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CRM or Client Manager type Script
- Thread starter seanradio
- Start date
there are lots of CRM scripts out there. hotscripts has a large number.
but here comes a sermon (no apologies):
all these scripts have been written for someone else. businesses that use CRM tools do so to enhance their productivity and customer care/management channels. each company is different (but they look to CRM to act as a differentiator!). if you buy a package off the shelf or use a pre-built script, in my experience a company will either change their processes to fit in with the software (madness) or make do with something half good and just gripe all the time. CRM should be written for a particular company to manage its particular customers in the particular way that works best for that interaction..
my advice: spend a lot of time getting the requirements spec right:
1. identify all stakeholders
2. identify all user classes
3. interview all stakeholders for their requirements and usage habits
4. interview similarly a cross section of users
5. write four cascading documents:
* high level business requirements
* detailed business requirements (write this in uml or some other use-case based method. the use cases must be a self-consistent universe)
* technical requirements (hardware and software - don't constrain the requirements unless there is a business need to do so)
* user interface specification
6. get sign-off on each document from all stakeholders.
7. write the software
8. test the socks off the software
9. roll it out in a phased approach.
this applies whether you are talking about a 5 man user base of a 5000 base. timing: 1-3 months for the req spec stage (obviously scales by ref to complexity and number of supported personnel), 1 month for coding, 1-2 months for detailed acceptance testing.
you can use a lot of this time for parallel tasks like uploading data etc. but don't short cut it. the business will pay the price later.
who writes the software? if you can do it, go for it: coding is dead simple if the requirements are enumerated. If you can't then check out sites like rentacoder.com. they will love you because you have a good requirements specification. have a bad one and you'll either get ripped off or, more likely, you won't get what you want and you'll have noone to blame.
but here comes a sermon (no apologies):
all these scripts have been written for someone else. businesses that use CRM tools do so to enhance their productivity and customer care/management channels. each company is different (but they look to CRM to act as a differentiator!). if you buy a package off the shelf or use a pre-built script, in my experience a company will either change their processes to fit in with the software (madness) or make do with something half good and just gripe all the time. CRM should be written for a particular company to manage its particular customers in the particular way that works best for that interaction..
my advice: spend a lot of time getting the requirements spec right:
1. identify all stakeholders
2. identify all user classes
3. interview all stakeholders for their requirements and usage habits
4. interview similarly a cross section of users
5. write four cascading documents:
* high level business requirements
* detailed business requirements (write this in uml or some other use-case based method. the use cases must be a self-consistent universe)
* technical requirements (hardware and software - don't constrain the requirements unless there is a business need to do so)
* user interface specification
6. get sign-off on each document from all stakeholders.
7. write the software
8. test the socks off the software
9. roll it out in a phased approach.
this applies whether you are talking about a 5 man user base of a 5000 base. timing: 1-3 months for the req spec stage (obviously scales by ref to complexity and number of supported personnel), 1 month for coding, 1-2 months for detailed acceptance testing.
you can use a lot of this time for parallel tasks like uploading data etc. but don't short cut it. the business will pay the price later.
who writes the software? if you can do it, go for it: coding is dead simple if the requirements are enumerated. If you can't then check out sites like rentacoder.com. they will love you because you have a good requirements specification. have a bad one and you'll either get ripped off or, more likely, you won't get what you want and you'll have noone to blame.
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