Customize your CRM

You can customize your CRM module by adding new tabs and fields to the entity (Account, Activity, Campaign, Contact, and Lead) screens.

You can add the following custom items as illustrated in the following image:

1. Tab of fields - New tab in which you can add custom fields.

2. Table of rows - New tab containing a table (grid) in which you can add a list of items.

3. Fields on main tab - New fields on the entity's main tab.

   

If you map the custom fields to your CRM Analysis database, you can analyze the data entered against those new fields in the Analytics module. This is a three-step process, as outlined below. Watch the videos for two examples of each step.

Add the custom item in CRM

1. Click the Phocas menu button > Administration > CRM Customizations.

2. Click New.

3. Enter a name for the custom item, and a description if required.

4. Select the entity from the dropdown list: Account, Activity, Campaign, Contact, or Lead.

5. Select the customization type: Tab of fields, Table of rows or Fields on main tab.

6. Select whether the customization is editable. If it is editable, the Entity and Type cannot be changed.

7. Click Save.

8. Click the Fields tab and add the fields:

   1. Click New.

   2. Enter a name for the field, and a group if required.

   3. Select the field type: Date, Date Time, Integer, List (dropdown list), Number, Text, or Text Area. After you save the Field form, you cannot change the field type. If you select the List option, enter the options into the box that displays, separated by a pipe (|) character without space, illustrated in the image below.

      

   4. Either click Save and New (if you want to add another field) or Save and Close as required.

9. Click Save and Close. The new custom item displays in the list on the Customization screen and when you open the corresponding entity screen. Your CRM users can now add data against the new item.

Map the custom items to the CRM database

To enable the analysis of data entered against custom CRM items, you need to map those items to the CRM Analysis database in Designer. Generally, the Phocas Implementations team does this type of work for you but if you are familiar with using Designer, you can do it yourself. The steps are summarized below. See the following Designer pages for more information: Add (connect) data to a database and Map data to the database.

1. Open the CRM Analysis database in Designer.

2. Open the applicable entity (the data displays in the stream section).

3. Open the data sources panel > locate the CRM custom file in the Auto Generated CRM folder > drag it into the Drag here box in the stream section.

4. Map the ID in the file (the activity data that you capture in the CRM) to the ID in the database.

5. Map the new custom item to the required item in the Dimension or Property section and edit the name of the mapped item, if required.

6. Save and build the database.

Use the CRM custom items in Analytics

After you build your CRM Analysis database with the custom CRM items, so long as data has been entered against those items in CRM, you can analyze that data in Analytics. Depending on how you mapped the custom items, they might display as a dimension or property.

See the following Analytics pages for more information: Filter data (use dimensions) and Change the properties.