Why Open Source CRM?
SellWinCRM is an open source CRM project. This means that customers can download the source code at no cost. This may be the best way for customers to invest in a CRM sales application. Open App, a CRM software development startup in Austin, Texas, offer comprehensive professional services centered around SellWin CRM.
A concern is that their latest version (according to their website, anyway), SellWinCRM v1.1, was released in October, 2002. One would expect a major upgrade to happen at least once a year. Software developers are not noted for their marketing skills, so maybe it is just their website that’s out-of-date. Just as well, otherwise we would be living in a world of vapourware!
Licensing Model
SellWin’s source code is distributed under a license whereby customers can keep their changes and enhancements to SellWin CRM as their own proprietary enhancements without having to share their code changes. This licensing model gives customers the maximum degree of customization. The only restriction is that customers can’t resell SellWin under a different name. You can get more details about their licensing from OpenSource.org.
SellWinCRM Features:
Wireless (Phone) Client.
- Users can access SellWin data on their phone or PDA device
Chat Client/Server.
- Users can see who is logged on and chat online with them
Opportunity Management.
- Users can manage key information about any number of sales opportunities.
Activity Scheduling
- Key sales activities can be tracked for an opportunity.
- Alarm notification alerts users to special events related to a sales opportunity.
Quote Creation
- Allows automatic configuration and quoting of products or services.
Order Generation
- Users can submit an order to a back-end system by converting an existing quote.
- An order’s status can be easily tracked.
Forecast Creation
- Sales forecasts can be entered for any reporting period.
- Forecasts can be consolidated and viewed by management.
Contact Management.
- Any number of sales contacts (e.g. managers, users, client, prospects) can be created and associated with an opportunity.
Sales Funnel.
- Allows for the graphical tracking of an opportunity through a multi-stage sales process.
Disconnected/Connected Modes
- Allows users to work remotely, disconnected from their corporate server and then synchronize their work when connected.
- All of a user’s data can be downloaded to their laptop.
User Group Adminstration
- Users are associated with a user group.
- User groups can be defined to represent a sales group or team.
Customer Administration
- Allows for the creation and updating of customer information separate from the creation of an opportunity.
Multiple Language Support
- Allows the GUI user to view screen labels in multiple languages.
HTML Help.
- Help text for each screen is presented in HTML format.
- Companies can customize the help text using HTML.
Services: User Training
- SellWin training sessions are offered on your site to any number of users or any type of audience (executive, technical, end-user).
System Integration
- Software development services are offered to help integrate SellWin into your infrastructure and to communicate with legacy systems.
- Open-App can offer recommendations on platforms and tools required to implement SellWin.
Support
- On-call or on-demand service contracts are available.
Pre-Loaded Hardware
- SellWin can be delivered to a customer site pre-loaded and configured on the hardware of your choice.
Technical Information
EJB
SellWin uses the JBoss EJB application server for serving the various Java clients. EJB is an enterprise open system platform that enables client-server communications and component architectures.
Cross Platform
SellWin is written entirely in Java and can run on any Java (J2SE) capable platform including UNIX, Linux, and Windows. WinSell’s database components are written in JDBC to provide access to any database platform.
J2ME
The WinSellCRM wireless client application is developed using the Java 2 Micro Edition architecture for MIDP devices. J2ME devices can include phones, PDAs, and pagers.
JavaDoc
SellWin’s source code is written with internal code comments formatted in the JavaDoc style. All source code documentation can be viewed as HTML.
Swing Client
SellWin’s GUI is constructed using the Java Swing API. This provides a robust set of user interface controls that a power user expects. Using Swing, allows SellWin to optimize network traffic between the GUI and server components, thereby reducing network waiting for end users.
JDBC Database Access
SellWin interacts with it’s databases via JDBC calls. Using JDBC enables SellWin to store it’s data in a variety of databases including: DB2, Oracle, and MySQL.
Download SellWinCRM
SellWinCRM can be downloaded from the SourceForge project site at http://sourceforge.net/projects/sellwincrm. The CVS repository is located at (offending dead link) http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/sellwincrm