Topics: Chatter | My tasks | Calendar | Dashboards | Searching

Home page

The first thing you see when you log in is the Home page, where it's easy to plan your day. You can view your tasks, calendar, and a few dashboards to help quickly identify what your focus should be. The page layout is quite simple—the tabs across the top of the page give you quick access to the information you use most often. The sidebar on the left gives you one-click access to recently viewed accounts, contacts, bookings, and more.

Tips for navigating:

• Use your browser's Back button to return to the previous page.
• Right-click any tab or link and open it in another window. This allows you to have two pages open at the same time. For example, it's convenient to have the Availability and Booking pages open side-by-side.

 

The center column of the Home page contains four sections: Chatter, My Tasks, Calendar, and Dashboards.

 

Chatter

Chatter is a collaboration tool that makes it easy to communicate with individuals or groups. For example, you can post a question about a particular piece of business, include a link to the booking, and invite feedback from the entire Sales team. Everyone can link directly to the booking and, similar to Facebook, they can "Like" or comment on the post. You can also set up Chatter to automatically alert you about changes to a key account or contact, booking status, or even event changes. The information displays in real-time in the Chatter Feed. To display the Feed, click Show Feed above My Tasks. You can search the Feed, customize what information displays, and even choose who you want to follow.

My Tasks

Tasks keep track of your sales activities and remind you when things are due such as "Follow-up on final guarantee" or "Rooming list due". The My Tasks area displays tasks that you created for yourself or that were assigned to you and are due for the selected date range (like Next 7 Days or Today). To open a task, click the Subject link. To create a new task, click the New button.

Tasks are commonly used as reminders and to log sales efforts like prospecting calls. You can create tasks on the Home page and link them to an account, contact, inquiry, or booking. You can also create tasks directly from the record you are working in using the Activity (Open Activity) and Activity History sections.

Some tasks, called auto traces, are created automatically based on rules defined by your administrator. For example, two days prior to the decision due date, remind the booking owner to follow up on a prospect or tentative booking.

Calendar

The calendar displays a list of your upcoming appointments. Click the New Appointment button to add something to your schedule. If your administrator sets it up for you, these can synchronize with your Outlook or Gmail calendar. Click the Activity List View button, located below the calendar, to open a list of your tasks and appointments.

Most people really like this view because you can create your own versions, sort, filter, print, and customize the columns that display.

 

As seen in the image below, if you link the appointment to a contact, you can send your client an e-mail invite by clicking the Add to Invitees link and then clicking the Save & Send Update button. Just like that, you can send the invitation and log the meeting on the contact or booking record—so much better than switching back and forth between your email application. If you need to change the appointment later, you can update the details in the appointment and resend.

You can receive reminders for both tasks and appointments. Set your preferences for how they work in the Calendar & Reminders section of My Settings.

Dashboards

At the bottom of the Home page is the Dashboard section. When you click Refresh, the dashboards report the latest activity in the system. Your corporate administrator can create dashboards based on your business needs.

Searching

Use the Search field at the top of the Home page to quickly find anything you need—accounts, contacts, and bookings. You can even search for a particular event or menu. For example, if a client has a question about what comes with the Salmon dinner, you can search for salmon to open the menu and immediately view its items.

Quiz time

1. Below is an image of the My Tasks section of the Home page. To log a phone conversation you just had with Emily Roy, what should you do?
   
   

   

   • Click the Name of the contact.
   • Click the Subject.
   • Click the New button.
   • Click the booking listed under Related To.
     

   Click the New button and enter the details of the call. You will want to link the task to the contact so you can easily reference the information when you open the contact's record.

Summary

The Home page truly gives you one-click access to all areas of the system. From this page, you can search for almost anything in the system, use links to open bookings that require action, and keep up with important details in your Chatter feed. Logging all of your activities provides evidence of the hard work that you do, and helps others understand where you're at if they need to assist your customer when you're out of the office. If everyone effectively uses these features, you will all share a centralized place for collaboration and streamlined customer interaction.

Next Topic > Accounts and Contacts