Norbert Hendriksen
Read all my blogsSAP updates its Cloud for Customer system four times a year and we have just had the first one of 2016.
I would like to share with you an extract of the fully detailed scope document for the highlights of new and improved functionalities of this release.
I am taking you on a trip through the different areas of interest: sales, service and overall.
Sales
Sales area independent relationships
As of the February release you can maintain sales area dependent relationships. This means that, when creating a relationship between two accounts, you can add your own defined sales area. During partner determination on your transactions, sales area data is taken into account. When you are running an integrated scenario with SAP ECC, this data is also replicated.
You need to activate sales area dependency for each relationship type in your system configuration.
Advanced search in activities for accounts
When looking into the details of an account, you can use advanced search options when looking for specific activities. Very useful if your accounts have built up a vast history of contact moments. For this one you’ll also need to activate the options in the system configuration.
Visits – Map view based on GPS coordinates
When using the map view for planned appointments and visits you can outline these in the map view using GPS coordinates, if you have these maintained for accounts. In case you haven’t got the GPS coordinates available, the accounts are mapped based on the address.
Honourable mentions:
· Sales order – item types can be linked to SAP ECC item category
· When posting feeds, sales quotes can be selected.
Service
Installed base and registered products
As of release 1602 you can start making use of installed base and a map view for registered products. When searching for installed bases, you can toggle the map view to get a map of where your installed bases and registered products are located.
Also it is now possible to move items from one installed bases to another, when moving an item which is part of an hierarchy, the complete hierarchy is then moved.
Service contracts
Service contracts have gone through a substantial number of enhancements such as usage restriction, multiple contracts in one ticket, search contracts based on an account hierarchy, just to name a few.
Make sure you have the right configuration activated to make use of these great improvements.
Resource scheduler
Like the service contracts, the resource scheduler has also been enhanced quite substantially. A new work center is introduced to show you your assignments. But also the possibility to present the assignments on a map is now a possibility. Furthermore you can look at an employee’s calender to see assignments.
These a just a few highlighted improvements, there is loads more to discover in this section.
Sprinkl integration
As of release 1602 Cloud for Customer can integrate with Sprinklr, a unified platform where front office employees can come together and engage with customers and create meaningful customer experiences (www.sprinklr.com).
This is pretty impressive given the reach of possibilities. For example over 20 social channels can be approached using Sprinklr which means, when integrated with Cloud for Customer, you have a vast set of configurations for improving customer experience.
Honourable mentions:
· Time entry and time reports
A number of great improvements have been developed in the area of time recording.
Layout
A significant number of enhancements to the layout is presented in the 1602 release. I’d like to mention the following:
Smartphone layout
You can now setup a layout specifically for smartphones. Pretty convenient in case you have a large number of people who want user their smartphones when working in Cloud for Customer.
Copy and paste sections to a different facet
As a key user you can copy and paste a section from one facet to another.
Explanation texts
To guide your users through the system, you can now add your own explanation texts to fields. Very handy if certain fields are very important to your process.
Honourable mentions:
· table column width personalisation
When users change a table column width, it is now stored in the personalisation.
· Change span for standard blocks
The standard blocks in screens can be changes in size when using the key user tool.
· Ruling for visibility of fields
You can create your own ruling when specific fields should be displayed.
Overall
Organisation management changes
In the 1602 release SAP has remodeled the functionality of organisation management in Cloud for Customer. There are so many enhancement and changes that I cannot share all of them but you can look it up in the scoping document of SAP regarding release 1602.
But the give you some idea, here are the most important enhancements:
- It is no longer needed to activate changes you made to the organisation model. Changes are now valid immediately
- The user interface for territory management is greatly improved and simplified
- Organisational units can be deleted now
- You can now maintain distribution channels directly at the sales organisation.
- General use of organisation management has been made easier and simpler to use.
Well….these are just my favourites of this release and obviously there is much more to discover. To do so, head over to the scoping document of SAP for the 1602 release and indulge in whatever might be useful to your processes and users.
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