What is Smart View?

1. SMARTVIEW - An Intelligent EXPERT SYSTEM Tool using JAVA and JESS FrameworkSamuel Sambasivam Chris Davies Computer Science Department United Kingdom Azusa Pacific University cidavies1@ntlworld.co.uk Azusa, CA 91702, USAssambasivam@apu.edu

2. What is Smart View? The SmartView based Sales Organisation • A dedicated tool that enables the users to control information related to products, customers and the business environment. • A simple to use aid based around advanced technology that offers help with everyday activities. • Using this tool offers an investment in time and effort. The rewards are in terms of the value of information returned and the savings made in time/effort. • The system is based on the judgement and advice of corporate peers and business experts. • Collaborate to maximize the value of historical effort. • Utilise the inbuilt Professional Sales Skills (PSS) training support structure to build, develop, meet and then surpass customer expectations. • Continuous development of the system allows the operational business rules to follow the natural progression of the business without serious expenditure or down time. • Lightweight JAVA application to meet the needs of the changing business environment.

3. What does SmartView deliver? • Schedule meetings, important dates using the calendar control. Set reminders to alert you when required. • Internal messaging offers direct communications between users and also from the system itself. • Customers, Products, Sales and Order Information form the basis of the main structure of the system. • PSS information is recorded based on the activities between the sales person and the customer. The details of this contact are gathered and made available for analysis for other sales staff and managers. • Specific rules are handled by the system that monitor the operational flow of information. System messages are generated to inform users of situations. • Open mainstream database standards are utilised allowing the source information to be utilised by external reporting applications. • Security is a key feature both in communications and in the extraction of information. The flexible security features offer a mechanism to establish and maintain the protection of information that does not get in the way of performing work. • Fast access to all areas of information using the hierarchical topic folder selection process,example Fig.1. • Expert analysis on many aspects of business information, including the activity feedback from the sales force. • Based on a flexible design which enables internal staff to forward the development of the system, keeping in line with changes in business requirements. Fig.1 Hierarchal topic folder selection list

4. How does SmartView work? DB1 File MySQL Server DB2 LAN Office users Internet Based Sales Rep A generalised view of a days operations for SmartView. MySQL central server receives operational data which updates information related to company details, products, customers, orders, sales division and rep details. The overnight process loads received sales user updates and generates analysis information from the new data. A rule engine examines changes from operational data, performs trigger queries, handles PSS transactions and prompts users with messages relative to the new data. Refresh files are then generated for the sales Reps database update, these will be saved on the server ready for pickup. Sales reps retrieve updates daily, usually first thing in the morning. Last thing every day an update of the days information is uploaded to the server. Office users updates are live. During the day LAN users will query the DB direct, create messages, alter and report on information. Sales force users will create, update and alter their schedule, received messages, PSS related data for the day, saving into their local database. A complete copy of each reps database is then synchronised with the main server every night. During the day messages maybe exchanged with the server as and when the sales person requires to do so. Fig 2. Example dataflow showing the different user types.

5. Scheduling and Calendar controls The schedule topic from the main folder list allows the user to controlcalendar events. By clicking on schedule from the folder list, a list of activeschedule items will be displayed. The active field will be ticked, as shownin Fig 3., when an activity has occurred for this item. If the Done field is checked, then the item is considered complete and will not appear on theactive list. For historical purposes, these items may be displayed even though the Done field is checked. The Alarm field when checked will prompt the user when the item is aboutto be triggered, these are at initial application start. If an item is checked Urgent, these schedule items take precedence over other schedule items for the same period. To create a schedule event the user would double click on the Notes section in the appropriate time value and enter the textfor the message or note. Once the user presses return theitem is then added to the schedule topic folder. The user may only have eight schedule items open at any one time, this is a limitation of the screen. FIG 3. Example schedule edit form. Fig 4. Example calendar and schedule table.

6. Scheduling and Calendar controls The calendar area is a dynamic collection of controls which allows the user to quickly move to the period required.By clicking the Month Previous or Month Next buttons, the top calendar month will advance or retreat. Clicking on the Today button at the top of the structure will return the user to the current “Displayed” date. Clicking a day number on either the top or bottom month grid will select that day as the active “Selected” date. The selected date will always be displayed highlighted grey with a red border. The exception to this is the current day is displayed with a blue background and red border. Fig 5 gives an example of this, today has been selected. Fig 6, shows the current month, the current dayand the selected day, the 15th. Next Month Previous Month Fig 5, Today selected. Fig 6, Future date selected within current month Fig 7 An example calendar and schedule display.

7. Messages Simple information messages are passed by users, much in the same way as e-mail is sent. System action messages will be generated once a situation arises and the user needs to be informed. These may be user requested triggers, business rule generated messages or other forms of communications. The main topic selection tree allows the active messages to be automatically displayed. On single click of the message topic header, any active messages will be listed in chronological order. Double clicking the topic header will display a listing of message history. The active button here may be checked to assign the message as inactive. The options here are to reply to sender, update any modification that has been made or OK to put the message away. Reps have the ability for quick pass message handshake, this is the the icon on the far left of the tool bar, such as in Fig 9. Fig 9. The Quick update button located on the tool bar. Fig 8. Example Message Edit box.

8. Customer Information To access the customer account information, double click on the Customer Details topic, an alphabetical listing is displayed allowingthe user to select the customer by double clicking on the customername. A panel will be displayed similar to the one displayed in Fig 10. Basic information about the customer is shown here. The allocationdetails, such as by which company or subsidiary deals with thecustomer, the last contact date, contact name, phone etc. Thesedetails including the shipping and invoice address are allowed to be updated, depending upon authorisation level. The active check box can be clicked to set this customer on reminder. This means the customer will appear on the main topic selection folder, As a reminder the customer may have an open issue. The system willautomatically set the active flag if the customer is associated with atriggered event which needs investigating. Entering new customer is possible here depending upon the authorisationlevel of the user. Validation routines will check all entries and will reportto the user if any field requires input or modification.The Key Acc field is set by business development or management, normal users would not normally be involved in assigningthis association. Space has been left on the right side of this form to allow for future growth. Fig 10. An example customer edit form.

9. Product Information From the main Product information topic selection, active products are listed as normal. By double clicking the topic header the Product selection/listing table will be displayed. The list will be based on the selection the user makes from the selection process. The user can then double click a product from the table to display specific product details. The example in Figure 11 displays thebasic set of fields available. The graph displays based on the selected type a range of historical values. The graph types can be changed to display Qty Total Sales for the product for the company or by Rep, the number of orders received, consignment levels,or product lead time analysis. Field Types : Name The product reference Barcode The official allocated code for the product Description English description Type The family or product group allocation Price Standard GBP list price to the customer QOH Qty On Hand – available for sale MAX SL Max Stock Level MAX OQ Max Order Qty by MXQ Multiplier Qty – customer must order in multiples of qty. SUQ Supplier Unit Qty – box of 10 for example. SBU ID Subsidiary Identification for distribution of product. Active Standard flag to remind user of active process or situation. Fig 11. Example product information panel.

10. Sales Information, Open Orders & Operational Notes Sales information is available through the standard table form listings and graphs. Also available for exportation to external reporting packages. The normal sales activities are detailed in figure 12. Open Orders reporting is very much the same, this enables the Sales rep to manage open orders situations offering the ability to actively control potential problems for the customer. Open order triggers can be set using these controls to flag the system to watch those orders considered of high importance. System messages are generated informing the user of these events. Business rules are set as policy for 2x average lead time for the order, before it is considered unusually overdue. Operational notes are an area where the user may keep records, reminders, general information or helpful facts. An example could be training notes. The PSS data collected by other users can be used to offer help and assistance for situations related to other practical situation examples. HTMLsalesreport Network Edge Local java process Server Update Sales Rep LocalDisplay Data is prepared and passed to external application. ExternalReporting app Fig 12. Example operational flow for general information reporting.

11. Managers LAN Professional Sales Skills Information Salesrep Salesrep ServerStore Dial Up Dial Up Call Visit information Recording aspects of visit, details of queries and follow up points. Case Profiles Records the objectives, the needs of the customer, action proposals and the details of the case history. Records made of the circumstances of the case, the questions or probes already used, the applied solutions, features and benefits discovered orgenerated. This management information is useful for managers to understand the social implications of the sales environment, the changing needs of the market place and the effectiveness of the sales techniques used by sales staff. Solution Profiles and Product Features SPs are a framework for the progression of understanding new business. The model uses an association of known featuresagainst known customers that could benefit from the product. It allows the sales person to build on corporate knowledge basethe ammunition against competitors products while generating a customer focused need fulfilling solution. This model helps tohighlight competition draw backs while promoting opportunities for the company product line. Each of the elements listed here are organised into tables of information per subject. To be able to control the details of thecase or the current solution that is active in this way allows the sales rep to concentrate on the important details as and when required. The validation aspects of the forms also provide a guarantee the user has completed the situation recording processcorrectly. The needs of the customer can sometimes be difficult to meet, having a search utility to list previous and current caseinformation helps the rep formulate a decision based on the work of others, even though the solution may have been based on a different sales divisions product, the techniques and skills can be reused. Figure 13 demonstrates the difference of the store of information. The full details of all PSS information will be too large to store on each of the sales reps databases. The header information is available offline, while the details are requested as and when required. Dial Up Fig 13. Example data flow differences Sales rep / Management. Salesrep

12. JESS Java Expert System Shell Server Rep Data Operational Data The JESS package developed by the Sandia National Laboratories, CA. SmartView uses JESS a rules based expert system that uses the CLIPSbased scripting and java based language.The externally controlled scripts interacts with the knowledgebase to produce event or situation reports. These are basedon the parameters laid out by the domain experts, in this casea baseline of agreed best case business principles and commonsense. The scripts manipulate status variables which interncause the reality of a situation to be born or cease to exist. It is these activations of events which the system is programmedto react to. The output from these operations may be based on internal messaging, html log file analysis, or discrete intelligenthandling. Due to the amount of information being evaluated, thepossible responses triggered from early logic may be unwarranted.Having a mechanism to catch these issues and monitor them is a more desirable situation.The rules based approach is highly configurable, flexible and powerful compared to static computing models. Fig 14 attempts to describe the processes involved in the overnight processing operation. Knowledge BaseStatus information OvernightProcess JESS/Clips Scripts ResultsData Knowledge base updates Action ResultsProcessing Response activations (messages) Reporting updates Fig 14. Example over night process flow.