Bitrix24 CRM Key Entities

In this article, we are not going to describe features and possible interactions of all entities because I am afraid it may be more than ten thousand or even twenty thousand symbols long. But let’s try to figure out what an "entity" is and how to work with it using a simple and clear example. I recommend writing down the following term in your notebook because you will definitely need it in the future, unlike overused concepts :) 

An entity is a set of objects with certain business logic. That is, an entity includes characteristics with values conforming to certain processing rules. 

Among them, we can highlight six key entities:

• Leads. A lead is any kind of contact details provided by your prospective client. It can be a name, email, phone numbers or any other contact information.
• Contacts. An individual client can be a contact. Also, a contact may represent one or several companies. The other way around is also possible: one company has several contacts representing it.
• Companies. Well, it’s simple. A company is a legal entity with its representatives in the form of contacts (individuals).
• Goods. I hope this item is quite clear and I don’t have to think and write a lot here :)
• Transactions. This is actually the main goal of work with a client. Sale of goods or services can be a subject of transaction.
• Invoices. Once you have discussed all conditions and the transaction has been entered into, we may draw and issue an invoice to the client. It is the final stage of sale.

I think it’s time to look at the scheme of interaction of entities through a specific case. Spoiler alert: all the characters are fictitious, but the story is real.

Grigory is a wholesaler of hair care cosmetics. He has a website where you can view a product catalog and leave a request for consultation or ask a question about any hair care products. To make a request, the user shall enter his/her name, phone number, and text of the comment. 

Grigory receives a notification on a new request by email and in the same time, based on the request information, a lead is created with assignment of the responsible manager, Ekaterina. A lead card will further display all history of communication and interaction between the client and the manager, history of calls with recordings of conversations, incoming and outgoing email letters and Ekaterina’s comments. So, Grigory can check at any time how diligently Ekaterina processes incoming requests. And the manager, in turn, definitely will not get confused or miss anything out. 

Ekaterina received a notification that she was assigned a new lead, Sergey. After the first call and identification of the need, she figured out that Sergey owns a сhain of beauty salons and wants to change the supplier. Having entered the additional information, Ekaterina, based on the lead, creates a company and a contact that will represent this company. 

After long negotiations and arrangement of terms of business, it’s time to close the first transaction. Sergey wants to make an order where a part of the goods will be for his beauty salons, and a part for his personal use. In that case, Ekaterina splits the order into two transactions: in one transaction, she specifies a company as a client, and in the second transaction, a contact will be the client. The subject of transaction in both cases are the products.

When the transactions have gone through all stages, the goods have been collected and reserved for the client; it is time to draw an invoice. 

Based on the two transactions, Ekaterina creates two invoices: one to Sergey as an individual (Contact) and the other to Sergey’s chain of salons (as a company). In one click, Ekaterina emails invoices to Sergey and immediately prints them out for the accountant’s department.
 

As you can see, everything is pretty simple =) Key entities in Bitrix24 CRM allow automating and simplifying practically any business process. If your business is far more complex, let's discuss how we can optimize and adjust all business processes in your CRM.