TIMSS 6: Personalized Standard Letters

In TIMSS 6, you can create standard letters to be used under Contact Tracking. What you might not know is that you can setup Word documents to have merge fields in them so that you can have that standard letter personalized for a customer.

First you will need to create a template Word document. The standard letters use the CUS_PRIMARY_INFO_VW to pull data into the document, so you need to create a document with fields based on this view.

1. Open APP100, Ad-Hoc QueriesClick on the ‘Build New Queries’ tab


2. Highlight the view ‘CUS_PRIMARY_INFO_VW’


3. Within the pane, ‘Fields to Display’ reflect the appropriate fields from the ‘Fields Available’ pane that are within the Word document you will be using.


4. Click on the ‘Run Query’ button


5. Enter a valid value within any of the search fields and click on the ‘Query’ button


6. Once data is displayed within the ‘Search Results’ pane, click on the ‘WordMerge’ button


7. When asked if you want to open an existing document, choose NO


8. Create your document, inserting the appropriate Merge fields and save it.

Next setup the Standard Letter with the Word Document.

1. Open MRM004, Standard Letter Setup


2. Click on the appropriate Letter Type and click on the “Add Document” button


3. Select the appropriate word document (the one you just created)


4. Enter an ID in the field labeled “ID” – this is a user-defined value


5. Confirm that the correct Application is reflected (if you don’t see the correct application listed within the drop-down options, go to System Types & Codes, Type = APPLICATION_TYPE and add “MSWORD” as a Code value. You’ll need to reopen MRM004 to see this newly added Code.)


6. Confirm that the correct Letter Type is reflected


7. Within the field “View Name” select the row labeled “Customer Primary Information”


8. Confirm that the file name is correctly reflected


9. Enter an appropriate description of the document/its usage in the field labeled “Description”


10. Enable the “Personalized” check box


11. Hit Save to upload the document

Now you are ready to go! Open Contact tracking, pull up a customer, and create an inquiry. When it's created, you can choose the standard letter you just created (the ID from step 13 above is what's displayed), then click on the Open button. This will open Word with your letter and the merge fields. In Word, click on the View Merged Data button and you will see your personalized letter.

Applies to: TIMSS6

TIMSS 6: Active Customer Statuses

Starting in TIMSS 6.2.2, you can have multiple customer status codes that are active. Previously, there was only one active status: ACTIVE.

In System Types and Codes, the CUSTOMER_STATUS code is determined to be active based on option 2. Those that are active have ACTIVE in option 2. Those that are not active should have an option 2 of INACTIVE.

Now you can add your own statuses, like PROSPECT or VIP, to help distinguish certain types of customers. Please note that if you take advantage of this you will need to update any custom process and reports that you've created to also check the option 2 value of the CUSTOMER_STATUS to make sure you are pulling the active statuses.

Similarly, option 3 of the CUSTOMER_STATUS controls if customers with this status can place an order with a value of Y or N. This will default the Can Place Order flag on the customer record when the customer is created or when the customer's status is changed.

Applies to: TIMSS 6

TIMSS 6: Highlighting Data Behind a Button

If you have created a button with that opens a window, wouldn't it be nice to tell your user if there was data behind the button without clicking on it? You can through extender. When you load the screen, check to see if there is data behind the button. If there is, change it's attibutes to highlight the fact that there is data behind it. For example, if you had a button that opened a comments screen that had data stored in a table you created, in the appropriate event put:

strSQL = "Select * from USR_CUS_COMMENTS where master_customer_id='" & oMaster.Text & "' and Sub_customer_id=" & CInt(oSub.Text)

oRecDS = MyForm.ScriptingGetDataSetWithSQL(strSQL, "USR_CUS_COMMENTS")

If Not oRecDS is nothing Then
If oRecDS.Tables(0).Rows.Count > 0 Then
oButton.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red
Else
oButton.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Black
End If
End If

Applies to: TIMSS6

TIMSS 6: Call Center User Areas

We had an issue where a product's orders weren't showing up on the Active Orders user area on the call center. Turns out the meeting date was incorrect and in the past so it didn't show up.

You hopefully know that each user can pick what is displayed in these three areas on the User Preferences screen (SEC001A):

ACTIVEORDERS- Display Active (Paid) Orders Info
ACTIVITY- Display Customer Activity Info
COMMITTEEMEMBERSHIP- Display Committee Membership
CONTACT- Display Contact Tracking Info
CURRENTMKTCODE- Display Current Market Codes Info
MEMBERSHIP- Display Membership Info
OPENORDERS- Display Open (Un-Paid) Orders Info
RELATIONSHIP- Display Customer Relationships
SEARCHRESULTS- Display tree of search results (all the customers returned from query search)
USEURL- Use a customer supplied URL

Much of the call center user area data is retrieved using the MRM001_CustInfo_SP stored procedure. Looking at this code, you can see how the data is returned and what table/view TIMSS is looking at to populate these areas.

Please note that if you make changes to base stored procedures or views, TMAR may overwrite them when you upgrade.

Applies to: TIMSS6

Changing Teams

I've gone to the other side.... I left COF and I'm now working for TMA Resources.

I wanted to get out of COF and Edi was nice enough to give me a job. I'm working for Paul Gannon in Marketing as the Partnership Manager. That role will have me working with partner companies like Syscom Services and Boxwood Technology, helping them work with TMAR and integrate with Personify.

One of the goals is to come up with a standard toolbox for partners to use in their integrations with Personify. I'll need to talk to not only these partner companies, but TMAR clients and others outside of the family to see what should be included in the toolbox.

Wish me luck, and I might be calling you asking what you think we might want to include.

And yes, I plan to continue blogging about TIMSS & Personify.