Adjusting Company Preferences in Tour deForce

Purpose

 

The purpose of this technical bulletin is to provide an overview of the features and options available in the Company Preferences section of the Administration Console.  The Company Preferences section contains several options and functions that allow administrators to configure various settings that get applied to all Tour de Force users in the company.

 

This technical bulletin contains the following sections:

 

1. Overview of the Company Preferences
2. Company Share(s)
3. Manage TDF Items
4. Item Form Types
5. TdF Unique IDs Setup
6. Email/Print Details
7. Item Forwarding
8. Item Copying
9. Form Options
10. Outlook Options
11. Contact FileAs Format
12. Expenses
13. Sales Stage & Close Probabilities
14. Summary/Analysis Tab Visibility
15. TdF Report Options
16. Org Chart Preferences
17. TdF Client Install
18. Time Zone Settings
19. Set Default Web Map URL

 

Note: Read the documentation completely before using the Company Preferences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Overview of the Company Preferences

The Company Preferences section contains many options and settings that can be used to configure various features in Tour de Force.  For example, in the Company Preferences administrators can set up Unique IDs and manage Form Types.  This technical bulletin breaks down each option available in the Company Preferences and the application of each of those options.

 

Before reviewing the various options in the Company Preferences there are a few things that need to be noted.  Most of the settings set in the Company Preferences are done during the initial implementation of Tour de Force and generally remain unchanged.  Only in special and certain circumstances is an administrator going to change many of the settings set in the Company Preferences.

 

The most important note to keep in mind is that all of the options set in the Company Preferences are company-wide, and can have a profound effect on the way Tour de Force operates.  Consider consulting Tour de Force Support personnel before making any changes to some of the sections in the Company Preferences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Company Share(s)

The Company Share(s) section contains all of the information related to the company share folder that has been set up.  This section shows all of the shares set up, if multiple shares have been enabled, and the directory of the current share folder in use.

 

 

The Company Share(s) section also allows companies to set up or change the company share folder location.  Before making any changes to this section, Tour de Force recommends consulting with a Tour de Force Support employee.  Changing the directory or adding a new folder share is going to have sweeping and unintended consequences if not set up properly.  For most companies the folder directory and the additional shares, have already been set up during the initial implementation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Manage TdF Items

The first option under the Item Preferences section, is the Manage TdF Items section.  This section allows administrators to disable and rename the records and items of Tour de Force.

 

 

If an item is not marked as in use, then that record or item is not going to display anywhere in Tour de Force, and the user is not going to be able view or create any of the disabled items.  Disabling an item could be useful for companies that have no use of that particular item or record, such as Tickets or Assets.  This prevents users from creating any of the items.

 

The display name of the item or records can also be changed to better reflect the terminology of the company.  For example, the Account record could be renamed to Company or Client.  Note that the name change is only the display name of the record or item, but not does not change the name of the record or item in the database.  Changing the Account record is not going to change the database tables and views related to the Account record.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Item Form Types

The Item Form type options allow administrators to set up form types for records or items.  This allows further customization as it applies to the various forms in Tour de Force.  For example, the Ticket form could have multiple uses to different parts of the company by setting up an item form for the Tickets.  In one instance the Ticket item could be used to keep track external issues that arise at customer sites, while another form type could be set up to track any internal IT issues that arise.

 

 

The most important aspect of Form Types to note is that the Form Types only effect the values that display in the User Defined Fields, and not the User Defined Fields names.  In the Ticket example, a UDF called Ticket Type, or Issue Type are going to have different values assigned to those fields based on the form type set.  Form types are assigned in the UDF Pick List Administration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. TdF Unique IDs Setup

The Unique ID feature in Tour de Force is set up and configured in the Unique IDs Setup section of the Company Preferences.  All of the steps required, and the things to consider when setting up a new Unique ID go beyond the scope of this document.  Before setting up a new Unique ID for a form, Tour de Force recommends contacting a Tour de Force Support or Consultant employee.  How the Unique ID functions, and how the Unique ID feature is going to be used is dependent upon the company’s business process.

 

 

For most companies the Unique ID is going to be set up for the Opportunity record.  In most cases this step is going to be performed during the initial implemenation of Tour de Force, and the options for the Unique ID should not be changed before consulting Tour de Force Support.  A future technical bulletin is going to be created to explain the use of the Unique ID feature and how to set up a Unique ID for a record in Tour de Force.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Email/Print Details

The Email/Print Details section allows administrators to pick and choose which fields to display when either forwarding an email from a record or item, or when printing a record or item.  Not every field needs to be displayed when forwarding a record or item using the Email Details button, and this section can be used to hide or show fields that display in the email.  This helps save space in the email, and can make the email more valuable to the user receiving the email.  Hiding unnecessary information can help draw the attention to more important details in the data.

 

 

In the Item Type field, select which record or item to configure.  Then choose which fields should display in an email or when printing the record or item form.  

 

Click the Edit Additional Options link to further customize the email and print details.

 

 

Note that the Edit Additional Options link is only going to display for Accounts and Opportunites.

 

 

7. Item Forwarding

This section configures how the email message displays when forwarding a record or item using the Email Details button.

 

 

There are three options available:

 

• Include the item’s details in addition to a link to the item – This option is going to set the email message to display the details and fields configured in the Email/Print Details section of the Company Preferences, as well as a link to the Tour de Force record or item.

 

• Include a link to the item only – This option is only going to include a link to the Tour de Force record or item.  No fields or linked information is going to display in the email message.

 

• Always prompt the user to select whether or not to include item details – If this option is set then every time a user clicks the Email Details button they are going to be asked to include details, or just to include a hyperlink to the record or item.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Item Copying

The Item Copying section contains one setting that allows administrators to choose what happens with BSI data when a user creates a copy of an Account record.  In most cases the Copy BSI data field should be left unchecked.  If this field is enabled then that means the BSI data is going to be duplicated, which is going to throw off sales numbers in the BSI Summary.  Only in very special and certain circumstances is this field going to be enabled, but Tour de Force recommends not copying BSI data.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Form Options

The Form Options section contains several options related to the Account, Contract, Email, and Opportunity forms.  This section also allows administrators to enable or disable Task and Appointments as they relate to the Next Action Step, or whether not users can manually enter the Next Action Information.

 

 

There are five sections in the Form Options screen:

 

Account Form

 

The Account form section contains two options that administrators can configure.  Administrators can set whether or not the Phone Logging tab displays on the Account record, and what the Lookup1 Caption displays as on the Address Details section of the Account form.  In most cases this field is labeled as County.

 

Contract Form

 

The Contract form section contains one option that allows administrators to choose whether or not to display the new TDF Product Registration Tab that has been updated in version 6.1.  If companies are not using the new Contracts module, then this field can be disabled.

 

Email Form

 

The Email form section contains one option that allows administratos to disbale or enable the email toolbar in the Email form.  This option is also a user preference available in the User Preferences window.  Tour de Force recommends leaving this field enabled and then allowing the user to disable or enable the toolbar on an as needed basis.

 

Opportunity Form

 

The Opportunity form section contains several options that are related to Quotes and the Quote to Order process.  If the Company is not using the Quote to Order process, then this section can largely be ignored, and the Quote tab can be disabled for the Opportunity screen.  However, if the company has been set up for the Quote to Order process, then this section is used to configure or view the values to set to link those Quotes and Orders to their respective Opportunities.  In most cases these fields should not be changed, unless the company is also changing the Quote Mappings in their business system.  This section is already going to have been configured during the implementation process of the Quote to Order process.

 

Next Action Settings

 

The Next Action Settings section contains three options that directly affect the Next Action Step and Next Action Date fields.  The Task and Appointment options are used to configure whether or not Tasks and/or Appointments are allowed to trigger an update to the Next Action Step and Next Action Date fields.  For example, some companies may only want Tasks to trigger the process to update the Next Action fields, and some companies may just want to use Appointments.  If the Allow Manual Entry field is checked, then that means the user can enter the Next Action Information manually without having to create a Task or Appointment.  The Allow Manually Entry field is generally left as disabled.

 

Note:  If the Allow Manual Entry field is checked then the Data Process service is not going to update the Next Action fields, even if a user creates a new Task or Appointment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Outlook Options

A new feature was added in version 6.0 of Tour de Force that allowed companies to choose whether to use Tour de Force Appointments and Tasks in conjunction with Outlook, or to disable the Outlook functionality of Appointments and Tasks. The Outlook Options section contain the options available to companies.  However, the application of these options goes well beyond the scope of this document.  For more information on the application of these three items please refer to Technical Bulletin 6907 – TDF Appointments and Tasks versus Outlook Appointments and Tasks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11. Contact FileAs Format

The Contact FileAs Format screen contains one field that determines how the Full Name field displays the Contact name on the Contact form.  This option is related to the Contact Sync, when syncing a new Contact from Outlook to Tour de Force, this field determines how the Contact’s name displays in the Contact record.

 

 

This field defaults to First Name Last Name.  Making a change to this field is not going to retroactively update the existing Contact records in Tour de Force.  In order to update the existing Contacts, an administrator needs to run the Update FileAs utility available in the Administration Console.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. Expenses

The Expenses section is used to set the default Mileage Rate and Mileage Cap for the Expense Wizard.  Note that the value entered into the Mileage Rate field is only a default value, and any users with the Expense Admin permission can edit that value in the Calculate Miles screen.

 

 

The values set in this screen are going to be solely based on company practices and policies, and Tour de Force does not have a recommended amount for these options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13. Sales Stages & Close Probabilities

This section of the Company Preferences allows for administrators to set what Sales Stage equals the “Closed” and “Lost” stages of a sales pipeline.  The two available options on this screen are for the Opportunity record and the Forecast item.

 

 

In general these sales stages are configured during the initial implementation of Tour de Force, and do not change.  If these sales stages do need to be changed, Tour de Force recommends consulting with a Tour de Force Consultant or Support employee.  Tour de Force also includes default values for the “Closed” and “Lost” stages, and these values do not have to be changed or set up if the company does not plan on changing the terminology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14. Summary/Analysis Tab Visibility

A new section called, Summary/Analysis Tab Visibility has been added to the Item Preferences section.  This feature allows administrators to disable or enable the Summary and Group Analysis tabs that are normally available in Manager’s Console.  Disabling or enabling the Summary and Group Analysis tabs have no impact on performance, however, disbaling the tabs does provide a bit more visible grid space.  Disabling these tabs could be useful for users that have no use for these tabs, or are using computer’s that have a lower screen resolution. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15. TdF Report Options

This section of the Company Preferences is related to the Report function that no longer exists in the same capacity in the newest versions of Tour de Force.  This feature has largely been replaced by the Build Your Own Reports Module, and in future versions of Tour de Force this option is going to be removed or replaced.

 

For now this section can be considered an obsolete function of the Company Preferences, and is only going to be configured and used for Legacy users of Tour de Force.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16. Org Chart Preferences

Administrators can enable or disable the Organizational Chart tab that shows the organization tree of that Account record.  The Org Chart Preferences section allows administrators to configure a few options related to the Organizational Chart tab.

 

 

Note that enabling the Organizational Chart here does not mean that the Organizational Chart is going to automatically display the organization tree.  The Direct Report To UDF needs to be added to the Contact record form in the Screen Designer utility.  Once that UDF has been set up in the Screen Designer utility the UDF needs to be selected in the Select a UDF to contain “Reports To” data field.

 

In order to use the Organizational Chart functionality, the following steps have to be performed:

 

1. A User Defined Field (UDF) named Direct Report To has to be created and associated with the Tour de Force Contact form.

 

2. The Org Chart Preferences options associated with the Company Preferences window in the Tour de Force Administration Console utility have to be set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Screen Designer utility associated with the Tour de Force Administration Console, add the Direct Report To field to the Tour de Force Contact form.

 

 

Note:  The Control Type field needs to be set to Contact Selector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Company Preferences window in the Tour de Force Administration Console utility, set the Org Chart Preferences options.

 

1. Enable TDF Org Charts on TDF Account form

 

• Check the Enable TDF Org Charts on TDF Account form field to display the Structure tab on the Tour de Force Account form.

 

• Uncheck the Enable TDF Org Charts on TDF Account form field to not display the Structure tab on the Tour de Force Account form.

 

2. Enable background image

 

• Check the Enable background image field to display the blue organization chart image on the Structure tab associated with the Tour de Force Account form.

 

• Uncheck the Enable background image field to display a blank yellow background image on the Structure tab associated with the Tour de Force Account form.

 

3. Select a UDF to contain “Reports To” data

 

• In the Select a UDF to contain “Reports To” data, select the Direct Report To field set up in the Screen Designer utility associated with the Tour de Force Administration Console.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17. TdF Client Install

The TdF Client Install section shows all of the client update share paths.  When a new version of Tour de Force is released, this section is updated with the newest version.  This pushes the new version to client machines, where a normal user can use the Auto Updater utility to update to the newest version.  In general the only people who use this option is Tour de Force Support personnel when performing an upgrade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18. Time Zone Settings

The Time Zone Settings section is used to set the time zone that the Exchange Server is located in.  This setting correlates with the Time Zone Offset that is set in the User Permissions or the settings menu in Tour de Force Mobile.  

 

 

Note that if the Time Zone is changed then this is going to have a cascading effect on any user that has a Time Zone Offset set for Mobile or Core.  After the Time Zone is set, this setting is rarely changed unless the Exchange Server physically changes locations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19. Set Default Web Map URL

On the Account record form of Tour de Force, there is a Map function that allows users to view the current address of the Account record on a map program, such as Google Maps.  This function takes the address of the Account record and inputs the address into the desired map program.

 

In the Set Default Web Map URL section of the Company Preferences, administrators can set which map program launches by default.

 

 

There are three options available in the Set Default Web Map section:

 

• Bing – If this option is selected then the Bing search engine’s map program is going to display when the Map button is clicked.

 

• Google – If this option is selected then the Google search engine’s map program is going to display when the Map button is clicked.

 

• Other – If this option is selected, then the company has the option to use another search engine’s map program.  Follow the instructions given on the screen and paste the URL into the Preferred Web Map URL field.