Processing Flow

Opportunity records are created for a specific customer or contact and assigned to a specific sales rep.  The Opportunity record is created using the first stage defined for the opportunity.  This stage indicates where the opportunity is in the “sales pipeline”.  The current stage for the opportunity is in is stored in the STAGE field of the Opportunity record.  The Actions records defined for this stage are automatically created as the Opportunity is saved.

The Actions records are assigned to the resources (individuals or logical queues such as the literature dept, telemarketing, etc) using the information in the Longcode OPERACTN table if the Assign To field is loaded in the record.  If the assignee information is not loaded in the OPERACTN record, the action is assigned using the information in the ACTIONS Gencode Table record (if loaded), or using the operator initials of the user creating the action.  The description for each Action record is loaded into the Action record in the same manner (first based on the OPERACTN record, then based on the Gencode Actions table record).

As an opportunity moves from stage to stage, Actions (To Do items) are created to prompt users to perform the next logical steps in the sales process and to track the activities performed and still open.

When the stage of an opportunity is changed to a new stage the following happens as the Opportunity is saved.

1.  The system checks if any actions assigned to the current stage are still open. 

2.  If there are any open actions, the system asks the operator whether to close them.

3.  If the operator clicks on the “Close” button the system closes the actions and updates the revision information in the records with the date and time they were closed.  This information can be compared with the date and time that the action was created for performance reporting purposes.

4.  The system then checks the Longcode OPERACTN table to determine which actions should be created for the new stage.

5.  If actions are found in the table, all actions for the new stage are automatically created.  The Actions records contain the following information loaded into them.

•      The Action Source field is set to OP (opportunity)

•      The Actions Ident field is set to the Opportunity Number (to link the action to the opportunity record).

•      The Actions Code field is loaded with the Action code (from the Gencode Actions table).

•      The Code 1 field of the Action record is loaded with the Opportunity Type

•      The Code 2 field of the Action record is loaded with the Opportunity Stage (the stage it was created for).

•      The description and the assignee information in the Action record is loaded from the OPERACTN record if the fields are loaded in the record or from the Gencode ACTIONS record if the information is not present in the Longcode record. 

•      The schedule date in the Actions record is set based on the Delay Days field in the OPERACTNS record (this number is added to the current date to calculate the schedule date for the action) or to the current date if the Delay Days information is set to 0.

As the users close individual actions that were assigned to them the system checks for other open actions for the current stage.  If there are no more open actions for the current stage the stage is rolled forward to the next stage, and the actions for the next stage are created in the same manner.

This logic allows users to push opportunities forward to the next stage manually, by editing the stage information in the Opportunity record, or to have the system automatically move the Opportunities forward to the next stage as actions are completed for a given stage.

If the Stage for an Opportunity is set back (returned to a prior stage), the system creates any Actions that do not already exist for the prior stage (regardless of the status), but it does not duplicate any actions that were previously created.

The same action can be created more than one for a given opportunity and stage combination.  This allows you to use a single action like “SENDLIT” or call customer multiple times as needed anywhere during the Opportunity process.

Actions can also be manually added to an opportunity as the opportunity is being processed.  This can be accomplished by pressing the Insert Key in the Actions section of the Opportunity Detail Panel.  When this is done, the operator must manually select the Action Code from the Gencode Actions table and the Opportunity Type and Stage information as well as the opportunity number are automatically loaded by the system as the Action is saved.

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Customer Scripting and Profiling