Letters, selection expressions, and reports in CRM

Letters to business partners and mass mailings are common marketing activities. In CRM, you can create, save, and modify letters. You can use the mail merge functionality to print a generic letter that contains specific business partner information. You can export letters to other word processing programs to use functionality such as spell checkers.

A selection expression enables you to define search criteria to create a target group. This target group can be used to specify who to include in a particular action. Selection expressions are used to create targeted ranges for opportunities, global additions of attributes and activities, letters (mail merges), and reports. Selection expressions are similar to targeting criteria used in spreadsheet and database programs, such as Microsoft Excel.

Selection expressions are created in the Selections (tdsmi0170m000) session after which they are used for letters, reports, etc. They can be simple or complex, which depends on the criteria used. You can use a text editor to define the expressions.

The Selections (tdsmi0170m000) session lists the codes and descriptions of the selections defined by the users. Check boxes indicate if text is present for a selection or if an expression is defined for a selection. Both text and expressions are created by using the text functionality on the Edit menu. On the appropriate menu, you can select Compile Expression to check the syntax of the selection expression. This is not mandatory, but you can use this option as a precaution.

Example

A company created an attribute to attach to their business partners that lists the date on which the business partners became a business partner. A selection expression can be created to find the business partners who became a business partner during the last 45 days. The selection expression can use the attribute to come up with that target group. The company also uses phases to track the progress they made with their business partners. One phase indicates that the business partner requires extra information. The selection expression can use that phase to target the business partners that the company must call or send information.

You can define reports to view user-defined data. The information included in a report is determined by various criteria. In CRM, you can create reports to view data based on your requirements.