Newbie - Information Technology Company

[alicepohl]

We are investigating using Sugar OpenSource Version - do you know if add ons such as Quotes / Reporting / User Security levels are available?
Also - is there an example of an Information Technology company currently using OpenSource and how they are using it?
We are based in Cape Town, South Africa

We need to do a number of things with Sugar OpenSource like
1) See who who logged the call
2) See who is asigned to call
3) See priority of calls
4) See type of call (call-out/remote/troubleshoot etc.)
5) See current number & total number of OPEN/CLOSED Calls per Technician
6) See tally of hours against hour target for the month per Technician
7) See current number & total number of OPEN/CLOSED Calls per Client
8) See current number of maintenance hours worked, against booked hours per SLA client
9) See calls asigned by AREA in order to prioritise calls for the day/week/month
10) Flag calls .. urgent (flash) etc.
11) Knowledge Base … documents relating to IT set-up per client can be stored / troubleshooting processes can be stored / would be good to have “secure” knowledge base relating to usernames and passwords
12) On completion of call, call can be closed, client can automatically receive an email saying call attended to and that invoice will be sent to them
13) CSV file created for completed calls for the week. This CSV file can be imported into our accounting package - quickbooks.
14) Spell Check Facility – if this info is to be transferred into quickbooks, we need accuracy
15) Reporting
16) Security – don’t want users to delete information in the system = USER rights
17) Fun elements … you are close to achieving your hours, well done!! Etc.
18) Would be nice to access CRM from web-friendly phones
19) Would be great for technicians to see easily calls for the day/week etc.
20) SLA agreements (if client signs an agreement for hours per month - would this be a product?)
21) Licence Renewals - reminders that licence is up for renewal
22) Equipment (hardware & software details per client listed)
23) See Sales “targets” & “sales” made
24) Request quotes from suppliers – log this as a call (email facility)
25) Send Client a quotation
26) On approval of quotation (Can we automate this accept / decline)- Order Stock from supplier (we need to provide them with automated “order” number – at the moment we send them an email with order number) … also supplier only gives stock once payment received by us so we need an invoice from supplier in order to make payment
27) Need to make sure stock has arrived (reminders to follow up on stock ordered)
28) Once stock arrived, close the call … CSV file produced which accountant can import on quickbooks side?
29) Sales history?
30) See Services Per Client (ADSL/Mailboxes/Hosting/Domains etc.) / See more details on this level
31) Create Services Per Client (API documents for two of our suppliers namely IS & MTN)
32) List Projects and Project status
33) Is there something we can integrate in terms of providing "real time" / "remote" maintenance and billing for these hours?

Help appreciated

[josh.sweeney]

Quotes, reporting, and user security are all provided in Pro and Ent and not Community. That being said, there are modules that assist in adding this functionality to community. You can look in the SugarForge and SugarExchange to find them.

SecuritySuite and ZuckerReports are some examples.

[salesagility]

1) See who who logged the call - YES (CE)
2) See who is asigned to call - YES (CE)
3) See priority of calls (NO - but Studio drop down)
4) See type of call (call-out/remote/troubleshoot etc.) (NO - see above)
5) See current number & total number of OPEN/CLOSED Calls per Technician (Custome report - use Zucker & iReport)
6) See tally of hours against hour target for the month per Technician - See above
7) See current number & total number of OPEN/CLOSED Calls per Client - See above
8) See current number of maintenance hours worked, against booked hours per SLA client - See above
9) See calls asigned by AREA in order to prioritise calls for the day/week/month - See above
10) Flag calls .. urgent (flash) etc. - No .. but custom drop down in Studio
11) Knowledge Base … documents relating to IT set-up per client can be stored / troubleshooting processes can be stored / would be good to have “secure” knowledge base relating to usernames and passwords - Only in Pro .. but relatively simple to build using Module Builder and some custom code
12) On completion of call, call can be closed, client can automatically receive an email saying call attended to and that invoice will be sent to them - Process Manager from SugarExchange
13) CSV file created for completed calls for the week. This CSV file can be imported into our accounting package - quickbooks. - Custom Report
14) Spell Check Facility – if this info is to be transferred into quickbooks, we need accuracy - Yes
15) Reporting - Yes - Zucker Reports from Forge
16) Security – don’t want users to delete information in the system = USER rights - Yes
17) Fun elements … you are close to achieving your hours, well done!! Etc. - No - custom code
18) Would be nice to access CRM from web-friendly phones - Yes - Thin Client from forge
19) Would be great for technicians to see easily calls for the day/week etc. - yes
20) SLA agreements (if client signs an agreement for hours per month - would this be a product?) - yes
21) Licence Renewals - reminders that licence is up for renewal - custom report/dashlet
22) Equipment (hardware & software details per client listed) - yes - products from forge
23) See Sales “targets” & “sales” made - yes
24) Request quotes from suppliers – log this as a call (email facility) - yes
25) Send Client a quotation - yes - Quotes from Forge
26) On approval of quotation (Can we automate this accept / decline)- Order Stock from supplier (we need to provide them with automated “order” number – at the moment we send them an email with order number) … also supplier only gives stock once payment received by us so we need an invoice from supplier in order to make payment - would need some custom code but not complex
27) Need to make sure stock has arrived (reminders to follow up on stock ordered) - custom code
28) Once stock arrived, close the call … CSV file produced which accountant can import on quickbooks side? - Yes
29) Sales history? - Define
30) See Services Per Client (ADSL/Mailboxes/Hosting/Domains etc.) / See more details on this level - Yes - Products/Services from forge
31) Create Services Per Client (API documents for two of our suppliers namely IS & MTN) - Yes see above
32) List Projects and Project status - yes
33) Is there something we can integrate in terms of providing "real time" / "remote" maintenance and billing for these hours? - don't understand the requirement

You have a well formed shopping list. Either with the Community Edition or with Pro or Ent (Paid for versions) you will need some code customisation. But about 80% (approx) is either out of the box or available from the SugarForge of Community maintained enmhancements.

Hope this helps.

[alicepohl]

WOW - how quick was that ... thanks!!!
By remote monitoring I'm referring to clients where we can log into their pc from our office and offer asssitance ... is there a "plug in" or something where we can monitor time / and bill for it?
Thanks
Alice

[salesagility]

Yes, there's a timesheet plugin in the Forge

[alicepohl]

thank you so much!

[alicepohl]

How long do you reckon it would take us to "customise" the system to suit our needs?
IT support / IT sales
Does anybody have an example of an IT company using Sugar OpenSource - I'd love to see screengrabs and understand how they went about setting monthly hourly targets for technicians / monthly hourly targets for clients / defining difference between a call somebody has logged through our helpdesk / to delivering the "call" and being able to charge for it

[salesagility]

A rough guess is a couple of man months. Be aware that there is a steep learning curve for SugarCRM and a "right" way to develop that will be easier to upgrade in the future. Knowing PHP is only part of it.

[alicepohl]

Thanks ... have you done any IT companies? What would you charge to customise it for us? How long would it take you?

[salesagility]

I have PM'd you on this