Unit 3 - Clients
In Unit 3, we will focus on our clients and how we can categorize them. We will also begin setting up document templates that allow us to populate them with Kompass data. We have four items to review in this Unit: Categories, Types, Email templates, and Invoice document templates. You can add categories and types to the provided spreadsheet "Kompass_Configuration and Business Processes.xlsx" while templates will be prepared in separate meetings.
Categories
Client categories categorize clients, for example by the industry or sector they are in.
A client might be a bank, a construction company, a pharmaceutical enterprise, a software engineering company, etc. It is important to note that the client category is not necessarily linked with project categories. They are totally independent attributes and a way to categorize data. See graph below:
As we will see in Unit 5 - Projects, project categories and client categories are not the same and they can differ significantly.
Client Categories, Project Categories, Departments, and Services can confuse. In the example below, we will try to define each one of them.
You have set three departments in your organization: Survey, Scanning, and CAD processing.
One of the big four consultancy firms, has to provide a transportation strategy to their client. To do so, they need to know the exact location of all bus stops at your near-by city.
You have decided that you should initially GPS the sites to find their actual location. Then you will conventionally survey them. As part of an additional request, you have been asked to scan them using a LiDAR unit. You process the point clouds and then deliver your CAD drawings. All those works have been priced separately.
Your departments are: Survey, Scanning, CAD processing.
Your services can be:
- "GPS", "Conventional survey" under Survey.
- "LiDAR", "Point Cloud processing" under Scanning.
- "CAD" under CAD Processing.
Your client category is: Consultancy.
Your project category is: Transportation.
Types
Types are generally setup by the Kompass BMS team, and customers frequently adopt them. These are used to signify the quality of the client to employees in your organization. Some examples of types could be: Key Client, Caution, Prospect, Gold, Target, etc. These types are visible in several Kompass screens, like the one shown below of a project list.
Email Templates
You can send invoices generated from Kompass directly to your clients. To do so, you will need to define the wording of your automated emails. Below, you can see an example from an existing client. Please let us know if this meets your needs, and we will either use it or make necessary edits. Fields in curly brackets are updated automatically by Kompass.
Please see the attached invoice no. {{ invoice.id }} for your project {{ project.id }} / {{ project.name }}. Please let us know if you have any issues with the attached. We look forward to receiving your review and payment notice/remittance advice.
Invoice Document Templates
To send invoices directly to your clients, we will need to prepare your own unique templates. This means your invoices will look identical to what you use currently. A powerful functionality of Kompass allows it to migrate and automatically populate these invoices depending on the items. For any particular item, all you need to do is forward us your invoice template(s).
Next, we’ll move on to
which should be easier for you and take less time to complete.