Sugar Serve 13.3 Application Guide
The Sugar Application Guide covers the user-facing functionality of Sugar's CRM system.
Topics
Welcome to Sugar Serve - a commercial Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application. Strong relationships are at the core of every organization's success. Sugar brings ease and order to the creation, maintenance, and support of your organization's important relationships.
Sugar offers users a wide range of configuration options when getting started with the application. Your first time logging into Sugar the New User Wizard will step through configuring some basic settings (i.e., Your Information, Your Locale). You may skip these steps and configure these settings in your user preferences at a later time. Please note that system administrators can also set up each user's basic settings when creating the user in Sugar. This documentation will cover the various options (e.g., New User Wizard, User Preferences) available when first getting started with Sugar and accessing your account.
The user interface includes all of the visible elements users see and interact with while using Sugar including the headers, fields, subpanels, dashboards, etc. Knowing how to properly navigate around the application along with what the various layouts, options, and action items do in Sugar will be critical in managing your data in the system. This documentation covers the basics of Sugar's user interface as well as how to perform common tasks or operations in the application.
Sugar's Home page houses the dashboard and activity stream which allows users to view pertinent record information via various dashlets and activity stream posts. Every user in Sugar can configure their dashlets based on the display options and filters available from their dashboard. Users can also personalize their activity stream to only view posts specific to records that are important to them. This documentation will go over the basics of the Home page as well as the various options available to customize the Home page to best fit your individual needs.
Sugar comes with the ability to search across the entire system to easily locate and filter records in the system. Users can perform a search via the module's list view, record view, as well as using the Sweet Spot and global search. The module search allows you to locate records easily and effectively in a module-specific manner. Once the search is performed, the relevant results will be displayed in the module list view or subpanel view of the record. Sweet Spot and Global search allow users to search for information across their entire Sugar database as opposed to restricting search within a specific module. This documentation will go over the basics of the various search options and cover how to perform a search, filter a search, view results, etc.
Tags are user-created keywords or phrases that can help users find, group, and classify large amounts of data by common attributes that may not already be defined via basic database fields. Sugar® stores tags as individual records in the Tags module. Modules (e.g., Accounts, Contacts, etc.) using the Sidecar user interface contain a Tags field where users can create and share tags that can be used to identify records in filters, dashlets, and reports.
Sugar's Sidecar Calendar module allows users to easily schedule, view, and manage events like your calls, meetings, and other important Sugar occasions in one place. The calendar lets you show event milestones from Sugar that are not traditionally considered "activities", such as the expected close dates for your cases or opportunities. When creating a new calendar, you can decide what conditions must be met to have the event appear on your calendar. You can also view other users' and teams' scheduled events via the User and Team Calendars. This documentation will cover how to use the Calendar module as well as the various actions and options available from within the module. For information on using Sugar's legacy ("BWC") calendar, refer to the Help Article.
Sugar's Contacts module consists of individual people with whom your organization has an established relationship. Sugar enables you to convert lead records to contact records according to your organization's qualification process. Contact records are typically related to an account record, and multiple contacts may be associated with a single account. Each contact record may then relate to other Sugar records such as meetings, cases, opportunities, and many others, making the contact record a hub for viewing and continuing your interaction with the individual. This documentation will cover information and actions specific to the Contacts module. For instructions concerning views and actions which are common across most Sugar modules, such as creating, editing, and deleting contacts, please refer to the Working With Sugar Modules section of this page.
Sugar's Accounts module consists of companies with whom your organization has a relationship. It is generally seen as the hub for managing and analyzing your business' interactions with each company. Each account record may then relate to other Sugar records such as contacts, meetings, cases, opportunities, and many others as your relationship with the customer matures. This documentation will cover information and actions specific to the Accounts module. For instructions concerning views and actions which are common across most Sugar modules, such as creating, editing, and deleting accounts, please refer to the Working With Sugar Modules section of this page.
Sugar's Emails module stores copies of email messages that have been sent from or archived to Sugar. While Sugar is not primarily an email application, it does allow users to send email using their personal email address, a shared email account, or a system account and to archive copies of messages and attachments sent or received through a third-party email application.
Sugar's Meetings module is used to track meetings, which can then be related to other Sugar records that may represent the attendees or topic of discussion. You can schedule upcoming meetings to remind you when the scheduled time approaches, or you can log meetings you have already held to keep a record of the discussion. Meeting records can have multiple attendees, both inside and outside Sugar, and include the ability to send invitations as well as reminder emails. When a meeting is repeated on a regular schedule, you can configure it to recur.
Sugar's Calls module is used to log phone calls, which can then be related to other Sugar records that may represent the attendees or topic for discussion. You can use call records to schedule and remind guests of future calls and to preserve a record of any other calls that you hold. Call records may have multiple guests and can even be scheduled to recur.
Sugar's Tasks module is used to track to-do or action items that can be related to various Sugar records to which the task is relevant. Tasks with due dates will display a color coding on list views and dashlets to help alert users when a task is overdue or will be due soon. You can view tasks in specialized dashlets on related records as well as in your calendar to help you plan your workday and complete important action items on time. As tasks are completed, they can be closed via various convenient methods throughout Sugar. This documentation will cover information and actions specific to the Tasks module. For instructions concerning views and actions which are common across most Sugar modules, such as creating, editing, and deleting calls, please refer to the Working With Sugar Modules section of this page.
Sugar's Notes module consists of individual notes which contain text or attached files pertinent to the related record. The Related To flex-relate field is typically set to the module and record to which the note's contents are relevant. A contact record can also be related using the Contact field which will cause the note to be displayed when viewing the contact record. Notes are also used to communicate with customers about bugs and cases via the Sugar Portal. For more information, please refer to the Bugs and Cases documentation. This documentation will cover information and actions specific to the Notes module. For instructions concerning views and actions which are common across most Sugar modules, such as creating, editing, and deleting notes, please refer to the Working With Sugar Modules section of this page.
Sugar's Messages module consists of messages, which often represent historical records of instant messaging chats that took place between two people. Every time a customer service agent or sales representative talks to a customer in SugarLive, Sugar creates a new message record containing the chat transcript. The Related To flex-relate field is typically set to the module and record to which the message's contents are relevant. Contact, lead, or user records can also be related using the Guests panel, which will cause the message to be displayed in the Messages subpanel when viewing the record.
Sugar's Purchases and Purchased Line Items modules consist of purchase records and purchased line item records, respectively, that represent the products or services you sell to clients. The data in these modules provide a historically accurate and time-aware picture of the status and worth of your accounts.
Sugar's Product Catalog module allows you to define and organize the products or services that your organization sells or supports. This page covers information specific to the Product Catalog, Product Categories, Product Types, and Manufacturers modules.
Sugar's Contracts module consists of individual business arrangements your organization has with vendors, customers, or associations. There are various ways you can create contracts in Sugar such as via the Contracts module, importing contracts, duplication, etc. Once the contract record is created, you can view and edit information pertaining to the contract via the Contracts module. Each contract record may then relate to other Sugar records such as opportunities, documents, quotes, and many others. This documentation will cover the basics of the Contracts module as well as the various options available in performing the actions related to the module. For instructions concerning views and actions that are common across most Sugar modules, such as creating, editing, and deleting contract records, please refer to the Working With Sugar Modules section of this page.
Sugar's Documents module gives your users a way to access and update company-specific files. You can create a library of documents and graphics that you can share with other users and contacts, ranging from marketing collateral, contracts, internal policies, and customer-distributed content. There are various ways you can create documents in Sugar such as via the Documents module and via the quick-create menu. Once the document record is created, you can view and edit information pertaining to the document via the Documents record view. Each document record may then relate to other Sugar records such as accounts, contacts, and many others. This documentation will cover information and actions specific to the Documents module. For instructions concerning views and actions that are common across most Sugar modules, such as creating, editing, and deleting documents, please refer to the Working With Sugar Modules section of this page.
The Shifts module and its supporting module, Shift Exceptions, allow you to define the working hours of your employees. Shifts represent the hours during which users are available and shift exceptions represent the times when they are not, for reasons like time off or team events. When used in conjunction with SugarBPM's round-robin capabilities, these modules ensure that round-robin assigned records are only given to users who are currently available and have enough time to do the required work.
Sugar's Escalations module contains records representing the escalation of another module's record (e.g., an account). The record could be escalated for a variety of reasons such as inactivity or being at risk, but escalations allow you to bring extra attention to this record and track all interactions and work that is done to resolve the issue. Set the escalation's "Related To" flex-relate field to the record that is being escalated; this will cause an Escalated badge to be displayed on the selected record so users can easily see that it is currently escalated. You can also add other records that are relevant to the escalation in the subpanels (e.g., calls that take place to resolve the escalation).
Sugar's Cases module is used to track and manage customer requests for assistance with products or services. As a case is opened, worked on, and resolved, its progress will be denoted by the Status field. Each case record may relate to other Sugar records such as calls, contacts, and bugs, making it easy to get the full picture of a customer's issues and history. If enabled, contacts can view and open cases via the Sugar Portal along with bugs and knowledge base articles. Cases can also be automatically created from incoming emails, and a case macro can be employed to automatically relate emails to existing cases. This documentation will cover information and actions specific to the Cases module. For instructions concerning views and actions which are common across most Sugar modules, such as creating, editing, and deleting cases, please refer to the Working With Sugar Modules section of this page.
Sugar's Bugs module is used to track and manage product-related problems, commonly referred to as issues, bugs, defects, ideas, or feature requests, either found internally or reported by customers. As a bug is reported, worked on, and resolved, its progress will be denoted by the Status field. Each bug record may relate to other Sugar records such as calls, contacts, and cases, making it easy to get the full picture of a customer's issues and history. If enabled, contacts can view and submit bugs via the Sugar Portal along with cases and knowledge base articles. This documentation will cover information and actions specific to the Bugs module. For instructions concerning views and actions that are common across most Sugar modules, such as creating, editing, and deleting bugs, please refer to the Working With Sugar Modules section of this page.
Sugar's Knowledge Base module provides the ability to create, maintain, and publish information in the form of articles. Knowledge base articles can cover a variety of topics such as troubleshooting or frequently asked questions. When used for internal purposes, articles can be accessed via the Sugar instance by Sugar users within your organization. When needed for external purposes, articles can also be published to the Sugar Portal, providing visibility for customers or other portal users.
SugarLive, available to users with a Sugar Serve 11.0 and higher or Sugar Sell 11.1 and higher license type, is an omnichannel tool for customer service agents and sales team members to communicate in real-time with customers. While the user is in a call or chat with the client, relevant customer information is available at all times to be viewed and updated without navigating away. To use SugarLive, your organization must have an Amazon Connect account because Amazon Connect is used to route incoming calls and chats to SugarLive. See the Prerequisites section for more details.
Sugar's Reports module allows users to build, generate, and manage reports for modules such as Accounts, Contacts, Calls, etc. Reporting is a valuable tool in Sugar as users can gather data from various modules to generate vital information for their organization.
There may be times in which users will want to access, review, or manipulate information from their Sugar database in another format outside of Sugar. To facilitate this process, users have two options on ways to export their data from Sugar. Upon exporting data from Sugar, a CSV ("Comma Separated Value") format file will be downloaded to the user's computer. This file can be reviewed in Microsoft Excel, Notepad, or other spreadsheet tools and text editors.
For most modules, Sugar allows users to transfer data from an external source (usually a comma-separated-values, or CSV, file) into the database via import. Sugar's import wizard is a quick and easy way to create or update many records at once. The import tool can be used to add a list of new customers or leads to the database, update existing data, migrate from a previous CRM system, or for any process that requires manipulating many records at once.
Sugar's Processes module is the user-facing portal to SugarBPM™, Sugar's business process management tool that allows administrators to streamline everyday business processes by managing approvals, sales processes, call triaging, and more. A business process is a set of logically related tasks that are performed in order to achieve an organizational goal. It presents all of the tasks that must be completed in a simplified and streamlined format.
Sugar Automate lets administrators create easy-to-follow, visual business processes for users to complete against their Sugar records. Each Smart Guide is an end-to-end process that is split into color-coded stages, and each stage contains one or more call, meeting, or task activities that the user can complete with optional dependencies and actions on related records. This guide covers how users can engage with Sugar Automate after it has been configured by an administrator.
Sugar Hint is a relationship intelligence service that is available to be purchased and enabled on your Sugar instance to make external information available for your contacts, leads, and accounts in Sugar. Data such as social media accounts, work information, and company details are visible for contacts and leads based on their email address and for accounts based on their websites and company names. Users can then quickly import the enhanced data into the Sugar database with a single click.
The Data Privacy module allows users to record and take action on data privacy requests and events in Sugar. This module is one portion of a feature set aimed at supporting your ability to carry out your organization's data privacy policies. Sugar's Data Privacy Guide provides information that spans the entire data privacy feature set and presents consolidated information and instructions for leveraging these tools to accomplish your organization's data privacy procedures. This Data Privacy Guide will describe these enhancements, the configuration steps an admin must complete before users can access the new functionality, as well as provide guidance for end users and Data Privacy Managers. This documentation will instead focus on the mechanics of using the module including its fields, options, menus, and how to perform common actions on data privacy records.
Sugar's Employees module consists of individual people within your organization. The Employees module allows you to see a list of all employees, their contact information, and their employment status in one convenient location. Employee records are typically created when a user record is created, but users with administrative access can also add non-user employees. This means that, typically, all users will be listed as employees, but not all employees are necessarily Sugar users.
Sugar can be accessed via browsers on mobile devices (i.e., Android, iOS) as a means of working with your Sugar® instance without installing the SugarCRM mobile app. To access your Sugar instance via browsers in a mobile view, simply enter your instance URL and append /?mobile=1 to the end of the URL as follows: https://example.sugarondemand.com/?mobile=1.
Sugar's Projects module is used to track a variety of tasks in order for a project manager to properly organize and complete a given project. Projects are tracked using both a project grid and a Gantt chart. Resources (e.g., contacts and users) can be allocated to the tasks of each project to help ensure your deadlines are met. Projects are also able to be associated to different accounts, contacts, opportunities, or other modules so that if a project is a direct result of one of these modules, such as the project being performed that was purchased through an opportunity, the relationship will show and alternate details be made available.