Use the Outlook add-in

The Outlook add-in allows you to work in the Zilliant CPQ environment without needing to leave your Inbox. You can gain efficiency in your daily customer conversations and support transparency for each engagement across the organization.

The integration also auto-populates all of your meetings, contacts, and emails for access to real-time data in your Inbox. The following image shows beneficial features of the integration.

Authenticate users

This following sections provide details about user authentication.

Username / Password Authentication

After the add-in is loaded in Outlook, users can sign in to the add-in by using their CRM user and password credentials.

Single sign-on

When SSO is enabled, users will be prompted with a pop-up to sign into the add-in.

The grant type authorization_code needs to be added while setting up the connected client.

Open objects in the CRM

Users can open any object that is retrieved from the add-in directly in the CRM; this allows users quick access to information without performing a search.

There is an option for supported objects to Open in In Mind Cloud, which is hidden behind the menu button (...):

Email-based lookup

Incoming emails can retrieve information from the CRM. Email addresses on the envelope are parsed and looked up in the CRM to retrieve matching contacts as follows:

• For contacts that are known to the CRM, accounts are retrieved and listed in the add-in.
• For all accounts, the add-in also determines opportunity and quote information providing a holistic view of relevant CRM objects for any given email in Outlook.

The following image shows an example of how contacts are retrieved:

Discover new contacts

For emails with addresses that get synced to CRM and are not associated with a contact, the administrator has two options:

1. Create a new contact and replace the email reference with a CRM contact for any email address that is flagged as unknown.
2. Enable the CRM to automatically create a contact for all unknown email addresses.

Meetings and appointments

For meeting invites in the Outlook calendar, the lookup functionality works as described in the previous section. When looking at a meeting with the add-in open, users can choose to replicate the meeting to the CRM by selecting the Save Event link in the add-in.

Create CRM objects

The add-in supports the creation of the following customized objects:

• Contacts
• Accounts
• Opportunities
• Quotes
• Tasks
  For each of these objects, specific fields must be maintained. The creation form can be accessed here with using the +(Add) button.

Search

The add-in supports the search and filter of the following objects:

• Contacts
• Accounts
• Opportunities
• Quotes
• Tasks
  They may be accessed with the filter button.

Customization

Users can complete the following customizations in the Outlook add-in based on specific customer requests:

• Change field labels and objects to meet specific needs.
• Capture data points that are most critical for workflows.
• Disable objects and features to declutter screens.

Add-in objects

Users can customize add-in objects as follows:

• Hide objects, such as opportunities that may not yet be in use.
• Disable create, such as the creation of an account.
• Disable search for an object.
• Change an object label, for example change account to prospect.

Add-in fields

Users can change the following for add-in fields:

• Field labels.
• Fields printed on basic view.
• Fields printed upon creating a form.
• Fields printed on the detail form.
• Designate fields that can be edited and change the sort sequence of these fields.
  The following image shows examples of customization options:
  

Users can modify settings in Zilliant CPQ as follows:
Navigate to Activities > Groupware Administration > USERS, to apply to specific users, or GLOBAL SETTINGS to apply to all users as shown in the following image:

Save email

Users can save a contact email in Outlook and link to an existing opportunity.
To do this, select Opportunities, choose the type of opportunities and then select Save Email as shown in the following image:

The email will be saved and linked to the opportunity that was previously saved in Outlook.

Go to Activities > All Emails and select the saved email. Then select Role/Function or Related Objects.

Enable email cropping

Users can configure admin settings to crop an email by default upon saving it as shown in the following image.

The following image shows a pop-up window with an option to crop the email based on the configuration settings. After making selections, use the Record button to save.

To view saved emails for Zilliant CPQ, navigate to Activities and select All Emails. The following image shows the crop function enabled with only the last email thread saved: