Accounts
Creating Accounts
You can create Accounts by importing Accounts from Outlook, QuickBooks or any other data source. You can read more about how to import Accounts into Commit in the Commit Setup Guide.
You can also create an Account manually from within Commit:
- From the Accounts Window, click the New icon .
- Fill in the Account details.
- Click OK to save.
Importing Accounts
Accounts in Commit help you manage all of your contact information. You can create Accounts for your customers, vendors, employees and more. Accounts can be imported into Commit from various data sources:
- Imported from Excel® files, CSV files, Outlook® contacts, QuickBooks® and others.
- Imported (or synchronized) from Outlook.
- When the Commit-QuickBooks Link is in use, Accounts can be synchronized between Commit and QuickBooks.
Accounts Custom Pricing
Custom Pricing lets you set unique prices for different Accounts or Contracts. Once you define custom prices for an Account or Contract, these prices will be used automatically for every charge logged for Accounts or Contracts.
You can also manually adjust the prices while creating a Charge. This sections explain how to define Custom Pricing.
When should I use Custom Pricing? By default, the standard employee hourly rates and item prices will be used automatically. You should use custom pricing only when you want to use a different set of prices or rates for a specific Account or Contract. For example, custom pricing may be used to set a global 10% discount for a customer, or to set unique hourly rates for employees for a specific Account. To do so, set a Custom Price for the Account or Contract and define the adjustments. Once set, the system will automatically use the custom prices or rates instead of the standard ones when Charges are logged under this Account or Contract. When defining Custom Pricing, you can choose between a global custom price level or a per-item price.
Account level vs. Contract level Custom Pricing Custom Pricing can be defined at the Account level or Contract level. When custom prices are defined for the Contract, the Account's custom pricing settings are ignored, and the Contract's price settings are used. You can read more about this under Contract Level vs. Account Level Custom Pricing.
Global Settings vs. Exception Rules
The global price/rate settings determine the price/rate adjustment for all employees, or for Items for a specific Account or Contract. For example, a specific Account may enjoy a 10% discount off all products, or a reduced hourly rate of $100/hour for all employee time, etc.
In addition to global settings, you can define rule exceptions for specific employees or Items to override the global settings and be used when the system needs to determine the price/rate for that specific item/employee. For example, Natalie's hourly rate may be set as $80, and this will override Natalie's standard hourly rate, and the global employee hourly rate.
Standard prices
The custom price settings replace the standard item/employee rate.
Standard employee rate - the employee's rate as defined in the employee tab
Standard item price - the Item's price as defined in the Item record.
Creating Activity Entries for Accounts
To create a new entry in an Account Activity Template, go to the Entries tab of the template and click on the New button in the bottom-left corner. A pop-up menu now appears where you can select “Task,” “Appointment,” or “Ticket.”
To edit an existing entry, simply select it from the Entries List in the General tab.
http://www.commitcrm.com/docs/activitytemplates/commit_activity_templates_new_account_menu.gif
New Activity Entry menu
After making your selection, a window opens, allowing you to enter detailed information about the newly created entry. Task, Appointment, and Ticket entries all have slightly different Detail windows. To learn more about these Detail windows, see the sections that immediately follow, or click on the appropriate link below.
Task Entries for Account Activity Templates
After selecting to create a Task entry for an Account Activity Template, the following window opens:
http://www.commitcrm.com/docs/activitytemplates/commit_activity_templates_new_task_account.gif
New Task Entry window
In this window you should enter the information the system can use to create the task when the template is applied.
Below is an explanation of the fields/buttons in this window.
Employee
Each task is the Commit system must be assigned to an employee. When assigning an employee to a Task entry in a template, you should select the employee who you want assigned to the task once the template is applied and a specific task is “created.”
You can choose the “Employee” from any of the following options:
- Account Manager: By selecting this option, the task will be assigned to the Account Manager of the account to which the template is applied. (The Account Manager is defined in the Account details window > General tab > Account Manager [“Acct Mgr.”] field).
- Specific Employee: When applying the template and creating the task, the employee specified in this option is assigned to the task. If the specified employee is no longer an active employee at the time the template is applied, the appointment is automatically assigned to the user applying the template. The system makes note of this change when applying the template.
• The user applying the template: By selecting this option, the task will be assigned to the user who actually applies the template to a specific asset.
• Shared: By selecting this option, the task will be set as “Shared,” rather than assigned to a specific employee, when the template is applied to a specific asset.
Task Date
Each task in the Commit system needs to be assigned a date. In an Account template, the Task Date is defined as a certain number of days before or after—or the day of—a reference date that is defined in the "Copy From" field.
The "Copy From" field allows the user to define the date to copy from as any of the following:
• The Account's Birthdate
• The date the template is applied
These choices appear in a drop-down menu from this field.