Talisman Products

Talisman Features Described

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Clients

Client records are used to record and retrieve core information about companies you work with or would like to work with.  You can record basic information including company name, address, phone, fax and web site details.  In addition, you define the standard characteristics of the company through profile codes and unlimited notes.   Each time an activity is recorded against any of the Contacts at a Client, the information is available at the Client level so you can see all of the transactions that have taken place for the Client whether they are new Jobs, interviews, mailshots, emailshots, meetings, telephone calls etc.  In addition, if the company is a member of a Group you can analyse activity just for the Client or for the Group as a whole.

Contacts

Contact records are used to target specific individuals or functions within a business.  There can be any number of contacts within each client and each can be separately profiled.  HR manager, Finance Director, Line Managers can all be recorded on the system with their individual characteristics, contact details, unlimited notes.  All activity with the contact can be recorded and viewed at any time including Jobs received, CV’s sent, telephone calls, emails, meetings etc.
The Talisman Contact listing allows you to select contacts for targeted mailshots, emailshots or spec CV’s.  Selections can be made by profile codes, text searching, radial distance searching (from a post code area). 
In addition, you can create Favourite lists which give great flexibility and, once set up, reduce search times and admin costs.  For example, if you receive quality cv’s for a particular sector (IT, Accountancy, Legal, etc) than you can create favourite lists for each sector for the contacts you regularly send new quality cv’s to.

Candidates

The Candidates system allows you to maintain comprehensive records of all candidates you have an interest in whether they are active, inactive, hot, historical.   New candidates can be entered manually or automatically through Talisman’s integrated cv parsing functions.  As soon as Candidates are added, they are available for word searching but you can also profile candidates using the excellent profiling system, maintain extensive notes, record detailed availability.  All activity with the candidate can be recorded and viewed at any time including Jobs selected or short listed for, interviews arranged/ attended, Bookings and placements, telephone calls, emails, SMS texts sent, meetings etc.  Candidates can be viewed in précis or full mode.
The Talisman Candidate listing allows you to find candidates for specific requirements, targeted mailshots, emailshots or SMS texts.  Selections can be made by profile codes, text searching, radial distance searching (from a post code area) and cv word searching using the full range of boullian operators.  In addition, the sector leading intelligent search and match software from the Burning Glass corporation is currently being integrated into Talisman which will provide the highest quality selection functions currently available. 
In addition, you can create Favourite lists which give great flexibility and, once set up, reduce search times and admin costs.  For example, if you deal with certain trades (plumbers, electricians, carpenters, bricklayers) or with professional sectors within legal, finance, IT, administration etc, you can create favourite lists for each of these options and, immediately, send out emails or texts to the appropriate group when a new requirement comes in.

Jobs and Requirements

The Talisman Jobs system allows you to record full information for each requirement you receive from a Client contact and then manage all aspects of Candidiate selection, tracking and placement.  Consultants and Admin teams can manage the recruitment process in all of its forms for Permanent, Contract and Temporary jobs where:
  • A permanent vacancy is one where the Candidate will work for the Client’s company in a permanent capacity and where we are not responsible for the ongoing management of that person once they have started
  • A contract vacancy is an interim assignment for a specific period and tends to be for a longer period of time than a Temporary vacancy
  • A temporary vacancy is a short term, interim assignment that may be ongoing
As a general rule of thumb, permanent and many contract vacancies require extensive searching capability against a range of factors including CV word searching, skills (profiles), locations etc, short list and interview management.  Temporary and some contract vacancies require less extensive searching (often a single skill or trade) but are more dependent on availability and, to some extent, mobility.
When adding a vacancy into Talisman, the process has two distinct phases – Job and Placement/ Booking.    The base information for the vacancy is held against the Job and this is the first thing you need to add when your client has agreed for you to work on the role.   The Talisman Jobs system provides the following high level functions:
The Talisman Jobs system provides comprehensive facilities to manage the recruitment process though all of its steps including:
  • Adding the Client’s requirements to Talisman
  • Advertising the Job on web sites
  • Creating shortlists from scratch or from existing Favourite lists
  • Communicating with Candidates and the Contact by email or SMS text
  • Tracking Candidates through the recruitment process
  • Full notes and Diary recording of all activities Interview management
  • Bookings and Placements creation
Talisman Jobs includes key features that optimise the process:
  • Simple navigation using the optional Job Wizard
  • Copy Jobs from existing similar jobs
  • Extensive Job details which support posting to job web sites
  • Specific options for Contract and Temp jobs ie relevant information (including
  • End Date, Duration, work pattern, pay/ charge rates) is only displayed for
  • temporary and contract jobs
  • Help notes feature to guide consultants in entering Job specifications
  • Facility to attach the Client spec to the Talisman job
  • Autofill feature – there is a range of fields which can be defaulted for each consultant and which are automatically populated by Talisman when the new job is first created - Job type, location, industry type etc. 
  • Use of Favourite lists as a basis for the new job shortlist
  • Optional field display
  • Extensive comments area
  • Full current and historical tracking
  • Posting the job to your own and other web sites

Diaries and Reminders

Diaries and Reminders form the power base from which you can record all of the activity you have with candidates and contacts (diaries) as well as plan future activity in terms of call backs etc.  Together, the Diary and Reminders allow you to retain vital information as well as let the system remind you of tasks that need to be done.  In addition, diaries form the basis of Talisman’s powerful Management Reporting system.

Credit Control

The Talisman Credit Control module provides you with the ability to manage all aspects of this vital function.  Credit Control requirements can be separated into a number of discrete functions including:
  • Cash Collection
  • Customer Invoice Queries
  • Management Review
Credit Control not only relates to chasing overdue amounts but also looking at how  collection rates can be increased thus lowering Days Sales Outstanding by being proactive rather than reactive.  Good credit control is not only about quick, effective resolution of queries but also the ability to maximize cash flow with the timely collection of accounts that run close to or beyond trading terms. Thus a good credit control system will let the business manage its trading terms rather than manage their customers.
To provide the best solution, the Talisman team has identified the functions performed by an expert Credit Controller and matched the software to those functions.
Cash Collection
Credit Controllers need to chase up on a variety of aspects of an Account:
  • Over Credit Limit
  • Overdue Invoice payment
  • Follow up on promised payments
  • Follow up on Disputed Invoices
    Send out Chase Up Letters
Talisman provides a range of features to achieve these objectives:
  • A full range of facilities to record calls, date & times of calls, notes on discussions,
  • future reminders and letters sent via system etc.
  • Ability to email a confirmation of agreed payments to the customer direct from the system using preformatted or free format letters.
  • Ability to email copies of invoices & timesheets from the client screen.
  • Log/ history of previous calls made to customer/ contact both general calls and specific invoices.
  • Ability to easily mark/ identify items promised for payment, under query etc, and record comments, excuses or reasons as required whilst on the phone to clients.
  • Automatically record/ total amounts agreed for payment, again whilst on the phone. Schedule future task to check that the cash is received etc.
  • Accounts (individually or a/c groups) can be assigned to a specific credit controller easily with ability to list these on their own.
  • Generate call lists both globally and by credit controller. Lists can be filtered to show calls required for invoices coming due within a specified number of days, amounts overdue, follow up calls or a mixture of these as required by each credit controller.
  • Ability to view/ work within client group accounts either individually or by group showing all the accounts within the single view.
  • Flexible document creation using easily managed pre-formatted templates available with options to print/ email for a range of accounts, groups, individual account, assigned credit controller etc.
  • Ability to produce free format letters (future)
  • Ability to produce ‘confirmation’ type letters from within the customer account screens detailing agreed payment dates, queries and the likes, Copies of these would be held against the customer account for future reference.
  • Ability to email/fax copies of invoices/timesheets from the desktop and customer screens.
  • Statements and letters have the option to include or exclude any transactions marked as ‘Disputed’.
  • Electronic signatures for each Credit Controller (future)
  • Download capability to spreadsheets, word documents etc.
Customer Invoice Queries
In following up Credit Control, it may be that Customers come back with queries such as:
  • Can you send me a copy of an invoice?
  • I dispute that/ those invoice
Again, Talisman provides a range of features to deal with these situations:
  • Easily mark/ identify any invoices which the customer is disputing.
  • Ability to record comments and reasons (pre-determined in most cases) for the dispute, when it was logged, who logged it, who raised it from the client etc.
  • Disputed invoices can then be included or excluded from chase letters, statements and the like as required. When items are resolved they are flagged as such and available for payment etc.  However all notes relating to the query can be retained for future reference.
  • Ability to email a confirmation of the query items to the customer direct from the system using preformatted or free format letters.
  • Ability to send copy of the query confirmation to a divisional manager/ consultant etc.
  • Variety of detailed and/or summary reports showing ‘disputed invoices’ by division, consultant, branch, credit controller etc. These are used daily, weekly and on an ad-hoc basis.
Management Review
In addition to day-to-day chasing there will also be regular management reviews:
  • Cashflow forecasting reports based on “promised” payments (future).
  • Detailed, summary and brief Aged Debt reports - by customer, group, credit controller, ad hoc selection etc. Also selections to include/exclude ‘disputed’, show only ‘disputed’ etc.
  • Detailed debt analysis reports showing total debts, amount not overdue (£’s and %), amounts overdue (£’s and %), disputed (£’s and %) etc.
  • Query reporting for both front office and finance department uses.
    Management Review
  • In addition to day-to-day chasing there will also be regular management reviews
  • Cashflow forecasting reports based on “promised” payments (future).
  • Detailed, summary and brief Aged Debt reports - by customer, group, credit controller, ad hoc selection etc. Also selections to include/exclude ‘disputed’, show only ‘disputed’ etc.
  • Detailed debt analysis reports showing total debts, amount not overdue (£’s and %), amounts overdue (£’s and %), disputed (£’s and %) etc.
  • Query reporting for both front office and finance department uses.
  • Variety of dunning letters with various selection options.
  • Variety of statements with various selection options.
  • Monitor, record and report on activity including calls, queries raised, resolved, cash promised etc with option to run globally and by credit controller for a specific date or range of dates.
  • List of accounts/ groups by credit controller.
  • General Ledger reporting by account, group, range, credit controller etc.
  • Report on excuses/reasons for non-payment, queries per account, group, global etc.
  • Ability to print/ email copies of individual invoices, timesheets or a selection.
  • Customer spend reports by individual account, customer group etc.
  • Payment trends analysis – rolling 12 months.
  • Credit Limits, current balance, ageing of current balances (including/excluding/only queries), % of credit used.
  • DSO – including/excluding/only disputed.
  • Payment terms.
  • No of calls, no of excuses used, letters etc.
  • Average time taken to pay – last 6 month=s, last 12 months, to date etc
  • Latest ‘promise to pay’ value(s) and date(s) agreed & expected.
  • Maximum days outstanding (including/excluding/only disputed
  • Variety of dunning letters with various selection options.
  • Variety of statements with various selection options.
  • Monitor, record and report on activity including calls, queries raised, resolved, cash promised etc with option to run globally and by credit controller for a specific date or range of dates.
  • List of accounts/ groups by credit controller.
  • General Ledger reporting by account, group, range, credit controller etc.
  • Report on excuses/reasons for non-payment, queries per account, group, global etc.
  • Ability to print/ email copies of individual invoices, timesheets or a selection.
  • Customer spend reports by individual account, customer group etc.
  • Payment trends analysis – rolling 12 months.
  • Credit Limits, current balance, ageing of current balances (including/excluding/only queries), % of credit used.
  • DSO – including/excluding/only disputed.
  • Payment terms.
  • No of calls, no of excuses used, letters etc.
  • Average time taken to pay – last 6 month=s, last 12 months, to date etc
  • Latest ‘promise to pay’ value(s) and date(s) agreed & expected.
  • Maximum days outstanding (including/excluding/only disputed).