Wizard Systems

Hidden Insights: Discovering the Value of Workbooks Audit - Event 22/1

As businesses increasingly rely on CRM systems to manage customer relationships, the ability to track and see the changes of record and information becomes crucial. The Workbooks CRM Audit Extension (it's an optional add on) offers a comprehensive solution for monitoring and managing your CRM data interactions, providing invaluable insights for system administrators, users and business owners alike.

The Audit Extension acts as your CRM system's digital historian, meticulously recording who did what and when within your Workbooks environment. It captures essential details of record modifications, including field-level changes, creation and deletion of records, and user access patterns. This detailed tracking extends across all major record types, from leads and opportunities to cases and transactions.

Benefits for Different Stakeholders

If you're a System Administrator:
The extension provides powerful troubleshooting capabilities, allowing you to trace the source of data changes and understand user behaviour patterns. This proves invaluable when investigating data inconsistencies or supporting user training needs. You can easily generate audit reports to monitor system usage and ensure compliance with internal policies.

For ordinary CRM Users:
Team members gain transparency into record histories, helping them understand how customer information has evolved over time. This visibility supports better collaboration and helps prevent data conflicts. Users can confidently track their contributions and maintain accountability for their actions within the system.

For Business Owners:
The Audit Extension delivers crucial oversight of your CRM investment. It helps ensure data integrity, supports compliance requirements, and provides insights into user adoption and process adherence. This information can drive better decision-making about training needs and process improvements.

Upcoming Webinar: Deep Dive into Workbooks CRM Audit Extension

Join us on Wednesday, 22nd January at 2 PM for an in-depth exploration of the Audit Extension's capabilities. Our expert team will guide you through the essential features and demonstrate practical applications that can enhance your Workbooks CRM implementation and provide the visibility needed to manage your business effectively.

REGISTER HERE

Don't miss this opportunity to maximise the value of your Workbooks CRM investment and ensure your organisation maintains full visibility of its critical customer data.

Save time with Email Templates - Workbooks CRM event on 15th January

Do you have common messages, emails you need to send to customers and prospects?  Find yourself repeating those messages?  Could be a case for using email templates in Workbooks CRM!

Email templates in Workbooks CRM enable your team to respond quickly and consistently to common customer interactions whilst maintaining a professional tone. Instead of crafting individual emails from scratch, your team can use pre-approved templates that ensure brand consistency and reduce the risk of errors.

A Practical Example: The 'Thanks for Your Enquiry' Template

Consider this scenario: A potential customer submits an enquiry through your website. With Workbooks CRM's email templates, you can automatically send a professional response within minutes. Here's what a template might look like:

Subject: Thank you for your interest in [Organisation Name]

Dear [First Name],

Thank you for reaching out to us. We appreciate your interest in our products/services and are keen to learn more about your needs.

A member of our team will contact you within the next 24 hours to discuss how we can help you achieve your business goals.

In the meantime, you might find these resources helpful:
- Our product overview
- Customer success stories
- Frequently asked questions

Kind regards,
[Sender Name]
[Organisation Name]

 

Benefits of Using Email Templates

• Time Efficiency: Save valuable time by eliminating repetitive email writing tasks. Your sales team can focus on building relationships rather than drafting routine messages.
• Consistency: Ensure all customer communications maintain the same high standard of professionalism and brand voice, regardless of which team member sends them.
• Personalisation: Despite being templates, these emails can be personalised using dynamic fields that automatically pull information from your Workbooks CRM database.
• Error Reduction: Minimise the risk of typos, incorrect information, or tone inconsistencies that can occur when writing emails from scratch.

 

Ready to Learn More?

Join our upcoming webinar on 15th January at 14:00 GMT to see email templates in action. Our experts will demonstrate how to:
- Create and manage email templates
- Use dynamic fields for personalisation
- Share with the team

Register now to discover how email templates can revolutionise your customer communications and boost your team's productivity.

Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your Workbooks CRM experience. Secure your spot in our webinar and take the first step toward more efficient customer communications.

Why it's a good idea to track employee timesheets in your CRM system - Like Workbooks does! Event 8/1

Having robust systems to manage client relationships and track employee time isn't just a luxury—it's essential for success.

Join us on our next online event, Wednesday 8th January at 2pm GMT and we will present the timesheet feature in Workbooks CRM

REGISTER HERE

 

So why track timesheets in our CRM system?  It's not something that they all do!

First, consider the financial benefits. When your team tracks time against client projects within Workbooks, you gain crystal-clear visibility into your actual costs and profitability. This granular insight helps you understand which clients and projects contribute most to your bottom line. Moreover, it provides early warnings if projects begin to exceed their budgets, allowing for swift corrective action.

From a project management perspective, Workbooks' Projects extension proves invaluable. Project managers can easily view team workloads, allocate resources effectively, and monitor progress against estimates. The timesheet functionality integrates seamlessly with the core CRM, ensuring that all project-related activities are captured within a single platform. This data becomes a goldmine for future planning, helping teams create more accurate quotes and timelines based on historical performance.

The client relationship advantages are equally compelling. Workbooks CRM maintains a complete history of client interactions, preferences, and requirements. This ensures consistent service delivery across your organisation and supports strategic account management. When combined with timesheet data from the Projects extension, you can have meaningful conversations with clients about service delivery and demonstrate clear value for money.

The integrated nature of Workbooks means all your business intelligence is in one place. By analysing employee productivity and utilisation rates through the Projects module, you can identify bottlenecks, optimise workflows, and make informed decisions about team structure and hiring needs. Patterns in client demands become apparent, enabling proactive service development and resource planning.

Furthermore, Workbooks' comprehensive documentation proves crucial for compliance and dispute resolution. Detailed timesheet records protect your organisation during billing queries and help demonstrate adherence to labour laws. They also provide valuable reference points during contract renewals and professional services audits.

A particular strength of the Workbooks solution is how the Projects extension seamlessly integrates with the core CRM functionality. This means no more jumping between different systems or dealing with complicated data synchronisation. Time entries, project updates, and client information all live within the same ecosystem, providing a single source of truth for your business operations.

In essence, investing in Workbooks CRM with Projects isn't merely about monitoring hours—it's about building a data-driven foundation for business growth, client satisfaction, and operational excellence. For service-based businesses aiming to thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace, this integrated approach has become indispensable.

For more information on Workbooks CRM and its Project Management features, contact Wizard Systems.

Workbooks CRM - All you need to know in under 30 minutes - Event 13/12

Looking for a new CRM?  Take a look at Workbooks CRM and see why it's different from other CRMs out there.  Please join us on our next online event on 13th December at 2pm and we will cover:

Core Functionality

• What it looks like!
• The fundamental CRM capabilities for managing customer relationships, sales pipeline, and marketing activities
• How it handles contact management, lead tracking, and opportunity management
• Integration with email and calendar systems
• Reporting and analytics capabilities

SME-Specific Benefits

• Pricing structure and how it compares to competitors like Salesforce
• Scalability aspects - how it grows with your business
• Implementation timeframes and complexity
• The level of technical expertise required to maintain it

Differentiators

• What makes Workbooks particularly suitable for SMEs versus enterprise-focused solutions
• Any industry-specific features or capabilities
• Integration capabilities with other business tools commonly used by SMEs

The event is on Friday 13th at 2pm UK time

PLEASE REGISTER HERE

 

Email Marketing first time user? Mailchimp and Workbooks could be a great place to start - Event 11/12

Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to reach customers and prospects. If you have never done email marketing before, and need something simple to start with, yet has basic integration with Workbooks then look no further.

We are running an online event to our Workbooks CRM customers on Wednesday 11th December at 2pm UK time to show the basics of the integration.

REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND

The integration between Workbooks and Mailchimp bridges the gap between your customer data and email marketing efforts, eliminating manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors. By automatically syncing your Workbooks contacts with Mailchimp, you can ensure your email lists are always up-to-date and your campaigns reach the right audience.

Key Benefits of the Integration

The Workbooks-Mailchimp integration offers several advantages for businesses looking to enhance their email marketing efforts:

Automated Contact Synchronization: Changes made to contact records in Workbooks automatically reflect in your Mailchimp audience lists, ensuring data consistency across both platforms.

Segmentation Made Simple: Leverage your Workbooks data to create targeted segments in Mailchimp, allowing for more personalized and effective email campaigns.

Campaign Performance Tracking: Monitor email campaign metrics directly within Workbooks, giving you a complete view of customer engagement and campaign success.

Time and Resource Savings: Eliminate the need for manual data entry and list management, freeing up your team to focus on creating compelling content and analyzing results.

Getting Started

Setting up the integration is straightforward. Once configured, you can begin mapping your Workbooks contact fields to Mailchimp audience fields, ensuring that the right information flows between the systems. This allows you to maintain clean, accurate data while taking advantage of Mailchimp's robust email marketing features.

Making the Most of Your Email Marketing

With the integration in place, you can:

Create targeted email campaigns based on customer data stored in Workbooks Track engagement metrics and campaign performance Automatically update contact information across both platforms Use Workbooks reporting tools to analyze campaign effectiveness and ROI

The combination of Workbooks' powerful CRM capabilities and Mailchimp's user-friendly email marketing platform creates an efficient solution for businesses of all sizes. Whether you're sending newsletters, promotional campaigns, or targeted communications, the integration ensures your message reaches the right audience with minimal manual effort.

Ready to enhance your email marketing strategy? Contact Wizard Systems to learn more about implementing the Mailchimp integration for your organization.

Workbooks CRM - Putting your own 'stamp' on things!

Make your Workbooks CRM environment truly your own by personalising it with your company's branding. Join our upcoming webinar on 4th December to learn how to create a professional, branded experience for both your team and customers. Register now at workbooks.com/webinars/branding-customisation.

Desktop Customisation

The Workbooks desktop interface offers excellent opportunities for tailoring to reflect your company's visual identity. Our webinar will demonstrate how to personalise your workspace effectively.

Your company logo takes pride of place in the top navigation bar of your Workbooks interface. We'll show you how to navigate to Configuration > General > System Settings to upload your logo. For optimal results, we recommend using a high-resolution image in PNG or JPEG format with a transparent background, sized at 200x50 pixels.

The colour scheme of your Workbooks interface can be customised to match your brand colours. You'll learn how to modify the header background, menu items, and button colours through the System Settings area, creating a cohesive visual experience aligned with your company's identity.

Document Branding

Maintaining consistent branding across all your business documents is crucial. Our webinar will guide you through setting up your logo for PDF documents:

We'll demonstrate how to access Configuration > Templates & Documents > PDF Templates, where you can upload your company logo for all generated PDFs including quotes, invoices, and other business documents. We'll cover the recommended image specifications:

• Resolution: 300 DPI minimum
• Format: PNG or JPEG
• Dimensions: 400x100 pixels for optimal display
• File size: Under 1MB

Once uploaded, your logo appears automatically in the header section of all PDF documents generated through Workbooks. During the webinar, we'll show you how to customise the placement and size of your logo within each document template to meet your exact requirements.

Additional Branding Options

Beyond logos, discover how Workbooks offers several other branding customisation options for your documents. Our experts will demonstrate how to:

Customise header and footer content, add background watermarks, and include additional brand elements like company taglines or contact information. These elements can be configured individually for different types of documents, allowing you to maintain distinct yet branded templates for various business purposes.

Join Our Webinar

Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to maximise your Workbooks branding potential. Our webinar will cover all these topics in detail, with live demonstrations and a Q&A session.

Date: 4th December Time: 14:00 GMT Duration: 20 minutes Register now: wizard systems/webinars/branding-customisation

By attending this webinar, you'll gain the knowledge to create a professional, branded experience that reinforces your company's identity throughout every interaction with the Workbooks CRM system.

Workbooks CRM 7.4 Release out now

Here's the low down on the 7.4 release of Workbooks which consolidates on the 'Green' theme UI and also enhanced Project functionality:

Projects

For those of you who manage projects, whether delivering to your customers or managing your internal tasks, we have built a new Projects Module. The Projects functionality is split into ‘Simple’ and ‘Advanced’.

Simple Projects

The Simple Projects functionality was released earlier in the year, and some of you will have already been using it for Task and Team Management – this functionality is included in our Pro Licences. We have improved this functionality in the following areas: 

• Restrictions on who can see and edit Projects have been removed – Users no longer need to be added as a Team Member before they can see a Project, and System Admins can access all Projects. 
  • To revert to ‘private’ Projects, you’ll need to amend the Permissions, for which you’ll need Advanced Security licences. Talk to Wizard Support if you need help with this. 
• Amending the Project Manager of a Project is easier – changing the Assigned To of the Project will automatically set the new assignee as a Team Member with the Project Management Role. 
• Project Tasks now have a ‘Category’ field, which you can use to group and organise your Project Tasks. The Category picklist can be configured on each Project from the Project Settings. 

Advanced Projects 

Our Advanced Projects Module is becoming available in this Release. This Module builds on top of the ‘simple’ projects functionality, and includes: 

• Logging and tracking time against Project Tasks. This allows you to manage whether the time is chargeable or non-chargeable. 
• Associate rates and budgets with the project. These can be set depending on your billing type: 
  • a one-off price for the project; 
  • a daily/hourly rate; 
  • different rates for different roles or team members; 
  • a daily/hourly rate with an agreed number of days/hours. 
• The combination of tracked time and budget against the project allows for tracking of delivered revenue: 
  • Recognise the revenue and invoice the customer; 
  • Manage prepayments. 
• View the allocation of your resources, manage non-working time, reschedule tasks and assign new tasks using the Resource Scheduler. 

Read more about Projects on our Knowledge Base.

 

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Other Changes

Process Failure Notifications 

Most of you use some sort of automation to help with workflow and to reduce manual effort. You can now control if Process Failure Notifications are sent to a User Group, not just a single user, allowing you to have a backup if someone is on annual leave. You can also control if the notifications should send on every failure, not just when the process is disabled, allowing you to catch issues sooner. 

Scheduled Email From Address 

You can now control which email account is used to send your Scheduled Emails from. You can choose from an Email Account that is set up in your account and shared with you, or leave it with the current behaviour of sending from the owner of the Scheduled Email. 

The owner of the Scheduled Email is still important – Scheduled Emails will fail to send if the owner user is disabled, and it cannot generate the attached reports if the owner does not have access to them. 

Report Columns Enhancement 

To help ensure you’ve selected the correct column when building the Details View of a report (particularly if fields have similar names), you’ll see that the field description is displayed.

Customised Login Screen 

You can now configure your login screen, for example, choosing your own background or adding your company logo, plus remove the authentication options that aren’t available for your account. To do so, System Admins can go to Start > Configuration > Customisation > Sign In. For more details, see our Knowledge Base.

NOTE: The customised login screen will only show if Users login via your specific Workbooks domain, e.g. customdomain.workbooks.com/login, and not if they navigate to the login page from the Workbooks website. Therefore, encourage users to bookmark your specific login url.

For more information on Workbooks CRM, support or training, contact Wizard Systems.

Mastering User Groups and Capabilities in Workbooks CRM - Event 27/11

Workbooks CRM offers a robust system for managing user access and permissions through User Groups and Capabilities.  This feature is essential for organizations looking to maintain security and streamline their CRM operations.

Want to know more about how Workbooks can easily control User Access?  Attend our free webinar on Wednesday 27th November at 2pm UK time.

REGISTER HERE

 

User Groups in Workbooks CRM serve as a way to organize users with similar roles or responsibilities.  By assigning users to specific groups, administrators can efficiently manage access rights and permissions across the system.  Benefits of User Groups:

• Simplified permission management
• Consistent access control for similar roles
• Easy onboarding of new users with predefined group settings

Capabilities in Workbooks CRM

Capabilities define the specific actions and access levels that users can have within the CRM system. These are typically assigned to User Groups rather than individual users, making it easier to manage permissions at scale.  Key aspects of Capabilities:

• Granular control over system access
• Customizable to fit organizational needs
• Can be adjusted as roles and responsibilities evolve

Setting Up User Groups and Capabilities

When creating new Workbooks Users, administrators should follow a structured approach to assign appropriate User Groups and Capabilities:

1. Identify User Roles: Determine the different roles within your organization that require CRM access.
2. Create User Groups: Set up groups that align with these roles, such as "Sales Team," "Marketing Department," or "Customer Support."
3. Define Capabilities: For each group, specify the exact permissions and access levels needed to perform their jobs effectively.
4. Assign Users: Add new users to the appropriate groups based on their roles and responsibilities.
5. Review and Adjust: Regularly review group memberships and capabilities to ensure they remain aligned with organizational needs and security policies.

Best Practices for User Management

To maximize the effectiveness of User Groups and Capabilities in Workbooks CRM:

• Implement the principle of least privilege, granting users only the access they need
• Regularly audit user access and group memberships
• Create a process for requesting and approving changes to user permissions
• Document your User Group and Capability structure for easy reference and onboarding

By carefully configuring User Groups and Capabilities, organizations can ensure that their Workbooks CRM system remains secure, efficient, and tailored to their specific needs. This approach not only enhances data protection but also improves improves the time taken to setup new users.

 

Projects feature in Workbooks CRM: Simple vs Advanced, what's best for you?

Here is some further information on the differences between Simple and Advanced Projects in Workbooks CRM (please check with Wizard Systems about the licencing and pricing of these 2 levels of Project Management in Workbooks):

Simple Projects

Simple Projects in Workbooks CRM offer a straightforward way to manage tasks within a project. This functionality allows you to:

• Create individual tasks and organise them within a project.
• Assign these tasks to members of your project team.
• Establish a schedule for each task, setting deadlines and milestones.
• Facilitate communication and collaboration by allowing team members to leave comments directly on tasks.

This level of project management is suitable for teams or individuals who need a basic structure to track their work without the need for in-depth budget management or time tracking.

Advanced Projects

Advanced Projects expand on the capabilities of Simple Projects by introducing features crucial for managing projects with financial implications and for monitoring team productivity. The key additions in Advanced Projects include:

• Project Budget: This feature enables you to set an overall budget for your project, helping you track expenses and ensure profitability.
• Time Allocation: You can allocate a specific amount of time for each task, allowing you to estimate the overall project duration and resource allocation.
• Time Logging: Team members can log the actual time they spend on each task. This data provides valuable insights into team productivity, task complexity, and project progress. By comparing allocated time with actual time spent, you can identify potential bottlenecks or areas where efficiency can be improved. This information is also crucial for accurate invoicing and client reporting.

The Advanced Projects module is designed for project managers, users who need to track their time, and finance personnel involved in project billing. It is particularly beneficial for businesses that bill clients based on time spent on projects or need detailed insights into project costs and team performance.

Licensing Considerations

Workbooks CRM offers different licence options that include either Simple or Advanced Projects. The choice of licence depends on the specific needs of your business and the roles of your users. For pricing, please contact Wizard Systems.

Reclaiming Lost Treasures: The Workbooks CRM Undelete Feature - Event 6/11

 

We've all experienced that sinking feeling after accidentally deleting an important record in a CRM system. Workbooks CRM understands this common mishap and offers a robust Undelete feature as a safety net, allowing you to recover deleted records and maintain data integrity.

On our next online event we'll explore this feature and how it can save you from data loss disasters.  Aimed at Workbooks CRM users, please join us on Wednesday 6th November at 2pm GMT and we will go through this unique feature of CRM.

PLEASE REGISTER HERE

What Happens When You Delete a Record?

When you hit the delete button in Workbooks CRM, the record isn't gone forever – at least, not right away. Instead of being permanently erased, the record enters a "soft-deleted" state, moving to a dedicated area called "Deleted Items". Think of it as a safety net that catches your data before it falls into the abyss of permanent deletion.  This grace period lasts for 30 days, giving you ample time to recover the record. After 30 days or a database cleanup, the record is permanently deleted ("hard deleted") and cannot be recovered.

Restoring Your Deleted Data: A Step-by-Step Guide

To recover a deleted record, navigate to Start > Deleted Items in the main menu.  This section functions like a digital lost and found, allowing you to sift through various deleted record types. To make finding your lost data easier, you can filter records by type.  For example, you can choose to view only deleted People, Organisations, Activities, or even Transaction Documents.

Once you've located the record you need, restoring it is straightforward:

1. Select and open the record you want to restore.
2. A dialogue box will appear, displaying essential information about the deleted record, including:
   • Object Reference
   • Record Description
   • Who deleted it
   • Date and time of deletion
3. Click the "Recover Record" button.
4. The record will be instantly restored to its original location in your database and will open automatically, ready for use.

Remember that records can only be restored one at a time. Bulk restoration is not currently supported.

Permissions and Access: Keeping Your Data Secure

Access to the Deleted Items area isn't a free-for-all. Workbooks CRM uses a capability-based system to control who can view and restore deleted records. Your system administrator can grant specific users the necessary permissions to access this sensitive area, ensuring data security and preventing unauthorised access.

There are three categories of capabilities related to deleted items:

• View deleted Record: This capability determines whether a user can see the Deleted Items option in the Start Menu.
• View deleted Record Types: There are 17 separate capabilities, one for each supported record type, controlling which specific record types a user can view within Deleted Items.
• Recover deleted Record Types: Mirroring the "View" capabilities, these 17 capabilities control which record types a user can restore.

This granular approach allows administrators to tailor access to deleted items based on user roles and responsibilities, ensuring that only authorised individuals can restore deleted data. For instance, a sales manager might have permission to restore deleted Opportunities but not deleted Financial records.

Potential Hiccups in the Restoration Process

While the Undelete feature is a powerful tool, it's important to be aware of potential issues that might arise during the restoration process:

• Broken Links: If you restore a record that was linked to another record which has been permanently deleted, the link will no longer function. For example, if you restore a Task associated with a Primary Contact that has been permanently deleted, the restored Task will no longer have that Primary Contact assigned.
• Permanent Deletion: Remember that records in the Deleted Items area are only temporarily held.  After 30 days or a database cleanup, they are permanently deleted and irretrievable. It's crucial to act promptly to recover any deleted records you need.

The Workbooks CRM Undelete feature is a valuable tool for data recovery, but understanding its nuances is key to using it effectively.  Being aware of the time limit for recovery and the potential for broken links will help you make the most of this feature.

For more information on Workbooks CRM or Workbooks CRM Support, contact Wizard Systems!