Feature Poll - Let's Vote!

[lpopejoy]

I am doing an independent feature poll for CommitCRM. I will be compiling a list of features, allowing users to vote on them and then sending the results to CommitCRM support. The request for features comes up all the time, but I think it would be good for the community AND CommitCRM Development to see what is popular. For us, as users, it would be nice to know what we could expect to see coming down the pipe, and for development it would be good for them to focus their efforts.

So, if you have a feature request, please post it here. I will then post a link to the poll where you can vote.

Thank you,

Luke

[Support Team]

Hi Luke,

Thanks for the great initiative and for your support. We believe that a big part of our success is based on the continuous feedback we get from our community. Thank you, it is much appreciated.

As for polls, we have been listening to requests for polling on features and we would like to let you know that we plan on starting posting polls on this forum soon after our coming release! In any case, we'll be more than happy to learn from additional polls. Thanks.

Ethan

[lpopejoy]

Hey Ethan,

That's great! When is the new release due?

Thanks,

Luke

[Support Team]

I believe we will be releasing the beta in just a few weeks :-)

Ethan

[stsanford]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
* Note by Support Team: Some of the feature requests in this post were implemented in version 5.0:

1) Activity Templates
2) Recurring Charges

Click here for more details.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

> Original Post:

Here are my top items:
1. Templates
Ticket Text
Ticket Formatting
Email formatting / text
Appointment Formatting
2. Recurring Charges
Ability to charge a client for a monthly service contract model and not to have to recreate the ticket and charges manually.
3. Ability to Sync specific categories from Outlook toCommitCRM.
4. Appointment / Calendar Scheduling in Web Interface.
Those are my tops for now

[acrosser]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
* Note by Support Team: Some enhancements to the Outlook Auto-Sync were implemented in version 5.0:

1) The ability to use auto-sync when syncing other users (this means only one application should be running in the office in order to sync everyone's calendars).
2) The ability to save the auto-sync settings between sessions.

Click here for more details.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

> Original Post:
My top feature requests would be regarding the Outlook synchronization feature:

1. The option to run an Outlook Sync service/exe on the CommitCRM CRM -server- that automatically syncs with the user's Exchange account.

(This is primarily for technicians that use a laptop, and take the laptop with them. They can't have CommitCRM running all the time, and so Outlook Auto-Syncing can't happen all the time. And if the office admins create an appointment in the tech's calendar then they have to remember to manually "Sync other user's Outlook appointments.")


2. The option to shorten the auto-sync interval down to 2 minutes, and the option to have the auto-sync run completely silently in the background.

(We are a small company, ~3 techs, on a small network, and even if everyone synced every 2 minutes it would make a very tiny impact on performance/bandwidth... but it would significantly speed up the time it takes to put a new appointment in a tech's calendar... if a user checks their Outlook calendar then they don't have to wonder if an appointment had been added in the last 30 minutes that hadn't been synced yet).


I don't know if you can roll those 2 feature requests into one "Improved Outlook Synchronization Abilities" feature on the poll, but I would like to see it on the poll!

Also I know some of these features are already planned (like background Outlook syncing) in the upcoming release.

[lpopejoy]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
~ * Note by Support Team: Some of the feature requests in this post were implemented in version 5.0:
~
~ The new Contract-Price Charges are copied together with the contract when batch-copying contracts!
~
~ Click here for more details.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

> Original Post:

acrosser, I'm with you there - feeling your pain.

stsanford, I've got your features on too... What I do for the recurring charges is... 1) Do a batch copy on the contracts, and 2) manually go to each account that had a contract copied and right click on the "monthly charge" and click "copy." That brings the charge up in a new screen where I can change the date, price or whatever I want to. I know it isn't what it needs to be, but it works for the time being - (until CommitCRM sees that everyone would LOVE this feature and includes it in the next release!) :)

[vsouthmayd]

Unfortunately the forum posts do not lead real well to develop features and rank their value. Let's try this.

http://commitusers.uservoice.com/

I would like to concentrate on things that can be automated through the CommitCRM API. As users we have no control over the base application, but CommitCRM has provided us a method to accomplish a lot of the things I see discussed. Putting our heads together I believe many of the things I see request can be created outside ofCommitCRM.

I will work on my list of features I would like to handle. Lets see where they rank.

Vernon Southmayd
http://commitusers.uservoice.com

[lpopejoy]

vsouthmayd, that is precisely what I was trying to do... I must have not explained myself well enough initially. I am collecting feature requests then I will make a provide a public poll for users to vote.

Thanks,

Luke

[aaspeer]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
~ * Note by Support Team: Some of the feature requests in this post were implemented in version 5.0:
~
~ (3) Better formatting for the data pre-populated in appointments
~
~ Click here for more details.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

> Original Post:

Hello Everyone,

I think this is a great idea.

My needs are as follows:

1. When selecting a ticket priority, it would be nice to have a due date automatically entered within the ticket. With the old system we used, we could set up what each priority meant and have it auto calculate the due date (ex: Low Priority = due in 3 days)
2. Exchange backend synching would be AWESOME.
3. Having the ability to edit what is pre-populated in the dispatcher (ex, SERVICE CALL: <Client Name> / <Ticket Number>, then description, etc... as well as what gets sent to quickbooks.
4. In the ticket display window, have the ability to display the contact next to the account name. We have several retail clients that are on time blocks. We have to have each one of their locations listed as a contact to properly account for time. It would be great to see 'Contact' as a column in the tickets screen.
5. A Dashboard for each user type (admin, limited, etc...) so that, at a glance, you can easily see the statud of tickets, how many are past due, if any, Any unbilled costs, etc...
6. A MUCH better report designer, with snap to grid. It is very difficult to customize reports inCommitCRM.
7. Web Interface. It really should look and act as close to the actual application as possible.

Thats all I have. I love CommitCRM and can't wait to see where it goes from here!

Austin Speer
Onward Incorporated
Southern California

[lpopejoy]

aaspeer,

I will add your features to the list.

However, I will say that the snap to grid is already available in the report designer. Just go to View->Grid Options in the Report Designer.

Also, you can edit the text that is sent to QB. You can edit the default stuff in the CommitCRM Options, and you can also free text edit when you are doing the export.

On behalf of Commit,

Thanks for your input!

[acrosser]

I have another feature I would like to request. I hope that if it isn't already planned in the upcoming release that it hasn't been already requested.


When you create a new Ticket from the desktop client, CommitCRM pops up a New Ticket dialog box. The amount of fields that are displayed and info you can enter on this dialog is limited (for example, the Status Ext. field is available).

So if you want to set any of these fields then you have to create the Ticket, then open it back up and set the appropriate field(s).

It would be nice if the New button created a new ticket and let you use the "General" - "Contract/Asset" - "Details" - etc... tabs below to enter the necessary info... or just provide the option to show more fields in the New Ticket dialog window.

[vsouthmayd]

Luke,

Uservoice is a great solution for this since there is no need to compile a list first. Anyone can get a free account and create there own features for voting. Voting is actually anonymous so you do not even need to sign up to vote on features already submitted.

No desire to horn in on your idea compiling the list forCommitCRM. If you would like to take over the UserVoice forum or share the admin info just drop me a line at gmail.com vsouthmayd.

While I am at it not looking to horn in on CommitCRM either. I believe we can find things they have already empowered us to do. I would rather they spend time in the core application developing features there.

Vernon Southmayd
http://commitusers.uservoice.com

[lpopejoy]

Vernon,

No problem at all! It is all about community and working together. I am actually using google docs which allows much of the same thing except for voters cannot add their own items. It creates a more "poll-like" environment.

I'm with you on the API. Maybe we need some direction on exactly what kind of power the API has, and what it should/should not be used for.

Just curious, what are some examples of what you are referring to in this quote: "I believe we can find things they have already empowered us to do."?

I'm going to explore the API a bit and see what can be done with it - great suggestion!

Have a great evening,

Luke

[acrosser]

Okay I have YET ANOTHER feature request! :-) (If it isn't implemented/planned already).

(By the way, I really like CommitCRM and it has helped our IT workflow immensely... there are just a few ways in which it doesn't fit our needs exactly, and hence the feature requests!).


At our company, when IT work is completed by technicians, the office admins create an Estimate in QuickBooks for the billable work done. (Currently they just manually create the Estimate and copy&paste info from the Ticket).

The boss then reviews these Estimates and creates Invoices from them.

It would be nice if the office admins could create the Estimates directly from QuickBooks using the Commit-Quickbooks link, rather than just creating Invoices.

[lpopejoy]

No offense, acrosser, but that sounds complicated!! :)

Why don't you just create the invoice and mark it as pending? Or let the boss review the charges inCommitCRM? ...but an estimate?

Oh well, I'm sure I have things that need to change too, lol!

Thanks,

Luke

[acrosser]

None taken! :-)

Yeah Luke you're right... I don't use QuickBooks so I didn't really understand why they were creating Estimates and then creating invoices from them. Apparently it has something to do with Past Due dates (if the admins create an invoice but our owner doesn't actually approve it and send it out a week or two later, then the Past Due date is off). Also, the way they were doing it was creating several Estimates per week, then adding them all into one weekly invoice. But we can get around that by just creating an invoice at the end of the week per-Account instead of per-Ticket, then it will create an invoice for all billable charges for that account that haven't been billed yet.

So I guess you can not include that QB-Estimate request unless anyone else wants it! :-)

[lpopejoy]

Hey, it sounds like it is working - that's what counts. :)

[raymond]

There are a ton of things that could be added here but in the name of brevity, I will boil it down to our top five:

1) Workflow -- CommitCRM has this wonderful "status" field for tickets and the ability to modify the list which could be an INCREDIBLE workflow trigger but it has some problems -- particularly when generating invoices. In order to keep from billing work in progress there needs to be a way to sort (or include/exclude based on status) in the "Ticket Status" column in the "Charges" screen OR better yet, when prompted at the "2. Charge Selection" screen under 'Generate Quickbook Invoices -> Account', a way to include/exclude based on status. On a sub-note here, it would be great if we could edit the group memberships (open, in-service, closed) in the "custom status values" window.

2) Integration -- get the fields in CommitCRM to match those of outlook... should be a one-to-one, field-to-field match. There are way too many holes here such as phone numbers and email addresses. Currently, there are only three phone fileds for secondary contacts in CommitCRM while outlook allows for 19! If the intent is to utilize the account fields as well, then better integration between the account/secondary contact and individual outlook contacts needs to be figured out.

3) Search -- get the system to be able to search globally in a very simple manor... From anywhere in commit, we should be able to click a single search button, enter text (wild card, whatever), select what areas to search (tickets, assets, accounts, charges, etc.) and find what we are looking for. Search is absolutely one of the weakest links at this point.

4) Inventory -- add a real inventory tracking module... one that allows us to enter items into stock then quickly transfer them to a client (asset)/ticket/charge...

5) Email connector -- fix the email connector so that ALL ticket requests are processed by commit, not just the ones that CommitCRM “feels” like handling. A missed ticket is a potential lost client. I have talked about this before and proposed a very simple solution (here towards the bottom).

Thanks again and looking forward to the next update!

//ray

[eknorr]

how 'bout a simple PING or TELNET to port Monitoring.

Eric

[always4225]

I am with Ray -- Our biggest issue with CommitCRM at this time is making sure that charges get billed. While the reports feature is helpful, it is not the easiest possibility, I am sure. It would be different if we could leave the print out list on screen, as I use two monitors. But having to print multiple pages seems like a waste.

A possible alternative might be an automated weekly report on items unbilled.

Any other suggestions??

[Support Team]

Have you tried using the Invoice Creation Wizard? This is a very useful tool (even when not using QuickBooks), because it shows the open balances - which means it shows all billable charges which haven't been marked as Billed yet. Once the charge is billed, it is removed form the list and accounts which do not have any open balances will be removed from the list completely. You can try it from File > New > QuickBooks Invoice (no need to have QuickBooks license in order to run the first steps of the wizard)

Neta

[AN-Tech]

Thanks for the post I just tied my CommitCRM to Quickbooks and was just about to find a way to list all unbilled charges.

[Belose]

I second Ray's feature requests fully!

[natrat]

I totally agree with all of acrosser's suggestions about the Outlook sync. It needs to be brought in line with how mobile technicians actually work and streamline appointment getting into their diaries. I have turned off the autosync as it does my head in every time the window pops up and takes focus from what i am doing. All of that should be automated on the server without the client needing to know about it.

[cforger]

Nah, no port monitoring. That's byond the scope of the product. Use your MSP software for that.

[Aveyotech]

I would have to agree with "raymond" on features and their importance!

[raycollazo]

Exchange integration -- I would like to see full Exchange integration where emails, tasks and Calendars sync without having to worry about Outlook. Emails can be sent through CommitCRM and go to the Sent folder and emails can be received in CommitCRM as well..

MSP system Assets update CommitCRM Assets.

Contract Billing by assets monitored.

Quotewerks Integration

[dbryce@comptroub.com]

The Features I would like to see added.
This is after the newly release 5.0 update (I've been beta testing)

1. With the Activity Templates introduced in V5.0 - I would like to be able to assign a default Activity Template to every ticket that is created. Because they are new in the V5.0, released today, let me define the activity template. They create and assign quickly multiple tasks at once for repetitive activities. Ex. Building a server - There are task that you do over and over again some that might make your business stand-out from the bosses, cousins, kid who "knows" about computer. You can define those tasks so that they are repeated every time you do a server build in an activity template delivering the same quality of service every time and repeatable. For us there are repetitive task that we do for every ticket. Maybe it is a task of billing the customer, or a confirmation call the day before the appointment or a task that delivers a higher standard of service in your company (i.e. makes your company stand-out). I may be over simplifying this, now we have the activity templates I don't think this would be too tough of an add.

2. Again with the activity templates - I would like to have a "when charged activity template" that can be assigned to an item. Very basic example - You sell and set up an anti-virus/anti-spyware program to a client. That includes a 1 year subscription to the definitions. A little before that year expires you want to contact that client and get their AV renewed. Let’s generate a task based on the activity template for that item, when the tech adds the item to the charges. With V5.0 you can manually go to the pending task tab and manually create a task or apply an activity template. But that is an extra step that the tech has to remember to do when they charge that item every time. If you have ever had a day that has not gone quite as planned it is easy to forget that one time and those add up. This could also apply for flat-rate (unit) items... going back to the server build example - maybe you charge a flat rate to build the server. Now instead of having to go in and apply the activity template, for the server build then once complete the tech has to charge for that item; it is a simple as adding the charge on the front-end. Now not only do you increase the quality of your service by delivering constant repeatable service but you also increase your billing or charging accuracy because it is done on the front-end; not at the back-end where the tech gets in a hurry to get the product or service out-the door and delivered. I think this should be a simple thing to add as well. A field in the item table, a couple of line of code in the charging modules that call the apply activity template module.

3. Again Activity templates – When creating new tickets, accounts, assets – it would be nice to apply one or more activity templates. Customer calls and has an infected machine you have specific procedure to follow for removal – add those tasks to the ticket right when it is created. I think when you copy contracts it will prompt to copy the activity template. This does not seem like an easy add.

4. Tie Assets to a contact and task for those assets under that contact. Maybe you do preventive maintenance on workstations as a part of the contact. However client does not want all their assets covered under the contact need to be able to identify which asset is covered and which is not.

5. It would be nice if CommitCRM would, tie into the customers balance in QuickBooks. When a customer contacts you for an appointment, it would be nice to know that they have an outstanding balance or a credit when before creating a ticket or appointment. Or having to switch over to QuickBooks to find it.

6. On the inventory management suggestion that has already been made, it would be nice CommitCRM would tie into the inventory on-hand value from QuickBooks as well. To take it further have the choice to search only on “in-stock items”

[dbryce@comptroub.com]

Just thought of number 7
Ability to define a default printer for a specific report - you have specialize paper that you want this on report printed on. instead of swapping that paper in and out, if you have multiple print trays or printers you could didicate one to the specialied paper. Then set just that report to that location.

[Easy I.T.]

I would like to see:

Ability for automated client notifications for when a ticket is opened, updated or closed.

Better permissions on web users - Normal users should only be able to see their OWN tickets not everyone in the company.

I would like to see the way contracts are handled improved - (our PSA should help us automate things - I hate having to manually do this each month).

Ticketing -I would like to see maybe a "ticket conversation" added (at the least - or a complete overhaul) or something. Basically instead of emailing the client from our outlook - would like to email from CommitCRM and it go into the ticket conversation, then if client replies - it adds it to the thread - thread should be one page that can be easily read/scrolled - instead of needing to open multiple history notes/docs. (this way it is much easier for other techs to see what has been done/communication has happened so far)
With charges in the tickets - if I have 5 seperate charges - I have to go into each to get a full understanding. Sure it gives a brief one line description. But wouldnt it be better to have all this information in one page that I could just scroll (or maybe the option to have that view instead of individual)

Ability for SLA's to be defined and monitored / alerted if about to break - This is an important one

Dashboard - with real information - How many tickets are opened, how many are over due etc...

Client Executive Reports - with ability to automate - This has already been mentioned but add another request :)

Scheduler - Ability to schedule automated reports and email them - Eg Warranty/License Expiration (Antivirus etc)

Knowledgebase - ability to have a public knowledgebase - would be good to be able to send client link to KB article and them not have to log in etc.

Anyway thats my probably pretty big ask... whats others thoughts in these?

[midnightblue]

We have a simple request. We would like to be able to set the ticket priority on the initial screen instead of having to create the ticket and then go back and adjust the priority. This would save steps.

[wtbservices]

I have been reading through the suggestions and most of them can be boiled down to two weak areas inCommitCRM.

1. Automation. There isn't much automation in CommitCRM in that nearly everything requires a person to do it. People get busy and forget so things don't get done and we look bad to the customer. Many if not most of us have recurring jobs that we perform monthly or weekly for clients. The concept of copy an old contract or copy an old ticket is just fine when you are dealing with a handful of contracts but what happens when you have hundreds of contracts, tickets, appointments and tasks that occur regularly every month throughout the month. Activity templates help but you are still paying someone to sit there and apply activity templates. I have to enter them in Outlook as recurring tasks to remind me to copy a contract or a ticket or apply an Activity template. Why doesn't CommitCRM do this automatically?

2. Situational Awareness. Business owners, service managers and techs all need to know what is going on. To get all the information you need you have to jump all around the application. To get an idea of what's going on today you have to check the tickets screen, check the calendar, check the messages, pull up Quickbooks link, check the dispatcher, and check the opportunities. The home screen was a bit of a disappointment, I was expecting a dashboard that consolidated all of this information similar to the way the Outlook Today screen does in Outlook. Instead we got a static workflow picture telling us what we already know.

[Support Team]

Hi wtbservices,

Thanks for your feedback on this forum thread. I just wanted to point out a few updates regarding the automation part:

1) You have mentioned the Activity Templates feature, which was introduced with version 5.0. This feature allows you to define a set of activities (tasks, appointments and tickets), and apply them to different parts of the system. When you wish to use the templates for recurring activities which are created automatically each month, you can assign a template to a Contract by linking it in the Contract's Details tab > "Linked Activity Template" field. This will automatically apply the activities whenever you copy/renew this contract. That's a great way to implement recurring tasks, appointments and tickets automatically.

2) While we are at it - The Contracts copy/renewal can be much more automated if you use the "Batch Copy Wizard" (via the Contract's menu). This wizard displays all contracts which are about to expire in a given date range, and let's you copy/renew all of the contracts at once. This way, you do not need reminders for specific contracts, you just run the wizard, and it already shows you which contracts need to be renewed. As said, while copying all of these contracts, this will also apply and copy the activity templates which are linked to the contracts.

You can find some more useful information on copying contracts and automatically renewing them in the billing user guide here.

I hope this makes more sense now.

As for the Dashboard - this feature is indeed becoming a popular one, and I hope we will be able to address this soon.

Thanks,

Ethan

[Johnathan.Erwich]

There are a couple of options I would like to see incorporated, mostly small stuff but would make life very easy - I am still using 5.1 so please feel free to correct if these have been added in 5.2.

Ability to span calls over multiple days - some of our work starts at 11pm and finishes at 2pm it would be nice to do on one labour charge rather than 2.
When adding Notes to clients, tickets, etc. to have header identifing the user, time and date stamp of the user making that change - or better still (would take more time in development) displaying them as separate entries i.e. like under the tickets, assets, history tabs.

More to come in the future......

[Support Team]

Hi Jonathan, thanks for posting your requests here.

I'd like to refer to these points below, and perhaps offer some helpful tips:

1) When adding charges which span over midnight, the system intentionally requires that you split this into two charge. There are many reasons for this, for example, how a multi date charge should be handled when it related to Contracts that expires on this day (and the new day is not covered by the Contract)? To what date do we need to consider this work when printing employee activities reports when it spans on different weeks or months? There are many other questions/issues that this may cause, and the system currently lets the user make these decisions manually.

What you should do is create two separate charges, one for each day (on until 11:59, and one from 12:01). Note that you can create the first charge, and then copy it and change the hour. It is very easy to copy a Charge record to the next one by right-clicking thecharge and selecting the Copy option. All the charge details will already be selected including the Account, Ticket, Contract, description etc.

2) As you mentioned, when adding History Notes this actually keeps for each entry the person who added the note, the date and the time. This is very useful and I think perhaps you should use the history notes option rather than just update the Notes field in order to document your activity.

/forum_images/history_notes.gif

BTW, this is the new history view which was introduced in version 5.2...

I hope this helps.

Sheli

[Johnathan.Erwich]

Sheli,

Thanks for the reply, in 5.1 the Notes I setup for a client doesn't show in the History Tab, secondly does the Note attached to a ticket show up in the same place??

[Support Team]

Hi Jonathan,

In previous version the History Notes also appear, they just have a different format. Note that you need to explicitly add a History Note (rather than just update the Notes field).

/forum_images/history_notes_old.gif
As for notes attached to tickets - yes, they also appear in the Account History tab, just make sure to click the "Detail" checkbox in order to view detailed account history, including history linked to tickets, assets, etc.

I hope this helps.

Sheli