Fermilab’s Envoy CRM System

Kevin Munday, Xeno Media October 26, 2006

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Why the Fermilab Envoy Program?

Strengthen relationships between Fermilab and the Community

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Why?• Strong community relationships

are essential to Fermilab’s future• On a scale we’ve never seen

before• Especially with hopes of bringing

the ILC to Fermilab• It takes a laboratory

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Why now?• Start now, building

relationships• Relationships will be in place

when needed• To establish the ILC Task

Force, successor to the Fermilab Community Task Force

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Envoy program• ~30 communication-savvy Fermilab employees

asked to serve

• ~60 “Tier 1” community stakeholders identified

• Each envoy paired with the most appropriate stakeholders

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Not a sales force

• Building

Relationships• One-on-one,

rather than institutional

• Dealing with someone you know and trust

• Not just for the ILC

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How?• Envoys call and/or email to arrange first

meetings

• Visit, introduce themselves and discuss Fermilab

• Make contact ~4x/year

• Serve as point of contact for Fermilab-related questions or issues

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Support and supplies• One-time training

• Folders with brochures, fact sheets, etc.

• Fact sheets, other info posted to the Web

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And… The CRM… In this case…

CommunityRelationshipManagement

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Capabilities• Based on the “Customer Relationship Management”

model

• Centralized, Web-based database with stakeholder information and history of all contacts

• Scheduling tools

• Document database

• Searchable

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How the CRM will help the program

• Central source for updated contact information

• Allows scheduling of meetings, calls, tasks, etc.

• Individual and group calendars

• Central document database with the latest, best information for use and distribution

• Request assistance, suggest and schedule tasks, etc.

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Critical to the envoy programOver the long-term, the CRM will:

• Create a full history of communications with all stakeholders

• Allow access to the latest, most accurate information related to stakeholders

• Allow the envoy system to scale as needed

• Allow us to recognize patterns and adapt materials and messages

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SelectionBegan evaluating CRM Market Leaders• Salesforce.com

~$30,000/year for our use + customization

• Netsuite

~$20,000+/year for our use and too feature-rich

• Act

~$8,000+ for license, plus new server, implementation, customization

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Solution SugarCRM• Open source (free!)• Supported by commercial firm• Highly rated• Feature-rich • Vibrant developer community• Runs on existing server• Utilizes technologies Xeno Media favors

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Our implementation – Core ConceptsUsers• Envoys• Managers • Admin Contacts• Community stakeholders

Users have access to the records for all stakeholders assigned to them, plus all notes related to all stakeholders. Managers have access to all.

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User’s home page• Shows upcoming

scheduled activities

• Shows open tasks

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Our implementation – Calendar• View scheduled activities

• View shared calendar

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Activities• Calls• Meetings• Tasks• Notes• Emails

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Contacts• List• Search • Edit• Email• History

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Documents• Download files

• Send files

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Email• Send emails to

contacts and users

• Emails are archived as related to the contacts

• Attach documents from the online document archive

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Features we do not use• Inbound email

• Bugtracker

• Accounts/Leads

• Project management features

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What we ask of envoysUse the system as central source for:• Scheduling stakeholder contacts.

• Providing feedback (notes) on stakeholder contacts to build an accurate and thorough history.

• Scheduling and assigning action items resulting from stakeholder contacts.

• Emailing stakeholder

• Keeping stakeholder contact information current and accurate.

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Training/Documentation• One-time group training

• Individual training sessions (~15 minutes) for envoys who missed group training

• 15 page primer distributed at training and posted to site

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Support• Reset passwords (~75% of support needed to-date)

• Other minor issues

• Correcting some un-associated tasks/meetings/notes

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Lessons learned (so far…)• (These?) Physicists are very willing to learn and adapt to

new systems when there is a compelling case that it is necessary.

• Err on the side of simplicity.

• Bear the burden at the front end.

• Show usage progress (positive “peer pressure”).

• Rich, Web-based software feels slow when compared to similar desktop software

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To learn more• http://www.sugarcrm.com

• Call/Email me:Munday@xenomedia.com630/794-9560