Follow-ups can be used to schedule tasks and set reminders for them after specific deadlines. This function can be very helpful especially in the area of marketing and sales, but is transferable to many different areas. Follow-ups can be assigned to a customer, to a manager or even to a project in order to ensure a better overview.
By clicking on the “+ NEW” button you can create a follow-up. In the popup window, the current stage can be selected or viewed in the upper area, basic information of a follow-up can be entered on the left half and additional information can be entered on the right half.
At the top of the popup window, all previously created stages of the selected board are available for selection (here: ToDo, InProgress, Done). Thus, when creating or editing, the follow-up can be sent from stage to stage by clicking on the next or previous stage. It is also possible to select several stages at once.
On the left half of the pop-up window, basic information about the follow-up can be entered in the following fields:
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Denomination → Denomination of the follow-up
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For customer → Selection of the associated customer
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Contact person → Contact person of the customer
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Project → Project selection
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Description → Description of the follow-up, e.g. what needs to be done or has already happened
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Color → Freely selectable color used for display in the Pipeline view (“Overview” tab, “Pipelines”) or in the Calendar view (“Overview” tab, “Calendar”)
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Completion date → Deadline for completing the follow-up
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Volume in EUR → Value of the follow-up in EUR
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Chance → Follow-up success rate as a percentage
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Stage → Selection of the stage in which the follow-up starts or is currently in
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Reminder date → Date on which the follow-up is due
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By e-mail → Ff checked, the editor receives an e-mail about this follow-up on the day of the reminder date
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Time → Time at which the follow-up is due
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Manager → The person responsible for the follow-up; all addresses from Xentral are available for selection
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Editor → The editor of the follow-up; all addresses from Xentral are available for selection
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Priority → It marks the follow-up as a priority; this will then be marked in red in the list or pipeline
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Completed → It marks the follow-up as completed
If not all addresses from xentral should be available for selection for the manager and the editor, the checkbox “Follow-up - only employees can be selected” can be activated under “Administration → Settings → System → Basic settings → System”. This way, only addresses with the role employee are displayed in the selection.
Note
In the drop-down menu, the “Employees” field shows all addresses that are recorded in at least one follow-up as manager or as editor.
The history displays the chronological sequence of the actions taken for a follow-up. Here you can find system information (e.g. new creation or moving to another stage) as well as manually entered notes with an indication of the employee who wrote, edited or deleted the note (e.g. contract was sent to customer).
If the mouse hovers over a follow-up for a few seconds in the pipeline overview, the history is displayed in a pop-up window. This way you don’t have to click the follow-up every time to see the last status of the history.
Besides the follow-up itself, you may need additional tasks to complete it. In this case, multiple tasks can be created and assigned to different employees. The created tasks are also displayed in the Tasks module of Xentral. In the table, all tasks that belong to this follow-up are visible and can be directly set to open/completed with the checkmark, edited with the pencil and deleted with the cross.
The “New task” button allows you to create a new task belonging to this follow-up. The following fields are available.
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Denomination → The general name of the task
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Editor → The employee in charge of this task
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For customer → The customer to whom the task is addressed
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Submission by → The date and time by which the task must be completed
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Project → The associated project
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Subproject → The associated subproject
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Must be completed from stage → Selection of the stage from which the task must be completed (the follow-up can otherwise not be moved to the next stage)
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Status → Current status of the task
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Priority → Current priority of the task
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Description → Detailed description of the task
Previously created free fields (“Settings” tab, “Free fields”) can be filled with additional information, which otherwise would not find a place in the fields of the follow-up. The content from these fields is displayed as an additional column in the pipeline and in the other follow-up tables when the setting is active.
Additional fields from the address table
Previously defined additional fields from the address table (“Settings” tab, “General”) can be edited in this view.
Note
The changes are also overwritten in the address itself in the selected field. For example, the phone number 1234567 from the address appears in the additional field Phone in the follow-up. If this is changed to 1234560, the phone number is changed in the address itself. The content from these fields is displayed as an additional column in the pipeline and in the other follow-up tables when the setting is active.
In the “Overview” tab, various menu options are available with which the follow-ups can be managed and used in different ways. At the right end of the tab bar you can select a board (“Settings” tab, “Boards”). This way, only the follow-ups that are assigned to this board will appear. In addition, you can select an employee (editor in the follow-up) to see only his/her follow-ups.
In this tab, you can see at a glance the sales from orders, the sales by employee, the total overview, an overview of the balancing statement, the orders in the current month and the offers in the current month.
The Pipelines view shows at a glance the current stage of the open follow-ups. You can also move the different follow-ups between individual stages using drag & drop:
Note
This will always create a history entry.
The status can be read on the basis of the displayed symbols:
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Red exclamation mark → The follow-up is overdue (reminder date is in the past)
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Green exclamation mark → The follow-up is due today (reminder date is today)
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Gray exclamation mark → The follow-up is due in the future (reminder date is in the future)
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Warning triangle with exclamation mark → The follow-up has priority (the priority box is checked)
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Crossed-out text → The follow-up is completed (the “completed” box is checked)
The filters can be used to restrict the view:
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Priority → It shows only the marked follow-ups
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Due → It shows all follow-ups whose reminder date is in the past or today
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My → Follow-ups assigned to the logged in employee
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Only my assigned → Follow-ups that the logged in employee has assigned to another employee
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With completed → It shows the completed follow-ups
The color assigned in the follow-up is displayed on the left margin of each follow-up. Moreover, additional fields from the customer address (“Settings” tab, “General”) and free fields (“Settings” tab, “Free fields”) can be displayed in the Pipelines view, provided that these settings have been activated. Stages can also be hidden in this view (“Settings” tab, “Stages”). If you stay with the mouse over a follow-up for a few seconds, a popup will appear showing the details of the follow-up, such as the due date and the entire note history. By clicking on a follow-up you can edit it. If you click on a follow-up and keep the mouse button pressed, this follow-up can be moved to another stage. During the process, it is possible to drag the follow-up to the recycle bin (to delete the follow-up), to the winners or to the losers at the bottom of the screen. If a follow-up is moved to the winners or losers, a dialog box opens in which a note can be entered and added to the history. Then the follow-up will be marked as completed.
In this tab, all follow-ups are listed.
In the list view, the current statuses of the open follow-ups can be distinguished by the different colors of the lines:
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Red line → The follow-up is overdue (reminder date is in the past)
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Green line → The follow-up is due today (reminder date is today)
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White line → The follow-up is due in the future (reminder date is in the future)
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Red text → The follow-up has priority (the priority box is checked)
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Crossed-out text → The follow-up is completed (the “completed” box is checked)
In addition, the table shows:
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When the follow-up is due
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The title of the follow-up
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The customers assigned
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The project assigned
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The employee to contact
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The volume of the follow-up
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The likelihood of completing the follow-up
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The current state of the follow-up
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The completion date
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The department in charge of the follow-up
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The employee number of the editing employee
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The menu column can be used to edit, delete or complete the follow-up, as well as to go to the linked customer address or add a label
Note
In the drop-down menu, the “Contact” field shows all addresses that are recorded in at least one follow-up as manager or as editor.
The filters can be used to restrict the view:
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Priority → It shows only the marked follow-ups
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Due → It shows all follow-ups whose reminder date is in the past or today
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My → Follow-ups assigned to the logged in employee
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Only my assigned → Follow-ups that the logged in employee has assigned to another employee
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With completed → It shows the completed follow-ups
In this overview, the follow-ups are grouped by creation date per calendar week.
Follow-ups with a priority checkmark are displayed in bold, red letters. If the follow-up has already been completed, it is displayed crossed out. In the search fields, you can search through the table to narrow down the results.
The table shows:
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The calendar week
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The date of receipt (creation date of the follow-up)
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Timeline entries (number of notes in the history, excluding system notes)
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The completion date
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When the follow-up is due (reminder date)
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The title
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The customers assigned
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The project
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The person in charge of the follow-up
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The volume
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The chance
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The current stage
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The department in charge of the follow-up
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The employee number of the editing employee
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The menu column can be used to edit, delete or complete the follow-up, as well as to go to the linked customer address or add a label
In this overview, the follow-ups are grouped by completion date per calendar week.
Follow-ups with a priority checkmark are displayed in bold, red letters. If the follow-up has already been completed, it is displayed crossed out. In the search fields, you can search through the table to narrow down the results.
The table shows:
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The completion month
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The completion date
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When the follow-up is due (reminder date)
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The title
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The customers assigned
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The project
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The person in charge of the follow-up
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The volume
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The chance
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Weighted (calculated as volume * chance/100, indicating how much this follow-up is worth)
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The current stage
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The department in charge of the follow-up
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The employee number of the editing employee
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The menu column that can be used to edit, delete or complete the follow-up, as well as to go to the linked customer address or add a label
In this overview all won and lost follow-ups are grouped by calendar week.
Won follow-ups have a green line, whereas lost follow-ups are highlighted in red. Follow-ups with a priority checkmark are displayed in bold, red letters. In the search fields, you can search through the table to narrow down the results.
The table shows:
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The status (won or lost)
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The calendar week in which the follow-up was won or lost
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The date in which the follow-up was won or lost
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The date of receipt (the creation date of the follow-up)
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The number of days (how many days have passed from the date of receipt to the date of completion)
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The title
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The customers assigned
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The project
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The person in charge of the follow-up
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The volume
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The chance
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The current stage
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The completion date
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The department in charge of the follow-up
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The employee number of the editing employee
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The menu column with which you can edit the follow-ups, delete them, go to the linked customer address, or add a label
In this overview, all follow-ups with a set completion date are displayed in a calendar.
The follow-up is displayed in the calendar on the specified completion date. By clicking on a follow-up you can edit it. If you click on a follow-up and hold the mouse button pressed, you can move it to another day, which also changes the completion date. Gray dots and a colored dot are displayed above each follow-up. Each dot represents a stage, whereas the colored dot indicates the current stage of the follow-up. The color of the dot depends on the color assigned when the stage was created. This means that each stage can be given a different color, for example to help you identify it quickly. The color assigned in the follow-up is displayed on the left margin of each follow-up. The displayed employee is the editor of the follow-up. Follow-ups marked with a warning triangle with an exclamation mark are follow-ups for which the priority box has been checked.
In this tab additional fields of the address table as well as details of the dashboard can be set.
Area of the additional fields from the address table.
Up to 10 columns can be retrieved from the address table into the display of the follow-ups. These columns are displayed under “Overview” in the following tabs:
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List
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Date of receipt
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Completion date
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Wins/losses
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Pipelines (if the checkmark “visible in pipelines” has been activated next to the column, the additional field will be displayed in the follow-up)
The following values can be selected from the address:
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Phone
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Fax
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Mobile
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Contact person
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Department
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Sub-department
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VAT No.
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Tax ID
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GLN
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Employee number
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Free field 1 - 20
Dashboard area
Here you can define the stage to which incoming follow-ups should be assigned. A separate line appears for each dashboard created, which allows you to configure this setting individually. The dashboard settings can be configured here.
With a board, different areas such as departments can be viewed separately from each other. For example, there can be a board for the Marketing Department and another board for the Sales Department. In this way, each department can see only the follow-ups of its board. The relevant board can be selected in the “Overview” tab.
The table includes all created boards, which can be filtered via the search function and edited and deleted at any time via the menu column. With the “+ New entry” button you can create a new board. You can select the following fields:
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Name → Name of the board
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Identifier → A unique identifier for the board
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Project (optional) → Selection of the project for the board
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Active → Whether the board is active or not
Stages show the phase or progress of a follow-up.
Using the search function, the results of the table can be filtered, whereas with the menu column the stages can be edited and deleted. The table shows:
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The board of the stage
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A short name of the stage
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The name of the stage
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Whether the stage is active
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The order of the stage, i.e. where it is located in the process
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Whether it is displayed in the pipeline (Pipelines tab)
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The chance of the stage
A new stage can be created using the “+ New entry” button.
You can select the following fields:
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Name → The name of the stage
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Short name (optional) → The short name of the stage
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Color → Color selection, used in the calendar view to mark the stages (green is preselected)
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Sequence → Position of the stage within the process
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Board → The board to which the stage belongs (if the field remains empty, the stage is added to the standard board)
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Not visible → It sets the stage to inactive
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Use as pipe → It is displayed in the pipeline when the checkmark is set
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Chance → Likelihood of success of the follow-up in this stage, but also for instance the progress of the follow-up in this stage
The “Load standard” button can be used to load the stages provided by Xentral as standards. These belong to the standard board and are displayed in the pipeline. The following stages are included in the standard:
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First request → Sequence 1, request short name
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Contact established → Sequence 2, contact short name
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Consulting performed → Sequence 3, consulting short name
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Offer sent → Sequence 4, offer short name
If the existing fields in the follow-up are not sufficient, free fields can be defined to save additional information.
These additional fields can be marked as mandatory fields in the stages or be only available from a certain stage. If a free field is marked as mandatory, the follow-up cannot be moved to the next stage until the free field is filled out. Using the search function, the results of the table can be filtered, whereas with the menu column the free fields can be edited and deleted.
The table shows:
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The name
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The stage from which the free field is available
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The stage from which the free field is mandatory
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Whether the free field is displayed in the pipeline
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Whether the free field is displayed in the tables (different tabs under “Overview”)
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The menu column with which the free fields can be edited and deleted
A new free field can be created using the “+ New entry” button.
You can select the following fields:
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Denomination → Name of the free field
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Available from stage → The stage from which the free field is available; you can choose among the stages with the corresponding board, or the value “always”, which means that the free field is available in all stages
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Mandatory from stage → The stage from which the free field is mandatory; you can choose among the stages with the corresponding board, or the value “never”, which means that the free field is never mandatory in any stage
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Show in pipeline → The free field is displayed in the “Overview” under “Pipeline” when follow-up takes place
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Show in tables → The free field is displayed under “Overview” in the various tabs of the follow-ups as an additional column in the tables
In this tab you can create templates for tasks. This is especially useful for recurring tasks.
The table shows:
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Denomination → Denomination of the task template
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Editor → Employee to be automatically assigned to the task
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Interval → Interval in which the task is to be performed
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Mandatory field from → Stage from which the task becomes a mandatory field
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Add from → Stage from which the task will be added
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Status → Whether the task template is open or completed
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Menu → The menu column that can be used to edit and delete the free fields
A new task template can be created using the “+ New entry” button.
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Denomination → Denomination of the task template
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Editor → Employee to whom the task is to be assigned by default
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Follow-up date plus → Follow-up date plus the number of days and the time
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Project → Assignment of the task to a project
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Subproject → Assignment of the task to a subproject
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Must be completed from Stage → Stage from which the task must be completed
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Add in stage → Stage from which the task is added
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Status → Select whether the task template is open, in progress or completed
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Priority → Set priority of the task
Follow-ups can also be managed directly in the addresses. To do this, you need to edit an address under “Master data → Addresses” and open the “CRM” (Customer Relationship Management) tab. If the “Follow-up” box is checked under “Categories”, all follow-ups linked to this customer address will be listed here. In this overview, you can edit the follow-ups with the most important information or delete them.
Under “Master data → Projects”, the “Follow-ups” field can be expanded in the “Dashboard” tab of a project in order to see all follow-ups assigned to the project.
When you edit an offer, the “Follow-up” tab is available. In this tab you can access the most important information on the follow-up.
If a follow-up is to be created automatically when an offer is released, the number of days that determine the due date of the follow-up can be entered via “Administration → Settings → Basic Settings → System” with the option “Days follow-up offer”. This that the due date corresponds to the date on which the offer was released + the number of days. The number must be greater than 0, otherwise no offer will be created automatically.
If a follow-up is automatically created from an offer, the stage with which the resubmission is to be created can be selected via “Administration → Settings → System → Basic Settings → System” with the option “Follow-up offer stage”.