Most recent blog entries

Release 6.7 is live

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:20:50 GMT

BULLSEYE 6.7 Release Notes

This release focuses on a bunch of smaller usability-related issues and two functional improvements (Location Upload via the Web Service and Multiple Categories for Leads).

· Location Upload Web Service API: We’ve added the first method for our Location Management API, handling batch upload. At this time, there is no update method to allow true synchronization of Location data between client systems and BULLSEYE, but that’s next on the agenda.

· Multiple Category Selection for Leads: Leads may now be assigned (select) multiple categories in which they are interested. This may be accomplished through any of the add lead methods (BULLSEYE Form-Builder Forms, Web Service calls, CSV Upload or the Add Lead page within BULLSEYE). Routing is done based on an exact match, such that if a lead selects two categories, it will only be routed to locations which are assigned to (at least) those two categories.

· Multiple Category Search for Store Locator: Customers may now search for locations that match multiple categories. As with routing, only exact matches are returned.

· Added new Custom Attribute Type – Link: The link type will accept both absolute and relative path entries (make sure to include the http:// prefix if you want the link to be absolute) and a display name for the link. This type applies only to locations/dealers.

· Changed Unassigned Leads display: Changed form business card format to more standard list view. Unassigned leads also have a Route Now button that allows the user to try to reroute the lead based on the existing routing rules. This is particularly useful if you have made a change to the routing setup to accommodate new or changed territories when there has been an influx of unassigned leads.

· Enforce 5 character limitation for US Zip Codes: This limit plus validation of numeric-only values will improve data quality.

· Dynamically generate download templates for Leads and Locations: CSV Templates now include added columns for Custom Attributes

· Rep Reporting: Reps now have access to the Reports tab with a single report (at this time) – Dealer Responsiveness by Rep. This report allows the Rep to monitor the performance of the dealers/locations assigned to him/her. More reports may be made available in the future.

· Lead Filter: A company text box has been added to the filter to permit users to search for leads by company name.

· Forms Tab: The Forms tab has been moved to the top-level navigation for easier access

· Reports using user defined terms: All reports and report names now use the terms for Locations and Reps that have been set by the Client Admin.

· List Views: All List view pages that have more than one page of item now have First and Last page symbols that allow the user to navigate to the first or last page of the list.

· View All Leads associated with a location: Client and Rep users can now see all the leads that are assigned to a location by searching for the location and viewing the details page. The first 5 items will be displayed along with a link to see all leads.

· Form Builder Default StyleSheet: The Style sheet has been improved for look and feel elements. A Styling guide is available on the Developer community under the Resources section.

· Store Locator Default StyleSheet: The style sheet for the default store locator search page has been re-implemented.

· Store Locator Head editor: You can now edit the Head tag of the Store Locator search page to refer to an external style sheet (for example).

· Reps able to Reassign Leads: Reps now have the ability to manually reassign leads that have been assigned to locations that they own. Note: A rep cannot leave a lead in an Unassigned state, so the Rep must assign the lead to another location before unassigning it from a location if the lead was only assigned to one location.

· Customizable Subject Lines in Email Templates: You may now create your own Subject Lines for any or all email templates.

· Added Business Hours and Time Zone attributes to Locations: You may now define the business hours for each day and the time zone that the Location is associated with. These attributes are not mandatory, nor do they have any impact on routing.

Help! I need a plumber now!

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:26:03 GMT

Ever have a situation where you need to find someone or something quickly on the web?

A couple of weeks ago, I was working in my office when I noticed some water coming through the carpet at the base of the stairs (my office is in the basement). I quickly checked around and saw that the water heater was leaking - water on the floor of the closet where it's kept and leaking out of the T&P valve! I put some towels down to dry up what was on the floor and a bucket to catch anything additional. Then what to do - call the plumber, naturally!

Of course, since we moved into our house 3 1/2 years ago, we haven't needed a plumber, so don't have anyone we work with or that I knew to call. I hit the web and searched for 'plumbers' and my town name into Google and got back nearly 26,000 results. Fortunately, there were some relevant ones on top, and several of them were Directory services.

I picked one of the services at random, filled out a form requesting service and put in a phone call - which went, not to the plumber I selected, but to a service bureau. It turns out that with this directory, they take the calls, get information about what you are looking for and then contact several of their pre-screened vendors who call you back. It's an interesting model, but not what I was looking for at that particular moment. I did find a plumber pretty quickly who could be over that afternoon and we ended up replacing the water heater the next day.

In retrospect, though, I've been thinking more about Directory services - both along functional and geographic lines: Google is fantastic - I use it whenever I need to find a piece of information - at least as a starting point. But given the situation I was in, there's too much information available. Yes, I probably could have phrased a query that would have given me a smaller subset of results, but I wasn't in the mood to play around with different search combinations - I wanted a plumber who was close to my home and (ideally) could be at my house in a short period of time. Hitting a specialized directory gave me just what I needed when I needed it.

Specialized Directories will likely play in increasingly large role in our online future. As the total amount of information available to search increases, they provide a way of pre-filtering results which allows for faster decision-making. They will also become community sites, particularly when implemented using portal or social networking tools, allowing communication and feedback to flow back and forth between members of the directory and users.

What do you think?

Release 6.7 on the horizon; Sign up for a free trial subscription

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:49:39 GMT

We're hard at work on version 6.7, currently scheduled for release in mid-November. We're taking a little bit of a breather on this one, no major functionality releases, but a lot of minor ones instead. Check back over the next few weeks for specifics and a release date.

We're also launching a trial subscription process that gives participants full access to the system for 30 days. Click on the Free Trial option under the Resources menu item at the top of the site. A good way to use the trial would be to load in a few dealers/salespeople, set up a simple routing rule such as radius, create a form and iframe the form to a landing page on your corporate/marketing web site. See how many leads you generate in a short period of time and we're convinced that you'll be ready to sign up for a full subscription!

Hi there!

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:01:45 GMT

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