Client Management System
The CMS system was developed originally for the Benefit Agency in the early 1990's. The requirement then was for a simple ticketing system with a call forward facility and simple visitor statistics. The original specification prevented the recording of any visit history and so for the first few years only a set of basic daily and weekly statistics were recorded. Once the problems of the Data Protection Act had been sorted out, the system started to evolve into a full client management system which today provides a full history of a clients visits, calls and correspondence with the users system. Support for multiple offices is integral in the current system, along with easy integration with other web based systems used on a site.
The basic functions of issuing tickets to visitors to an office are integral to the system, and warning staff when those visitors have been waiting too long assists in improving client management. Added to these facilities are the ability to provide all of the facilities normally reserved for expensive 'CRM' systems. The system has maintained a full history of a clients interaction with an organisation since the mid 90's, long before CRM systems were being designed, and small office sites can benefit from all these facilities for much less than the cost of the 'big boys'.
We would recomend that you read a potted history of how the Client Management System has developed and what is available before digging into the fine detail of how it all works. This will give you an understanding of how things have evolved and where we are currently.