Tasks

[cube]

I may be wrong, but Espo looks v similar in many ways to vTiger-6.0. Which, in iteslf, is no bad thing as vTiger has been hugely successful (a SugarCRM fork). However, I personally prefer the general look and Feel of FatFreeCRM to vTiger.

FatFreeCRM had a number of weaknesses IMO, but one of it's real strengths is it's Tasks page - it is IMHO excellent. It has great Workflow. Could Espo adopt some of FatFree's 'looks' - particularly the layout of Tasks.

It is interesting to me that vTiger and Espo have Calendars and thet FatFree and XRMS (looks outdated now, but very good for it's time IMHO) don't have Calendars. Personally, I am sure like many users, I use the Calendar function of my email package, but need Tasks in the CRM.

An experienced IT and business professional who had a look at Espo commented this regarding Workflows ""If I promised to call [a customer], put it in the agenda as a reminder and send me a reminder mail at this and that date" . Very powerful.

I wonder if a daily task list being sent by email to a user would be more useful than the Calendar function. Take a look at the RoundCube (email client) for an example of a nice emailed task list.

Bravo on EspoCRM - it has huge potential.

[cube]

here is a screenshot ...

[yuri]

Meetings and Calls will get Reminder feature in the future versions.

Regarding layout of Tasks. What exactly features do you think are needed on the layout? Handy filters and ability to set task Completed with one cick?

[cube]

Tasks - layout: you have to remember that if people are to work with your software every day it needs to look nice. Be easy on the eye. It also needs to be v easy to use.

I think that that box in the top LH corner of FatTree Tasks is excellent - very quickly check what is going to be needed in the next few days weeks. Also check the status of tasks that you have passed to others. Also the ability to effectively 'undelete' a task. Also the ability to check how productive an employee is being.

FatFree is a very good bit of software IMHO. Pity that it is on RoR.

Workflow is absolutely KEY to CRM.
For example:
(1) I have entered my 30+ companies and their telephone numbers (can't currently do this in Espo) and sit down for a tele-sales session.
(2) open lead (would-like one-click calling here, like Dolibarr, FatFree doesn't have either) and call
(3) during the chat I promise a number of things (price list, brochure, send sample, visit etc) I want to enter these Tasks from the Lead page (and return and QUICKLY). FatFree has, Espo not.
This is critical - check out the FatFree demo - FatFreeCRM - http://demo.fatfreecrm.com/login (demo, demo)
(4) back to (2)
(5) afterwards, at a suitable time, I go through the Tasks (or someone else does)
(6) one-click Task 'done'. FatFree has, Espo not.

small bone - On the espo Lead page - Tasks should be above History, surely. Tasks is where it is at - it is the immediate now.


I keep being logged out by your Forum software - v annoying.

[yuri]

1. You open Lead.
2. Call to the lead using some software or not.
3. During the call you create tasks on the Lead page.
4. You finish the call.
a) After that you Log Call manually on the Lead page.
b) If EspoCRM is integrated with telephoning system like Asterisk then the Call will be logged automatically.

[cube]

Interesting - I didn't realise that Espo could be used with Asterisk - How does that work.

The server that I use also works well with Asterisk - SMEserver. I wonder whether I could get the two working together.

I think that you have missed my point on the workflow - it has to be EASY. Minimum number of clicks and FAST. Remember, you are normally talking when you do this.
You need to actually COUNT the number of clicks. You will see that FatFree is doing an excellent job. You ought to aim to match/beat this IMHO.

[yuri]

There is no Asterisk Integration. But it's not complex to make it.

[yuri]

I see the only difference:
FatFree; Create Task button on the Lead page.
EspoCRM: Create Task hidden in dropdown.

Am I right?

It's possible to add Create Task button to the top of the Lead page very easy w/o changing core files. Just in Metadata.

[cube]

Ok, I hadn't found those drop-downs on the RHS - they aren't very obvious (different colour, perhaps??). These options are great - just not v visible and 2-click.

Yes FatFree = 1-click Task, Espo 2-clicks to task

What about my other points;
- create a lead with just company name and telephone number?
- carrying lead name onto Opportunity entry on 2-click 'conversion' (this is also a weakness in FatFree)? It works for 'Account' but not 'Opportunity'

Also, what about the great functionality of box in top-left corner. Including undeleting already deleted Tasks.

[yuri]

Yes FatFree = 1-click Task, Espo 2-clicks to task

Easy customisable to make it 1 click. We don't want to overload UI in out of the box version and want to keep constancy as much as possible. It's very easy to add buttons like Add Task or Create Meeting to the top. We will make guide for this in our blog.

- create a lead with just company name and telephone number?

It's difficult technically. We will hold with this.

Also, what about the great functionality of box in top-left corner. Including undeleting already deleted Tasks.

Not sure if this a good idea to replicate. Maybe we will add one-click filters but later. There are a lot of more important work to be done.

[cube]

- create a lead with just company name and telephone number?
It's difficult technically. We will hold with this.

Yikes ... this isn't good news. Almost ALL my sales prosepects will be just a company name and a telephone number - I am sure that MANY other businesses are the same, especially ones with a strong need for a CRM like Espo.

What is odd to me is that it can be done for Accounts and not for Opportunities.

[yuri]

cube,

It's very easy to customize w/o changing core files. But difficult to support both scenarios out of the box. Not a big deal, really.

[rhull]

Because a lot of task are related to a specific customer and one other object, it would be nice to have the ability to link a task to both a Who (contact or lead) and a what (case, opportunity etc) Currently using the parent function you have to choose one or the other.

[yuri]

rhull,

Maybe. But how to implement this? Create one more parent type field? Not seems to be a fine solution.

[rhull]

We currently use Salesforce as a CRM, The use a task relation table. this table has a whoid and a whatid field. The task layout has one field for the who (lead or contact look up) and then another for the What (Opportunity, case etc)

https://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/api/Content/sforce_api_erd_activities.htm

For example when you make a task for an opportunity that is related to a specific contact. With this option the task shows on both the contact and the opportunity.