CM-A Enter Accounts (DBA Classic)

 

Purpose of the Program

 

Use this program to maintain general master file information on sales prospects and customers.  From this program you can enter contact history, follow-up codes and dates, assign classification codes, enter multiple contacts, and track key dates.

 

Field Explanations

 

Acct Code

 

A user-defined code that identifies this sales prospect or customer.  We recommend using the same coding method as used with your customer files.  In fact, wherever you have a customer with entries in both the Contact Manager and customer master files, you should use the same account code.

This allow you to toggle back and forth between AR-A  Enter Customers and CM-A, Enter Contact Accounts, using the <PageUp> key (or clicking on the AR button).

 

When a prospect becomes a customer, you can create an instant customer record from this program.  Click the Make Customer button, and a new customer record is automatically created with all common information between the two files transferred over.

The coding method we recommend is to use the first three letters of the account’s first word, followed by the first three letters of the account¡¦s second word.  If the account¡¦s name is comprised of just one word, use the first six letters of that word.  You can use any method that works best for you.  This is a 10 character alphanumeric field.

 

Rep

 

The code for the Rep (representative) to which this account is assigned.  Reps are set up in advance through SM-I-I  Enter Reps and Passwords.  You can make this a mandatory field for multi-user environments by setting the Make Rep a mandatory field? prompt to Y in SD-O  Contact Manager Defaults.

 

Company

 

The actual company or account name.  This is a 30 character alphanumeric field.

 

Address 1 - 3

 

Three address lines.  These are 30 character alphanumeric fields.

 

City

 

The account’s city.  This is a 26 character alphanumeric field.

 

State

 

The account’s two character state code.

 

Zip

 

The account’s zip or postal code.  This is a 10 character alphanumeric field.

 

Country

 

If you have customers in multiple countries, enter the country name or code here.  This is a 30 character alphanumeric field.

 

Alpha Sort

 

Various reports sort either by customer code or by this alpha sort field.  Enter the first few letters by which you want reports sorted alphabetically.  The first six letters of the Company field default into this field, where they may be overridden.

 

Contact

 

The first or primary contact for this account.  Nine other contacts may be defined by pressing the F8 key (or clicking on the Contact button), which brings up the additional contacts window.

 

Title

 

Contact 1’s title.  Default titles for all 10 contact positions can be set up through SD-O  Contact Manager Defaults.  The default title can be overridden.

 

Dear

 

The person’s name as it would appear in a form letter salutation, such as “Dear Joe”, or “Dear Mr. Grant.”  This field is used by CM-L  Enter Form Letters and CM-B-I  Print Form Letters.

 

Telephone

 

Contact 1’s telephone number.  Contacts 2-10 can each have their own telephone numbers, maintained in the multiple contacts window (accessed by pressing the F8 key or clicking on the Contact button).  This is a 25 character alphanumeric field.

 

Fax

 

The account’s fax number.  This is a 25 character alphanumeric field.

 

SIC Code

 

The Standard Industrial Code for this account.  This is used for reporting purposes and is a seven character alphanumeric field.

 

# Employees

 

The number of people employed by the company.  This is a f digit integer that can be used as a filter in reports.

 

Status

 

A user-defined code that can be used for any purpose.  It is used as a filter when selecting names for lists and mailing labels.

 

Lead Source

 

You can set up user defined lead source codes through SM-I-A  Enter Lead Source Codes to identify where the account sales prospect originated from (advertising, referral, etc.).  This is used for reporting purposes and is a five character alphanumeric field.

 

Start Dt

 

The date the account record was created.  It defaults to today’s date, but can be overridden.

 

Territory

 

The account can be assigned a user-defined territory code for reporting purposes, set up through SM-I-B  Enter Territory Codes.  This is a four character alphanumeric field.

 

Remarks

 

Two lines of remarks are available for any purpose.  These are both 60 characters long.

 

E-mail

 

The primary email address.  This can be used as a lookup and can be exported in CM-B-B  Print Accounts Listing to an ASCII file that can be imported into email programs such as Outlook for email broadcasting.

 

Class Codes

 

This window displays user-defined classification codes that have been assigned to this account.  These are used primarily for mailing list sorting and for reports.  To set up class codes, use SM-I-G  Enter Class Codes.  To assign class codes to an account, press F7 (or click on the Class button) while in this program to bring up the class codes entry window.

 

Key Dates

 

Key date codes can be set up to record significant events, such as the first sales meeting, first order, etc.  The key date codes, dates, and descriptions display in this window.   Key date codes are set up through SM-I-H  Enter Key Date Codes.  To assign key date codes and dates to an account, press the F9 key (or click on the Date button) while in this program to bring up the key dates entry window.

 

Download?

 

For display purposes only.  Whenever an account record is changed or history is added or changed, this switch is automatically set to Y by the system.  If you are downloading records from your non-networked computer to the main system computer, this switch determines which records will be downloaded.  After downloading the record, the switch gets set back to N.  If you are on a network and will not be uploading or downloading records among computers, this switch will have no purpose and can be ignored.

 

Next Follow-up

 

For display purposes only.  If you have any follow-ups scheduled for this account, the follow up code and date with the earliest date is displayed in this field.

 

General Program Operation

 

Entering Account Information

 

When entering this program you are always first prompted for your password.  This identifies you and determines what you are allowed to enter or view.  If you try to bring up a record that you are password protected from, you will not be able to access it.

To bring up a record, either enter the Acct Code or press F2 (or click on the Lookup button) for a pop-up window.  The pop-up window lets you search for an account eight different ways: by account code, company name, state, zip code, contact person, Telephone, E-mail address or Status+SIC+# Employees.

 

Once the account is displayed, as soon as you press <Enter>, any Class Codes or Key Dates will display in their respective windows, for information purposes only.

If this is a new entry, enter all the relevant fields according to Field Descriptions above.  If this an existing record, press <Enter> through any of the fields and make changes as required.  You can save the entry at any point by pressing the F10 key (or clicking on the Save button).

 

Entering History Notes

 

You can enter history notes of phone conversations and meetings through history notes.  To access history notes for an account, press F5 (or click on the Hist button) while the account record is on the screen.

You are first presented with an opening list of previous history calls, if there are any.  To enter a new record, click on the Add Call button.

You are now presented with an entry window for the call header information.  The Contact defaults to the account's primary contact from the main CM-A screen, but it can be overridden.  The Date defaults to today's date, but can be overridden.  The Rep field defaults to your Rep code (which it knows from the password you entered) and does not require an entry.  The Code defaults to your personal default history code set up through SM-I-I  Enter Reps and Passwords, if there is one, and classifies what type of history you are recording (phone call, sales call, etc.).  The Event field is automatically assigned by the program and ties together multiple history lines with a common number.

 

Once the header window has been completed, you are presented with a window for entering remarks.  Enter as many lines as are needed.  Be sure and press <Enter> after entering each line in order to save it.

When you are finished entering remarks, press <ENTER> on an empty line or click on Exit line and end Auto Entry Mode.  You will now see the remarks displayed in a window directly underneath the header window.

At this point you can save your entries by clicking on the Save Call button, or you can cancel the call by clicking on the Exit Call button.  In either case you will be returned to the opening list, from which you can enter another call or edit an existing history record.

 

If the history code's Display Time Window during entry? field has been set to Y in SM-I-C  Enter History Codes, after a call is saved an additional window will be presented that lets you enter the time the call was received, the start time, stop time, actual minutes, and billable minutes fields.  If you enter a start time and stop time, the program will automatically calculate the actual minutes.

Three reports are derived from the history notes file: CM-B-F  Print Account History, CM-B-G  Print Calls by Account, and CM-B-H  Print Calls by Rep.

 

Entering Account Follow-up

 

Account follow up lets you program in a follow-up code and date that alerts you to perform some form of follow-up activity, such as a return phone call.

To access account follow-up, press F6 (or click on the Follow button) while an account is on the screen to access the account follow-up entry window.  Enter a follow up code or select one from a pop-up window by pressing the F2 key (or clicking on the Lookup button).  Follow up codes allow you to set up different classifications of follow-up so that they are not all mixed together.  For example, you might have phone follow-ups separated from appointment follow-ups.

 

Enter the follow-up date and any remarks as to what you are to do for the follow-up event.  Press F10 (or click on the Save button) to save the follow-up record.

To get a listing of follow-ups to be performed, run CM-B-C  Print Account Follow-up.  If you are using follow-ups to track AR collections, you can have follow-ups print on the aging report (AR-F  Print Aging).

You can return to the Enter Contact Accounts screen by pressing the <Esc> key or you can enter additional follow-ups.

 

Entering Class Codes

 

Class codes allow you to classify an account an unlimited number of ways, primarily for mailing list selection and reporting classifications.  To assign class codes to an account, press F7 (or click on the Class button) while an account record is on the screen to display the class codes entry window.

Enter a class code or select one from a pop-up window by pressing F2.  After pressing <Enter> through the description, you will be asked if you wish to save the record.  Continue assigning as many class codes as you wish.  When you wish to return to the Enter Contact Accounts screen, press <Esc>.

 

Entering Additional Contacts

 

You can enter additional contact names, titles, phone numbers, and “dear?fields by pressing the F8 key (or clicking on the Contact button) while an account record is on the screen.  This will bring up the additional contacts entry window.  Nine additional contacts can be entered.

Enter the contact name, the title, phone number, and “dear?name (if applicable).  Default titles can be set up for each contact position through SD-O  Contact Manager Defaults.  If so, enter the contact against the appropriate contact number/title.

 

When you are finished entering contacts, be sure and press F10 (or click on the Save button) to save the entries.  If you press <Esc> without saving them, you will lose your entries.  After pressing F10 (or clicking on the Save button) you are automatically returned to the Enter Contact Accounts screen.

 

Entering Key Dates

 

Key date codes and dates can be used to record important events for statistical reporting purposes.  To enter key dates, press F9 (or click on the Date button) while an account record is on the screen to access the key dates entry window.

Enter a date code or select one from a pop-up window by pressing F2 (or clicking on the Lookup button).  The description will display automatically.  Enter the date.  You will be asked if you wish to save the record.  Enter additional codes and dates, or press <Esc> to return to the Enter Contact Accounts screen.

 

Switching to AR-A, Enter Customers

 

You can toggle back and forth between Enter Contact Accounts and AR-A  Enter Customers by pressing <PageUp> (or clicking on the AR button) while an account record is on the screen.  If the account has a corresponding record in the customer file, the record will be fully displayed without having to enter the account code.  From AR-A, Enter Customers, you can return to CM-A, Enter Contact Accounts, by pressing <PageUp>.  To take advantage of this feature, it is essential that you use identical account codes wherever a customer has records in both files.  This feature can be disabled via the Allow CM Access to AR setting in SD-Q IS Tech Support Defaults

 

Make Customer Button

 

If this contact is not yet a customer, you can click the Make Customer button to create a record in AR containing the same code and pertinent information.  You will be prompted for fields such as payment terms, Sales Rep, Tax authority, etc.  This feature can be disabled via the Allow Make Customer in CM setting in SD-Q IS Tech Support Defaults

 

 

CREDIT CARD INFO  (Via Home key or CC Button)

 

You can pull up the credit card info from this screen and verify whether a credit card is on file and the expiration date.  Only the last 4 digits of the card number will be visible.