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6 Tips to enhance your vTiger CRM Experience

vTiger CRM is an open source Customer Relationship Management system offering a host of features that more than satisfies the requirements of most small to medium sized businesses. It compares favorably in features, ease of use, accessibility and rapid learning with industry leader, SalesForce.com. But where SalesForces.com costs upwards of $65 per user per month for the professional edition, vTiger CRM is free. All you have to do is host it.

The vTiger feature list is more than extensive. It does everything a modern professional CRM system could be expected to do. It works ‘in the cloud’ so the user only requires a browser and an Internet connection. It is multi-user with a comprehensive security and role management system. It has plugins for Outlook, Thunderbird, MS Office as well as ‘Apps’ for Android and iPhone.

So how can systems like SalesForce.com charge so much money every month to its users when a substantially the same product is available for free?

The simple answer is support. Many companies just want easy access to data, easy setup and customer support constantly available. It is very easy to open a new SalesForce.com account and start working; however as you add new users, you also add to the cost.

Before long you can be spending well over $500 per month to manage less than 10 users. vTiger CRM on the other hand is scalable and free (for the open source edition) or $12 per user per month if you choose the hosted edition from vTiger themselves.

Many web hosting companies now offer a free vTiger installation service and low cost hosting. Hostgator.com, Bluehost.com and Siteground.com are just a few but you can also use a service like SimpleScripts.com to install vTiger to your current plan. If you currently host your website with a major hosting company then you should be able to host vTiger too with no additional hosting fees. You can also download vTiger and install it yourself.

Once installed, vTiger offers a clean and intuitive interface that will be familiar to any CRM user. Once you have your vTiger system up and running, the follow tips should help in getting everything operating smoothly.

Tip 1. Outgoing Server:

vTiger offers a full email system that covers all aspects of email communication including Mass Email, Individual Emails. Email Notifications, Wordflow Emails, Email/PDF Invoices and more. To send email however, you must setup the Outgoing Server from the Settings/Other Settings menu. The most common settings are for Gmail:

Server Name: ssl://smtp.gmail.com:465
Username: your_gmail_user@gmail.com
Password: your_gmail_password
From Email:your_email@yourdomain.com (or your gmail account)
Requires Authentication: Yes

You can also use your regular SMTP settings:

Server Name: mail.yourdomain.com
Username: info@yourdomain.com
Password: your_email_password
From Email: your_email@yourdomain.com
Requires Authentication: Yes

vTiger – Version 5.4 has an issue with some SMTP server configurations. If you find that your outgoing server settings are being rejected, you should make a small change to a PHP file. You will require FTP access to vTiger to make this change:

Using any text editor like Notepad (never use Word for editing HTML or PHP files), open the file:

/modules/Emails/class.phpmailer.php

Find the following line:

$this->Mailer = “smtp”;

Change “smtp” to “sendmail”

Note: This should be around line 247 if you’re using a PHP/HTML editor.

Save the file and your Outgoing Server settings should now work.

Tip 2. How you view your data:

If you’re used to seeing related modules displayed in a single page, for example having Company/Organization record being displayed on same page a Contact Records, Potentials, Emails etc., then you may be frustrated with the default view presented by vTiger CRM; which has a ‘More Info’ tab for the related modules. However, with a single check box you can switch to the Single Pane View. Just go to: Settings/Other Settings/ Default Module View/ Enable Singlepane View.

Tips 3. Importing data to vTiger CRM:

vTiger features and excellent import facility for most modules. You can import directly into Leads, Organizations, Contacts, Opportunities and more. When doing so you should ensure that the data is saved in CSV format with dates formatted to yyyy-mm-dd. Microsoft Excel has a nasty habit of converting telephone numbers (and other large numbers) to scientific notation when saving to a CSV file. Open Office spreadsheet doesn’t do this so you might consider using Open Office for converting data.

Most database and CRM systems feature an export facility that outputs to the CSV or Excel file format. Some systems export from the specific module (companies, contacts etc) whereas others (like SalesForce) require a custom report to be created and export directed to Excel or CSV format.

Tip 4. Workflows:

Workflows automate the scheduled tasks to streamline your business processes. You can assign a workflow to any module and to any record or field update. A workflow can be triggered when a record is created, updated, saved, reassigned or just about any update at a field level. Once a condition is set to trigger the workflow, a task is assigned. The task can send an email, create a todo or event, update a field, send a text message, invoke a custom function and more. So for automating regular processes, Workflows are key!

Once you have created your conditions and tasks, the automated processes will run quietly in the background.

One of the key workflow tasks is to send email but you will notice when creating the email task that a note is displayed, ‘NOTE: You should have Workflow cron script configured’.

Cron definition from Wikipedia:

Cron is the time-based job scheduler in Unix-like computer operating systems. cron enables users to schedule jobs (commands or shell scripts) to run periodically at certain times or dates. It is commonly used to automate system maintenance or administration, though its general-purpose nature means that it can be used for other purposes, such as connecting to the Internet and downloading email.

Many vTiger systems are hosted on Linux based servers and the CronJobs feature is often disabled. Rather than getting involved in enabling the scripts which can be a very time consuming business for the non-programmer, you can subscribe (for next to nothing) to a CronJob service. I use www.setcronjob.com which manages multiple sites and provides feedback and reporting all for just $10 per year.

Tip 5. Webforms:

One of the frustrations for many websites is the duplication of effort required to process a feedback/contact form. Most forms send an email which includes all the relevant data but that data has to then be manually entered into a database or just printed and filed. vTiger CRM features a webform facility which created a custom form directly linked to fields within the Leads module. Once you have selected the required fields, the form creator provides HTML code to embed into your website.

At the time of writing, the webform is pretty basic in format but this can easily be enhanced simply by editing the code in an HTML editor like Dreamweaver or a free open source alternative like NVU (http://net2.com/nvu/).

Tip 6. New User Setup:

As previously mentioned, vTiger is a multi-user system. When a new user is added, vTiger automatically sends an email to that new user with their username, password and link to login. The email itself however is very basic and not particularly polite. You can however easily change the message by a simple edit to the PHP file. You will need FTP access to the file and a text based editor to edit it. Do not use Word as your editor!

The file is located at: Modules/Users/Save.php

The relevant section starts with:

// send email on Create user only if NOTIFY_OWNER_EMAILS is set to true

You’ll notice the detail subject heading:

‘$subject = $mod_strings['User Login Details'];’ which could be changed to

$subject = “Your Company User Login Details”;

By default the new user message just addresses the new user by their last name: ‘Dear Smith’ but you can update the line by including their first name or firstname and lastname. The line in question is:

$email_body = $app_strings['MSG_DEAR'].” “. $focus->column_fields['last_name'] .”,<br><br>”;

The whole message can be completely customized by editing this section but only attempt it if you know what you are doing; otherwise seek assistance.

Grow with it:

vTiger CRM is a huge product but highly effective immediately by using its basic features. As your experience grows, you can utilize more and more of its extensive features and integrate further with your other systems… and unlike many of its competitors, being ‘open source’ you can total customize it to your own specification.

Hot100Business

“Panic now, while you can still do something about it.”

~ Corey Hansen

Life After the Killing Fields: We suffered…..but not death because of God’s Grace!

The Amazing Reunion with two loving Aunts (my father’s two surviving sisters)

Summer –June and Early July of 2011-a trip that I did not want to take because the lead has away came up disappointing and empty-We were broke…But this time was positive because we did not stop seeking, asking and knocking…Matt. 7:7. Thanks God for His guidance and direction all these times of not knowing who is still living and who is death? I decided to keep the search for my loving family who were presumed death after a long hardship of separation prior to the Khmer Rouge taken over Cambodia in April 17th 1975. When were ordered by the Khmer Rouge guards by gun-point to leave the capital city. Almost 43 years later. Finally, we were getting close to finding out who is still living following a letter and a photo snapshot of surviving relatives. It took us several weeks in the capital city of Cambodia-Phnom Penh with some help from friends. After an exhausting search, We located a friend of my relative and was told that this friend has been married to a Canadian citizen and immigrated to Canada several years ago. But she was able to find a phone numbers of a newly Canadian citizen—her name is Khunthear, which I later learned that she is related to my patriarchal household. Kunthear and one of my aunt wrote me several years back prior to her coming to Canada. I took the risk to phone her with this strange number from this person that claimed to know her—-there she confirmed that she is the person that I was looking for to talk to, then she gave me all the formation of my surviving relatives in their village—-then I gave up the two TV stations that were actively commercialized and publicized on a weekly basis—-I asked my wife’s cousin in-law and her brother in-law to accompanied me along with a TV-reporter who was in charge of the search for lost relative program to come with us–he was kindly volunteered to come and took a long trip with us to this village—-finally, after along ride and getting lost —we called the local police for help-a strange police officer showed up to our recuse and I did not know that he was my cousin until he escorted us to this beaten up village-he said that he know the family that we are looking for—later, we thought he could have taking us to jail or to be robbed-God was guiding us all the way–that is what we were praying for—at the breakfast prior to our team leaving the city following the giving information by Kunthear ———-when we got to the village—the people there told us that they were doing the same thing —that is praying that this reunion would be positive—-after a short inspection —-of photos and questionings……tear pooring down and emotion running high……….more on this life story later………..

Learn of my grandparents passing—

My loving father’s service for his country and his missing in action in the line of duty!

The continuing search for his remain at Veal Ranch, on the route to Kampong Som—

The Reunion with love ones–

The amazing story of officer Samrech Mao—-following his uncle’s footstep……/Chief Joris….our brother in-law.

My emotional visit to my grandparents’ homeland since I was 2 years old…….

The twin cousins’ life story of how grateful they are to be citizens of Belgium and England ………….

The promising life future of Emilia Rowland–loving daughter of Naru and John

A long Wait at the road side to meet us–

A trip back to PP to say good-bye after a brief reunion——–

Hope to return and start a village school for a poor friends and families—-

Community Events/Spiritual Life

Please pray for our community relations meeting tomorrow at 11:00AM in downtown of Tacoma, WA on the 10th floors-to discuss how we can improve our Cambodian community that is dealing with gangs, crimes, jobs, economic stress, family violence, PTSD, and so on……This is a follow-up meeting from last year when we met with Mayor Strickland and Sgt. William at the Community Sub-station to pray for our community in the East side Tacoma sector.

This Sat. at 1:00PM Home Bible Fellowship at Dr. and Mrs. Sahara Chea

Alien Traffic Lights – Science Fiction Blog

Aliens, they need to get around just like the rest of us. So that makes you wonder… how would they build their cities? It seems that most modern science fiction franchises choose to use only a few of the limitless possible city archetypes available.

There is the standard, modern city, roads and all; the ‘tube travel’, and the aquatic city. All of these attempts, however, seem to ignore the basic fact that aliens may not travel like we do, on all fours, or even on the ground. Take, for instance, a tree dwelling species that prefers to swing. Sure they may have ground level transportation for supplies and vehicles, at least before they develop antigravity, but they may also have hand holds and rails along their walls and ceilings.

Would these civilizations develop vehicles that travel by hanging on rails similar to flipped monorail systems? It is entirely possible, indeed likely, that such an alien civilization would develop something so different from what we know and are comfortable using that it would take several writers, a scientist, and a gratuitous amount of alcohol simply to conceive of the idea.

What about a planet inhabited by flying beings, would it be likely that they would use automobile transportation? Probably not, streets might be irrelevant for everything but maintenance and to differentiate one building from another. An avian city would be built along a skyward archetype only dreamed of by 1960s writers with an obsession for jetpacks.

The greatest area of fail, however, would probably be found in two areas of alien architecture. The aquatic and insect species in science fiction are perhaps the most alien of all contemporary form aliens. While there are far more alien aliens in science fiction I will focus on these as they are fairly standard and have at least some bearing on common experience.

Aquatic alien cities are rarely showcased in science fiction, and when they are they are poorly displayed and extremely biped in their construction, with hallways and the like. In reality these structures would probably have underside entrances like beaver dams, long shoots where water is pressurized in their version of an escalator, pumps and their own version of industrialization. The combination of hydraulic options and a much higher density of both materials and resources would create a form of city that is neigh impossibly for a human to conceive of, let alone operate within.

Insect cities pose an even greater quandary. There is no reason to believe alien insects would be larger, in fact the atmospheric density required for most insects to survive in larger versions would indicate that the likelihood of small insect aliens would be higher than larger. This would mean that they could have much smaller corridors going in all sorts of directions with intricate designs accommodating their own version of air flow, utilities, and the like.

Part of the problem with depicting these cities, however, is that humans can’t function in them. Without human experience it is difficult and sometimes uninteresting to discuss them. They are, however, interesting in their concept and far more likely than the standard biped accommodating cities found through out all worlds on most science fiction.

Alien infrastructure would be highly influenced by whatever alien we are talking about. Aquatics would most likely use pressure densities to aid their own movement, avian would have directional differences from humans, and everything would require its own precision development… which brings us to the question, what would an alien traffic light look like?

In all likelihood it could be a color-coded visual light signal like we use on earth today. There are limitations to physical signals, static signs, and other methods of communicating to people as they travel. There could be sonar stations that ‘shout’ at people as they pass. There could be scent emitters that let people ‘smell’ that there has been a traffic accident, and there could even be physical stimuli that we cant even fathom. No matter how the species communicates they would need to inform others of their species where they are going and how not to run into each other.

It is highly likely that our own traffic signals aren’t going anywhere any time soon and that we will find them on human colonies light-years away and decades into the future. Whatever the alien civilization, and however they build their cities they will have their own version of traffic lights and it is a safe bet that you will recognize it, at least in function, when you see it.

vTiger CRM; Imagine if SalesForce was free!

An Open Source Cloud Based Marketing and Support Engine

Having worked with Customer Relationship Management software for over 25 years and spending 3 years developing a system that ultimately sold some 13,000 units, CRM is somewhat close to my heart.

Most of the CRM software I sold and supported was commercial software costing around $300 – $500 per user. It had to be installed either as a single user system on a laptop or desktop computer running Microsoft Windows, or installed onto a Windows based Server serving Windows based Workstations. This software allowed a fair degree of sharing and synchronization between Workstations and portable devices but that synchronization became very complicated when travelling or working from remote locations. In 2008 I ceased selling commercial software.

My business now revolves around open source, cloud based software. I install, configure and develop WordPress websites and blogs. I teach classes and do ‘one on one’ consulting and training in WordPress. I have become spoiled by the awesomeness of WordPress and the freedom of Open Source and The Cloud.

However, I have missed CRM software and have been struggling to make Microsoft Outlook do many of the things I needed doing in order to support my client base. Unfortunately it failed. So, determined to find the system that was affordable and could achieve all of my requirements, I tested many commercial and open source offerings; then I came across vTiger CRM

I have put together a list of 14 key vTiger CRM attributes which differentiate it from competitive systems… and illustrate why it is such a valueable resource for any business, large or small.

Open Source. vTiger is an open source software product (which means that the software’s source code is available and that any user can read, re-use, modify it – it is provided under the vTiger Public License (an open source license which comes from Mozilla Public License).
Use just Yourself or for the Whole Company. vTiger is in the cloud and multi-user; which means that you or your colleagues can access it from anywhere in the world at any time. One user updates a record or schedule in Seattle and another user can see those updates instantly from accessing the system in Tokyo.
vTiger, like WordPress, is FREE. The code can be freely downloaded from the vTiger.com website along with a whole series of utilities including plugins to synchronize data, emails, contacts, schedules, tasks and appointments with Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird and more…
Trusted and Rock Solid Database. Built on MySQL, and developed in PHP, vTiger is strong, stable and secure. In fact the vTiger Server can run on Windows, Linux and Mac OS although most commonly it is run on Linux.
Cloud (Web) based. Being a Cloud (or Web) based solution; vTiger can be accessed from any device that has a browser and an Internet connection. Gone are the days when your CRM solution had to be Windows or Mac but never both at the same time. vTiger can be accessed and updated, enhanced and exploited on any system you choose; whether it be a Windows Laptop, Desktop or Windows Phone, an iPad, iMac or iPhone, an Android Tablet or Google Chromebook. vTiger (like WordPress) doesn’t care so long as you have a web browser and an Internet connection.
Phone Apps for Mobile Data. vTiger has an Android Phone App and an iPhone App which automatically synchronizes data from the web to your phone; but it synchronizes far more than just contact details. It’ll give you access to just about all the data online including inventory levels, invoice details and status, calendars and schedules (for yourself and your colleagues – remember, this is a multi user system), and so much more…
Client Server. vTiger is a client/server solution which means that while you are accessing information, compiling statistics, reading reports, developing email campaigns and the like on your iPad or laptop, the processing is being done on the server somewhere on the web. All the hassle of the server side is being done for you without distracting you from your primary task of developing and supporting your customers or developing materials for marketing and growing your business. It also means that many users can also be doing the same thing at the same time from their iPads, PCs, laptops etc. The server does the hard work and the clients (the iPads, Laptops etc) get the results.
Intuitive. vTiger is a highly intuitive system (much like WordPress) and is extremely well designed. Functions, Modules, Reports and Administration services are just where you would expect to find them and the system looks great.
Power is there when you need it. vTiger is packed with features but you only need to use those that serve your purpose or business. Just because there are over 20 Modules in vTiger it shouldn’t intimidate you. Just use those features you need when you need them, and then as you get to know the system better, so those additional features are there to serve your needs.
CRM Essentials. vTiger’s key features include Accounts (main records that would include companies and organizations, departments etc), Contacts (individuals or employees of the companies or departments), Multi User Calendar (each user has their own events calendar, scheduler and to do list), Webmail.
Customizable Modules. vTiger’s Enhanced Modules include a full Campaign Manager, Quotation System, Sales and Purchase Orders, Invoicing, Trouble Ticket Support System, Lead Management and Tracking (all linked to a PDF generator and the email system) and a full functioning Customer Portal; which personalizes your interactions and support with your customers. And everything in vTiger is fully customizable.
Report Writer. vTiger features a highly flexible Report Writer which allows you to access and manage the mass of related data in the system.
Easy to use and easy to learn. One of the problems I experienced in testing various other systems was that they were hard to learn, hard to install and hard to upgrade. Not so with vTiger. I have found it to be a pleasure to work with and highly reliable, fast and very secure. There are thousands of businesses and individuals around the world using and ‘abusing’ vTiger.
Constant upgrades. There is a vTiger development team that acts on user feedback. It regularly provides software upgrades and enhancements based on that feedback. And there are lots of consultants and trainers like me to provide an easy transition from the mayhem of many paper or computer based systems (or non systems) into vTiger.

vTiger just released version 5.3 of the system which offers the following:

Sales automation (customizable product entries, inventory management, quotations, billing, and trouble ticketing)
Customer support & service functions, including a customer self-service portal
Marketing automation (lead generation, campaign support, knowledge bases)
Inventory Management
Analysis and reporting

User interaction features include:

Integration with corporate E-mail systems (plugin for Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird extension)
Support of the Asterisk PBX phone system
Calendaring
Tag cloud functionality
RSS feed subscription
PDF document generation via the TCPDF library

Incorporating Customer Relationship Management into your business will improve customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, business efficiency and profitability. It can and did cost a lot of money to incorporate such a system, but not anymore. vTiger CRM changes all of that just as WordPress changed the face of websites. The world of Customer Relationship Management will never be the same again.

Bun Yom special reading event @ Barnes and Noble (Bellevue)

Please join us for a very special reading on September 15th at Barnes and Noble (Bellevue, WA) @ 1pm as Bun Yom shares stories from his inspirational book “Tomorrow I’m Dead.”

Bun (“boon”) Yom’s first-hand story of his capture by the Khmer Rouge Regime at 14-years-old, the deplorable conditions while he worked as a slave in the Killing Fields, his escape into the Cambodian jungle. You won’t want to miss this story of human triumph as Bun Yom recounts his harrowing experience as leader of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters.

Tomorrow also marks the first day that the audio release of “Tomorrow I’m Dead” will be available for order. This event is open to the public.

Carla Salvo begins recording Just Say the Word for audiobooks

As so many of you requested, Carla Salvo begins recording Just Say the Word for audiobooks this week. Her audiobook is being produced by Made for Success and distributed by Blackstone and Andante Publishing. Anticipated release date for the digital download version is September 30, and the CD pack release is planned for October.

Bun Yom’s Tomorrow I’m Dead digital audio release

On July 15, 2012 we will be releasing the first edition of Bun Yom’s Tomorrow I’m Dead digital audiobook. It will be available here on the Andante Publishing website, at audible.com and on over 20 other digital download sites. Digital hardcopy CD’s will be available on September 1st. Join Bun’s newsletter for further updates.

Spaceball

Sports are always changing. While yes, they do become institutionalized with such organizations as the NBA, MLB, NHL, and the rest of the sports alphabet soup, we must realize that most of these are relatively new. The question I am asking is how such leisure and competitive activities would change as mankind’s theoretical mind crosses from forward looking to the Science Fiction.

Now, I am not saying that Baseball, Football, and even Soccer (football for all you non-Americans) is just going to vaporize as fast as they arrived, just a few hundred years; but that new ones would develop as well. One example of this is the bizarre version of hockey-football-gymnastics seen in Starship Troopers, or the hologram phaser reflex matches of Star Trek. Here is where I find my skills as a writer inadequate, for I don’t see how a science fiction game, shall we call it ‘stroodonk’ could displace the modern games which have become almost essential to our national and cultural identities. [Continue Reading at Almost Nerdy...]

Bun Yom speaking at Clover Park Technical College

On March 7th at noon, Bun Yom will be speaking to the student body at Clover Park Technical College. Bun will be discussing his latest book, Tomorrow I’m Dead which recounts his experience as the leader of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters. This event is open to the public.

Clover Park Community College
4500 Steilacoom Blvd. SW
Lakewood, WA 98499
www.cptc.edu
(253) 589-5800

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