Understanding Network Management

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Last updated: Jul 17, 2017 by Former user (Deleted)
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What is Network Management?

Network Management is a module used to organise a business into Communities, Groups and Units which are Organisational Units that represent company departments and hierarchies. Network Management administers Record Level access rights, the access right associated with a User handling a specific Accounts Receivable (not Module and Feature Level access rights which are those of a User accessing the Accounts Receivable module through the Menu). Collaborations can also be set up to enable the sharing of restricted data among departments. 

For information on setting up 'Module Level' restrictions and access rights, view Security Management.

Network Management Glossary

TermsDescriptions
Organisational UnitUsed to organise the company’s network and define the collaboration between Units. Communities, Groups and Units are all considered Organisational Units.

Community

 

Represents a body of Users which belong to one or more collaborating business departments, and follow common or similar business processes.
GroupRepresents a body of Users which belong to the same department and to one or multiple collaborating teams within that department, and follow common business processes.
Unit

Represents a body of Users which belong on the same team and follow identical business processes.

Collaboration
  1. The sharing between Communities or Groups of data to be viewed, modified, or assigned.
  2. The organisation within a Community or Group of its consisting Groups, Units and Users (defining ownership and assignments).

Privacy Level

Used to control the access to, and sharing of, data within Organisational Units.

Network Management Key Processes and Concepts

Processes / ConceptDescription
Sharing of data between Groups based on Privacy Levels

Privacy Level represents a value that has no effect on a record but is required by more complex CRM.COM processes to define distinct access levels to records, based on the collaboration of Organisational Units. See example below:

Assume there are two departments with each having access solely to its own Accounts. The two departments merge and should share their data, with the exception of accounts with a non-disclosure agreement and whose data is only to be accessed by the initial department.

In the above example, the sensitive data should be marked with a High Privacy Level. Once the Group Collaboration rules are set up so that the two departments can share data, the records with High Privacy Level can be excluded from the collaboration, so that their access remains restricted to the initial Group.

View Setting up Group Collaboration Profiles and Setting up Privacy Level Assignment Rules (PLARs) and Setting Privacy Level for more information.

Network Management Entity TypesNetwork Entity Types are used to categorize and control access to CRM.COM Entities/modules and define the global behaviour of these Entities within the System.
Working with CRM.COM Organisational Units

CRM.COM can be set up in such a way as to simulate the structure of a company, establishing access levels within the System based on this structure. There are three levels of Organisational Units (OUs):

  • Communities
    • Multiple single layer Communities can exist.
    • Each Community can have multiple single layer Groups.
  • Groups
    • A Group can belong to only one Community.
    • Each Group can have multiple Units.
  • Units
    • A Unit can belong to only one Group.
    • Units follow a hierarchical structure; each Unit can have Sub-Units.
    • Each Unit can have multiple Users.
    • Users can belong to multiple Units, and consequently to multiple Groups or Communities.
    • Users log into the System by selecting one of the Units that they belong to.

Network Management Access & Viewing Controls

Business Network Characteristics define the level of access for each record. i.e., whether it will be available for selection, viewing or editing.

EntityNetwork CharacteristicsDescription
Units
  • Viewed by Users which access the System using the specific Unit, or Users using a Unit that belongs to the same Group as the specific Unit, or Users using a Unit that belongs to a Group that collaborates with the Group that the specific Unit belongs to (provided "Share My Units" is selected), or by a Super User.
Groups
  • Viewed by Users which access the System using a Unit that belongs to the specific Group, or Users using a Unit that belongs to a Group that collaborates with the specific Group (provided "Share My Group" is selected), or by a Super User.
Communities
  • Viewed by Users which access the System by using a Unit that belongs to the specific Community, or by a Super User.

Network Management  Related Modules

EntityInteraction of Network Management with the Entity
All CRM.COM entitiesNetwork Management interacts with all CRM.COM modules as it is responsible for defining access level rights.
Explicit Viewing Access Entities

Implicit Viewing Access Entities

Assignable Entities

Controlled Selection Access Entities

 

Network Management  - Business Examples

The following section provides business examples of how the CRM.COM Network Management module is used.

Set up Network Management for your business network

Company ZX wants to set up its organisation network management

Business Requirement

Company ZX wants to set up its Network Management for two Organisational Units (External and Internal) with the following structure:

Organisation Hierarchy

CRM.COM Solution

Configuration 

  • Create a Community for External Organisational Units.
    • Classify the Community as External.
  • Create a Community for Internal Organisational Units.
    • Classify the Community as Internal.
  • Add Groups on the Internal Community (through the Community page).
    • Add a Groups for managers, classify it as Internal.
    • Add a Group forsalesmanager, 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.
  • 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 (through the Units page).
  • Add a Sub-Unit for each operator sale branch.
    • Add call operator Sub-Unit.
    • Add vehicle operator Sub-Unit.
  • Add Users in each Unit.
    • Add Call Operator Users.
    • Add Vehicle Operator Users.

Set up Automatic Group Assignment

Set up Automatic Group Assignment

Business Requirement

Company ZX wants to set the 'Owned By Group' of all the applicable entities based on their Geographical area. 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 

CRM.COM Solution

  • Configuration
    • Create 3 Groups in the System
      • London
      • Birmingham 
      • Manchester
    • For all of the Groups select the option: Set as Owner Group Automatically Based on Covered Geographical Areas.
    • In the Geographical area of each of the Groups provide the related towns as in the screenshots below.
     

More Information on Setting Up Automatic Group Assignment can be found at Managing Group.

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