exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Excel – Friend not foe

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Excel Friend or Foe of InterAction Bad things about it  People do inappropriate things with it –It isn’t a database Friendly things to say  It is universal  You can it  It is supremely flexible & powerful

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit My Agenda Using Excel with IA  Harvesting data using Web Services –How –Problems it can solve.. Partner Onboarding Personnel Reconciliations  Harvesting data using Database Services –How –Problems it can solve Reconciling data Partner Reporting  Writing data back in to IA using Excel & Web Services –How –Problems it can solve

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Useful features  Data –From Web –From Other Sources –From Access  Advantages –Excel stores the data but also knows how to refresh it…. –You can create formulae & formating based on the results

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit From Web Uses InterAction Web Services

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Web – Some Points to Note  Advantages –Simple – you don’t need to understand how IA stores the data –Good for harvesting data –Refreshable  Disadvantages –Duplicate rows  How we have used it: –Partner On-boarding –Comparing Users with Current Employees from HR systems

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Partner On-boarding Partner arrives with Excel Loaded in to Outlook  Process –Contacts loaded by secretary in to Outlook –Contacts resolved by secretary  Advantages –Manual Promote –Fee Earner/sec in control  Disadvantages –Assumes Outlook more up to date -> Tickets –Data quality Loaded in to IA  Process –Contacts loaded by DS in to IA folder & working list –Merger & promote –Synchronise down to my contacts  Advantages –DS in control; –Data quality & no tickets  Disadvantages –Burden on DS staff

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Partner On-boarding Excel is our friend  Import old contacts in to a sub-contacts folder  Switch on synchs  Compare imported contacts with: –MyContacts/Contacts –Firm List  Comparison at field level

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Partner On-boarding tool… Step 1: Compare Imported Contacts with MyContacts. For missing contacts: Do they exist in firm list? If so, add Firm List contact to MyContacts Step 2: Compare individual fields in MyContacts with Imported Contacts – remove differences.

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Partner On-boarding tool… Data that is not in the firm list Data that is different to the firm list Data that is different to the MyContacts data

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Web – Some Points to Note  Advantages –Simple – you don’t need to understand how IA stores the data –Good for harvesting data –Refreshable  Disadvantages –Duplicate rows  How we have used it: –Partner On-boarding –Comparing Users with Current Employees from HR systems

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit From the database & other sources

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Other Sources Some Points to Note  Technical –Requires IT to give you read only database connection –Database connection needs to be set up on each PC  Advantages –All InterAction data is available (including record dates etc) –Allows you to ask complex questions –Can use variables (e.g. Today – 6 months) –Can join different databases –Refreshable (without Export) –Can create formulae based on the results  Disadvantages –Need to have an understanding of the database structure –Need to be able to write a little SQL –Need to understand field & data security

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Other Sources How we have used it  Bounceback Analysis –Using Pivot tables  Joining HR, Active Directory and IA –Discrepancies in job title, start date etc  Partner Reporting –Data from IA in to holding database –Partner report generator in Word –150 individual PDFs ~ 30 mins

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Excel Writing to InterAction  Native import functions allow –Contacts –Addresses –Additional Fields  Application Collaboration (AC) is required for –List Value items –Relationships –Reminders  The problem with AC –it requires SQL knowledge (normally domain of IT) –need server access (normally domain of IT) –if you don’t have it, it is an additional module (£)

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Excel Writing to InterAction  InterAction Web Services –Add Activity –Add Reminder –Add/Edit Additional Info Field –Add List Value Item  Format –{ServerName}/{MethodName}?{VariableName}={VariableValue}  Useful methods: –methodsreport –additionalfieldsreport

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Excel Writing to InterAction  Template Spreadsheets –Right columns –Validate some of the data –Template builds the URL  Templates for –Add activity –Add relationship –Add additional field –Add reminder …just need to click each link

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Excel Writing to InterAction  Clicking each link is tedious  InterAction Updater Document –Choose spreadsheet –Choose Worksheet –Click Process –Resulting ID is put back in the spreadsheet

exploiting relationship intelligence for profit Christopher Young Harborough House Consulting Limited