QAD Customer Relationship Management Release Notes > Release Notes for Version 6.0
  
Release Notes for Version 6.0
QAD SFA and MA version: 6.0
Release Date: March 2008
QAD ERP Compatibility: QAD Enterprise Applications 2007.1
QAD SFA and MA Documentation: User Guide: QAD SFA and MA (78-0707A), Installation Guide: QAD SFA and MA (78-0706A)
Interface Enhancements
QAD SFA and MA version 6.0 has an improved user interface (UI) to enhance the user experience. The UI enhancements include:
1 Improved browsers provide the ability to:
• Access details and tab folders directly from the browser view for improved access to system records.
• Select multiple records in browsers to facilitate the performance of routine tasks.
• Resize the browser area to optimize browser use.
• Restore browser display settings to supplied defaults.
• Run external programs from any browser in the system.
An enhanced search facility now lets you perform an extended search by using up to five fields in a browser. All search criteria entered during a session are retained by the system for searching previously accessed records. The Search button is now visible all the time unless you hide them.
2 Configurable toolbar and direct menu access
• Each module now has its own toolbar that can be switched on or off, or docked within or outside the main window.
• Commonly performed tasks such as adding a note, creating activities, and modifying existing profiles and contacts are now directly accessible from the system toolbar.
• Menus can now be displayed using the tree view or as buttons, as in Microsoft Outlook. A user can choose to display menus using either format depending on personal preference.
• The right-click menus have been enhanced, and more intuitive images have been added.
3 Personal menu settings and user preferences can now be retained when logging out of the system by selecting the Remember Settings check box.
New Features
Apart from enhancements to the user interface, QAD SFA and MA version 6.0 also includes the following new features:
1 Multi-language support
• Up to three languages can now be assigned to a user. A user can easily switch between languages as required.
• Company-specific labels can be created easily.
• Users can now translate application labels without having to use the Progress Translation Manager. This new function lets users create new translations and company-specific labels.
2 Improved filtering of records
• Users can now filter profiles, contacts, opportunities, campaigns, calls, and the installed base from within the respective browser.
• In addition, records in certain modules—namely Profiles, Contacts, Opportunities, and Installed Base—can now be filtered using analysis groups or codes, regardless of whether analysis groups or codes are attached.
3 Field-level improvements
• Addresses can now be displayed in native format. For example, an address for a US-based profile uses a different format than an address for a UK-based profile.
• Mandatory fields are now indicated with a marker.
• New operators are now available for specifying conditions. They include "Ignore,""Until today,""exists,""does not exist,""1st/2nd/3rd/4th qrt," and so on. This enhances the user’s ability to narrow down records selected.
• Values in specific fields can now be identified and replaced using global search and replace.
• User-defined frames and fields can now be created in browsers, filters, and reports.
• Auditing can now be enabled for any field using the Field Object Manager.
4 Using the system HTML editor, e-mail templates can be created when defining activities, managing call escalation, creating marketing campaigns, and so on.
Module Level Enhancements
The table below describes the enhancements in the current release for the various system modules.
 
Module
Enhancements
Activities
• Microsoft Outlook-style calendar views are now provided.
• Task-specific data entry frames. For example, the appointment entry frame is different from the letter creation frame.
• Activity records can now be associated with multiple objects—profiles, contacts, users, opportunities, service calls and so on.
• Activities can now be assigned a status—Started, Not Started, Complete, Partly Finished, and so on.
• Activities can now be scheduled to occur at regular intervals—for example, once a week. A scheduled activity can also be rescheduled.
• A new activity type of task has been added. Tasks are not associated with profiles and are not required to be processed by the system. Users can create tasks for themselves or assign them to a team member. Tasks can be monitored in the same way as activities.
AdminService
A new Microsoft Windows service has been added for managing background tasks, such as sending e-mails and monitoring a user's inbox. These tasks are executed when the associated job becomes due in the database. AdminService provides a more robust integration with Exchange mailboxes.
Campaigns
• Campaign objective, related costs, and potential targets now display on the Campaigns screen. Campaign-related notes can be recorded using the Text tab.
• A status can be assigned to each campaign (In Progress, On Hold, Closed, and so on).
• Campaign-specific templates are now available for events, product launches, exhibitions, and so on. Templates are now available for different types of event. Activities and tasks can now be assigned to a campaign template.
• A user can now build a campaign target list by using existing records, as well as add user-defined fields for specific campaign types to record additional information.
• A user can now define the type of inclusions that are delivered to their campaign list targets, giving them greater control over their marketing campaign mailing.
• Targets can now be copied from one campaign to another. In addition, planning tasks, cost, stage, stage activity, and campaign targets can be copied from one campaign to another. You can also plan and manage campaign-specific tasks.
• You now can create follow-up activities for targets in a given campaign stage. Follow-up activities can be delegated to the profile account manager by default, or to a team member through manual selection.
• You now can record the details of campaign inclusions, such as type—magazine advertisement, newspaper insert, brochure, and so on—and other details. Campaign success can be analyzed based on the media type and its effectiveness.
• You now can define exclusion lists for a campaign. An exclusion list specifies the target records to exclude for a specific stage of a campaign, or for an entire campaign.
Contacts
• You can now create reminders for birthdays and anniversaries of your contacts
• You can now define communication preferences for each contact record.
• You can now track the various profiles to which a contact is presently associated, or was associated with in the past (as an employee). The system also facilitates attaching contacts to contacts as a network.
• You can now easily attach or detach contacts to mailing lists. The management of opt-in and opt-out lists has been enhanced.
• You can now send selected contact address details to various address labels. Address labels can be produced in the format of the country of address.
• Up to 50 fields are now available to define data entry frames according to personal requirement. These user-defined frames consist of user-defined fields as well as regular fields.
• You can now handpick contacts and attach them to previously defined campaigns. You also can display the campaigns in which a given contact participates.
• There is enhanced visibility of marketing activities carried out against contacts. For example, you can now view the answers collected using scripts by using the Scripts tab.
Customer Console
• This facility lets you view data from QAD ERP for a given customer. Viewable data includes quotes, order, invoices, account receivable, product sales history, installed base, and service calls. Customer Console provides a 360-degree view of the selected customer without switching platforms or screens.
• You can search customers using search criteria such as customer number, invoice number, and so on, helping to reduce the time required to find relevant information in QAD ERP.
Customer Service
Customer Service helps you to manage customer interaction more efficiently by registering customer complaints relating to service or delivery. This new module contains the following functions:
• Call Management
• Installed Base
• Service Queues
• CSR Maintenance
• Customer Service Settings
• Contracts
Dashboard
Displays a summary of the day's activities, tasks, top profiles, and opportunities. You can display either an individual or a corporate view.
Data Synchronization
Lets a user define a schedule for synchronizing records defined in Remote Sales with the main system database records. The system now prompts a user to synchronize their data before logging off from the system.
Menu Manager
• Menus are now organized more logically and menu sections can be enabled or disabled.
• Program objects can now store not just details of the fields visible in the frames, but also of all frame elements such as rectangles and comments.
• You can now designate the sequence in which programs are run.
• You can hide certain menu options if associated databases are not connected, reducing runtime errors.
Opportunities
You can attach profiles linked to opportunities to an existing campaign or campaign stage. This option is useful when follow-up activities (such as running a customer satisfaction script) must be performed after opportunities reach a certain stage.
Preferences
Users can now personalize:
• Integration with Microsoft Outlook
• Report settings
• Regional settings
• Activity settings
• Appearance settings
Profile
• The display of activities has been enhanced to provide more information. Activity information now can be sorted easily.
• The new Profile Add wizard makes entering data easier through its user-friendly interface. Data is checked when saved to avoid duplicate entries.
• Address and segmentation information is now available in a single frame.
• You now can allocate both internal and external account managers to a profile depending on criteria entered.
• The search feature for profiles has been enhanced to allow searches using alias names instead of normal names.
• Script analysis has been enhanced: for a selected profile the new Scripts tab displays the scripts used and answers recorded.
Reports
• Reports are now created using Crystal Reports, providing enhanced control on data presentation, sorting, and highlighting of exception cases. Reports can now be exported in various formats.
• Additional reports in predefined formats are now available. The number of standard reports now available provides better data coverage.
• User-defined reports can now be generated. You can use existing templates to create additional reports.
Users
• Module now stores multiple user addresses and telephone numbers.
• You can now maintain vacation schedules for users. Different types of vacations are indicated by using colors.
Known Issues
1 In the Data Synchronization module, the system displays an error message in the following circumstances on synchronization:
• Adding a node record with the same details in the host database and the regional database. Error message: Node already exists with key.
• Creating a user record in the host and the regional databases with the same user ID. Error message: User already exists with user_id.
• Creating a table record in both the host and the regional databases with same unique key. Error message: Table already exists with table_id.
2 In the Activities module, the following known issues exist:
a Only the Activities calendar displays activities that are Closed using strikethrough format. Closed activities in the Day, Week, Work Week, and Month views are indicated by the text "Closed:" prefixed before the activity subject.
b Only the Activities calendar displays activities that are Overdue, Recurring, or High Priority in color. Activities in the Day, Week, Work Week, and Month views do not display in color.
c Day, Week, Work Week, and Month views of the calendar do not display non-working days of business units and users in a different color.
d A recurrence activity record that has not been edited does not display in the Activities browser. Only recurrence series and edited instances are displayed.
e Such a recurrence activity cannot be created so that its instance occurs on two different days for the user who is creating the activity.
f Keyboard navigation does not work with the calendar.
3 The following known issues exist in the Global Search and Replace function:
• Business rules are not checked while performing a global search and replace operation. You can currently enter junk values in some key fields. For example, the prospect external account manager can be set to some nonexistent user ID. Although the profile maintenance screens have validations to prevent such junk entries from being entered for prospect account managers, the global search and replace facility does not perform such checks. As a result, when a user tries to modify and save a profile record after performing a global search and replace, the system displays the error message: Invalid External Account Manager. Update canceled.
• Performing the Replace function by just selecting the table and not entering any condition displays the error message: Zero records have been modified.
4 The system cannot filter records based on data containing special characters, though the system can store records with such characters.
5 Shortcut keys do not work for the Crystal Records interface. When the focus is on a Crystal object and the user tries to navigate with shortcut keys, the system does not invoke the required interface.
6 The following known issues exist in the Reports module:
a Color settings that are applied using the Show Column interface work for data only. The settings do not work for the report header.
b The system report viewer truncates displayed column labels. If this occurs, a possible workaround is to enable word wrapping so that longer labels can display on the next line. You can also increase the width of the affected columns.
7 In edit mode, the navigation panel is always dimmed in the Activity Details and Task Details screens.
8 When an object is modified in the source tab of ThinkHTML control, the Save and Undo buttons are not enabled. A workaround is to save all content modifications using the Design tab.
9 In the Date Time Picker, the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + Home and Ctrl + End do not let the user navigate to the first and last record respectively.
10 Sorting does not work on calculated columns.
11 Entering a question mark (?) in the User ID field may cause the mail merge and Query Builder functionality in the system to become unstable.
12 Context-sensitivity in the online Help system is not enabled. Use the Help contents page to navigate to the section you want.
13 Although the online Help gets invoked on a Windows 2003 Server machine, it does not display any content in the right pane.