Preview of new interface
It’s all change for BT BizBox. As you know we have been talking about creating a new user interface for a while well, we now have our first preview of what the new dashboard will look like:)
We have taken your comments on board and have created a clean, simple to use interface as shown below in fig 1.
It is still in the draft stages at the moment so we welcome your thoughts. The aim is to make the header clearer, remove the drop down menus and replace them with simple click through buttons on each of the pages.
The dashboard is being designed so that future widgets can be added and you can customise your own dashboard, moving around each of the tabs, so those which are important, maybe your task list, on particular days can be at the top etc….
Figure One - new design Dashboard.
The plan is to rollout the new dashboard and header first and then focus on continuing the design through to the other pages.
The design in currently in build and we are looking to roll it live in the next 2 weeks - exciting stuff 
Give us your comments good or bad, so we can build them into the final build stage.
Thanks
Sarah
What we have developed since the launch of BT BizBox Beta
Hi,
Wow, what a busy time we have had since we launched BT BizBox Beta on the 20th August.
We have had 8 releases of code providing BT BizBox with increased functionality.
Even though we officially launched the beta version at the end of August, YOU the COMMUNITY have been developing the product since July.
Here are the details of the releases to date, I will be updating these and posting them on a regular basis so we can track our progress.
These releases do not however, include the ad hoc bugs, which you have highlighted to us and we have provided fixes for.
Release 1 - Launch of dashboard & improvements to the calendar - 28th July
Release 2 - Launch of invoicing and quotation tools from customer accounts and on the dashboard - 2nd August
Release 3 - Change of name from BT CRM to BT BizBox - 10th August
Release 4 - Launch of meeting manager with the ability to create minutes and tasks during a meeting - 16th August
Release 5 - Improvements to the user interface with the launch of the new tool bar - 20th August
Release 6 - Improvements to the user interface with the launch of new sign up and login pages - 4th September
Release 7 - Launch of project management module ability with the to categorise, prioritise and set time to tasklists for timesheet generation - 6th September
Release 8 - Improvements to dashboard, launch of geocode data on postcodes and ability to upload documents to customer, employees and contact records - 18th September
In order for us to keep up this momentum we need you to continue providing us with your feedback and requests for new functionality, you can do this via our blog
Let’s keep up the progress
Thanks
Sarah
Financial Module
Have you checked out our forums?
Today we have published the final specification for the financial module.
We have split the module into three separate areas 1. Invoicing and quotations, 2. Expenses and 3. Reporting.
We are in the process of building the module and are planning on releasing it late October. As soon as we have screenshots will we upload them to the blog and forum.
Full details of the specification can be seen below;
Invoicing & Quotations
- Ability to create a multi-line Quote / Invoice and associate it with a customer.
- Ability to mix products & services in your Quotes / Invoices.
- Ability to offer different types of discounts for your preferred customers, volume or term, at a “customer” or “type of customer” level.
- Ability to set a “Quote valid until” date and also be able to edit it if required.
- Ability to print out Quotes / Invoices in PDF format with company logo, address and all the necessary information entered to make up the Quote/Invoice.
- Ability to set payment terms on Invoices at a “customer” or “type of customer” level.
- Ability to review outstanding Invoices.
- Ability to mark an Invoice as paid or as bad debt.
- Ability to assign an organisational owner to the Quote/Invoice.
- Ability to create an Invoice without going through the Quotation stage.
- Ability to link customer Quotes to a sales prospect tool.
- Ability to set VAT rate on Quotes & Invoices (eg. Zero rated charity work etc.)
- Ability to add shipping rates to Quotes & Invoices based on geographical location and courier type.
- Ability to bundle products / services together to create bundled product / service offerings.
- Ability to submit VAT returns online in order to comply with regulations required by 2010
- Ability to offer multi-currency pricing.
- Ability to send Quotes / Invoices by email.
- Ability to allow part payment on Invoices (eg. deposits or part payment).
Expenses
- Ability to create a supplier list.
- Ability to raise a Purchase Order Number against a supplier.
- Ability to raise payments against Purchase Orders and Supplier accounts.
- Ability for employees to electronically input expenses including amounts,purpose and payment categories.
- Automatic approval process for employee expenses.
- Ability to track payments against Purchase Orders, Supplier accounts and individuals employee expenses.
- Ability to categories expenses so category reporting can occur.
- Ability to collate employee working time against a project and associate it with and invoice.
Reporting
- Ability to generate cash book and day book reports in real-time.
- Ability to generate graphical reports to track growth.
- Ability to generate reports detailing number of Invoices paid at the end of the month and the Conversion rate for Quotes to Invoices assigned to sales people.
- Ability to view Quotes see what prospects are due each month and report against a target for each customer.
- Top X most valuable customers.
- Top X most profitable products / services.
- Top X Debtors.
- Ability to export data into standard format for use in Sage, Quickbooks etc.
- Trend Analysis.
This is a great addition to the existing BT BizBox functionality providing you the community, with the full business in a box solution.
Thanks
Sarah
BT Tradespace
Welcome BT Tradespace customers to BT BizBox.
We have now teamed up both applications offering customers a complete sales journey.
We are keen to learn from our BT Tradespace customers who have registered for an account.
Please let us know what you think to the application and provide us with your feedback on our forum
If there are things that work well with BT Tradespace let us know, and we can adapt BT BizBox to suit your requirements.
Thanks
Sarah
BT BizBox and BT Tradespace
BT BizBox is working with BT Tradespace
At BT BizBox’s we provide simple to use business productivity tools for small businesses.
BT Bizbox is a great tool for collating, recording and storing customer and contact information, however we know that there is a stage before this and that is winning the customer.
We understand that it is important that you can easily interact and network with peers, partners and your customers in a community. Because of this, BT BizBox has teamed up with BT Tradespace offering you a complete journey from winning the customer through to quoting and invoicing your customers.
BT Tradespace is an online community that brings small businesses and individual sellers together with potential customers to do business.
By becoming a member of the BT Tradespace community, you can reach your prospective customers using a range of powerful and easy-to-use online marketing tools including blogs and podcasts to tell potential customers about your business, expertise and interests. Photo and video sharing allows you to showcase your products and services easily.
BT Tradespace is also a place to interact with your customers and build trust through comments, reviews and ratings. You can also recommend other businesses that you work with or know and like, the perfect referral model.
There are two BT Tradespace products, BT Tradespace Basic which, is a free service and BT Tradespace Contact which, is a premium service.
Have a look at the product and register for an account http://www.bttradespace.com/
BT Tradespace is evolving fast and the BT team are very keen to receive your feedback on the service via their forum or blog
Thanks
Sarah
What are we upto this week?
I have already provided you with an update on where we are with finalising the financial specification this week, however we are also carrying out a rollout tonight to provide you with some additional functionality and improvements.
During the early hours of the morning we will be doing a rollout to fix to a couple of bugs which, have been highlighted to us via email, we will be improving the dashboard and also adding geocode data functionality.
In October we are hoping to have the user interface of BT BizBox revamped, however in the meantime we are going to rollout an interim dashboard, it will provide you with a cleaner view and will be easier to use.
We are also providing you with the ability to upload customer information to the application and addressing a number of other minor issues, which will assist with the work flow of BT BizBox.
In addition we will be rolling the ability to have geocode data on postcodes. This functionality is great - it will provide you with a greater level of detail about the locations of your customer, contacts etc. If you are going to visit your customers it will show you what the weather is like there and will give you a map and the directions so you don’t get lost
By having this functionality built into BT BizBox it will allow us in the future to add the ability to see which of your customers are nearest you in order for you to plan your journeys, visits and marketing campaigns etc.
Have a play with the new rollouts and give us your feedback via our forums http://www.btbizbox.com/discuss
Thanks
Sarah
Latest updates
For those of you following our forum www.btbizbox.com/discuss will have seen that we had planned to publish our final financial specification this week. However, due to some last minute feedback from customers we are going to continue working on it into next week. We will update the forums with our progress.
Also the rollout of the new sign up pages have been delayed, we will continue testing and these will now go live next week, out of hours. Once again we will keep you posted via the forum of the actual date.
Thanks.
BT BizBox discussion forums
Have you checked out our discussion forums recently? www.btbizbox.com/discuss
We have provided a review of how we are using BT BizBox, in particular the new project management functionality and the ability to upload documentation to customer accounts.
Feedback from customers recently has been concentrated on the security of BT BizBox, so we have provided an update on our security procedures and processes and asked for your comments.
We are also seeking feedback from you on whether you are finding our blog and forums useful, and if there are any other ways we can improve our communication with you.
If you are finding this blog useful - click on the “digg it” link and follow the process
Thanks
Sarah
User stories
Hi,
Since the launch of BT BizBox on the 22nd August we have seen a steady increase of users signing up for an account.
As there are a number of you using the service we are keen to see how you are using it.
We have created an area on our discussion forums for you to tell us how you are using BT BizBox and provide each other with examples.
We are using BT BizBox ourseleves to manage our business and we have provided an initial overview in the forum of how BT BizBox helps us manage our tasks and workloads regardless of where we are, provided we have internet access. In the coming days we will be providing examples on how we use the new project management module and other functionality.
So, we are encouraging you to log on to the forums and lets us know your experiences of using BT BizBox and I am sure it will help others
Here is the link to our forums http://www.btbizbox.com/discuss and click on “User Stories”
Thanks
Sarah
BT BizBox Help & Support
Have you visited our discussion forums? www.btbizbox.com/discuss
We have uploaded our latest video demonstrating the new project management functionality.
Thanks
Sarah
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BT BizBox is a simple to use, "Business in Box" solution aimed at small and medium sized businesses.
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