled, the specific unit will automatically be set in the 'Assigned to Unit' of newly created records provided that the location of the customer is within the covered geographical area. You can define Area, District, Town/City and Postal Code as conditions. If more than one conditions are defined in the same row then they must all be met. | |
Sub Units | |
Displays all the sub-units that belong the unit, which can be created and added to the unit through the Actions > Add New Sub Unit, available in the Actions menu of the unit Data Entry page. | |
Users | |
Displays all the users that belong the group which can be added to units through the users Data Entry page.. |
Group Collaboration Profiles
Data in CRM.COM is subject to different levels of access by users, depending on the group (or business department) they belong to. For example, if customer Z belongs to group A then only users belonging to group A will have access to customer Z entry.
Data however, can be shared between groups (i.e. between yourr departments) and you can define access restrictions on the shared data, such as:
- Access to view data
- Access to modify data
- Access to assign data
- Access to search for data
To share data a group collaboration must be set up, where you can define the group to share its data, to which groups and what access restrictions will be applicable on the shared data.
Group Collaborations do not apply for Controlled Selection Entities. i.e. if Group A is set as an 'Allowed Organisational Unit' for a certain 'activity type' even if there exists a collaboration between group A and group B, a user from group B will still not be allowed to create an activity of that type.
Group collaboration profile fields
The table describes the sections of Group Collaboration Profiles Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used.
Mandatory
Configurable
| Main Information | |
|---|---|
If the selected collaboration scope is 'All Groups', it only works for groups that belong to the same community or for communities that collaborate with the community of the group. | |
| Collaboration Settings | |
If the 'Specific Groups' collaboration scope is selected then collaboration settings are defined for each selected group. Start by 'Adding' the group and defining the settings. For the 'All Groups' collaboration scope the actions are only defined once. Collaboration Settings: The settings which define the access restrictions to shared data. For each access restriction, you can define which data will be shared, its access level (i.e. None, records of all privacy levels, records of specific privacy level) What does each Access Level denote
| |
View My Records
| Defines which, if any data will be available for other groups to view.
|
| Modify My Records (Includes View) | Defines which, if any data will be available for other groups to view and modify.
|
| Assign My Records (Includes View & Modify) | Defines which, if any data will be available for other groups to view, modify or assign. Assigning of records only refers to Assignable Entities.
|
| Share My Groups | Defines whether the group will be available in the results of processes that search for groups (in Data Entry pages), and also to use it as a value in group related fields of various modules of the software.
|
| Share My Units | Defines whether the units of the group will be available in the results of processes that search for units (in Data Entry pages) and also to use them as a value in unit related fields of various modules of the software.
|
| Share My Users | Defines whether the users of the group will be available in the results of processes that search for users (in Data Entry pages) and also to use them as a value in user related fields of various modules of the software.
|
Community Collaboration Profiles
Community collaboration profiles are used when groups sharing data between them belong to different communities.
Set up a community collaboration profile when a group profile is set up with a collaboration scope set to 'All Groups' to ensure that the data is shared to even groups that do not belong to other communities
Community Collaboration Profiles fields
The table describes the sections of Community Collaboration Profiles Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used.
Mandatory
Configurable
| Main Information | |
|---|---|
Collaboration Scope: Define whether data from groups of this community will be shared with groups of Specific Communities or All Communities | |
Collaboration with Communities | The |
Related Configuration Areas
The following module is related to network management and must be configured for the module to operate at its full capacity.
Manual Link | Area | Description | Configuration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security Management | Privacy Level & Privacy Level Groups | Configure the privacy level and privacy level groups which can be used in the group collaboration profiles as condtions of the data which can be shared. | Optional |
Using Network Management
Automatic assignments based on geographical areas
Assignment of groups and units on new or amended records can be done automatically, using common geographical areas. For example, if the customer requesting an installation is residing in London-Zone 6, then the system would assign the task to the installer's team who is responsible for London-Zone 6.
Unit assignment is performed on 'assignable entities' and denotes the team responsible to perform the task, while group assignment is performed on 'explicit viewing access entities' and denotes the department that owns the record and has full access rights to it.
Unit assignment
Units can be assigned automatically based on covered geographical areas if enabled through Units. Unit assignment is applicable for entities that require the completion of a task to be carried out by a user. These entities are referred to as Assignable Entities
- Activities
- Leads
- Service Requests
- Jobs
A unit will be automatically assigned to entries provided that the location of the customer is within the covered geographical area. In each case the system will compare the customer address according to the table below. against the covered geographical areas of each unit and will assign a Unit when a match is found. If more than one unit cover the area in question, then the automatic assignment is not performed.
| Assignable Entities | Entity address compared against Geographical Area |
|---|---|
Activity Lead Service Request | All available addresses of the related contact information ('Active' and 'Inactive'). |
| Job | Job location |
The option to automatically assign the unit based on geographical area is also present on Automatic Collaboration Rule (ACR) . The system will first go through the ACR and will then check and assign through units configuration.
Group assignment
Groups can be defined as 'Owned by Group' of entries in the system based on covered geographical areas if enabled through Groups. This only concerns explicit viewing access entities. i.e. entities for which the owner group is defined on the record.
A group will be automatically set as 'Owned by Group' to entries, provided that the location of the customer is within the covered geographical area.
In each case, the system will compare the customer address, according to the table below, against the covered geographical areas of each group and will assign a group when a match is found. If more than one group covers the area in question, then the automatic assignment is not performed.
| Explicit Viewing Entities | Entity address compared against Geographical Area |
|---|---|
Subscription | Subscription location |
Job | Job location |
Accounts Receivable Communications Contact Information Leads Activities Service Requests | All available addresses of the related contact information ('Active' and 'Inactive'). |
Resource Plans Warehouses Reward Offers | Not set automatically |
Understanding Network Entity Types
All entities in CRM.COM, for example, Subscriptions, Subscription Types and Activities can beong to multiple entity network types and each type is responsible for distinct functionality and access behavior; e.g. the Activities module is defined as an Implicit Viewing Entity as well as an Assignable Entity.
Refer to the table below for a description of each network entity type and the CRM.COM modules that are of that type.
Network Management Business Examples
Set up Network Management for your business network
Scenario 1
Company ZX wants to set up its Network Management for two Organisational Units (External and Internal) with the following structure:
Solution
Communities
- Create a Community for External Organisational Units.
- Classify the Community as External.
- Create a Community for Internal Organisational Units.
- Classify the Community as Internal.
Groups
- Add Groups on the Internal Community (through the Community page).
- Add a Groups for managers, classify it as Internal.
- Add a Group for sales manager, classify it as Internal.
- Add a Group for sales branch 1, classify it as Internal.
- Add a Group for sales branch 2, classify it as Internal.
- Add a Group for finance, classify it as Internal.
- Add Groups to the External Community (through the Groups page).
- Add a Group for sales partner 1, classify as External.
- Add a Group for sales partner 2, classify as External.
Units
- Add Units on sales branch 1 (through the Groups page).
- Add operators sales branch 1 Unit.
- Add team leaders sales branch 1 Unit.
(Repeat the same for internal and external groups)
- Add a Sub-Unit for each operator sale branch.
- Add call operator Sub-Unit.
- Add vehicle operator Sub-Unit.
Users (User Management)
- Add users in each Unit.
- Add Call Operator Users.
- Add Vehicle Operator Users.
Automatic Group Assignment
Scenario 2
Company ZX wants to set the 'Owned By Group' of all the applicable entities based on the area that the customer is resding , as the information will always be handled by the respective location departments. There are three 'Owned By Groups': London, Birmingham and Manchester.
- London Metropolitan Area
- Southend
- Chatham
- Luton/Dunstable
- Reading
- Birmingham metropolitan area
- Coventry
- Nuneaton
- Redditch
- Kidderminster
- Manchester metropolitan area
- Manchester
- Macclesfield
Solution
- Configuration
- Create 3 groups in the system
- London
- Birmingham
- Manchester
- For all the groups select the option: Set as Owner Group Automatically Based on Covered Geographical Areas.
- In the geographical area section of each of the groups provide the respective towns
- Create 3 groups in the system
Notes
- If you are using a previous release, view CRM.COM Release Changes.
Glossary
| CRM.COM Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Organisational Unit | Used to organise the company’s network. Communities, Groups and Units are all considered Organisational Units. |
| Privacy Level | Assigned on single records and provides a hierarchical level of privacy used to control sharing of the record as well as visibility and modification, |