Have you noticed the new "events" quick search box at the top of your screen? We have added greater functionality to your Pearl calendar, to enable effective event management. You can now manage personal events, company events and public events to add to the standard call and task manager. If you are using Pearl Project Manager, events are also called "jobs".

How will these additions benefit your company? I have outlined a few tips for proper usage of the event management functions below …

Tasks/ Personal Events
Use these as a to-do-list. Manage your workload more effectively by delegating tasks to staff. When tasks are completed/updated, the person who set the task as well as the task manager (person responsible for completing the task) will receive email updates.

Call manager
When the task is to call a contact, the call manager should be used. The call will be timed from the moment you click open the call manager. You can raise call reports for particular contacts and raise invoices from this information if you bill customers/clients for your time. If you use Pearl Project Manager, calls can be billed to particular projects. You can add notes about the conversation that will be tagged to the customer. You also have to option to schedule a follow-up call for you or any other staff member.

Company Events
If you want an event to appear on everyone's calendar, create a company event. For example "Staff meeting". Now no one can plead ignorance and not attend!

Public Events
These are events that you want to show on the public calendar on your website. For example, you may want let customers know of any events relevant to your industry or events that your company is attending/sponsoring.

Jobs (Project Manager only)
Each project comprises of different jobs. These are the same as tasks except that they need to be completed to achieve a greater goal. Jobs within a project can also be nested, i.e. - one job cannot start before another is completed. All the people involved with the job/project will get email updates to ensure the project is completed as efficiently as possible.

Recent Pearl Developments

• We have implemented greater security on website contact forms. You should no longer get any spam through via your contact pages.
• You can now clear accounts that are on zero balance as long as the debits and credits match
• You can now clone contacts so if you are creating a secondary contact with the same address info as the primary contact etc, you can clone the primary contact and simply put in the new name.
• You can now tag notes to a contact in the edit contact screen
• We are currently in the process of updating our website - your feedback is always welcome.