Setting up Email Integration

on 13 Oct 09

Type: Knowledge Base     Category: Administration

If you need any further assistance getting things going, please don't hesitate to contact the support team.  This documentation will cover the setting up of incoming email into your CRM system, where all new emails will be added to the system as Cases.

Please note that currently only IMAP servers are supported for incoming email processing.  Please see your email provider or local IT support person for any clarification needed on what you're currently using.

Case Management and Email Integration Workflow

When a brand new enquiry comes in via email, Leopard CRM will process this new email and do the following:

• If the subject does not contain [LCxxxxxxx] (where x is the customer's case number) the email is for a new Case.
• When a new Case is created, it will also attempt to match the From email address to an existing contact within the CRM system.  If there is only one matching email address, then it will assign the Case to the appropriate Contact.
• If the email address is in the system multiple times, then Leopard CRM will attempt to also match by First Name and Last Name as provided in the From field of the email.
• If no Contact can be found, then a new Contact is created.
• If the Email system created a new Case and a new Contact but the Case is then marked as SPAM, the system will also delete the Contact that it created.
• If the subject does contain a case number, then the email content is added to an existing case and the case is marked as "New" or unread.

Incoming Email Integration Setup

To set up Email Integration, please follow these steps:

1. Click "CRM Admin" in the top right hand corner of your screen.  If you do not have the CRM Admin button appear, it means that you do not have administration privileges on your account.  Please see your CRM Administrator for help.
2. Under the Email Integration section, select "Email Processors".
3. Here in the Email Processors screen you will see any processors that you have previously created.  You will have one Email Processor for each email account that you'd like to have processed by Leopard CRM.
4. Click the "New Email Processor" link at the top of the screen to create a new Email Processor.
5. When creating a new Email Processor, all fields are required.  Please ensure that all details are correct.
   1. Email Address: the email address that you are creating incoming processing for.
   2. Name: a meaningful name for this email account, for example, "Sales" or "Support" to help distinguish between the different processors.
   3. Active: when this is selected, the processor will be running for new emails.  You can have the option to deselect it if you wish to temporarily disable processing of new emails for any reason.
   4. Server/IP Address: the name of your mail server, eg: "mail.myisp.com"
   5. Type: in the current version of Leopard CRM, the only supported server type is "IMAP". The other commonly used type is a "POP" mailbox account. POP support will be released in an upcoming release of Leopard CRM.
   6. Port: will usually be one of the following:
      • 143 - the standard IMAP port number
      • 585 - IMAP-SSL
      • 993 - IMAP over SSL (aka IMAPS)
   7. Use SSL: use SSL encryption, if you are using port numbers 585 or 993, you will most likely want this selected.
   8. Login: the login name for your email account.
   9. Password: the password for your email account.
   10. Auto reply to sender: when Leopard CRM processes a new email and creates a new case, if this is selected, Leopard CRM will email the sender informing them that a case has been created and will provide the case number. When a mailbox is first setup with Email Integration, auto replies are NOT sent as potentially you will have old emails sitting in your mailbox that you have already responded to.
6. Click the "Save" button when you have finished entering the mailbox details.

You have now setup initial integration with your email.  You will notice that your integration is not active yet, this is because Leopard CRM needs to know more information about how to handle incoming emails.  This is done via Email Processor Filters.  An Email Processor Filter tells Leopard CRM what type of cases to create for incoming emails from this mailbox and who to assign them to.

Setting up an Email Processor Filter

To create your first Email Processor Filter please follow the steps below:

1. Click the "New" button next to the Email Processor Filter heading.  You will be able to see this on the screen immediately after creating your Email Processor from the previous section.  If you have moved to a different screen, to get back to your Email Processor, go to "CRM Admin" -> "Email Processors" -> then select your email processor by clicking on the email address.
2. The screen to setup a new Email Processor Filter will have the following fields:
   1. Match field, Match rule, Priority and Stop filtering: currently Leopard CRM only supports one, default, filter per mailbox.  For the moment, youcan ignore these fields, they will be used in future versions of Leopard CRM.
   2. Case type: the Case Type selected here will be what Leopard CRM assigns to any new cases created from incoming emails.  As an example, if the email address you are setting up is your customer service email, you would likely choose "Customer service" or a similar Case Type to assign cases to.
   3. Case priority: the Case Priority that Leopard CRM should give to new cases created from the incoming emails.  This can depend totally on your organization, and how you prioritize incoming customer emails.
   4. Assigned to: the user to who new cases will be assigned to.
   5. Managed by: the user that will be managing new, incoming cases.
3. Click "Save" when you've finished filling in the information.

You should now have an "Active" Email Processor.  You should now test your setup by sending an email to your mailbox that you have setup.  It may take up to 5 minutes for the new case to be created, but you should get a new case, along with an auto response, if you opted for it when setting up your integration.

After testing, if you do not receive any new cases, or if you have any problems whatsoever, please do not hestitate to send an email to our Technical Support team for assistance.