This more focussed view provides a very businesslike view of emails, and allows the creation of email queues, for example a service helpdesk, or a sales enquiries queue. In addition, emails sent from Jim2
can be related to one or more objects (Job etc), and replies etc from that email are automatically related to and can be viewed from those objects. For example, all emails back and forth in relation to a particular Job are displayed within that Job. In addition, things likes jobs, quotes etc can automatically be created from an email, enabling a very comprehensive ticketing system.
Unlike other email clients, email folders in Jim2
® can display both incoming and outgoing emails. It is not necessary to create separate ‘Support Outbox’, ‘Support Inbox’ folders for example, unless you choose to.
top
Custom Email Folders
Custom email folders are used to display emails based on a number of certain criteria. For example, emails sent and/or received from a particular email address, tagged as ‘Service’, and unread.
top
Email Lists
Email Lists are much like other lists within Jim2
® except that they are always based on an email folder. In a sense, the folder is used to filter an email list, and it is quite normal to have several named live email lists. Email security is based on email folders, allowing for example, only sales staff to view sales related emails, or only accounts staff to see accounts related emails.
top
Email Groups and Tags
Email Tags allow you to tag an email. For example, when an email is received from the support@company.com email account you may wish to tag it as ‘Support’, and it will therefore appear in the Support email folder. An email can be tagged with multiple tags, so the email, for example, can be tagged with both ‘Support’ and ‘Sales’.
Emails within Jim2®
are normally ‘Tagged’ to one or more email groups. Tags can
automatically be applied to emails when they are sent or received, or
manually applied at any time.
Emails
can also be moved or retagged from one email group to another, for
example an email is sent to sales@company.com but it is actually service
related. In this case the email can easily be untagged from ‘Sales’ and
retagged with ‘Service’.
Email Group Tags provide a means of identifying and filtering emails and are used by email folders and lists.
top
How Do Emails Become Related?
Emails are related to an object if sent directly from an object’s comments grid or clicking ‘Related Email’. They can also be manually or automatically linked. For example, if an email arrives and it’s a signed order, that email can be manually linked (or attached) to the related Quote. Replies from related emails sent from an object are automatically linked to that object. Emails can also be automatically related based on rules, for example, if an email arrives from a certain email address and contains certain text it can be related to a specific CardFile or Project/Machine.
top
How Do Emails Get Tagged?
When receiving an email, rules can be applied based on almost any criteria, and based on these rules apply certain actions to that email. The most common action is to tag that email to an email group. So if an email is received at service@company.com that email will automatically be tagged as ‘Service’.
When sending email, tags can be applied manually or automatically via ‘Email Editor Rules’. Editor Rules include things like: if sending an email related to a service job tag it as ‘Service’, or sending a statement or invoice tag it as ‘Accounts’. As already mentioned, emails can be tagged to multiple groups, and easily moved from one group to another.
top
Email Rules
Email Rules are
the rules that are applied to incoming emails as they are received.
Rules are based on conditions and actions – if an email meets the
following conditions, apply the following actions. Email Rules provide
an extremely powerful and flexible method of highly automating and
actioning emails received by your business.
With email rules you can do things like:
- Fom the Sender's email address– work out who an email is from and link it to the appropriate CardFile.
- From
the Recipient's email address – automatically apply Email Tags to
'steer' the email into the correct area of your business (Support,
Sales, etc)
- From the contents of the email – work out if it is
related to a Project (MS contract, machines etc); extract the customer's
reference number; work out the nature of the email (onsite service
required, for example); work out if the request is urgent.
Based on running the above Email Rules you can then do the following:
- Create a Service Job for the Project
- Make the Job's priority 'urgent'
- Set the Job's Cust Ref#
- Attach the email to the Job
- Tag the email with 'Service'
And the result of this...
An
onsite service Job automatically created, linked to a Project/Machine
with the email attached, AND with the unread email appearing in your
email support list, AND with the Job appearing in your urgent Job List,
flagged that it has an unread email.
From then on,
all email correspondence back and forth, regarding that Job, is
automatically related, including the final invoice and even the payment
advice back from the customer.
top
Email Tokens
Email Tokens are used to automatically link incoming emails to the related Jim2
® object in your database, for example, a Job.
Whenever a ‘New Related’ email is sent, or an existing related email is Reply/Reply All/Forward, an email token is automatically added to the email subject.
The format of the token is as follows:
[DATABASE OBJECT#XXXX Y]
Where DATABASE is your database name, OBJECT is the textual description of the related Jim2
® object, #XXXX is the Jim2
® object number, and Y is the internal Jim2
® object ID.
For example:
[Happen Job#12234 0]
The actual text ‘Job’ is not relevant, but is provided to make the token ‘friendlier’. The ‘0’ on the end is the actual Jim2
® internal object ID of a Job. The token was created in this way so that the email recipient does not need to be aware that the email is related to a Job, Quote etc, and the fact that objects within Jim2
® can be renamed via Jim2
® options. For example, you may have renamed ‘Job‘ to ‘Ticket’.
The database name is added to the token as it is entirely possible that emails are sent and received between different companies both using Jim2
®. This also copes with the situation where a database is restored as, say, Jim_Training and email is inadvertently enabled.
When an email is received containing a token it will be automatically assigned to that object regardless. In this case Email Tags can be either assigned using the ‘Add Group’ or ‘Auto Assign Groups’ actions (see Email Rules – Actions for further information).
top
Email Templates and Macros
Email Templates are used by the email editor and are text and/or attachments that can be automatically or manually added to a new email. You can have as many Email Templates as you choose. A new email can be automatically based on a template depending on the ‘type’ of email being sent. For example, if emailing a statement automatically, use the ‘Statement’ email template.
Templates are basically a ‘predefined’ email, allowing for consistent and ‘canned’ response email replies. One of the most powerful features of Templates is that they allow the use of macros within the template text. This allows a type of ‘mail merge’, with macros being replaced with text relevant as to who is logged in, your company details, or specific to the Jim2® object the email is related to (eg. Job, Quote etc).
The use of Email Templates with macros is particularly useful when doing automated emails, for example:
Macros are divided into two types, General and Context, and can be used in both the email body and subject.
General Macros include your company name, your name, etc.
Context Macros are related to a Jim2® Object, for example the customer’s name on the Job the email is related to.
Email Templates also support the use of macros to automatically merge text, for example {{Job.Customer.Name}} will be replaced by the customer’s name.
top
Email Security
Email Security is of critical importance, as you may not wish all users to view all email folders. For example, you may not wish users who can access the ‘Service’ email folder to view the ‘Accounts’ email folder. As such, carefully consider who in the company is allowed to manage email (add rules, edit email security, etc), and who is allowed to see which Email Folders.
top