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Vtiger CRM - Implementation Checklist

From vtiger.com

(Contributed By: dcha in vtiger General Discussions)

Contents 1 Identify CRM Goals 2 How will CRM success be measured? 3 Determine Business Needs 4 Determine Data Needs 5 Determine Company specific customizations 6 Prepare Technical Infrastructure 7 Install vTiger

[edit] Identify CRM Goals

These will lead to knowing which modules and configurations will be needed for vTiger. A broad distinction of the intended implementations would be:

• Sales oriented

This form of CRM deployment will be used primarily by the Sales team within the company as a central Sales Information System. The entire sales cycle will be tracked from lead (from marketing activities) or contact (cold or warm) generation, conversion into potentials and final conversion into accounts. Basic use of Inventory Modules (Products, Quotes, Orders, Invoices) will be used but would most probably be left to the Sales Support team to perform the input.

• Support oriented

This form of CRM deployment would be a logical progression from the purely Sales oriented approach. After building up a portfolio of clients, the sales team would start to better manage their clients. At this point, the Basic Input Modules (Leads, Potentials, Contacts, Accounts) would have been populated and would provide the Sales team to have a clearer picture of their individual clients needs. Sales Force Automation (relevant only when vTiger releases some form of workflow) will then aid in the job of regularly keeping in touch with clients to better understand their needs and requirements.

• Order Management oriented

This would be a combination of both Sales and Support operations, suitable for deployment in medium to large companies with separate Sales team and Admin support. By clearly deploying the access control roles and profiles of the two departments, each department can focus on its main function, namely: - Input Modules (Leads, Potentials, Contacts, Accounts) to be fully managed by Sales team. - Inventory Modules (Products, Quotes, Orders, Invoices) to be fully managed by Admin support. - Support Modules (Notes, Helpdesk) to be commonly used by both Sales and Admin team for communication purposes. - Personal/Team Management Tools (Calendar, Activities, Emails, Dashboard, RSS, Report) is to be used meticulously by all staff in order for high management to have a clear "bird's eye view" of the progress in the company. [contributed by Nicholas Chan, iFoundries]

[edit] How will CRM success be measured?

The following basic Key Performance Indicators should be taken into consideration, a standard before/after comparison should be conducted based on historical data of at least 3 months past; 1 year historical data would be best to perform an overlay due to the matching of "high/low" sales seasons.

• Information Structure

Document the present number of manhours required to obtain a client file (which includes their contact details, project(s) or sales volume status, etc).

• Sales Volume

Document the frequency and volume of which clients purchase from you annually.

• Client Satisfaction

Document the number of complaints, follow-up trips and other "out-of-sales-cycle" events.

By obtaining the abovementioned basic 3 facts, a quick bird's eye view can be seen on the increase/decrease in effectiveness of the sales team.

[above contributed by Nicholas Chan, iFoundries]

Identify the ways the pilot will be a success and knowing that we should move to a full scale deployment. How will the overall project and implementation be measured for success?

[edit] Determine Business Needs

• Determine initial pilot users

• Determine business sales, marketing, and customer service processes that will be addressed by the system

• Determine language(s) for the UI.

• Start with just a few processes and get them running well in vTiger. Expand from there.

• Identify the training needs

• Document processes and workflows for users (i.e. entry of accounts, entries of activities, assignment of potentials)

• Develop training materials and plan

[edit] Determine Data Needs

• Determine the various file imports, exports, and data integration that is needed

• Prepare file imports (if necessary)

[edit] Determine Company specific customizations

• Determine if terms, forms, etc will need to be changed to accommodate specific industry or company specific requirements

• Review vTiger with core business users

• Determine whether certain customizations are required for localization purposes (i.e. accomodate certain business practices or legal requirements)

[edit] Prepare Technical Infrastructure

• Establish server, OS, etc.

• Pre-install considerations

a. Will vtiger run on a local server or from a hosting company? (fastCGI/CGI support, connection speed, hosting shared server load all affect page loading times)

b. How users are expected to use this install? (if many users, need to decide roles - and set up user groups)

c. What OS is it running on - Linux/*Nix/Windows?

d. Back end database - MySQL/PostgreSQL/other?

e. Is Apache/PHP/*SQL already installed? What versions and what is the configuration? (vtiger needs certain settings - can these be tweaked by an .ini file?)

It is necessary to know what changes (if any) will be necessary for a smooth vTiger install. Much time is saved getting this set up correctly up front.

2. Windows

• Download installs and patches

[edit] Install vTiger

• Install release and patches

• Install windows services

• Configure backup of vTiger in DB utilities

• Install as a service and start when Windows starts

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