Introduction

Getting Started > Introduction

CommitCRM is a complete software solution for managing computer services businesses, targeted at small to mid-sized IT service providers. This page will provide you with an introduction to CommitCRM and its terminology and help you ease into using the program.

Following you can find information about the features provided with the CommitCRM client application, and the optional add-on modules offered to our users.

CommitCRM Application Features

Accounts

Accounts main window

Your company has ongoing interactions with customers, vendors, business partners, friends, leads, and so on. In CommitCRM, each of these types of contacts is called an Account. You can open the Accounts window and manage your Account contact data and all other related data.

In Accounts, related data is any other information related to the Account that is presently being managed in CommitCRM, such as scheduled Appointments, open Tasks, Phone Call monitoring, Ticket/incident history, Assets (customer equipment, software licenses), Charges, linked Documents (MS-Word, emails, Excel etc.), Sales Opportunities and so on.

Account information is organized in separate tabs, each of which displays a different type of data.

To view all information related to an Account, open the Accounts window, locate the Account you are seeking, and browse through its data by clicking on the information tabs.

Tip Accounts can be imported from various data sources including Excel files, CSV files, Outlook contacts, QuickBooks and others. To import Accounts, open the Accounts window and select Import Accounts from the Tools menu. When Commit-Outlook Sync is in use, Accounts can be synchronized between CommitCRM and Outlook. You can also sync CommitCRM Accounts with your PDA or Smart Phone through Outlook. When the Commit-QuickBooks Link is in use, Accounts can be synchronized between CommitCRM and QuickBooks.

>> Read more about Account management in CommitCRM.

Tickets

Tickets main window

As an IT service provider, you provide support to your customers, or Accounts. The services you provide vary and may include installation of new PCs, router setup, anti-virus updates, server administration, printer repair, phone support, fixing network configuration problems, and more. Each incident, problem, or job you handle for a given Account is managed in CommitCRM using a Ticket.

Use the Tickets window to view and manage all your Tickets.

Each Ticket record is linked to a selected Account, and has a unique Number, Description, Type, Assigned Employee and Status. A Ticket can also be linked to an Account Asset (such as hardware, or software licenses owned by the customer; see the section on Assets below).

The Ticket Status field allows you to check whether a Ticket has just been opened, whether it was scheduled with a technician, whether it is awaiting information from a customer, or whether it was resolved and closed.

While viewing Ticket information, you can see all data related to the Ticket. This includes scheduled technician visits, open tasks that must be completed in order for the ticket to be closed, special service notes, information regarding the Account's service contract, linked documents, charges for labor, expenses and parts, etc.

To view Tickets in the Dispatcher window, the Ticket should be set to be displayed in the Dispatcher by selecting the 'Show Ticket in Dispatcher' check box in the new Ticket window, or by clicking on the left-most column of the relevant Ticket row when viewing the Tickets list.

As with Accounts, the Ticket information is organized on separate tabs, with each tab displaying different information about the Ticket.

The Tickets window is often the window that is most used during day-to-day operations. It helps you keep track of all tasks and issues that need attention.

Tip When the Commit Web Interface for Customers is in use, your customers can log in to CommitCRM remotely using a web browser and manage data that is relevant to them. This includes viewing open Tickets, closed Tickets and scheduled technician visits. Customers can also add new Tickets and update existing ones. When the Commit Web Interface for Employees is in use, employees will be able to manage their open tickets and other data in CommitCRM from any location..

>> Read more about Ticket Management.
>> Watch Ticket management Videos.

Contracts

As a computer services business, you probably use service contracts that describe the service terms you provide to your customers. Use CommitCRM's Contract records to manage your service contracts and track their status.

Note that using the Contracts tool is optional. If you don't have special contract terms with your customers and you bill according to the activity performed (such as labor, expenses, and parts), you can use the default system contract that is automatically created for each Account, and avoid creating and managing contracts yourself.

Each Contract you open in CommitCRM is linked to a selected Account, and has a unique Code, Start and End Date, Type, and Status.

CommitCRM Contracts are categorized according to type: Standard, Block of Time, Block of Tickets and Block of Money. The contract type is set when you create a new Contract, and the system automatically tracks the status of contracts according to their type.

You can create and manage several contracts for each Account and use them concurrently; for example, one contract can be for phone support, another for a one-time network installation project, and another for managing managed services contracts, flat-rate contracts or warranties.

You can use the Contract's sub-code to differentiate between identical contracts for different date ranges.

Every Ticket and Charge (see the section on Charges below) in CommitCRM is created under one of the Account Contracts. When you create a Ticket under an active Contract, the system will warn you if the contract terms are obsolete - e.g. if the block of time allocated has already been used, if the end date has passed, etc.

When a contract has terminated, change its status to Completed. You can use various automation tools to help you renew and complete many Contracts at once. You can also use the status to indicate that a contract has been suspended or cancelled.

>> Read more about Billing and Contract Management.
>> Watch Contract Videos.

Charges

Charges main window

Tracking Charges is a key factor for running your service business well and improving its performance. Most employees, however, consider this to be a nuisance or a burden, which makes it difficult to maximize your full income potential.

Three types of Charges can be tracked in CommitCRM :

• Labor Charges for services provided.
• Expense Charges for expenses such as travel and delivery.
• Parts Charges for parts or products used.

Each Charge record includes a description and information regarding the Account being charged, the charged Item (see the section on Items below), quantity, price, and total amount. Each Charge record can also be linked to a Ticket (optional).

All charges are entered under one of the Account's active Contracts. Charges may automatically affect the current state of the contract where relevant, e.g. they will reduce the duration of time in a Block of Time contract, reduce the amount of money in a Block of Money contract, etc.

A Charge can be set as Billable or Not Billable. When a Charge is set as Billable it means that you intend to bill the customer with this charge. The default value for this is determined by the type of contract under which the Charge is created.

After a customer has been charged for a Billable Charge, the Charge record is set as Billed. This will prevent it from being billed again.

Adding a Charge is easy and can be done in CommitCRM's Main menu, the Tickets window (recommended), the Charges main window, or the Account window.

Use Items to speed up the process of entering new charges (see below). When an Item is selected for a charge, its description and price are automatically copied to the charge record fields to save you from having to manually enter all the relevant data.

Many types of Charge reports are available. These reports are used to bill customers and analyze business performance.

Tip When the Commit-QuickBooks Link is in use, it is easy to create invoices in QuickBooks based on Charges entered in CommitCRM. QuickBooks invoices can be generated through Account, Contract, or Ticket records.

>> Read more about Billing Management.
>> Read more about Charges.
>> Watch Billing Videos.

Items

Items main window

Items in CommitCRM are a catalog of all the services and products you offer. The Items list in CommitCRM acts as your price list.

Each Item has a unique Code, Name, Description and Pricing Setting.

There are three types of Items in CommitCRM:

Parts Items are hardware, software, or any other items you ship to your customer. These items have fixed prices.

Labor Items are services you provide to your customers, such as server installation, network installation, on-site technician visits, etc. Each Labor item can have a fixed price, a fixed hourly rate, or a dynamic hourly rate that varies depending upon the employee who performs the service.

Expense Items are used to charge expenses, such as travel and special deliveries. Expense Items can have a fixed price per unit or a fixed hourly rate.

For each new Charge record, an Item is selected and the relevant Item data is automatically copied to the new charge. This streamlines your data entry process.

Items can be Active or Suspended. A suspended Item cannot be selected when adding new charges.

Tip Items can be imported from various data sources including Excel files, CSV files, QuickBooks, etc. To import Items, open the Items window and select Import Items from the Tools menu. When the Commit-QuickBooks Link is in use, changes to Items can be synchronized between CommitCRM and QuickBooks.

>> Read more about Items.
>> Read more about Billing Management.
>> Watch Billing Videos.

Employees and Users

Employee in CommitCRM are the people who work in your service business.

Employees who need to be managed in the system should be marked as Active Employees. Active Employees can be assigned to Tickets, log charges, dispatched for on-site visits for open Tickets, etc.

Active employees can also have their own username and password so they can log in to the system and use it. Every employee is assigned to a Privileges Group that determines what s/he is allowed to do within the system.

Using the Commit Web Interface for Employees, you can give employees remote access to CommitCRM data via a web browser. They can then manage (view/add/edit) various types of information in CommitCRM including: Accounts, Tickets, Appointments, Tasks, Charges (Parts, Labor, and Expenses), Assets and History Notes. They can also view other information including Items, Contracts, Sales Opportunities, and more

When an employee ceases to work for your business, set the employee's status to Not Active. If a username has been created for that employee, it will automatically be removed.

>> Read more about Employees.

Assets

Asset details window

Asset management in CommitCRM lets you track and manage customer equipment and software licenses/subscriptions.

Use the Assets window to view and manage all Assets records.

Each Asset record can be linked to a selected Account, and has a Name, an optional unique Code, Serial Number, Warranty expiration date, Purchase Date and Price, Vendor information, etc.

A Ticket can be linked to an Asset. Using the Asset window > Tickets Tab, you can view all current and past trouble Tickets related to the selected Asset.

You can also print Asset reports in a variety of layouts.

Each Asset is categorized under one of the following Asset types: Hardware, Software or Other. The Asset type is set when you create a new Asset.

The Asset Status determines whether an Asset is Active or Not Active. Open Tickets can be linked to Active Assets (a warning message pops up when you try to link a Not Active Asset to a Ticket). In Active Assets, the Warranty Expiration date appears in red when it has passed its expiry date.

You can import Assets from various data sources including Excel files, CSV text files, etc.

Commit Web Interface for Employees also lets you manage all Asset details using a web browser so that when technicians are onsite, they can easily add/edit Asset details and view all the previously handled Tickets related to the Asset.

>> Read more about Asset Management in CommitCRM.

Sales Opportunities

Opportunities main window

Winning more business from new and existing customers is the goal of the Sales Opportunities management section in CommitCRM.

Sales Opportunities in CommitCRM help you track business opportunities from the first step of the sales cycle through to closing the sale. Whether it's setting up a new server for an existing customer, signing a service contract with a new customer, or an opportunity to win a large network installation, the Sales Opportunities section will help you manage the sale. Managing sales opportunities can help you increase the amount of new business coming in, and forecast future revenues.

A Sales Opportunity record consists of a short description of the opportunity, the related Account, the potential amount involved, the current stage and the current probability for winning.

The Pending tab allows you to enter follow-up tasks for each opportunity. The History tab allows you to see all past activities for each opportunity, enter details regarding key personalities and competitors, manage all related documents, emails, and quotes, and much more.

All open/won/lost sales opportunities for a selected Account are visible on the Opportunities tab in the Account window.

>> Read more about Sales Management in CommitCRM.

Dispatcher and Calendar

Dispatcher window

Dispatching the right technician to the right site at the right time is no simple task, especially when you must consider the current locations of your technicians, their next on-site visits and appointments, their skills, etc. As your business grows, managing these tasks becomes even harder.

CommitCRM improves your ability to dispatch by integrating the Calendar and the Dispatcher control board into one single window. This enables you to view the daily and weekly calendars for selected technicians, and see a "dispatcher view" that displays the schedules of technicians side by side (each in its own column) as well as all the open Tickets that were selected to be displayed on the Dispatcher board.

To dispatch an open Ticket to a technician, open the Dispatcher window. Drag the Ticket from the bottom and drop it on the Employee column at the desired time. This will open a new appointment window with all the relevant data already filled in.

The Calendar is also used to manage generic business appointments and tasks like sales meetings, team meetings, follow-up, etc. Each appointment or task is linked to a selected employee and can be linked to an Account, Ticket, Contract or Sales Opportunity.

The Pending tab in the Account window, Ticket window, Contract window, or Sales Opportunity window displays all the scheduled appointments and tasks linked to that record. Double-click the Pending tab to open the Appointment window and edit its details. Each change made on the Pending tab will automatically be updated in the Calendar window and vice versa.

When Commit-Outlook Sync is in use, Appointments and Tasks can be synchronized between CommitCRM and Outlook®. You can also sync CommitCRM calendar data with your PDA or Smart Phone through Outlook®.

>> Read more about Ticket Lifecycle and Dispatching.
>> Getting Tutorial Video demonstrating Ticket dispatching and billing.

Documents

Documents main window

CommitCRM's Document management tool helps you effectively file your documents and other files under the relevant Account, Ticket, Sales Opportunity, etc. You can keep files in any format, whether it's a Word® document, Excel® file, email, fax, presentation, scanned document or image.

Each document is filed under an Account and is also optionally filed under Tickets, Contracts, Assets and/or Sale Opportunities as well. You can view all existing documents for a specific Account or Ticket by visiting the Documents tab for the selected record.

The main Documents window is used to view and manage all documents for all Accounts.

You can create a new Word document, drag-and-drop an existing file to create it in CommitCRM, create a document from a template, and more. All documents can then be opened by double-clicking on them from within CommitCRM, which will automatically open the file and the relevant application.

Outlook and Outlook Express emails can be filed as documents in CommitCRM under the correct Account simply by dragging and dropping them! The email message is saved and can then be opened with Outlook together with its attachments.

CommitCRM also lets you batch-import existing files into CommitCRM by using the Import Documents Folder option. This option can save you a lot of time, especially when you are just starting to work with CommitCRM and you may have large numbers of files you wish to import.

>> Read more about Document management in CommitCRM.

Knowledge Base

Knowledge Base main window

The Commit Knowledge Base allows users to manage articles, categorize them, attach documents to them, and more, all from within Commit. Each article is assigned a title, problem description, and solution. The Knowledge Base can help technicians solve issues when on-site, and it can also allow customers to access articles, so they can resolve issues on their own

Knowledge Base articles can be accessed via the client application and or by using the Web interface

The Knowledge Base provides the following benefits:

• Better and faster customer support: Access to the Knowledge Base provides quicker problem resolution for the employee and 24 x 7 Web customer self-service.
• Reduced operational costs: When employees and customers can solve problems more independently, call volume is lowered, allowing support representatives to service more customers.
• Reduced employee training time: The Knowledge Base enables new and existing employees to acquire job knowledge faster, reducing training time and providing higher job quality.
• Centralized and retained employee knowledge: A centralized Knowledge Base prevents knowledge from leaving when an employee leaves the company.

>> Read more about CommitCRM's Knowledge Base.

History

History main window

History allows you to see at a glance ALL the actions and events that have occurred for any Account, Ticket, Asset, Sale Opportunity or Contract. These actions all appear in one list in which events are presented in chronological order.

Visiting the History tab of an Account, for example, will show all past activities related to it, such as Phone Logs, closed Tickets, completed Tasks, completed Appointments, won Sales Opportunities, sent emails, linked Documents, Charges entered for labor and expenses, and more. Similarly, visiting the History tab of a Ticket will show all past activities related to that ticket.

The history data is automatically created while you use CommitCRM; you don't have to do anything to maintain it.

History events can also be added manually. To do this, add a History Note record from the History window or tab. A History Note can also be regarded as a note with a time stamp. To log a summary of a phone call, for example, you can add a History Note, which will appear as another item under History.

>> Read more about tracking activity history in CommitCRM.

CommitCRM Add-On Modules

Following is a short introduction about CommitCRM's optional add-on modules.

Commit Outlook-Sync

The Commit-Outlook Sync module supports two-way data synchronization between CommitCRM and Outlook, which means that any additions and changes performed in one program will transfer over to the other. Note that the synchronization module allows information from Contacts, Appointments and Tasks to be synchronized.

Commit-Outlook Sync synchronizes your Appointments, Tasks and Accounts between the application, and provides auto-sync options to automatically sync at predefined intervals. You can sync with your local Outlook folder or with your Exchange server Outlook folders.

By synchronizing your CommitCRM data with Outlook you can achieve the following:

• Increased availability of your critical business data.
• Easy dispatching of service tickets to technicians in CommitCRM who can synch the scheduled appointment with their Outlook calendars.
• Easily transfer new prospects from Outlook into CommitCRM.
• Carry your updated customer and calendar information with you on your PDA or Smart Phone.

>> Read more about Commit-Outlook Sync features and setup.

Commit QuickBooks Link

Using the Commit-QuickBooks Link you can run your computer services business more efficiently. It was designed to simplify routine business, accounting and financial management tasks. With the Commit-QuickBooks Link, you only need to enter data once and it will appear in both Commit and QuickBooks. This feature not only saves you the time of manually entering data, but it also minimizes the problems of duplicate, redundant and wrong data common to manual data entry. Now you can synchronize your data between Commit and QuickBooks and ensure data accuracy, enhance your flexibility, and increase your control over your bottom line.

The Commit-QuickBooks Link includes the following features:

Customers

• Import all your QuickBooks Customers into Commit
• Changes made to QuickBooks Customers can be synchronized with Commit
• Create a new Customer in QuickBooks based on a selected Commit Account
• Create links between existing Commit Accounts and QuickBooks Customers to automate synchronization between them
• Send and receive updates for selected Accounts/Customers

Vendors

• Import all your QuickBooks Vendors into Commit
• Changes made to QuickBooks Vendors can be synchronized with Commit
• Create a new Account in Commit based on a selected QuickBooks Vendor
• Create a new Vendor in QuickBooks based on a selected Commit Account
• Create links between existing Commit Accounts and QuickBooks Vendors to automate synchronization between them
• Send and receive updates for selected Accounts/Vendors

Items

• Import any/all of the following QuickBooks Items into Commit:
  • Service Items => Labor Items in Commit
  • Inventory Parts => Products/Parts in Commit
  • Non-Inventory Parts => Products/Parts in Commit
  • Inventory Assembly Items => Products/Parts in Commit
  • Other Charge Items => Expenses in Commit
• Changes made to QuickBooks Items can be synchronized with Commit
• Create a new Item in Commit based on a selected QuickBooks Item
• Create a new Item in QuickBooks based on a selected Commit Item
• Create links between existing Commit Items and QuickBooks Items to automate synchronization between them
• Send and receive updates for selected Items

Invoices

• Generate QuickBooks invoices based on charges entered in Commit
• Generate invoices at different levels:
  • Account - Invoices generated at the Account level may include any charges linked to this account, its contracts and tickets.
  • Contract - Generating an invoice at the Contract level may include only charges which are linked to this specific contract
  • Ticket - Generating an invoice at the Ticket level may include only charges which are linked to this specific ticket
• See total unbilled pending charges according to Account, Contract and Ticket
• Select which charges to include in the invoice
• Create a QuickBooks invoice directly from the Account, Contract, or Ticket windows
• View all charges included in a QuickBooks invoice by filtering charges by the invoice reference value

>> Read more about Commit-QuickBooks Link features and setup.

See Also

• Accounts
• Billing
• Assets
• Sales
• Documents
• Knowledge Base
• Videos