Who Sees What Data?

One of the most challenging aspects of designing and building a CRM application or sales tool has been to figure out how to determine who sees what information.  We call this the visibility or roles features built into the Pipeline Admin tool.

Some of our customers operate in a small, open environment, and want to share information freely.  Other customers operate in a more typical structured sales environment with territories, regions and outside vendors supporting their sales activities.

We made some enhancements today to support either approach, a more open or a closed approach to sharing data with Pipeline.

Open vs. Closed Approaches to Data Visibility

One of the biggest benefits of using a centralized database to manage your sales leads and deals is sharing information.  However, the downside of a completely open model is that some organizations may not want all of the deal details shared with all users.

For example, some of our customers use external inside sales agencies to generate leads.  You may not want those users to have access to deal details outside of their own group.  Another example would be where you may want the Eastern region to only see their own deals, and the Western region to see their own deals, but executives to see all deals.

How do I have a more open model to sharing information?

Simply go into the Admin Tool and select edit for an individual user.  You can then check the box that states View Deal Details. 

This option allows the user to access all the deal details in the reports, in addition to only seeing deal summaries. A manager would see the deal details for their team members, and executives would see deal details for all users.

How do I have a more closed model to sharing information?

Simply leave the View Deal Details box unchecked in the Edit User feature in the Admin tool. This option allows the user to access only the deal summaries in reports. A manager would NOT see the deal details for their team members, and executives would only see deal summaries for all users, not the deal details.

Comments

[Chris Patton]

Hi Guys,

Great addition - Thanks! I run a very small startup and we need everyone to see everything. This product is just what I've been looking for (we have SugarCRM running but it's just way too much for our needs.)

keep up the good work!
Chris

[Nathan Rambeck]

This feature is absolutely necessary for our small business. We are now serious about using PipelineDeals.com for staging all our new business.