• Opportunities Database

    By Dave Leigh 2 decades ago

    This thread is for the discussion of the Opportunities database and features to be included.



    Should accommodate configurable sales methodologies and be easily modified to accommodate salesforce heirarchies (the heirarchy will be a drop-in subform for the Index, etc. as well, so these should work together).



    Beyond that, I'm wide open to suggestions for a streamlined system. I suggest starting the discussion with some high-level Use Cases, so we know exactly what the db is intended to do and how we expect the users to interact with it.. This is the most likely area where we'll need to plan some workflow.

    • Opportunities Design

      By Dave Leigh 2 decades ago

      The docs tab now contains a document that describes a proposed approach to the design of the Opportunities database.



      Basically, the Opps DB will consist of Opportunities documents to which child "Task" documents can be related. Comments can be posted as responses to either Opportunities or Tasks. Comment docs allow threaded discussions to be associated with any project or task.



      This would work very much like project management software, and the same database could be used to track projects as well as or instead of sales methodologies. "Opportunities" and "Projects" can be thought of interchangeably, the only real difference being that opportunities are associated with sales, and therefore any schedule information is decidedly nebulous as opposed to a project. A project's "milestones" are an opportunity's "targets".



      A fourth form, Methodology, would be used to create documents that define various methodologies. You could assign a methodology to any particular "Opportunity", which would then create the tasks (WBS) associated with the Opportunity to the methodology.

      • Moving ahead

        By Dave Leigh 2 decades ago

        Having received next to no feedback on the design of the Opps database, I'm going to take the tactic of meeting my own needs and hoping that it will be flexible enough for anyone else using the software. IOW, I'm going to plough ahead with what I've got.



        In a nutshell, Opps will allow ad hoc customer information to be placed in an Opportunity document. The Opp document will also include some product information and some schedule and status info.



        An Opp will be treated so much like a project that the same db can (and in my case, will) be used to track projects. You can assign tasks to an Opp, and each task can have its own status and start/stop dates, and can include dependencies. Eventually this will be fleshed out with discussion documents that can be associated with Opps and Tasks, and will an agent that will automatically apply a methodology to an Opp (which will automatically create the tasks).

        • Opps database

          By Paul L Hepperla 2 decades ago

          Dave,



          Is there a way you can create the "sales methodology steps" and then have that applied to every opportunity? That way, each opp doesn't need a separate methodology adopted and management can see a little better what stage an opportunity is in.



          Thanks,

          • By Dave Leigh 2 decades ago

            I'm not sure I understand the question. The plan at the moment is to have multiple sales methodologies. Each would consist of a number of steps (or tasks). When you pick the methodology, the appropriate tasks will be created and associated with the opportunity. These tasks will also be calendar entries so you can use the tool to manage your time in general, and so you can keep yourself from getting overallocated.



            The thought here is that there is not a methodology that is appropriate to every opportunity. Customer inquiries are different from cold calling; small business sales are different from corporate sales. This technique would allow you to choose the right methodology to apply in each case. It also allows the Opportunities database to be used as a more general project management tool if your organization doesn't do opportunity tracking (and many don't).



            I think it would be easy enough to designate a "default methodology" and also have an option to automatically create the tasks when saving the Opportunity. Will that do what you're thinking?