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Month: May 2013

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Marketing – Selecting a CRM System

I know it’s been a while since I originally talked about selecting a CRM system, and we haven’t “quite” finished the job, but after 4 – 5 nights, I have it narrowed down to 2 option.  I’m just gonna have my partner give them both a try (I already have my favorite).  So when you’re making this decision, the first thing you need to do is figure out what you’re looking for out of CRM.  So to give you some ideas… here’s what i personally was looking for:

1.  Contact Management – this is the big one for me.  I wanted to be able to dump all of our contacts into the same place.  Currently, I’ve been using an Access database, which works fine, but trying to make it “useable” enough for my partner to setup/maintain as well just isn’t gonna happen.  He’s technical, but not as technical as I am.  So having it be nice and easy for him to enter his contacts just makes life easier.

2.  Tasks – this gives us a common place to find our to-do list for the business.  While we stay in communication, it’s tougher when we both travel.  If we can assign each other things to accomplish, like “email the MFG list”, or write a blog post or even enough just so he knows what I’m working on and vice versa.

3. Online – pretty straightforward.  I don’t want the hassle of hosting something else myself, so we want something online.

4.  Mass Email Functionality – This is an area I had to compromise on.  What I’ve found is that only the more expensive solutions have this functionality integrated.  If it isn’t expensive, it just uses your email account(s) to do the sending.  Not the end of the world, but if you go with a “real” solution your delivery rate will be much better.  I’m already using Mail Chimp, so it’s not the end of the world, but it is still a hassle to have to use 2 systems to handle this all.

5.  Mobile Capability – like to be able to maintain tasks and contacts from our smartphones.

6.  Price – didn’t want to pay more than $25/months (less if possible).

Now, I did a lot of online hunting, and found quite a few different packages with potential:
Capsule
Zoho
Podio (too much around Social Media)
FreeCRM (very ugly interface)KarmaCRM
Funnela (I liked this one, but too much wasn’t translated into English made it difficult to pay for)
MS Dynamics (too expensive)
salesforce.com (too expensive)
Relenta – had potential, but was more expensive than Capsule or Zoho without any additional functionality.

Right now, I’ve narrowed it down to Capsule (integrates with Mailchimp) and Zoho that does include mass mailing functionality.  Personally, I like Capsule’s look and feel a little better.  I like that it automatically creates an company if I assign a company to a lead.  It also has an easy way to mass update users.  Zoho does have a added bonus of doing the mass emails/reporting in the same system.  Both of them are the same price.  So let’s see what Mike likes.

I hope my digging might make your life a little easier if you find yourself in the same dilemma.

Thanks for reading.

 

Variant Configuration – Using the SSC Modeling Environment – Eclipse

As promised, I started playing with the SSC modeling environment today.  It’s an incredible hassle to get installed, but after playing with it for an hour, I have to say I love it.  The SSC Modeling Environment, Eclipse, is very different than the standard ECC method of maintaining a model, but it is pretty slick.

If you haven’t checked out the previous posts, they will help you catch up:

Variant Configuration – SSC Stand Alone Installation
Variant Configuration SSC – tricks to installing the local database

Now, the first thing I recommend (if you can) is to get a sample project.  It really helps.  I’ll start going over some of the things I’ve learned, like syntax, but let’s not get ahead of myself.  First, how the hell do you use the tool.

Now, once you have a project created, the first question I had was “How do I play with this thing?”  That being said, it was the first thing I sought to figure out.  I apologize for everyone without a ground zero, but be patient, the next thing I’m going to do is start building a simple project, and I’ll share all that info with you so you can build your own.

So, first you need to make sure you’re looking at the model view “Perspective.  You can tell which perspective you’re at by looking in the upper right corner.  If you don’t see the SAP Model, then you need to click the little button (arrows pointing above) to select the SAP Model.

Once there, double click into the knowledge base.

now right click and select Open Knowledge Base.

Now select the lower level item, and double click.  You’ll see the simulation characteristics shown on the right.  Now you can start playing with it like a CU50 type simulation.

Finally, you may or may not want to see the invisible characteristics, so you can use the menu shown above to turn on or off the invisible characteristics or localized names.

So that’s the first round of using the SSC Modeling environment.  There will be more to come as I learn more.  Thanks for reading.

 

Variant Configuration – SSC Modeling Environment – Installing the local database

As promised, I wanted to talk talk about some of the challenges of installing the MS SQL Server local database for the Eclipse SSC modeling envirmonment (I know, I know…  it really is a mouthful).  I got so spoiled using Variant Configuration this whole time.  Everything was already there, aside for an OSS note or two for fine tuning.  Anyway, I ran into 2 glitches when installing the SQL database, and of course, it couldn’t connect to Eclipse.  If you haven’t checked out my previous post on installing the SSC modeling environment, check out my previous post.  So, after some online research, I figured out what I messed up.  there were 2 main things that needed to be done.  The first was the authentication.  I accepted the default of windows authentication…  mistake # 1.  If you fell for the same thing, here’s how to fix it…

Step on is to change the authentication of the server.  go to properties.

Make sure SQL Server is selected under authentication.

After you restart the database, then you can go to the user “sa” and activate it.

Set the password to whatever you like, then select the status section.

Be sure you have the user enabled.

Next up, you need to make sure the TCP/IP settings are working…  Go to the Sql Server Configuration Manager.

Navigate to the Protocols for MSSQLSERVER, and be sure to set the TCP/IP to enabled.

Then restart the server using services application.

Find the SQL Server service, shut it down, and the start it…

now if you go into Eclipse, it should connect to your db…

Best of luck…  I’ll be back again soon as I learn how to use modeling environment =)

 

Variant Configuration – SSC Stand Alone Installation

As promised, I finally figured out how to get the Solution Sales Configurator modeling environment installed (how’s that for a mouthful).  First off, I recommend getting the following document from Service.SAP.com.  IG_Soln_Sales_Config_102.pdf.  The SSC Stand alone installation can be a bit overwhelming at first, but if you follow the steps, it’s not too bad.  Of course, operating systems may cause issues (one of my colleagues using windows 8 had a lot of headaches)

this guide will help, but I’ll give you some inside scoops on how to get everything to work together.  So, you’ll need to download some stuff in order to make it all work.

Eclipse:  http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/I downloaded 4.2.2 Classic

SQL Server Express
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/get-sql-server/try-it.aspx
I downloaded the Microsoft SQL Server2008 R2 RTM – Express with Advanced Services (but pretty much any version should work).

Next up, you’ll need the patches for Eclipse to turn it into the modeling environment.  Here’s what you looking for:  com.sap.custdev.projects.fbs.slc.updatesite-1.2.4.201304111120-assembly (SME patch for locked changes) .  I believe it can be found on Service.SAP.Com.  Also, don’t forget to following the installation guide.  It gives you several other websites to add into the update path.  These include:
http://download.eclipse.org/modeling/tmf/updates/ (TMF Project Update Site),
which is required for Eclipse releases newer than version 3.6
http://download.eclipse.org/modeling/emf/updates/
Various emft sites (…/modeling/emft…), for example,
http://download.eclipse.org/modeling/emft/mwe/updates/ and
http://download.eclipse.org/modeling/emft/updates/
o Main update site of your Eclipse release (for example,
http://download.eclipse.org/releases/helios or
http://download.eclipse.org/releases/indigo)
o http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/updates/3.7 (The Eclipse Project Updates)

Finally, you’ll need a Java SDK.  Go to website:  http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
I downloaded the  Java SE Development Kit 7u21

So, start simple, install the Java SDK.

Next install sql server.  For the most part, it’s pretty straightforward, but remember when it comes to authentication, select SQL Server Authentication.  If not, you’ll never be able to connect.  Tomorrow’s post will talk more about the SQL installation and configuration steps you need to make it work.

Then install eclipse.  I use this term lightly, since all you need to do is unzip the downloaded file and extract it to whatever location you like.  Next open eclipse.exe.

Once it opens, you’ll need to install the SAP extensions.  To do this, use the menu:  help–>install new software
Add in the location of wherever you put the SAP Eclipse modeling environment. (remember, if it’s zipped, you’ll need to unpack it).  Select the resulting SAP extensions shown and install.

Finally, connect Eclipse to the your newly created database.  Use the menu window–>preferences, then expand SAP Solution Sales Configurator and select connections.  Add a new entry, be sure to select database, and set the client to 000 since this is for a local installation.

Finally, copy the SSC tables to the database by using the menu:  SAP Modeling –> Create Tables.  If you don’t see the menu, be sure to open the perspective for SAP Modeling (it’s the button in the upper right next to Java).

And Voila…  you have the SSC modeling environment.  If you’re lucky enough to have a sample SSC configuration (like from the CWG), you can import it into the modeling environment using File–>Import.  Then select General–>Existing Project into Workspace.

And I just found one more step.  Be sure to Download the KB (SAP Modeling –> Download).  This will move the imported models into your database so that you can actually execute them.

More tomorrow, but I’ve rambled enough for one post =)

 

Service Management – Serial Numbers vs Equipment Records

This is one of those posts I’ve been meaning to write for a long time, but I needed to actually take a few minutes and play in the system to verify what I “thought” was the difference 🙂  I get this a lot from different customers, “What is an Equipment Records?”.  Normally, my answer is always the same.  It’s equivalent to the serial number.  After spending a few minutes playing with the configuration and looking at the output, I realize that my answer isn’t completely accurate.  So that’s why I wanted to talk a little about this on the blog.

First, let’s take a look at the serial number.

Now, the biggest thing to take into consideration is the category.  Based on the configuration behind the category, will impact if there are other tabs that show up.  For example, if you chose a different category that included Configuration, you would also get the configuration tab (for Variant Config info).  But in general, you won’t get a lot more than what you see right here.

Now, let’s contrast this with the equipment record:

Notice all of the extra tabs and buttons you get by default.  Some of these views are configurable and can be turned on/off if you choose.  While much of this information is manually populated, you still have it all available, and with some of my upcoming tools, I plan to provide functionality that will allow for some automatic generation of things like serial number structure, equipment (as-built/as-maintained) BOMs, etc…

So there you have it…  why equipment is more than just a serial number.  My personal feeling is to always use an equipment, and let the serial number profile drive it automatically, but if you truly have no need for any additional data, just stick with the simple serial number structure.  I hope this helped you…  it’s actually helped clarify it in my own head…

Thanks for reading..  and my apologies for such a long stretch with no SM posts.  I’m about to embark on the Field Service Engineer application, so that means there should be a lot more SM on my mind…  🙂

Material Master – an easy way to restrict maintenance of views

Well, another day, another product.  ha ha ha.  I wanted to throw this out to you and see if you think it’s something that might be useful.  In the design of the new Proximity application, we’ve added a couple of options to that allow you update a single view of the material master, and can configure what fields are shown and in what order.

Right now, I’ve created the MRP views into 1 transaction, Work Scheduling and Forecasting.  These were the views important for Proximity, but I was curious if you might see an opportunity of this to be a simple product that your company might have use for.  Pumping out the remaining screens wouldn’t take too long.  Sales and Purchasing would be the only pieces with a new wrinkle, and that’s just because of the long text.

I’d love your feedback.  I’m curious because I know that you “can” handle much of this through security, but it’s my understanding that it’s a major PITA, and most security teams give a LOT of pushback to do this.  Yet, with the impacts of improperly maintaining the material master, seemed like it might a quick win to provide something like this.  We haven’t done any marketing materials or demo’s yet, but if you have any interest, let me know and I’ll be happy to give you a live demo.

As always, I appreciate your feedback and your support.

 

Variant Configuration – The New Solution Sales Configurator

My new gig is actually going to be pretty cool.  It looks like I’m going to get a chance to learn the new SAP SSC, which is the new Solution Sales Configurator.  Now for those of you that have been doing VC for a while or have ever attended a CWG, I’m sure you’ve heard of the SCE advanced mode.  Now, you can bet there will be more posts coming soon as I start to get into this, but I wanted to start with a quick intro on what the SSC is.

Now, for you VC experts, this might all seem obvious, but stick with me, I’ll be getting into more details soon.  The first thing to understand about the SSC (or even the advanced mode of the SCE) is that it allows you the ability to configure in a “bottom up” fashion, vs. the standard VC top down.  Let me explain more what that means.  The easiest way to do this is with an example.  So I’m going to go back to my roots, and talk about a Frame product.  Let’s say you have a product like this:

1-Frame
2-Module
3-Cable
3-Cable
2-Module
3-Cable
3-Cable
3-Cable
3-Cable
2-Module
3-Cable
2-Module
3-<empty>

Now, in a product like this, if you use VC, you must first configure the Frame, then determine how many modules, and for each module, determine how many cable connections you need.  Each of these level is configurable.  Now this may work for you (but it will have a lot of potential iterated characteristics).  Now, often the customer doesn’t really care about what frame is chosen, or even how many modules are involved.  The customer knows that they need 350 cable connections of certain types.  To use standard VC to model that behavior would be extremely complex and cumbersome.  This is where the SSC comes into play.  The SSC allows you to write logic that can build the structure from the top down, even though the items don’t exist within a single model.  So you could start with the number of connections, and build logic into the SSC that says if I choose at least 48 connections of this connector type, then you need at least 2 modules, and then you can say to select a certain frame based on the size and qty of modules.

I hope this makes sense.  The concept is difficult to explain, but it might start making more sense when I get deeper into this.  The short story is that SSC lets you give the customer a guided selling or at least a simpler method to method a complex product.  I have to say, I’m pretty excited.

Stay tuned for more SSC details 🙂

 

ABAP – Screen Design with Too Many Elements

I recently ran into this while designing a configuration screen for our Proximity application.  This is something that I didn’t find anything about online, so either I looked in the wrong place, or maybe I’m the only one crazy enough to try this :).  Anyway, in the course of screen design I have a rather large subscreen, that contains a lot of radio buttons, a couple table controls and bunch of input fields.  You get the idea.  Well, as I was nearing the end of the screen, I start seeing some strange behavior, so that’s what I wanted to talk about today.  So if you’re designing a large screen and you see anything strange, keep this post in mind.  Now, keep in mind, this is my SAP ERP 6.0 SR3 system and I don’t have the latest basis release, so this might be something I could fix through basis, but who knows.

1.  RUNT_ILLEGAL_SWITCH short dump.  It’s interesting because the screen compiles just fine, but as soon as you go to execute the screen you see this dump.

2.  Radio button groups start asking strangely.  What I started seeing is that my radio button group that was set to include 2 or 4 buttons, suddenly is grouped around another set of radio buttons, 20 lines above this one (that’s how I can tell it wasn’t just my fat fingers) ha ha ha.

3.  Really long compile times.  If your subscreen starts taking around a minute or longer to compile, this might be another clue that your screen is getting too big.

4.  Your elements just start behaving strangely.  I ran into my table controls suddenly stopped scrolling.  It was populated, but I could only get to the first page.  This one drove me nuts for a couple hours last night.

If you see any of these suddenly start happening, go ahead and just remove a chunk of elements.  The trick that I use is that I “Cut” them out of the screen (leave them in memory) and then compile.  If things start working again, you have too many elements.  So then I paste the elements back in and narrow down how many elements are driving it over the edge.  You really have 2 options, 1 just strip out enough fields that everything will compile properly again or you will have to create another tab/screen/subscreen to handle a chunk of the elements so that you can simplify.

if anyone else has seen this, let me know, I’d be curious, and also if you found any other ways to correct the issue.  As always, I hope this helps.