A successful implementation of Workbooks can deliver major benefits to any organisation. However, just like any other business system some investment of time and effort will be required to maximize results.
Workbooks is pretty easy to setup, so if you are an experienced CRM user, you can setup and configure the system yourself. Alternatively, we offer implementation and training services to get you started. No matter which approach you take, we would recommend you have a clear plan to ensure your project is a success.
If you ask us to help with your implementation we will typically go through the following steps:
To ensure the successful implementation of any business application you will need the support of your employees. Improving processes nearly always involves changing the way people work and it’s not uncommon for some staff members to resist this change.
We recommend establishing a project team to manage and support the implementation, drawn from a mix of managers and users. The project team should have a good understanding of the business processes in use today, and an awareness of any limitations. They should be prepared to suggest improvements where necessary, and will ultimately define the success criteria for the roll out of Workbooks.
Now you have a project team you need to define the scope of your project, identify the key requirements and define your business processes.
Thinking about the logical areas of your business operations should provide a framework for this activity. For example:
The adoption of a new CRM system can be a great catalyst for the adoption of new processes. In many cases ‘the right process’ is the one that is easiest to implement, assuming it provides the metrics (for your reports) and controls that you need.
This planning doesn’t need to be complex, but it does mean having a common understanding about how your business is run.
A good question to ask is: “Does everyone in the business have a consistent view on how things should be done?” Questions like:
If we are helping you with the implementation we would typically hold a requirements gathering workshop to capture all this information.
When your Workbooks account is first created it is pre-configured with basic processes, so it’s possible to start using the product straight ‘out-of-the-box’.
Now you have defined and documented your requirements, you can now modify these to reflect your business processes.
Configuring Workbooks is all done within the ‘Configuration Area’ of the application. You can create new custom fields, change status values and create and update lists. Using the security rules and user groups you can also control who has access to your business data.
When configuring Workbooks you need to consider how your data is stored to ensure you can easily produce the management reports you need.
Most organisations have customer data stored somewhere, either in spreadsheets or another business application. Workbooks provide a step-by-step data Import Wizard which guides you through the process of importing data. The Import Wizard can import .CSV files which can be created by other business applications.
However it is really important to invest time in ensuring the data you import is clean. Useful tips include:
Once you have your import data in good shape we would recommend importing into a ‘test database’ to ensure it all is migrated correctly and you can run the reports you need.
Now your system is configured and you have tested your data migration you can begin training your users.
Different customers prefer different approaches to training. We provide on-line training videos in the help section of our website, or we can run on-site training for the administrators and/or users.
You can read more about our training services here.
Now your business is ready to start realizing the value of Workbooks. Typically you will rerun your data migration on the day you go live, to ensure you have migrated the most up to date data.
It also good to ensure you have people around who can answer your users initial questions, so make sure your power users and your project team are around to support the business during the first couple of days.