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How to Demonstrate Version 7 of KnowledgeSync. “ Anyone who needs to know something now has no excuse not to know .” Neil Montgomery, “Eyes Everywhere” ComputerWorld Magazine. “ A comprehensive product . . . ” TMCLabs Review Editor’s Choice Award Winner. Vineyardsoft Corporation
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How to Demonstrate Version 7of KnowledgeSync “Anyone who needs to know something now has no excuse not to know.” Neil Montgomery, “Eyes Everywhere” ComputerWorld Magazine “A comprehensive product . . . ” TMCLabs Review Editor’s Choice Award Winner Vineyardsoft Corporation www.sageknowledgesync.com
Begin by providing a verbal description . . . -- KnowledgeSync combines: -- Data Mining (BI) -- Alerting -- Workflow -- And explain that the concept behind KnowledgeSync is . . . “it’s what you don’t know that can hurt your business”. -- Then – you’re ready to go into the application. Open the new “Navigator” module . . . Vineyardsoft Corporation www.sageknowledgesync.com
Begin by mentioning that KnowledgeSync is an enterprise-wideapplication; it’s purpose is to monitor and respond to critical business conditions across an organization. (You might want to add that KnowledgeSync itself uses the enterprise-class SQL Server database.) As proof of its enterprise-wide applicability, expand the “All Events” branch by clicking on the plus sign to the right of it . . .
Our suggestion is that you have between 5 and 12“application branches” within your “All Events” branch. This shows KnowledgeSync’s enterprise-wide appealwithout making the window too crowded. Note that you may find it easiest to have multipleKnowledgeSync databases which you can activateor deactivate as needed. For example, you might have one KS database for Sage applications, and another KS database for Microsoft applications. At this point, it is a good idea to maximize the Navigator window before proceeding to show a listof events for a given application.
Now you show a list of events. Note how we have edited the event names tobe short and “business-pain” related (such as“Invoices; Overdue”). Event names like these are easier to read andeasier for a prospect to equate to real businessproblems. We suggest having no more than 18 events perapplication; this number fills the screen nicely and is easily digestible by your audience.
For your demo, you should choose an eventthat has most – if not all – of its componentsconfigured. So, choose an event that has alert messagesdefined for many or all delivery methods, hasan associated report, possibly an attached file, multiple subscribers, and at least one workflow “action”.
Since the “frequency” of an event is the firstinformation shown, mention how KnowledgeSynccan use both “scheduled queries” and SQL Triggers to detect business conditions. Add that most clients use scheduled queries as they are easier to set up and require noprogramming knowledge.You can even mention a few different scheduletypes – hourly, daily, every ‘x’ minutes, every Monday at 9 AM, every Friday at 5 PM, the firstMonday of a month, and so on. Adding that KnowledgeSync includes a holidaycalendar is also a nice touch.
At this point, it’s a good time to talk about howKnowledgeSync can detect the business conditionsthat are important to an organization. Emphasize that users do not have to know how towrite SQL Triggers or “select statements”, and thatthe only required knowledge is a good understandingof an application’s database schema. And then offer to show your audience just how easyit is to create a KnowledgeSync query.
Right-click on the query associated with the eventyou’re showing, and choose “Edit Query”. The following steps can be varied (or skipped)depending on the technical level of the audienceyou are presenting to.
Briefly introduce the Query Designer and then click onthe “Tables” tab as you explain that KnowledgeSyncautomatically presents you with a list of all the tablesfor the underlying application.
Mention how all you need to do here is toselect the tables that the query is going toretrieve data from. You can point out these “selected tables”at the bottom of this window and – if thereis more than one table selected – mentionhow KnowledgeSync has a “Linking Wizard”to help you link those tables together. (We usually don’t bother showing the “Links”tab and go right to the “Columns” tab . . . )
On the “Columns” tab, mention how KnowledgeSync presents youwith a list of fields from your application, and you simply choose those fields that you would like to use within an event. (We usually say that you choose those columns that contain thedata you’d like to put into your alert messages.)
Click in the “Column Type” field for any selected column andthen click on the “List” button that appears there. This will show how easy it is to choose one of KnowledgeSync’s“aggregate functions” to perform more sophisticated analysis.
If appropriate, you can also mention how KnowledgeSync has a“calculation wizard” to perform even more sophisticated analysissuch as calculating the number of days until an invoice is due. Click on a column that you have selected for this query and thenclick on the List Button that appears to the right of it.
Mention how this window allows a user to leverage advancedSQL functions without having to know SQL. You might also wish to point out how the functions listed atthe top of this window are database-specific – and will varybased on the kind of database (SQL, Oracle, etc.) beingmonitored. (Click on “Cancel” to go back to the previous window.)
We typically skip over the “Sorting” tab and go right to the “Filters” tab.
When you get to the “Filters” tab, you may want to re-size thewidth of some of the fields so that their contents are easier to read. For this query, we’ll resize the “Column Name” and “CompareValue” fields so their contents are more visible . . .
Once re-sized, you can talk about how everything on the “Filters”tab is designed to be in plain-English so that it’s easy for non-technical people to use. We usually suggest showing the list of “Operators” . . .
Another nice item to show and/or discuss is the “If Column Values Have Changed” buttonat the bottom-right of this window. This gives you the opportunity to mention howKnowledgeSync can detect whenever someonechanges the value of any field in the database. (But note that not all queries will have fields toshow in this option, so check ahead so thatyou don’t end up showing an empty window.)
Believe it or not, we like showing the “SQL” tab. Why? Because . . . “This gives you an idea of what you DON’T have to know in order to create a query.” And if there are technical folks around, mention that they canalways write their own SQL (or cut-and-paste it) using thecheckbox at the lower-left of this tab. And at this point, you’ve covered enough of Query Designing toclick on “Cancel” and go back to the GUI Navigator window.
And now that you’ve covered an event’s queryyou can move on to discuss the information – or “deliverables” – that an event can send out. Click on the plus sign next to the Deliverablesbranch to display its contents.
Although an individual event may not show all possiblealert delivery methods, it’s worth mentioning them all: Email (Exchange, SMTP, Lotus Notes), Fax, Text Message(Pager/PDA/Cell Phone), Screen Pop, and Web Browser. (KnowledgeSync is the only Alerting solution to dynamicallycreate web pages that are dynamically updated with alertdetails.) This “Order Confirmation” event sends out its message (andaccompanying invoice) via email and fax – and uses a Crystal Report to create the invoice.
One of the initial questions that comes up with clientsis whether it’s easy to create and edit the alert messages in KnowledgeSync. And that’s why it’s good to start by double-clicking on the “Email” branch to show just what is involvedin creating such an alert message . . .
We suggest that you start by pointing out the list offields at the top-left of this window. These are the data fields that can be used in the alert message.
You also might wish to point out how KnowledgeSyncis dynamically populating the “email reply address”with the name of the client’s salesrep. This way, if theclient hits “reply”, the message goes to their salesrep.
And then there’s the alert message itself. Be sure tomention that although the sample message is in plaintext format, KnowledgeSync also supports HTML andother formatting options.
Back on the Navigator window, you can mention that the Fax message (as well as all other messages) are configured in the same manner. But now is a good time to discuss KnowledgeSync’sability to dynamically create and deliver relevantForms, Documents, and Reports. So double-click on the “Report” branch . . .
Let your audience know that KnowledgeSync embeds Crystal Reports (supports versions 8.5 thru 11) and this gives users two benefits: 1) Scheduled Report Distribution. KnowledgeSync can automatically generate and deliver periodic reports (such as Sales Forecasts, Stock Status, A/R Aging, etc.). 2) Triggered Report Delivery. KnowledgeSync can detect that certain data conditions exist, generate a corresponding form, document, or report, and deliver it to the right recipients. This “Order Confirmation” event is an example of #2 – as KnowledgeSync detectsnew orders, generates an invoice in PDF format, and delivers it to the appropriate customers.
Show how easy it is to select the output format for a form, document, or report . . .
. . . And then point out how in this event, KnowledgeSync “tells” Crystal exactly which order numbers to generateinvoices for.
You can again return to the Navigator window,expand the branch called “Subscribers”, andnow discuss how the alert recipients can be chosen for an event.
Mention how an event can notify a group of people,individual people, and (most importantly), people who are associated with the triggered record. (In this event, KnowledgeSync is sending the orderconfirmation and invoice to both the client and to the client’s salesperson.) Make sure you mention that users (or groups of users) that are already defined within otherbusiness applications do NOT have to be re-entered(or imported) into KnowledgeSync in order for themto be used within an event.
And then continue by double-clicking on a standardsubscriber’s record to show how they can be chosen for an event along with their desired alert deliverymethods . . .
Repeat KnowledgeSync’s alert delivery methods --email, fax, FTP, text message (cell phone/pager),screen pop, and web browser and show how a single subscriber can be alerted via multiple methods.
Returning once again to the Navigator window,show how you can view the details of an alert recipient’s configuration just by right-clicking on their record and choosing “Edit” . . .
This is a great place to point out how every alert recipient can have up to TWO addresses per delivery method – in this example, one email address for use during work hours and a different address for use before/after work hours andon weekends. This is an opportune moment to use the phrase: “WithKnowledgeSync, you can run, but you can’t hide . . . “
Return to the Navigator Window, shrink down the“Subscribers” branch and finish discussing this event by expanding the “Actions” branch. Explain that the “Action” branch is where you can configure an event to add or update information in your business applications. For this “Order Confirmation” event, KnowledgeSync is updating the SalesLogix CRM application withdetails of the order. At the same time, KnowledgeSync is schedulinga follow-up call in SalesLogix so that the salesrepcan ensure that the client is 100% satisfied withtheir order.
And – as proof of the effectiveness ofKnowledgeSync, it’s always nice to endup with a real-life example of outputfrom a triggered event. In this case, we’d first show the “Order Confirmation” email . . .
Another great example of a KnowledgeSyncevent is one that identifies any new salesopportunities that have not been contacted within the last two days. Note (on the following slides) how this eventhas virtually all of its components filled-out and even uses 2 queries because the event’sconditions are a bit more complex.
Note how this event sends out alertsvia email, fax, text message, and web browser. At the same time, the event creates anOpportunity Detail report and is deliveringa document on “Follow-Up Procedures”.
The event delivers this information tothe Finance Group, to the Sales Manager(Tricia Cate), and to the salesperson whois remiss in their follow-up.
And this event creates an activity in the SalesLogix CRM application. However – this event is also exporting sales data to a file (such as a CSV), it isrunning a custom program, and it is updating the opportunity that has notbeen followed-up on using the Visual Basic (VB) Scripting module that is embedded within KnowledgeSync.
At this point in your demonstration you might wish to mentiontwo last, important business benefits of KnowledgeSync . . .
The first of those benefits is KnowledgeSync’s ability to monitor andprocess incoming email messages and/or web form submissions. This is an ideal opportunity to show two capabilities using oneexample – email monitoring and job streams. To demonstrate these, we combine 3 events (and one report) intoa single job stream – and the purpose of that job stream is to handle incoming leads as shown above. This example not only shows how KnowledgeSync can benefit anorganization by monitoring and auto-processing incoming emails, it also showcases the new “Job Stream” functionality in which a user can link multiple KnowledgeSync events together into logicaljob streams.
We find that although you can tell your audience that KnowledgeSynccan monitor and process incoming email, most people cannot visualizeexactly how they would use this functionality. So . . . walking your audience through an example like this one is very helpful: “ . . . someone contacts your organization thru email or your website, and KnowledgeSync checks to see if that person exists as a contact. If not, KnowledgeSync creates the corresponding account and contact records and then sends an acknowledgement back to the prospect –perhaps along with some product data sheets or brochures. . . . KnowledgeSync then notifies the appropriate salesrep about the new lead and (lastly) sends a lead summary report to the sales manager . . . “
And the second benefit is the uniqueability for KnowledgeSync to identify conditions between multiple business applications. For example, the events in the“Sage 360” EventPak (available fromVineyardsoft) show how KnowledgeSynccan look for one condition in a CRM application and a corresponding conditionin a Financial system.