This chapter covers the following topics:
An interaction records customer-related activities in the eBusiness Suite of applications. Each interaction includes an identifier, the time and date the interaction took place, the individual who contacted the customer, and information about the outcome of the interaction. When you end an interaction you are asked to enter information about the outcome of the interaction.
This topic covers:
Oracle TeleSales can track agent interactions with customers and the different activities within those interactions. The activities an interaction can track includes the modifying and closing of leads and opportunities, the enrollment of contacts in events, the mailing of collateral, the placing of calls to customers, and so on.
The interaction records an activity whenever an agent:
Creates a new party of any type
Creates a lead
Ranks a lead
Declines a lead
Creates an opportunity
Closes an opportunity
Enrolls customers or prospects in an event
Cancels enrollment
Sends collateral
Creates a task
You can start an interaction at any time while working in the Opportunity Center, the Lead Center, or the eBusiness Center, by clicking the Start Interaction button on the toolbar. When you end the interaction by clicking on the Wrap Up button, you can enter information about the outcome of the interaction in the Interaction Wrap Up window. The interaction lists all the activities you performed.
Your implementation team can set up Oracle TeleSales to track interactions automatically. Automatic tracking starts whenever a event occurs that supports interaction tracking. Automatic tracking ends when you search for a new party, change parties, or close the form where the interaction began.
Your implementation team can set up interactions to require you to record the outcomes of your interactions with customers in a wrap-up window or to record a default outcome automatically.
Interaction activities recorded for any of the party types which make up a party relationship are recorded as being part of the same interaction.
Depending on your implementation, some interactions, such as a call to a customer, start an interaction automatically. You must complete querying your party before the interaction starts automatically. For example, if you selected the party type of Party Relationship and only query the organization name, then the interaction does not start. Or you can start an interaction yourself by choosing Start Interaction from the Tools menu.
You can end the interaction by clicking the Wrap Up button on the toolbar, or you can wait for the application to prompt you to end the interaction automatically. This happens whenever you switch parties (change customers) and update the information.
Note: Merely switching parties does not automatically prompt you to end an interaction with the previous party. You must update the new information first. This allows you to view information from other parties without having to restart the interaction.
You can end an inbound call automatically using default values for the wrapup by clicking Next Call in the eBusiness Center header.
If you choose to start and end an interaction manually, use the Start Interaction and Wrapup buttons on the toolbar. These are the two buttons with a stop light icon: a green stop light for starting and red for ending the interaction.
You can tell when an interaction is being recorded by examining the start and end interaction buttons in the toolbar. If the Start Interaction button is disabled and the Wrapup button is enabled, this means that your interaction is being recorded.
When you end an interaction, you are asked to enter information about the outcome of the interaction in the Interaction Wrap Up window. You can enter a note for the interaction, or create a task.
If you are using Oracle Advanced Outbound, then you can also schedule a call back in the Interaction Wrap Up window. Choose Call Back for the interaction result, enter the reschedule date and time, and click either End Interaction or Next Call to save the interaction.
You can start another interaction while the first interaction is still open. Each Center can track only one interaction at a time, but you can open additional centers and start interactions in each. For example, while you are talking to a customer and viewing customer information in the eBusiness Center you receive a call from a second customer. You open a new eBusiness Center for that customer and both interactions are recording at the same time.
In the eBusiness Center, a second interaction does not start if the first party is a party relationship type and the second party queried in a new eBusiness Center is either the person or organization related to the party relationship in the first eBusiness Center.
The list of interactions you can obtain on the Overview tab of the eBusiness Center gives you an audit trail of all of the interactions with customers in any eBusiness Suite application. For example, if someone else in your sales organization makes a change to an opportunity you are working on, then you will find a record of the interaction here.
Double-click the interaction entry to view details.
Use this procedure to view a comprehensive overview of customer data pertaining to tasks, leads, opportunities, contracts, quotes, orders, service, and installed base.
Prerequisites
Leads and Opportunities: Oracle Sales
Orders: Oracle Order Management
Service Requests: Oracle Service
Quotes: Oracle Quoting
Installed Base: Oracle Installed Base
Steps
In the View Details region, select the option corresponding to the party or account you want to view. For example, if you want to view data on a consumer, then select the individual's name. If you want to view data about an organization, then select the name of the organization.
Select the Dashboard tab.
The tab displays data on your customer. Use the scroll bars to view all of the available data categories.
This data is current as of the date and time displayed in the Last Refresh Date field. Click Refresh to update the data as needed.
In the View By drop down list, select whether to view information by customer or account.
Double-click an item in the Dashboard tab you want to examine in more detail. Or click it once and click Details. Note that you cannot access item details for quotes, collections, or orders if you do not have access to the operating unit associated with the item.
Double-click any row in the Drilldown list to display the item in the eBusiness Suite application that created it.
View a customer's recent activities in the At A Glance window and launch an action from the window, such as opening the eBusiness Center, creating a lead, and so on. The window is configured by your administrator.
The date and time the information was last updated is displayed when you mouse over the labels in the tables. Notes are real time.
Use this procedure to view activities for a customer and start an action, such as creating a lead.
Navigation
eBusiness Center > At A Glance icon in the toolbar > At A Glance window displays party in the header
eBusiness Center > Navigate To > At A Glance > At A Glance window displays party in the header
Universal Search > Party Search > Select result and At A Glance check box
Universal Search > Key Customer Search > Select result and At A Glance check box
Steps
Navigate to the At A Glance window.
The Summary section of the window lists notes for the party for objects like leads, opportunities, tasks, product interests, or quotes, depending on the configuration set up by your administrator:
Click the plus sign next to any object you want to view.
The hierarchy expands to list the available categories of the object. For example, the categories of leads can be new leads and qualified leads.
Select the category you want to view and double-click.
The table for the selected objects expands and lists all records within the selected category. For example, the Leads table lists all new leads. In the case of quotes, all quotes are listed, but you can only access the quotes that belong to your accessible operating units.
Double-click the information to view details.
Optionally, use the View selection list above the table to change categories.
Optionally, click the Expand icon to make the selected table the size of the screen.
Optionally, change the party for which you want to view notes. For example, if you are viewing a party relationship, then you can view notes for the contact, the organization, or for the person.
Optionally, select the action you want to perform. Available actions depend upon your implementation. Also, you will not see actions for any tabs you have hidden in the eBusiness Center.
You can use a web collaboration application to hold a web meeting with a customer. Use this procedure to start a web collaboration session. This function is made available by your administrator.
Prerequisites
Steps
From the Actions menu, choose Web Collaborate.
Either start or join a meeting.
An interaction starts recording when you start a web collaboration session.
Use this procedure to enter the marketing source code for your customer. The source code can represent a marketing campaign, an offer, a promotion, or other marketing activity. You must enter a source code before preparing quotes or launching scripts.
Prerequisites
Steps
Select the Overview tab.
If the caller does not know the source code name, then click Search and search for the source code using the Universal Search window.
If the caller knows the source code name, then enter it using the Source Code List of Values. Depending on your implementation, you can double-click the source code or source name to open Oracle Marketing.
Use this procedure to launch a script to guide you in your interaction with a customer or prospect. If you are unable to complete a script with a customer, then the application keeps track of the suspended script so that you or another agent can resume the script on a later call.
Prerequisites
Steps
In the eBusiness Center, select the Overview tab.
If the caller knows the name of the source code, then enter it using the Source Code List of Values.
If the caller does not know the source code name, then click Search and search for the marketing source code using other criteria, such as the source code name or the medium where the promotion is run.
If the View Script button is enabled, click it to launch the script.
If there is only one script available and no suspended scripts, then the script launches. If there is more than one script or a suspended script, then the Script Chooser Window lists available scripts and suspended scripts. Depending on your system settings, you might be able to resume scripts that were suspended by other agents.
If the View Script button is disabled, this means no specific script has been associated with this source code and there is no default script. In this case, you can view a list of all of the available scripts. Choose All Scripts from the Navigate To menu.
If an appropriate script is available, double-click to launch the script.
If you want to search for suspended scripts, then enter or change dates and contact information and click Display.
Double-click the script you want to use or click Cancel.
You can use the Universal Work Queue to contact lists of customers passed to you by the marketing team using Oracle Marketing. There are two kinds of lists: a generated list that automatically assigns resources and a list with manually assigned resources. The manually assigned marketing lists are imported by an administrator using Oracle Marketing. Use this procedure for contacting customers passed on to you from marketing.
Prerequisites
Steps
In the Select Items list or the Universal Work Queue nodes, highlight either Marketing Lists or Marketing Lists - Manual Assignments.
The available lists appears.
Select the marketing list you want to use.
If you want to make a call, then select the party you want to contact and make your call.
Optionally, double-click the customer name to view customer information in the eBusiness Center.
Select the information to update. (Use Ctrl-click to select additional records.)
Update the records by selecting an action.
Enter or select related information. You can enter a note.
Click Apply.
Your changes are saved for one or more selected records. The records are marked as completed and disappear from your marketing list.
When you perform a Universal Search using Party Relationship or Person as the criteria, you save the search results as a list in the Saved Results window. This way you have created a personal contact list of your customers, which can be viewed and updated in the Universal Work Queue.
With the help of personal contact lists, you can easily manage your personal call lists. After you have created your personal contact lists, make calls from the lists and use the work panel in the Universal Work Queue to update the list.
Use this procedure to update your personal contact lists in the Universal Work Queue.
Steps
Launch the Universal Work Queue window from the Navigator.
Select the Work Type as Personal List - Contacts.
The personal contact list appears in the Universal Work Queue window.
If you want to update the information that you are currently working on, then select an action from the drop-down list using the work panel.
The work panel in the Universal Work Queue helps you to update the records present in your personal contact lists. You can perform various actions through the work panel, for example, you can create a note, create a lead, create an opportunity, call back the customer, request a data issue for Sales for No Contact or Bad Data - Wrong Phone Number, or duplicate party in your personal contact list. See Contacting Lists of Customers Supplied by Marketing.
Click Apply.
The personal contact list is updated based on the action that you selected in the work panel.
Use this procedure to view interactions your organization has had with a consumer, organization, an organizational contact, or a party who owns the selected account. Interactions track all changes to customer information and all contacts made in any of the eBusiness suite of applications between agents of your organization and the customer.
Steps
In the eBusiness Center, select an option in the View Details region corresponding to the party you want to view interactions for.
Select the Overview tab.
Enter a date range in the View Interactions From and To fields. If you do not enter a date range, then the application displays records for a set default number of months.
Click Display.
The tab displays the interactions for the party for the date range you provided. The interactions are organized by date. You can open each date node by clicking on the + sign to reveal the activity for the date.
The Object field provides the unique identifier for the interaction. For example, if the interaction involved an opportunity, then the identifier represents the opportunity number.
The Handler field displays the eBusiness Suite application where the interaction occurred.
You might have to scroll over to view the User Name, the name of the user who had the interaction with the customer.
If you want to view the information linked to the interaction, then double-click anywhere in the interaction. This launches the interaction in the eBusiness Suite application where it was created.
If you want to view all interactions for the party, then click All Interactions.
Customers often have a wide range of promotions targeted at them at the same time but are aware of only one. Use this procedure to view the range of marketing activities targeted to your customer.
Steps
In the eBusiness Center, select an option in the View Details region corresponding to the party you want to view interactions for.
Select the Overview tab.
If no marketing activity appears in the Source Code field, enter the marketing source code associated with the call.
Other marketing activities are listed in the Targeted Source Codes region on the left side of the tab. If you want to view the details of any of the marketing activities in this list, then select the activity and click Details.
Use this procedure to view the installed base of products under service contracts at an organization.
Prerequisites
Steps
In the View Details region of the eBusiness Center region, select the name of the organization.
Note: This option is unavailable if the header displays information on a consumer (the party type of Person).
Select the Install Base tab.
You can view contracts for a customer if you are using the Oracle Contracts applications.
Note that you can view lists of all sales contracts, blanket sales agreements, and service contracts, but that your access to contract items for these contracts is restricted by your accessible operating units. Your access to lists of lease contracts, and their details is also restricted by your accessible operating units.
Prerequisites
Steps
If you want to view the accounts of a consumer, then, in the View Details region, select the person's name.
If you want to view accounts for an organization, then select the name of the organization.
If you want to view information about a specific account, then select the account in the header and select the account in the View Details region.
Select the Contract tab.
The tab displays the contracts in a dynamic table.
Select the contract category you want to view.
If you want to view the details of a contract, then select the contract and click Details.
Use this procedure to view information about accounts your customer has with your organization.
This information comes directly from Oracle Receivables. See Oracle Receivables documentation for an understanding of the terms and fields in this tab.
Prerequisites
Steps
If you want to view the accounts of a consumer, then, in the View Details region, select the person's name.
If you want to view accounts for an organization, then select the name of the organization.
If you want to view information about a specific account, then select the account in the header and select the account in the View Details region.
Select the Account tab.
If you want to view the details of an account, then:
Select the account in the table.
Click Details.
If you have implemented Oracle Email Center you can use it to send an e-mail from Oracle TeleSales.
Navigation
Navigator > eBusiness Center
Navigator > Lead Center
Navigator > Opportunity Center
Prerequisites
Steps
Display a party in the eBusiness Center, Lead Center, or Opportunity Center.
Double-click the customer's e-mail address.
Enter your message information and send the message.
The message is recorded as an interaction.
Use the Collection tab to view overdue balances, payment information, aging, and delinquent invoice information. This tab displays collection information belonging to your accessible operating units.
If you view an organization or a contact at an organization, then the delinquency information is for the organization account. To see delinquency information for a person, you must view that person as a consumer, not as a contact.
Clicking Details launches Oracle Advanced Collections where more collection functionality is available. See the Oracle Advanced Collections User Guide for more information.
Use this procedure to create a service request for your customer on the Service Request tab of the eBusiness Center.
Prerequisites
Steps
In the View Details region, select the party for the service request. For example, if you are entering a service request for a consumer, then select the individual's name. If you are entering the request for an organization, then select the name of the organization.
Note: Some of the options are unavailable depending on the party displayed in the header.
Select the Service Request tab.
Enter information per the Oracle TeleService User Guide.
If you want to open the Service Request window to enter more detail information, click Details.
Use this procedure to start recording interactions with a customer. You can start another interaction simultaneously while the first one is open. One Center can track only one interaction at a time, but you can open multiple centers and start an interaction in each one.
Navigation
Navigator > eBusiness Center
Navigator > Lead Center
Navigator > Opportunity Center
Prerequisites
Steps
Choose Start Interaction from the Tools menu or click the Start Interaction button on the Toolbar
Note: If the Start Interaction selection is disabled, this means that you are already recording your interaction.
Your interactions with this customer are recorded until you terminate the recording process by clicking Wrap-Up in the toolbar or on the Tools menu or Next Call in the eBusiness Center header.
Use this procedure to stop recording your interactions with a customer and to enter information about the outcome of your interactions. Interactions are generally recorded at the organization level. However, when you invoke interaction wrap up from the eBusiness Center, Lead Center and Opportunity Center, interactions can be recorded at the party relationship level. Note that party level interactions recorded in the Lead Center and Opportunity center can be recorded only manually, not automatically. See your administrator to enable this interaction functionality for the Lead and Opportunity Centers.
Navigation
Navigator > eBusiness Center
Navigator > Lead Center
Navigator > Opportunity Center
Prerequisites
Steps
Choose End Interaction from the Tools menu or click the Wrap-Up button on the Toolbar. The Interaction Wrap Up window displays the current interaction and a list of the interactions you have had with the customer.
If you have more than one interaction open, then select the correct interaction from the Customer drop down list.
Use the Outcome List of Values (LOV) to select an outcome for the interaction.
Enter the contact for the interaction.
Optionally, use the Result and Reason LOV to record more details about the activity.
Optionally, you can also record the outcomes, results, and reasons for each individual activity recorded.
Optionally, enter a note for the interaction.
If you are using Oracle Advanced Inbound or Oracle Advanced Outbound, then you can review your call statistics. (See Viewing Call Statistics for more information.)
If you are using Oracle Advanced Outbound and you want to schedule a call back, then refer to Rescheduling an Outbound Call and follow the procedure.
If you want to create a task, select Create Task and enter the task information.
Click End Interaction or Next Call when you are done.
The information you entered is saved.
If one interaction starts in one Center and moves to another Center (for example, it starts in eBusiness Center and moves to an Opportunity Center), then when it is ended in one Center it also ends in the other Center.
If you log on as a different user and select a different responsibility, then the interaction closes automatically.
If the interaction relates to a selected campaign source code, then the Outcome LOV contains possible outcomes for the campaign plus outcomes not associated to a campaign.
Combinations of outcome, results, and reason are set up by the Oracle Interaction Center administrator and control the options available in the LOVs. The administrator can also set up default information that appears in the wrap up window. You can accept the defaults or change the information.
If you click Next Call in the eBusiness Center header, then the interaction wraps up automatically with default information.
The note is related to the party in the interaction. If a lead or opportunity was created during the interaction, then the note is also related to that lead or opportunity.
Use this procedure to restrict your organization's interactions through e-mail or phone with organizational contacts or consumers. You might want to use this procedure if a contact is away on vacation, for example, or does not want to be contacted by telephone. The restrictions you place are for information only and must be enforced by your organizational procedures.
Prerequisites
Steps
In the View Details region, select the name of the person and the organization for a contact or the name of the person for a consumer.
Select the Person tab.
Click Restrictions.
Enter the restrictions on your company's interaction with the contact. For each restriction:
Use the Restriction Type LOV to specify the type of contact you want to restrict.
Enter a period for the restriction. If you do not enter an end date, then the restriction remains in effect indefinitely.
Use the Reason LOV to enter a reason.
Click OK .