Set up a call center

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail supports multiple retail channels, such as online stores, online marketplaces, brick-and-mortar stores, and call centers. In call centers, workers take customer orders over the phone and create sales orders. This topic describes how to create a call center and configure call center options.

Each call center can have its own users, payment methods, price groups, financial dimensions, and modes of delivery. You can configure these options when you create the call center.

The Call center form can also be used to enable or disable groups of features that are unique to call centers. The following three groups of features can be enabled:

• Order completion – This group includes features that are related to payments and order completion in the Sales order form.

• Directed selling – This group includes features that are related to source codes, scripts, and catalog requests.

• Price control – This group includes features that are related to pricing options in the Sales order form.

When you enable these features in the call center settings, they are available in the Sales order form for users who are associated with the call center. Most of these features require additional setup before they can be used. For more information about each feature, see the relevant topic in Setting up and maintaining Call center and Working with Call center.

After you create a call center, you can configure call center parameters and set up a catalog. For information about these setup tasks, see the links at the end of this topic.

Prerequisites

The following table shows the prerequisites that must be in place before you start.

1. Create a new call center

To create a new call center, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Common > Retail channels > Call centers.

2. On the Action Pane, in the New group, click Call center.

3. On the General FastTab, enter a name for the call center.

4. Set the following additional fields on the General FastTab.

   Field	Description
   Warehouse	The warehouse to use for the call center.
   Email notification profile	The profile that contains the email templates that are used by the call center. You can set up email notification profiles in Retail. Click Retail > Setup > Parameters > Retail Email notification profile.
   Enable order completion	Select this check box to enable the following features for call center users in the Sales order form: The payment process – Multiple payment buttons in the Sales order form are enabled when the Enable order completion check box is selected. The Complete button – This button controls access to the Sales order summary form, where the user can enter payment and submit the order. If the Enable order completion check box is not selected, users can create and save orders, but cannot complete them. The Recap button – This button controls access to the Sales order summary form, where the user can review the order, and optionally enter payment and submit the order. The Coupons button – Coupon calculation requires that the order be completed.
   Enable directed selling	Select this check box to enable the following directed selling options for call center users in the Sales order form: Source codes Scripts Additional item information Catalog requests
   Enable order price control	Select this check box to enable the following price control options for call center users in the Sales order form: Price matching Price details Price overrides Margin alerts
   Reason codes	The reason codes that are available in the Sales order form. Choose reason codes for price overrides, holds, and credits. You can set up reason codes in Retail. Click Retail > Setup > Info codes.

5. On the Financial dimensions FastTab, enter any financial dimensions to use for the call center.

6. On the Action Pane, in the Pricing group, click Price groups.

7. Click New, and then select a price group to use for the call center. Close the form.

   Note

   A retail price group is a list of products that have specific prices for specific customers. For more information about how to create price groups, see Setting up prices using price groups.

8. On the Action Pane, in the Users group, click Channel users.

9. Click New, and then select the user ID and name of a user who has to perform tasks in the call center. Repeat this step to add as many users as you require, and then close the form.

   Important

   Only users who have been added to the call center channel have access to the call center options in the Sales order form, such as the Sales order summary form, directed selling options, and pricing options.

2. Add the call center to an organization hierarchy

Next, add the call center to an organization hierarchy. The organization hierarchy is required for product assortments and delivery modes to function correctly. The organization hierarchy can also be used for reporting.

To add the call center to an organization hierarchy, follow the steps in Create or modify an organization hierarchy.

3. Add modes of delivery to the call center

You can specify which modes of delivery are available to customers in the call center. You can also specify different modes of delivery for specific combinations of products and addresses.

To specify modes of delivery for a call center, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Common > Retail channels > Call centers.

2. In the Call center form, on the Set up tab, on the Action Pane, click Modes of delivery, and then click Manage modes of delivery.

3. In the list on the left, select a mode of delivery.

4. On the Retail channels FastTab, click Add line.

5. In the Choose organization nodes form, select an organization hierarchy.

6. Expand the Available organization nodes: list, select the call center, and then click Add >>.

7. Close the form.

8. If you want to include one or more products in the mode of delivery, or exclude one or more products, on the Products FastTab, click Add line. Then specify the product, and also specify whether to include or exclude it.

   To add more than one product, click Add products.

9. If you want to include one or more addresses in the mode of delivery, or exclude one or more addresses, on the Addresses FastTab, click Add line for each address. Then specify the address, and also specify whether to include or exclude it.

After you specify delivery modes for a call center, you must set up a batch job to complete the process of associating channels and products with delivery modes. To set up the batch job, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Periodic > Process delivery modes.

2. Enter the parameters for the batch job, and then click OK.

4. Add payment methods to the call center

You can specify which payment methods customers can use in the call center. For more information, see Set up payment methods (Call center).

5. Add attributes to the call center

You can use attributes to add descriptive characteristics to the products that the call center offers. After you complete the setup for attributes and attribute groups as described in Set up attributes and attribute types and Set up retail attribute groups, you can assign attributes and attribute groups to the call center.

When you assign channel product attributes to the call center, you can select a channel hierarchy to associate with the call center. The channel hierarchy is a component of the process that you use to add products to the catalogs that you create for the call center.

To add attributes to a call center, follow these steps.

1. Click Retail > Common > Retail channels > Call centers.

2. In the Call center form, on the Set up tab, on the Action Pane, click Channel attributes to add the attribute groups that apply to the whole call center.

3. Click Sales order attributes to add attributes that are specific to sales orders. Sales order attributes are applied to sales orders that are generated from the call center. For example, you can add a sales order attribute for a gift box.

4. Click Channel product attributes to add attributes that apply to all products in the call center, such as a Universal Products Code (UPC). Channel product attributes are applied to the products in the catalog when the catalog is published.

5. To set a category hierarchy for the channel, follow these steps.

   1. In the Channel product attributes form, in the Category hierarchy field, select a hierarchy to use for the channel.

   2. On the Action Pane, click Publish channel updates.

   Note

   Before you can add channel product attributes to a call center, a default hierarchy must be assigned to the retail assortment in the Organization hierarchy purposes form. For more information, see Organization hierarchy purposes (form).

Next step

After the call center is set up, perform these additional tasks.

Technical information for system administrators

If you don't have access to the pages that are used to complete this task, contact your system administrator and provide the information that is shown in the following table.

See also

Call center

Setting up and maintaining Call center

Working with Call center