Life and Times with ACT! by Sage

Should ACT! by Sage move into the “Cloud”?

2009-11-11T02:15:00.001+11:00

There has been a lot of discussion about "cloud computing" or SaaS (Software as a Service) – even some by Sage management on the ACT! Community Leadership Blog. So I thought it would be a good topic to discuss

With most ACT! users who have modern Smartphones/PDAs now wanting wireless updates. The options for that either require the user to have web infrastructure or use an externally hosted sync server. As most ACT! users (other than Prem for Web) not having the systems and/or skills, those PDA links doing this are using the cloud and charging for the service.

Handheld Contact only offers subscription based, CompanionLink offers it as an option and Sage are looking at their own solution (ACT! Mobile Live)

In a recent discussion in the ACT! Fanatics Group, Sharon Randall of SJR said she, and many of her users, prefer CompanionLink because it's a one-off purchase. Ignoring other feature differences to HHC, this also means it is only a connected cable sync - no updates on the road. It's also the primary reason I've seen when users pick CL over HHC.

This is also one reason a user might choose ACT! over SalesForce. There are many others, but this is a core difference.

But, at the same time, there are users starting to ask for more cloud options from ACT! – and there certainly has been movement in that direction, at least with a deal Sage Australia did with a local host.
See comments below http://blog.glcomputing.com.au/2009/11/supporting-remote-users-with-act-by.html

The ability to share remotely means cloud is nearly always the better option for users with PDAs - except for the single user who isn't sharing their data. But what about other functions? Or even ACT! itself?

I also have a personal interest in your opinions on this... our soon to be released Accounts Master! (to integrate with accounting software like QuickBooks) will also use a subscription model. We did this because:

It will work for users where the accounts staff don't use ACT! and ACT! users don't have access to accounts – It will even work with Web versions, Sync users, Term Services and hosted.
It means we don't have to explain to users who upgrade ACT! and then get upset that they have to also pay for their add-ons to be upgraded - it does take work to accommodate changes with each new version of ACT!
We can roll out enhancements when they are ready, rather than having to wait till we have enough to justify an upgrade fee or having to really a build with bugs to meet a marketing timeframe - this is something I really like about Handheld Contact

So... after all this: What do you think about cloud/subscription Vs purchase/upgrade?

With some users wanting Cloud and others resisting, which camp are most ACT! users in now?
Will this change over then next year or two?
Should Sage wait for the ACT! user-base to demand this as they mature (if this is the future) or should they lead?
If Sage moves to early, it may upset some users... but will it upset enough that it's a worry?
Might this be an issue in some areas in the world where internet access, reliability and speeds are not as good?

Alternatively, without the cloud, how would users feel to a subscription model for ACT! in their own office - an annual license key and has to be renewed, but includes upgrades? I guess this is like Upgrade Insurance

For ACT! resellers, I've asked a follow-up in the ACT! Resellers Group on LinkedIN

I’d appreciate any thoughts or comments you might have. Thanks.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,Sage,CRM,PDA,QuickBooks,Cloud,SaaS

Supporting Remote Users with ACT! by Sage

2009-11-05T02:45:00.001+11:00

With users like the Professional Sales Road Warriors that made up much of ACT!'s early user base to field service technicians, trades-people, telecommuters who work from home, remote offices and others who need access to their data while out of the office, ACT! has needed to make use of every changing technology so that the data can be provided to the users as they need it.

From it's creation in 1987, ACT! has been at the forefront of remote and mobile users. From the ability to merge databases with ACT! for DOS 2.0 in 1990 (where users would need to bring their databases into the office to sync) then through the HP95LX PDA version in 1992 and ACT! Mobile Link for laptop users in 1995, ACT! users have been able to access ACT! while remote from their office.

Over time advances in internet speeds, more scalable databases, browser technologies and other technological improvements have made it easier for organisations to implement and administer remote access solutions for their staff.

Currently, there are a range of options available to provide this remote access but users are often not sure how to determine the solution most suitable for them. So I thought I'd provide a selection of the most common options available... but remember, that for many sites, a combination of these should be implemented.

Direct Access of the database via VPN

Infrastructure
- Requires the technical skills to setup and maintain VPN server
- Needs higher than normal internet bandwidth as the VPN protocols use up a significant amount
- Users lose access to the data if their internet connection goes down
Installation
- Sharing a database over a VPN is no different than sharing the database over a LAN. Each remote user must obtain a copy of the .PAD file for the shared database and have read/write access to the database folder and the Supplemental Files folders.
- See - http://blog.glcomputing.com.au/2009/02/sharing-act-network-or-sync.html
- Firewall exceptions on server should be same as for LAN
Administration
- Administration and Maintenance of the VPN needs to be done well. Many VPNs tend to drop out WINs and then ACT! won't be able to find the server
- It is usually more reliable to use the IP address of the server in the PAD file rather than the machine name. But for most VPN implementations, using Sync is the best solution.
- All users need to be using the same version and build of ACT! - so upgrades and patches need to be carefully planned
Speed
- Speed is dependant on both the bandwidth of the main server and the bandwidth that the users connect to the internet
- Remember that most consumer internet connections don't have as fast an upload speed as they do download - if the server is also on a consumer grade connection, the actual speed will be the slower of both the user and server.
- Due to the overhead of the VPN protocol most internet connections won't be adequate and users may be better using sync
Security
- If the VPN is set up correctly, this type of access is very secure.
- User access to records can be determined by Limited Access in the Premium editions
- Other security may need to be implemented if you wish to prevent users from exporting or reporting data that they have access to locally

ACT! Synchronisation Services

Infrastructure
- Remote users only need direct connection to the master database when they need to sync
- ACT! by Sage does require ACT! to be open and logged into the Publisher database to sync but Premium editions can use Network or Internet sync servers to allow sync as a Windows service
- Sync for remote users doesn't require Internet Sync server (which uses IIS). It can also be done with Network Sync server and port forwarding or VPN using a VPN server or Hamachi
Installation
- ACT! is set up normally, but then Remote Data Base files are created for each remote.
- For more info, see:
  http://blog.glcomputing.com.au/2009/01/sharing-act-network-or-sync-part-1.html
Administration
- All users need to be using the same version and build of ACT! - so upgrades and patches need to be carefully planned. If using sync server, these should also be updated when patching ACT!
- Note: If you update the local users, the remote users still access their local data and can sync when you update them.
- If syncing a database larger than 4GB and wanting all data to sync, needs SQL standard at each point the database will be located
- Sync can be automated with ACT! Scheduler - better if using Premium
- The Administrative Dashboard can be used to determined when users sync
- If using sync via VPN, administration and maintenance of the VPN needs to be done well. Many VPNs tend to drop out WINs and then ACT! won't be able to find the server
Speed
- Speed for each user is dependant on their local hardware (RAM and HDD speed)
- Speed for the sync is dependant on the bandwidth between the user and server. If using VPN, speed is reduced due to the protocol overhead.
- Sync speed depends on volume of changes and bandwidth of connection - especially if syncing a large number of attachments
- As only the delta (changes) are sent, this uses less bandwidth than a direct connection
Security
- Users only have access to the records in their defined sync set and, if using the Premium editions, that they have access to
- The sync process itself is reasonably secure as data is encrypted during the sync process (I have not heard of a breach)
- Additional layers or security can be achieved by:
  - Using a different port for the sync process
  - Sync via VPN - this is a very secure protocol and removes the need for port forwarding from the internet to the database server
  - If using Premium Editions, putting the Sync server in a DMZ

ACT! Premium for Web

Infrastructure
- Requires a Windows server running Internet Information Services (IIS) - can be hosted by a third-party if the user lacks infrastructure or skills. If hosted, it is better to select a host who specialises in ACT! for Web hosting and knows how to maintain it
- Remote users only need a supported web browser and internet connection
- ACT! for Web is also the only solution for allowing access to MAC users (internal or remote) via the Safari browser support (currently Safari 3.0)
Installation
- Installed once on IIS server. Easiest and fastest install for IT with suitable skills
Administration
- Easy to administer and maintain as everything can be on a single server. It's a bit more complex if using multiple servers
- IT doesn't need to worry about remote users OS or hardware
- Sharing of user preferences makes admin and backup a bit easier. while not the default, is done as per this ACT! Knowledge Base article
Speed
- Speed is dependant on the server speed, configuration and bandwidth
- For large volumes of users, implementing one or more web servers separate from the database server allows better allocation of resources
Security
- As this is a Premium edition, users only have access to records according to ACT!'s Limited Access and Teams
- Additional layers or security can be achieved by:
  - Using a different port for the web server
  - Putting the IIS server in a DMZ
  - Using HTTPS/SSL
  - Requiring Windows Authentication to the Virtual Folder before getting access to the ACT! for Web interface
  - Access Web via VPN

Remote Desktop (Terminal Services, Citrix)

Infrastructure
- Requires Windows Terminal Server, Remote Desktop Services in Windows 2008 or Citrix - can be hosted if user lacks infrastructure or skills
- Remote users only RDP client and internet connection
Installation
- Installed once on server.
- Here are the steps to install on Windows 2008 Remote Desktop Services
- Requires some additional work for Outlook integration. See: this ACT! Knowledge base article
Administration
- Easy to administer and maintain as everything on a single server
Speed
- Speed is dependant on the server speed, configuration and bandwidth
- For large volumes of users, implementing one or more client servers separate from the database server allows better allocation of resources
Security
- If using a Premium edition, users only have access to records according to ACT!'s Limited Access and Teams
- RDP on TS and Citrix provide a range an additional security options

Included ACT!Link for PDA/Smartphones

Infrastructure
- Currently supports Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices (no Palm OS support for Windows 7, so no ACT! Link support)
- Uses direct USB connection to full ACT! client - no support for Web or Remote Desktop (Terminal Services/Citrix)
- Only supports fields and functions in PDA PIMs
Installation
- Installed on each user PC
- Care needs to be taken for supported Phone OS and driver versions, depending on version of ACT!
Administration
- Can be complex to maintain with issues if user updates their phone OS or driver
- Admin can only set if the users can sync via Manage Users
- Administrator has no control over what is sync'd and connection issues are known to cause duplication in the ACT! database
- No access to Custom Activity types
- No support for Activities, Notes, Histories that link to multiple contacts
- Calls, SMS, Emails sent from phone not recorded in ACT!
Speed
- Speed is dependant on the phone type and amount of data sent
Security
- If using a Premium edition, users only have access to records according to ACT!'s Limited Access and Teams
- User can select to sync any records they have access to
- Data on lost phones can't be wiped

Handheld Contact Sync to PDA/Smartphones

Infrastructure
- Currently supports Blackberry OS and Windows Mobile devices with iPhone due soon
- Uses a console with wireless sync - fully supports Web and Remote Desktop (Terminal Services/Citrix)
- Basic/Entry supports fields and functions in PDA PIMs
- Professional Edition adds support for up to 76 fields and many additional functions
- When Console installed on PC not hosting ACT! database requires change to service login
Installation
- Installed on ACT! server, it's own server or on each user's PC
- Easiest PDA solution to remotely configure and install remotely for one or more devices
Administration
- Very easy to roll out and maintain
- Administrator controls what data is sync'd and how often.
- Administrator can set contacts sync'd with each user based on Groups an Activities
- No known issues with duplication of ACT! data
- HHC Professional supports ACT! Custom Activity types for activities and history
- HHC Professional supports Activities, Notes, Histories and Email that link to multiple contacts
- Calls, SMS, Emails sent from phone recorded in ACT! if instigated from HHC Professional
Speed
- Speed is dependant on the phone type and amount of data sent
- As HHC can send items based on Groups or Activities, users can reduce the number of records they keep on the phone
Security

Administrator has full control over what is sync’d to each user
Data on lost phones can be erased remotely by Admin, providing phone in radio range and turned on
Data is sent securely via https and encrypted

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT,ACT! by Sage,CRM,Remote,Web,IIS,Synchronization,VPN

A couple of useful Outlook tools – #Xobni and #LinkedIN

2009-09-30T13:44:00.001+10:00

I hope my regular readers won’t mind if I digress from my usual ACT! related posts and add this article on a couple of free tools I find really useful for Outlook - Xobni and LinkedIN Outlook Toolbar

Both of these tools are useful in finding contacts as well as developing and maintaining your relationships, and so are useful for the types of work that ACT! users like to do. I fact, I believe both of these would be great functions to add to ACT! itself.

Xobni
Xobni is an add-in that indexes your Outlook data and then provides a number of useful functions: Very fast searching across your email file. It’s pretty much instantaneous on my Outlook file, which is over 6GB! Ability to link multiple email addresses to a contact if the contact has more than one address or if their address changes over time Additional information on your contacts from sources like LinkedIN, FaceBook, Twitter and Hoovers. Reports on the times you usually correspond with the contact via email Find other contacts that might be connected from emails between you and the main contact where others have been included in emails To: CC: Sort all emails between you and the contact into threaded conversations – even if the various emails are in different Outlook folders File all attached files sent between you and the contact Auto suggest addresses from your contacts when creating a new email After you install Xobni, your system may run slowly for a day while it creates it’s index. Do not be concerned by this. Once it has completed the index it will speed up your day. *Note: If you’d like to see Xobni create a link to ACT! by Sage, please add a vote on this post on the* *Xobni Community Site*
LinkedIN Outlook Toolbar
LinkedIN is a business oriented social network. Their Outlook add-in is a powerful resource for building and maintaining your network from inside your email system. Functions include: Build your network selecting from people you email often Create Outlook contacts by highlighting their info in an email and selecting Grab See suggestions of who to invite based on email frequency Invite with one click to build your network faster – using custom templates Update your Outlook contacts with LinkedIn profile information Receive notifications when your contacts change their LinkedIn profiles See LinkedIn mini-profiles for everyone that emails you Use the LinkedIn dashboard to stay up to date with your network with suggestion of emails you might need to reply to or follow-up Access LinkedIn with one quick and easy click ACT! users should also join the LinkedIN ACT! Fanatics Group

Both of these outlook add-ins are free and Outlook users should give them a try

Technorati Tags: Outlook,LinkedIN,Xobni,SCRM,Social Media,Facebook,Twitter,ACT!

How to Download and Apply the ACT! by Sage 2010 Hot Fix 2

2009-09-22T08:47:00.001+10:00

his documentation describes Hot Fix 2 for ACT! 2010 for the following versions:

ACT! by Sage 2010
ACT! by Sage Premium 2010
ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2010

Do not apply this hot fix to any other versions or products.

Note: To determine the version of the product you are using, see the version number in the Help > About box. After the hot fix has been installed, the version number will read "12.0.409.0, Hotfix 2" depending on the version you originally had installed.

This hot fix applies to all international English locales.
Note: This hotfix (including any software and related documentation) is provided "AS IS." Sage Software disclaims all express or implied warranties of any kind with respect to the utility, including but not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose

Who Should Install This Hot Fix?

Hot Fix 2 for ACT! version 2010 may resolve your issues if:

You are an ACT! Premium customer whose installation includes customized databases, have upgraded from ACT! by Sage Premium 2008 or ACT! by Sage Premium 2009, and are now seeing generic application crash errors when viewing Group, Company, or Opportunity views in ACT! Premium 2010
You are an ACT! Premium customer whose installation contains fields set to “No Access” that reside in the Contact Spillover Table (spillover tables are created with customized databases). Since upgrading your database to ACT! Premium 2010, the schema update fails and corrupts the upgraded database.
You are an ACT! Premium customer whose installation contains fields set to “No Access” that reside in the Contact Spillover Table (spillover tables are created with customized databases). Since upgrading your database to ACT! Premium 2010, you are unable to build a remote database.
You are using a certified add-on application with faxing capabilities and have problems when doing a Mail Merge direct to Fax when your word processor is Microsoft® Word.

The following tables list the area affected by the hot fix, the description, and the effect of the hot fix for each known issue.

New in Hot Fix 2

Area	Description	What the Fix Does
Performance	Users see slow response time when opening a database or performing a lookup on a database that contains a large number of fields.	Enables layouts to refresh more quickly.

Fixed in Hot Fix 1

ACT! hot fixes are cumulative, so hot fix 2 also contains the following fixes distributed in hot fix 1.

Area	Description	What the Fix Does
Groups/Company/Opportunities	This issue impacts ACT! Premium 2008 or ACT! Premium 2009 installations where fields residing in the Contact Spillover Table (spillover tables are created with customized databases) are set to “No Access”. Upon upgrading the database to ACT! Premium 2010, the schema update fails and corrupts the upgraded database. The user experiences generic application crash errors when viewing Group, Company, Opportunity views in ACT! Premium 2010. ACT! Premium 2010 users who have spillover tables and set fields to “No Access” will not be able to create and restore remote databases.	Enables metadata to be created for the upgrade scripts.
Faxing	Users will not be able to mail merge directly to fax.	Enables the SDK method call to trigger a response from ACT!

Applying Hot Fix 2 for ACT! 2010

This hot fix is for version 2010. Do not apply this hot fix to any other version of ACT! To determine the version of the product you are using, see the version number in the Help About box. After the hot fix has been installed, the version number will read "12.0.409.0, Hotfix 2".
Apply this hot fix to all machines that are involved in database synchronization to avoid issues surrounding renaming layouts, queries, and reports. This includes all machines that contain the Main Synchronization Database, Main Remote Database, and machines that have the ACT! Network or ACT! Internet Sync Services applied.
Applying the Hot Fix

Log onto to your computer as an Administrator.
Stop the Network Sync Service.
Please click on the link below to download Hot Fix 2, depending on the version of ACT! 2010 you have installed and your locale.
ACT! by Sage 2010 Standard Tier (All Locales)
- ACT! by Sage 2010 Standard Hot Fix 2
ACT! by Sage Premium 2010 Tier (Locale Specific)
Close ACT!.
When the download dialog box comes up, choose Save and save to your Desktop.
After the download completes, close ACT!, Internet Explorer® and all Microsoft Office applications.
Locate the ACT12HotFix.exe that you downloaded to your desktop and double-click it to begin the installation.
The Unpacking ACT! progress indicator briefly appears followed by the Disclaimer dialog box.
Review the disclaimer, and then click Apply.
The installer verifies your Windows® rights and ensures that no open programs will conflict with the hot fix installation. If any of these conditions exist, the appropriate message will appear. Please follow the on screen instructions.
The ACT! - Applying Updates window appears while the hot fix is being installed.
When finished the ACT! dialog box appears.
Click Ok to complete the installation.
For all Windows Vista® users with UAC enabled, you will see a Program Compatibility Assistant dialog box. Click This program installed correctly to complete the installation.
Restart the Network Sync Service.
If you are using the Internet Sync Service, you must reset IIS:
1. Click Start.
2. In the Run box, type IISReset.
3. Click OK.
Start ACT!
From the Help menu, select About. The version number will "12.0.409.0, Hotfix 2".

Changes To Your Installation

Installing the hot fix applies the following files:

ActFramework.MailMerge.dll
Act.UI.Wordprocessor.dll
Act.DataCreation.dll

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage

Automating backups for ACT! by Sage

2009-09-21T15:14:00.001+10:00

One of the problems we notice is that users are not sure of the different options available to create and maintain proper backups of their ACT! data, so I thought it would provide value to list them here.

As ACT! by Sage database uses a SQL engine, it can't be backed up by simply copying the files or by using a normal backup product. The SQL service keeps a lock on the database as soon as Windows starts, even if no-one is logged into ACT!

Manual Backup

The standard function to backup a database from ACT! is: File | Backup. See:
http://kb.sagesoftwareonline.com/cgi-bin/sagesoftwareonline.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=19211

ACT! Scheduler Backup

Users should automate these to make sure data isn’t lost if it becomes damaged through a PC failure, virus or other problem.

In ACT! 2005 (7.0) to ACT! 2007 (9.0), only the Premium version can automate this with the ACT! Scheduler
In ACT! 2008 and later, automated maintenance and backups are also available with non-Premium builds
Also note: ZIP has a limit of 4GB... with ACT! 2008 and later, you can do the attached files separately if you're hitting this limit

If running Premium 2005-2007 or ACT! 2008 or later, have a look at this article to automate backups:
http://kb.sagesoftwareonline.com/cgi-bin/sagesoftwareonline.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=19218

If backing up with the Scheduler on another PC from the database or backing up to another PC, see:
http://kb.sagesoftwareonline.com/cgi-bin/sagesoftwareonline.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=17427

It's always good to do regular test restores to ensure the backup is working.
You can do this with use File | Restore
Then select Restore_As to restore the backup to a different name, location or onto a different machine

It's also useful to occasionally check that the "Backup" folder under the database supplemental files folder is empty. This is where ACT! places temp files during the backup process. If the backup fails, they remain there and will be included in any subsequent backups. You can delete any files in this folder unless a backup is currently in operation.

Batch File Backup

If not running Premium and not upgrading, you can do it this way.
Create an ACTBackup.bat file with Notepad as follows:

REM - Change these SET Parameters as appropriate for your system
SET ACTSourceFolder="C:\Act\Database"
SET ACTDestinationFolder="D:\Backups\Act\Database"
SET XcopyOptions=/M /E /C /H /O /Y /I
REM
REM - Stop ACT SQL Service
NET STOP SQLAGENT$ACT7
NET STOP MSSQL$ACT7
REM
REM - Perform copy
XCOPY %ACTSourceFolder% %ACTDestinationFolder% %XcopyOptions%
REM
REM - Restart ACT SQL Service
NET START MSSQL$ACT7
NET START SQLAGENT$ACT7
END

With the SQL engine stopped, you can use anything to copy/backup the database and supplemental files. You could replace the XCOPY with a command line ZIP or other back-up utility.
Then run the BAT file from the Windows scheduler

While you can't restore to a different name to test it with this method, you can restore to another machine, delete the PAD file and open the ADF so it resets the machine name.

ACT! Email Backup

If using the ACT! Email client, you should also back up it's database as per:
http://kb.sagesoftwareonline.com/cgi-bin/sagesoftwareonline.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=19212

Corporate and third-party Backup

Finally, if wanting to use a proper corporate backup product that understands SQL and you have a Premium version of ACT!, you can get the SA Pass utility. This is free in Europe, but does cost in other regions - contact your local Sage office for the pricing and process.

There is a third-party product with more advanced backup and maintenance options: AutoAdmin 2008/2009

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT! by Sage,Sage,SQL,Backup,Restore,Scheduler,AutoAdmin

Which MS SQL versions should you use with ACT! 2010 (#ACT2010)

2009-09-18T21:59:00.001+10:00

There have been some changes to the supported SQL versions with ACT! 2010 and some users may need to look at which version to use in order to maximise the performance or scalability of ACT!

The standard ACT! by Sage 2010 only supports SQL 2005 Express as per: ACT! 2010 System Requirements

The Premium and Corporate versions support SQL 2005 Standard and now even MS SQL 2008. For a full list of supported versions, see:

While ACT! is only shipped with MS SQL 2005 Express, you can set the Premium version up with SQL 2008 Express (x32 or x64)’ and the Corporate versions with those and also SQL 2005/2008 Standard (x32 or x64)

Note: You must purchase SQL CALs for Standard separately from Microsoft

But, should you change the version of SQL and, if you chose to, how do you do it? To make this decision, you should have a look at these:

From these, you will note that the advantages of Standard over Express are:

Express is limited to a 4GB database size – There are very few users that will reach this limit. It’s only the ACT! ADF that’s limited, it doesn’t include attachments
Express is limited to 1 CPU and 1GB RAM – If your server machine doesn’t have multiple processors and 3GB (or more) RAM, you will not see a benefit to ACT! in using the Standard version. But, on a machine suitably configured, there will be a performance advantage in using Standard.
Changing to Standard on a suitable server should definitely be considered for 25 or more users.

Here are some useful ACT! Knowledge Base articles on installing ACT! with different editions of SQL:

There are a couple of additional points to note:

While having Standard (2005 or 2008) on the server and Express on the workstations is ok. If you upgrade to SQL 2008, you must also upgrade all systems sharing the database (LAN or Sync) to 2008
You can upgrade the SQL 2005 instance of ACT7 to SQL 2008, you can’t upgrade to the x64 versions. You would need to uninstall the ACT7 instance and manually create one using the x64 edition of SQL.
While I have not tested these personally, I have been told by Sage that there is no noticeable advantage to ACT! in using SQL 2008 or the x64 versions. So the only reason to implement these would be to comply with a current infrastructure where these are already implemented.
While the Enterprise editions are not officially QA tested or supported, I have heard from a number of users that these work with the Premium and Corporate versions of ACT! as per the SQL Standard editions with the additional performance levels they provide. The same applies to using SQL 2008 Express with the standard version of ACT! by Sage – not supported, but should work if required.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,ACT! 2010,ACT2010,MS SQL,SQL

Upgrading ACT!, especially when you are using add-ons

2009-09-15T00:39:00.001+10:00

It is important to note that many add-on products will require updated versions in order to work with different versions of ACT!. If you are using any specific add-on(s), you should check with the add-on vendors to see if they support the new version and the procedures to get an updated build, if required.

For ACT! 2010 some add-ons (like Handheld Contact) just require a new download while others may charge an upgrade fee for the new version.

When upgrading ACT!, it is usually a good idea to uninstall any add-ons first. Then perform the ACT! upgrade and then install the latest versions of the add-ons after checking they support the new version.

This also applies if you want to upgrade your MS-Office version or your operating system – you should confirm that your version of ACT! supports this or if you need an upgrade.

Checking these things first reduces potential disappointment if you later find out you need other upgrades that might not yet be available or that you hadn’t budgeted for.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,Upgrade

What's New in ACT! by Sage 2010

2009-08-31T09:19:00.001+10:00

The ACT! 2010 release is focused on a number of major improvements in ACT! and includes customizable opportunities, a redesigned navigation, a new welcome page, e-Marketing* and much, much more. All this enables you to work more effectively, become more productive, and better serve your contacts. You can select one of the following links to go to the specified section in this document.
*Requires additional subscription

New Features and Functionality
This release addresses functionality that users have requested in ACT! and introduces some new features. The following lists highlights a number of the most significant: A new navigation system, Customizable Opportunities, ACT! E-marketing* , a new Report View, new reporting and dashboard components, iCalendar support, and multiple remote database creation.
*Requires additional subscription

Globalization
- Ability to specify database currency.
  - At the time of database creation, users can specify the currency that will default for all currency values in the database.
- Allow users from different ACT! languages share a database.
  - Allow users from different ACT! languages to access the same database. Example: A user has French ACT! and creates a database. A user with German ACT! should be able to access the same database.
Opportunities
- Modify Opportunities in ACT! so that they are completely customizable (like Companies, Groups and Contacts) and users can attach notes, histories, activities and documents to them.
- Add the ability to associate custom tables to Opportunities
- Modify the security model of Opportunities to allow users to limit access by teams like they can for Companies, Groups and Contacts.
- Allow users to create an Opportunity that does not REQUIRE a contact to be associated to it.
- Allow users to customize the product/services grid in the Opportunities detail view.
Navigation
- Modify the navigation in ACT! to reflect the accordion style navigation in the left navigation pane as well as adding in “Big Easy” buttons along the top row.
- After extensive user testing, it was determined that the “Look For” box in the list views was confusing to new and existing users. The “Look For” box has been hidden by default in the list views. If users wish to re-surface the box, they can use the “options” button in the list view and choose “show Look For”.
- Display the Contact List any time the user looks up all contacts. This is in response to usability test feedback in which users were surprised that looking up all contacts did not produce a list.
- When a menu has sub-menu items that are never accessible in that view, they can be removed (instead of just disabling them).
- Dynamic lookup menus so that when the menu is opened in a specific view, the menu options are specific to the view that the user is currently in.
Welcome Page
- A new view has been added into ACT! to help new users get up and running in ACT!. This new view has links to common start-up tasks in ACT! as well as many Help resources. The tasks in this new view are specific to user types in ACT!, so that non-Admins will not be shown admin-only tasks.
- The new default view for all ACT! 2010 users is the Welcome Page. However, after closing ACT! 2010 for the first time, users will be prompted to change their default view.
ACT! E-marketing*
- Added e-Marketing capability in ACT! so that users can access the functionally supplied by Swiftpage™ for marketing purposes and track the results in ACT!.
*Requires additional subscription
Colour Schemes
Web Info Tab
- New tab in ACT! that allows users to see context-aware information from the internet in both their Contact and Company views. This tab will come with several ‘canned’ links as well as the ability for users to add links that are specific to their needs.
Remote Database Creation
- The remote database creation panel has been modified to allow users to create up to 50 remote databases at one time.
Report View
- New view in ACT! that displays all the reports saved to a Users’ database. In this view, users can specify “favourite” reports, run reports, edit reports and modify the descriptions of reports
New Reports
- In ACT! 2010, there are 13 new default Opportunity reports included for all users.
  - Opportunities by Record Manager and Process
  - Opportunity Summary by Record Manager and Process
  - Opportunities by Process and Status
  - Opportunities by Estimated Closing Month
  - Won Opportunities and Days Open
  - Won Opportunity Summary by Sales Process
  - Won Opportunities by Sales Process and Competitor
  - Won Opportunities by Sales Process and Reason
  - Won Opportunities by Sales Process and Record Manager
  - Won Opportunities by Sales Process
  - Won Opportunities by Actual Closing Month
  - Pipeline Report by Sales Process and Stage
  - Pipeline Report and Products by Sales Process and Stage
New Dashboard Charts Components and Views
- 12 new dashboard chart components and two standard new dashboard views have been added to ACT! 2010. The new default dashboard views are the ACT! Administrative Dashboard and the ACT! Contacts Dashboard.
  - Recently Created Contacts
  - Recently Edited Contact
  - Contact History Count by History Type
  - Contacts by Country
  - Contacts by Department
  - Opportunities Open by Product
  - Opportunities with Contact Info
  - Opportunities by Products
  - Opportunity Weighted Total by Stage
  - Remote Database Information by User
  - Remote Database Sync Status by User
  - User Status
- The 12 new dashboard chart components all pull data from the ACT! database using the new OleDb 2.0 provider.
New OleDb Provider
- A new OleDb provider (OleDb 2.0) has been provided in ACT! 2010 that gives users access to Group/Company memberships as well as Activity information
iCalendar Support
- Users can send activity notifications via iCalendar format. If users have scheduled meetings with contacts who have an email address, they can select the item from the schedule activity dialog to “send invitation email” which will send an iCalendar object to the attendees.
- With this feature, ACT! users who use both Outlook® and ACT! can also choose to create ACT! activities from Outlook meeting requests if they have ACT! and Outlook integration setup completed.
vCard export
- User types “Admin” or “Manager” can export contact info in the form of vCard either by right clicking in the contact list view or using the “Send vCard” item from the Contacts menu.
Relationship dialog
- Users now have the ability to resize the relationship dialog
Help
- Help screen has been modified to use the same design as ACT! by Sage Premium for Web help screen.
Registration/Installation
- Reduce the number of registration questions that users must complete when they register ACT! 2010.
- Provide an automated answer file to assist in the silent install* process
  *Delivered as an MSI package. Software to distribute an MSI package is not included. Silent Activation on machines requires Internet access. Users must be machine administrators in order to activate.

Fixed Issues
Activities

In previous releases, activities with multiple resources appear as separate activities on Task List. In ACT! 2010, they are listed as one activity.
The right click menu or Activities Tab and Task List reads - Reschedule Activity3 instead of “Reschedule Activity”. This has been modified to read: “Reschedule Activity”
'Show Cleared' calendar preference is not sticking when selecting via right click/filter calendar. This preference is not sticking. This issue has been resolved.
When using the “Copy Calendar” feature, bi-weekly reoccurring activities copy incorrectly to Outlook Calendar. This issue has been resolved.
Using the 'Go to Contact' functionality brings up contact scheduled with another user's private activity. This issue has been resolved and private activities are no longer returned to users who do not have access to them.
In the mini-calendar on the schedule activity dialog, the 'start time’ calendar un-readable when scheduling activities. This calendar has been modified so that users can see the actual start time on the calendar
Activity details were deleted when the date for the Activity was changed. The details are no longer deleted.
Activity detail tab color palette duplicates when choosing the color for the detail tab multiple times. The palette no longer duplicates.
Removing attachment from activity causes object reference error and red X in task list. This issue has been resolved in ACT! 2010.

Contacts

When sorting relationships by access level, record creator or record manager fields cause list to disappear. This issue has been resolved.
In the Contact view on the activity tab, when using the filter drop downs, the drop down menus were truncated and the scroll bars were missing which would not allow users to scroll to all the items in the drop down menu. Scroll bars have been added to these drop down fields to allow for complete scrolling.
When sorting the Contact list by certain secondary fields, ACT! freezes.

Conversion/Importing

Cleared ACT 3.x, 4.x 5.x (2000) or 6.x (2004) activities were not being marked as cleared during conversion. In ACT! 2010, they are not being cleared during conversion.
The Update Database prompt gave no option to cancel. An option to cancel has been added.
Converting a 6.x (2004) database changes the create date for records to today. When users convert in ACT! 2010, the create date is preserved from the 6.x (2004) database.
Error "Define Fields encountered an unexpected error and has logged the issue" after editing a field if the dashboard is viewed first. This error no longer exists.

Layouts

When “display country code” preferences was enabled in the contact detail view, phone numbers disappear. The default layout fields have been expanded to accommodate the extra data.

Printing

Weekly calendar print view in Letter Full Page showed the start day in the upper left hand corner is the same as the end day for the week. It now shows the first and last day as range in header like all other weekly prints.
Avery ^® label 5164 was missing. This label type has been added back in.

Reporting

User specific filters defined in a report template are not respected. This issue has been resolved.
Group reports are blank when the user selects the option to include all sub-groups for selected groups. This issues has been resolved. This issue has been resolved.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by sage,ACT! 2010,ACT2010

Handheld Contact computer application release for ACT! 2009, 2008, and 2007

2009-08-25T06:03:00.001+10:00

Handheld Contact is pleased to announce an update to the computer console for Handheld Contact for ACT!.

This update of the Handheld Contact computer console is optimized for even better performance when the Handheld Contact computer console has more than 150 users sync ACT! to their phones. "We wanted to improve the performance of Handheld Contact for larger customer installations and enterprise users," says J2X Technologies President and Handheld Contact General Manager Wes Worsfold. "This release v2.1.16.0 increases the number of connections to ACT! allowing larger customer installations to sync more users, more quickly. We recommend customers with more than 100 users to implement this upgrade."

Note for upgrading: Please visit the HHC Downloads Page, select your version of ACT!, and download and run the 'Handheld Contact ACT! Computer Application' to upgrade to the latest version of Handheld Contact.

Handheld Contact is the leading product to sync data from ACT! by Sage to Blackberry and Windows Mobile Phones

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,Handheld Contact,HHC,Blackberry,Windows Mobile

Sage eSummit 2.0 – ACT! by Sage Agenda

2009-08-06T16:22:00.001+10:00

Sage Business Solutions Australia is presenting their 2nd ACT! eSummit

Wednesday 12th August 2009

To see the recording of the webinar, click here

Title	Presenter	Description	Time
Sage Marketplace	Mike Lorge, MD, Sage Business Solutions	As the leading provider of business software for small to medium businesses, Sage has a range of solutions that can automate all areas of your business, including finance, warehousing, ecommerce, distribution etc. This short session will provide a brief overview of the complete range of solution offerings provided by Sage.	10.00 am - 10.15 am
Driving Revenue & Reducing Costs with Email Marketing	Bob Ogdon, Swiftpage	This session highlights a range of effective tips to make your email marketing campaigns easy, powerful, and cost effective. Learn how Swiftpage, an integrated email marketing and Sales Force Automation solution for ACT! by Sage, allows you to deliver marketing messages to the right contacts at the right time directly from your ACT! database.	10.20 am - 10.35 am
Personalising ACT!	Allen Duet, Global CRM	Check out some of the awesome ACT! plug ins available to you on Devnet. This session will showcase how you can customise ACT! with some of these free plugins that work with the latest version. If you've always wanted to pimp your ACT!, this is a session you can't miss.	10.40 am - 10.55 am
Anywhere and Everywhere with ACT!	Mike Lazarus, GL Computing	Handheld Contact for ACT! allows you to take your ACT! database anywhere and access it from a mobile device such as a Blackberry, Pocket PC, or Treo Smartphone . Learn how this ACT! mobility solution can increase the productivity of your mobile sales force and field force agents, while keeping them connected and up to date with company and customer records. By providing simple, easy access to information through wireless devices you can greatly improve the level of service you deliver to your customers.	11.00 am - 11.15 am
Reduce Costs through Accounting Integration with MYOB	Josh Noonan, Red Onion Software	This session will highlight the benefits of integrating ACT! with your accounting system;, including:• Increased efficiency by streamlining workflows between accounts and front office staff• Increased sales opportunities by Integrating essential client information between ACT! and your accounting systems• Allow sales staff to monitor and manage customer credit• Eliminate dual entry of customer information • The complete solution for optimising workflow and increasing operating efficiency	11.20 am - 11.35 am
SMS Marketing with ACT!	Michael Bryant, ACT! Certified Consultant	SMS4ACT allows you to make sure your appointments are confirmed by sending SMS to your customers or contacts straight out of ACT!, this way you can ensure that your communication gets to the person and not caught up in the junk mail. You can also conduct SMS Marketing to your database and letting them about an upcoming specials or events. Improve the effectiveness of your communication through SMS, all the while tracking these communications against the contacts in ACT!	11.40 am - 11.55 am

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT! by Sage,CRM,Sage,Handheld Contact,Blackberry,Pocket PC,MYOB

Thoughts on ACT! 2010 beta (#ACT2010) - The good, the bad and the ugly

2009-07-28T06:38:00.001+10:00

There have been a number of posts from people on ACT! 2010 (due soon) and as we at GL Computing have been running our production data on the new version for a while, I thought I would posts my thoughts on it so far. Here is a list of what’s new in the up-coming build.

Here is the ACT! by Sage Version Comparison Chart - Compare your version to ACT! by Sage 2010

Note: The following are my personal views on the beta and features may change in the release.

Welcome Screen – A start-up screen displaying useful help links. This will be nice for new and upgrading users to learn the new functions quickly
New Look and Navigation
- While the left-hand Nav bar has some nice functions (Quick Lookup and a context-sensitive list of Related Tasks), it’s less customisable than previous versions and doesn’t allow adding of direct links to the List views or the different calendars.
- The Top icon ribbon is too large and takes up valuable screen real-estate for little value.

Customisable Opportunities – these have been given a major overhaul including:
- The ability to add custom fields to both the opportunity and to the products and services table
- Personalise the layout of the opportunity like the Contacts, Groups, Companies layouts
- Track activities, history, notes, documents and other items tied to the opportunity
- New reports and more security options

Web 2.0 Technologies – this is a nicer version of the free Contact Web Context Browser
- See your contacts’ information on a variety of Social Media and other sites, such as: LinkedIN, Facebook, Plaxo, MySpace, their web site, Google, Google Maps, Google News, Yahoo and others. It also allows you to create your own links.
- Noticeably missing from the default list is Twitter, although it’s very easy to add.
- For the Social Media sites, the links are just a search based on standard fields. To really work, this function needs to be able to enter a direct link for the contact (once found) to a “system field” and then use this link. If nothing in the field, then revert to the search. In a similar way to how Xobni does for Outlook
- Additionally, there is no way to store specific “status updates” to these sites to a history or to view a combined feed for a company or group.
- There is no way to update ACT! contact information from these sites (or at least highlight when they are different), which would be a nice option, especially from sites like LinkedIN.
- Finally, there should be an ability to post updates from ACT! to the Social Media sites and store the posts in ACT! – this would allow a company to report on and review posts made by staff across multiple sites
- I had previously posted some of these ideas in this blog post:
  http://blog.glcomputing.com.au/2009/03/act-by-sage-and-social-media-social-crm.html

E-Marketing – Swiftpage has been incorporated out-of-the box to provide:
- Better mass/merged emails
- Survey and web forms
- Drip marketing
Reports and Dashboard Components
- There have been many new reports and nice report selector with option to select favourites – it would be nice if the Favourite Reports were added to the Reports menu, even to a sub-menu.
- The Dashboard has some new components, including a Data chart (like the previously available Data Chart control) and a Facebook Friends List.
More Integration
- The ability to email activity invitations in iCal format (a function missing since ACT! 6.0 had vCal) to users of Outlook, Gmail, Apple iCal, Windows Live, Facebook, GroupWise or Lotus Notes
- Create an ACT! activity when you accept an iCal meeting request in Outlook
- Share contacts with the vCard format. Also a nice addition missing since ACT! 6.0
Administration
- Create up to 50 remote database simultaneously for easy roll-out of larger sync implementations
- Support global environments by being able to set the currency when creating the database and allowing different international versions to share the database
- New Admin Dashboard to see user information, logon and sync status and more.
Platform support – including SQL 2005 64 bit and SQL 2008 with Premium and Corporate.
- For a full list of supported platforms, see the ACT! 2010 System Requirements
- Windows 7 isn’t yet listed as it hasn’t been released yet and Sage will want to run full testing on the release version before listing it as an officially supported platform.

Sage have obviously been very busy over the past year and there are also, as one would expect, many more enhancements and improvements that will improve your ability to use ACT! to assist your business.

Overall, this is been a good beta. The product has been very stable and there is much to entice current users to upgrade, especially the opportunities area. However, I think some of the new functions could have been implemented to provide a better use of the product (the navigation) or more power (Web 2.0 Tab)

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT,ACT 2010,ACT!2010,CRM,SCRM,Sage,Facebook,LinkedIN,Social Media,Twitter,Beta,Swiftpage

ACT! 2009 11.1 Hot Fix 2 Released.

2009-07-14T12:30:00.001+10:00

Who Should Install This Hot Fix
Hot Fix 2 for ACT! version 11.1 may resolve your issues if:

You are using the ACT! for Web Client and see an error message when attempting to open an attachment that has a Microsoft® Office extension (such as .doc, .xls, and so forth.)
You are an ACT! for Web user who has installed 11.1 Hot Fix 1 and sees a deterioration in the speed ACT! List View information is updated.
You are experiencing compatibility issues with eGrabber or other 3rd party products.
You are seeing date/time on template names after a database synchronization when there isn’t any file conflict.
You are an ACT! for Windows® or ACT! for Web user seeing a "No records found" message after sorting on a custom field in the Contact, Group, or Company List view.
You are upgrading from any of the following versions of ACT!: 3.x, 4.x, 5.x (2000) or 6.x (2004) to an International English version of 11.1, and have not yet converted your database.
You are an ACT! Premium for Web user and all of your activities do not appear in the task list.
You are an ACT! Premium for Web user and have problems loading list views.

The following table list the areas affected by the hot fix, description, and the effect of the hot fix for each known issue.

New in Hot Fix 2

Area Description What the Fix Does

Attachments ACT! for Web users operating in an environment that uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) are unable to open an attachment if it has a Microsoft Office extension such as .doc or .xls. Enables users to open Microsoft Office documents in a SSL environment.

Performance ACT! for Web users find that List View information updates slowly after 11.1 Hot Fix 1 has been installed. Removes the performance degradation.

Fixed in Hot Fix 1

Area Description What the Fix Does

Contact Records In databases upgraded from version 3.x, 4.x, 5.x (2000) or 6.x (2004), the create date on Contact records changes to the current date instead of retaining the original create date. Prevents the create date from being changed if the hot fix is applied before the database is converted.

Column and spillover tables Error Message "No records found" displays when the user sorts on a field. When the user sorts on a field, the sort displays the correct data.

Synchronization File synchronization is adding a date/time stamp to file names, even when there is no conflict. Layouts, queries, and reports will not be renamed after synchronizing.

ACT! for Web list views If the user has more than 10 activities, all may not appear in the task list. Also, the loading icon remains on the screen. Allows the correct number of records to be shown in the list views.

SDK SDK 11.1exceptions resulted in third party programs encountering errors. Ensures compatibility with eGrabber and other 3rd party products.

For more information, refer to the ACT! KB25056

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage

New Subgroups for ACT! Fanatics on LinkedIN

2009-07-13T12:38:00.001+10:00

New sub-groups have been created under the LinkedIn ACT! Fanatics Group:

Sales and Marketing for ACT! users
A group to discuss general sales and marketing strategies and processes, especially as they apply to users of ACT! by Sage
ACT! and Social Media
A group to discuss ACT! and Social Media (Social CRM) - LinkedIN, Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo and any others
ACT! Add-ons
Group for ACT! users to ask questions of add-on vendors and for add-on vendors to ask users what they would like or to ask each other questions related to the SDK
ACT! Resellers
A group for ACT! Certified Consultants and other resellers to discuss best practices for selling, implementing and supporting ACT! by Sage
ACT! International Advisory Council
Council of ACT! Fanatics to discuss and evaluate technical issues within ACT! by Sage that effect international users

See the full list in the ACT! Fanatics Sub-groups

Please let me know if you have any ideas for other groups that would be useful to add

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,LinkedIN

Handheld Contact Announces New Editions including a free sync service

2009-07-09T20:26:00.001+10:00

The guys over at Handheld Contact have been busy working on new wireless syncing solutions for ACT! and they have just announced Entry and Basic Editions for Windows Mobile smart phones and Pocket PC.

Handheld Contact is known as the best solution for wirelessly syncing information between ACT! by Sage and Blackberry or Windows Mobile smart phones. It's easy, convenient, secure, and makes any ACT! user more productive.

Unlike the current version of Handheld Contact (now renamed Handheld Contact Professional), these new versions sync ACT! Contacts and Calendar (Basic Edition only) to the contact list and calendar on the phone – all wirelessly, no cables. Here are a few details:

Handheld Contact Entry Edition:
This version is free!
It limits syncing to once per day, syncs ACT! Contacts only and operates on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ support plan.

Handheld Contact Basic Edition:
This version syncs ACT! Contacts and Calendar, includes unlimited syncs and is fully supported.

Both products are certified by Microsoft’s Mobile2Market program and independently tested by NSTL and guaranteed not to create duplicate contacts or calendar entries in ACT!

Discover which edition of Handheld Contact is perfect for you.

Versions that support BlackBerry smart phones are expected later this year.

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT,ACT! by Sage,CRM,Handheld Contact,Pocket PC,Windows Mobile,Smartphone,wireless

Connecting to ACT! by Sage data

2009-07-01T20:24:00.001+10:00

A brief PowerPoint covering the different options to export and import data from ACT! by Sage.

Connecting To Act! By Sage

View more documents from Mike Lazarus.

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT,ACT! by Sage,CRM,Import,Export,Data,SQL,OLEDB,ODBC

New Handheld Contact Consoles

2009-06-25T23:10:00.001+10:00

New versions of the HHC console have been released. Here are the release notes.

Version 2.1.15.0

Fixed a syncing problem that would occur if one users account was disabled. Now disabled accounts set to sync will not interrupt syncing for other users.
Fixed a syncing problem with Private Data being sent to the handheld when the Sync Private Data checkbox was unchecked. Now, if the checkbox is unchecked Private Data will not be sent.
Fixed a problem with creating the auto-sync group if the computer's time was set to a 2 digit year instead of a 4 digit year. Now, the auto-sync group will be created regardless of the Date/Time settings.
Fixed a rare problem with the middleware server not sending data to the desktop console. Now the desktop console will continue to request the data until the middleware has responded.
Increased the maximum number of contacts that can sync to BlackBerry and Windows Mobile - Handheld Contact for BlackBerry can now sync 3000 contacts and Handheld Contact for Windows Mobile can now sync 15000 contacts!
Note: 15,000 contacts for Windows Mobile is only available for ACT! 2008/2009

Technorati Tags: Handheld Contact,Blackberry,Windows Mobile,Pocket PC,ACT!,ACT,ACT! by Sage,CRM,Mobile CRM

Register Now for the ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2010 Beta!

2009-06-21T03:41:00.001+10:00

The newly designed ACT! 2010 delivers instant knowledge about your customers using Web 2.0 technology, ability to generate actionable demand with end-to-end e-marketing, customizable opportunities, insight into your biggest opportunities with new reports and dashboards, and more!

Be among the first to receive ACT! Premium for Web 2010. All you need to do is complete participation in the ACT! Premium for Web 2010 Beta Testing Program scheduled in July and you'll be eligible to receive a free license of ACT! Premium for Web 2010 (Savings based on current MSRP). To get started, simply set up your profile on ACT.com (if you don't already have one) and complete your online participation application for the ACT! Premium for Web 2010 Beta Program.

To ensure your system meets the minimum system requirements for this new product, please click here and review the new system requirements prior to registering for the program. If you qualify and are accepted into the program, you'll be notified by e-mail in early July. Your acceptance e-mail will include program details, testing guidelines, and access to the software.

Prior to obtaining the software, you will need to sign a Beta Test License Agreement that contains strict confidentiality terms. Please read the important information below that outlines the terms and conditions of participation in the ACT! 2010 Beta Program.

As a product evaluator, your active participation and feedback will help make this great product even better.

For more information, see this post.

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT! 2010,ACT,Beta

Improve calendar performance in ACT! and other applications

2009-06-18T14:54:00.001+10:00

Microsoft have a hotfix for Windows systems that will improve application that uses UTC dates and times - including Outlook, the Windows Event Viewer and many third-party applications.

Most date and time stamps that are created and displayed in Windows and in many applications are stored as UTC. Then, they are rendered in local time by using system APIs. Examples of these include Windows file time stamps, Outlook sent and received dates, and event logging time stamps.

Not all built-in, Windows-based applications use these newly updated APIs. However, they are available to all applications, including third-party applications. These functions are useful in many scenarios, such as a user auditing scenario in which the ability to use DST rules for previous years on a current Windows service pack is important.

Generally, if an application requires historically accurate time stamps, these functions should be used.
This update improves the performance of the functions, and enables historically accurate time-stamp lookup functionality where the application uses these APIs

Tests that have been conducted with an ACT! by Sage database have found loading 16,000 activities reduced in time from 4 minutes to 9 seconds!

The update applies to the following Windows operating systems:

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2)
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Server 2008

You can read more about this update and obtain it from this Microsoft knowledge base article: Description of updates to APIs that enable Windows-based applications to retrieve historically accurate time stamps

If you download it, feel free to post here with any tests to verify improvements.

* With thanks to Sage’s Benjamin Lederer for directing me to this.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,Outlook,Performance,Windows

Register now for the ACT! 2010 beta

2009-06-11T17:39:00.000+10:00

The newly designed ACT! 2010 delivers instant knowledge about your customers using Web 2.0 technology, ability to generate actionable demand with end-to-end e-marketing*, customizable opportunities, insight into your biggest opportunities with new reports and dashboards, and more!

Be among the first to preview ACT! 2010. All you need to do is complete participation in the ACT! 2010 Beta Testing Program scheduled at the end of June and you'll be eligible to receive a single-user license of either ACT! by Sage or ACT! by Sage Premium at no cost to you (Savings based on current MSRP).

To register for the Beta, simply set up your profile on ACT.com (if you don't already have one) and complete your online participation application for the ACT! 2010 Beta Program.

To ensure your system meets the minimum system requirements for this new product, please click here and review the ACT! 2010 system requirements prior to registering for the program. If you qualify and are accepted into the program, you'll be notified by e-mail at the end of June. Your acceptance e-mail will include program details, testing guidelines, and access to the beta software.

As a product evaluator, your active participation and feedback will help make this great product even better.

Also, look for the ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2010 Beta Testing Program coming soon.

More details at the ACT! Community Site, including terms and Conditions.

Technorati Tags: ACT! 2010,Beta,Sage,CRM

Using ACT! Internet Mail client with non-standard ports

2009-05-31T00:15:00.001+10:00

It has been an issue for some years that some ISPs have been changing to non-standard ports for SMTP (usually 25) and POP3 (usually 110). This is to provide some added protection against spam and hackers.

For ACT! users, this has usually meant having to use Outlook or Outlook Express as the ACT! Internet Mail email client doesn’t support changing these ports.

While most users who have access to Microsoft Outlook prefer this as the best email client for ACT! (even more so with the current versions that integrate more tightly into Outlook), not all users have it available.

Outlook Express has other issues – no HTML email and it’s not available in Microsoft’s Windows Vista.

For those caught in this position, there is an option. You need to use port redirector software so that you can call port 25 or 110 on the local machine (or network server) and have it redirected to the port the ISP is using on their mail server.

One such product to try for this is Steel Bytes' PortTunnel.

Set the In port to be 25 (for SMTP) or 110 (for POP3) – you may not need both
For each, set the Out traffic to the port and target that your mail server requires
Then tell ACT!’s Email client to use the machine with the service (127.0.0.1 if on the local machine)

Give it a try and post a comment if it helps you.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,email,TCP/IP,port

First Certified ACT! by Sage SAGE

2009-05-30T21:53:00.000+10:00

Experts-Exchange has given the first Sage Certification in their ACT! Zone to Mike Lazarus of GL Computing, who also won their annual Titan Award

According to Experts-Exchange, “The Experts Exchange Sage is celebrated for his or her vast wisdom, unfaltering judgment and years of experience. In the way that Obi-Wan Kenobi guided Luke Skywalker to Jedi awesomeness, the Experts Exchange Sage selflessly strives to lead all members to their maximum information technology potential.”

It is novel that this, the highest certification to be awarded so far in the ACT! Zone, make’s Mike the first Certified ACT! by Sage Sage.

Mike is also Sage’s ACT! Community Leader and the leading poster in many ACT! forums including those on itToolbox and Tek-Tips

Technorati Tags: Experts-Exchange,ACT!,ACT,ACT! by Sage,Sage

How to Get Faster Technical Support for ACT! by Sage

2009-05-24T16:02:00.001+10:00

As most of my regular readers and followers know, I do a lot of on-line technical support as well as providing support services to our resellers and ACT! Certified Consultants and one of the things I notice is that I regularly need to ask users the same questions to diagnose the problem and provide a solution.

This means that the support person’s time is spent asking these and so the incident takes longer to resolve and get the user up and running. So, I thought I would provide a basic list of items to include to help any support technician resolve an incident faster.

When asking for support via email or an on-line site, it’s much easier if you write your query and necessary information in short points rather than large paragraphs. They are easier to read and respond to. Also, if asking about multiple, unrelated issues, it’s often better to do each one separately.

I will probably update this list as other common items come to mind.

Not all of these will be relevant to all support calls, but the more you provide the more likely you’ll get a faster solution.
If running on a LAN, supply any relevant items for both workstation AND server.
While these are targeted for support of ACT! by Sage, many are applicable for other software products also.

Should Have:

These items are usually necessary for any incident:

Include the full version and build of the software. This is usually found under Help | About
It is worth-while checking to see if there is an updated version available and, if so, applying it.
Remember that every ACT! system sharing a database MUST be of the same build and Hotfix.
If running a Premium version with a sync server, this includes the sync server.
If related to ACT! connecting to a Microsoft Office product, also include the version for Office.
Include the operating system – also note the service pack and if it’s 32-bit or 64-bit
In Microsoft Windows, you can find this by right-clicking on My Computer and selecting Properties
If you have an error message, include the full error.
Hint: If sending the error via email or posting to a web site, don’t do this via a screen shot.
For most Windows software, this is most easily done by clicking on the error box and pressing Ctrl-C.
Then going to the email or web post and pressing Ctrl-V.
This means you get the full error without having to re-type it and the technician can copy directly from it into any search engine they might need to access for information.
If you still think a screen shot will help to convey the problem, don’t paste it into Word.
Open MS-Paint (usually in Programs | Accessories), paste it there and then Save As a JPG file.
This makes the file smaller in size and easier for the technician to read.
If you can replicate the problem, include the EXACT steps you take.
Identify what you expected to happen and what actually happens.
Did you first notice problem after an update to ACT!, Windows or anything else on your system?
Do you regard yourself as technical or not?
This will help a good technician provide support at the right level for you.

Consider Adding:

Which items from the following list are necessary will depend on the type of problem you have:

Include hardware specs like RAM, Processor and, if known, Hard Drive speed (in RPM)
Include database specs like number of contacts and file size
If the problem is related to emailing from ACT!, include the email client you are using:
Outlook, Outlook Express, Lotus Notes, Eudora, Internet Mail (POP3/SMTP) – include the version
If running any add-ons or plugins for ACT!, name them if they might be related (or if not sure)
If for an issue with a PDA or Smart Phone, include the operating system and version
What brand of anti-virus or firewall are you running?
If your problem causes a crash or other error, see if there is anything logged in the Windows Event Viewer or ACT!’s logs. For instructions to do this, see: Tools for Viewing Error Logs
If the problems seems database specific, have you tried to repair it? For instructions, see either of: ACT! by Sage Database Rebuild and Repair Procedures or ACT! 5.0 or 6.0 Database Repair Options

What Have You Tried:

You should also include anything you might have tried to resolve the problem. Some items you might try doing, depending on the type of problem could include:

Have you checked the ACT! Knowledge Base?
This should be your first port of call as finding an answer there will take less time and get you up and running faster, especially for common questions and errors.
Does the problem happen with another database? Try opening the demo database and testing.
Hint: The login user for the ACT! demo database is “Chris Huffman” with no password
If running on a multi-user database or network:
Does the problem happen when logged into ACT! as a different user or from a different workstation?
If related to a template, report or layout, does it happen with other files?
If a connection issue, have you tried disabling the firewall and anti-virus for a test?

Other Tips:

Remember that the best and fastest support option for ACT! by Sage is by working with an ACT! Certified Consultant. They are not only well trained, but can personalise their support to better suit your specific needs and can look at your environment and business needs to suggest improvements in ACT!’s operation, design and usefulness to your business

If you don’t need an answer urgently and are more technically capable, these are some useful on-line forums that you can get peer-based support: ACT! Community Site, Experts-Exchange and itToolbox

For better web searching of ACT! related information, links to support and other useful sites as well as updates on ACT!, please download the ACT! Fanatics Toolbar

If you are on LinkedIN, I also recommend joining the ACT! Fanatics Group

Please feel free to add a comment with any suggestions you might have to improve this list.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,ACC,Consultant,Sage,Support,Technical Support

New ACT! by Sage YouTube Channel

2009-05-15T22:59:00.002+10:00

Sage has created a channel on YouTube where they have started posting videos. At this time, there are some nice case-study and user interviews.

I’m not sure what the plans are for this channel, but hopefully they’ll add more product demonstration and basic training videos like the ones I linked in this previous blog post - Free ACT! by Sage video training.

For now, have a look at these: http://www.youtube.com/user/ACTbySAGE

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT! by Sage,Videos,CRM

Connecting the Pieces of Social Media

2009-05-12T05:22:00.001+10:00

This is a first version of a new presentation I’m working on to help businesses get into social media. As uses of CRM products realise the volume of business intelligence that can be gained from these technologies, the vendors will move to incorporate them into the products.

Having access to the information in community forums, blogs, Facebook, LinkedIN and Twitter is powerful both for gaining information about customers and products as well as providing information to the market, reviewing and protecting the reputation of your brand.

Connecting the Pieces of Social Media

View more presentations from Mike Lazarus.

Please feel free to add any comments or suggestions that you would like added.

Technorati Tags: Social Media,Twitter,FaceBook,Blogs,Social CRM,CRM

Social Media -- Marketing “Campaigns” or Collaborations

2009-05-02T05:44:00.001+10:00

This is a reply to a post on the ACT! Leadership Blog

It seems to be a common error that those new to social media make... they want to know how it will help in sales or marketing, but it's neither of these.

I think it's really important to note that with Social Media, you need to look at ROI as Return on Involvement.... but there doesn't seem to be a way to determine the success metrics. Maybe Google or some other innovator will design a way to compare good comments Vs bad ones?

However, this is where the new wave of consumers are looking for their information as I discussed in this previous blog post. Additionally, you can't set up accounts on these sites and hope it will help you.

It's necessary to actually be involved and engage with your contacts in a way many companies are uncomfortable with. The need to reply quickly and personally can be seen as anathema to organisations used to having their marketing message cleared by several levels of management and the legal department. There is the justifiable fear that confidential content may be (intentionally or not) released prematurely.

On the other hand, it may result in these organisations having to become more nimble and responsive to issues raised by consumers to prevent a viral PR headache. An example of this was shown recently when a user had spent over a month getting delays with a mortgage from an Australian Bank. After a post on Twitter, she was contacted in just over an hour by a senior manager who offered to help in resolving the issue. Personally, I have experienced similar benefit when I had an issue with my ISP and a post on Twitter was acted on faster than calls to their support centre.

It is good to see large companies that are typically conservative like Sage working to embrace this new media – both in utilising it for bi-directional communications and in encouraging open discussions with users to request suggestions in how to best incorporate these technologies in their products. This has involved a cultural change that I believe has been very positive for Sage’s partners and users.

If there is truth to the proverbial curse “may you live in interesting times”, I’d say they are here.

Technorati Tags: ACT!,Sage,CRM,Social Media,SCRM

Area	Description	What the Fix Does
Attachments	ACT! for Web users operating in an environment that uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) are unable to open an attachment if it has a Microsoft Office extension such as .doc or .xls.	Enables users to open Microsoft Office documents in a SSL environment.
Performance	ACT! for Web users find that List View information updates slowly after 11.1 Hot Fix 1 has been installed.	Removes the performance degradation.

Life and Times with ACT! by Sage

Should ACT! by Sage move into the “Cloud”?

Supporting Remote Users with ACT! by Sage

Direct Access of the database via VPN

ACT! Synchronisation Services

ACT! Premium for Web

Remote Desktop (Terminal Services, Citrix)

Included ACT!Link for PDA/Smartphones

Handheld Contact Sync to PDA/Smartphones

A couple of useful Outlook tools – #Xobni and #LinkedIN

Xobni

LinkedIN Outlook Toolbar

How to Download and Apply the ACT! by Sage 2010 Hot Fix 2

Who Should Install This Hot Fix?

New in Hot Fix 2

Fixed in Hot Fix 1

Applying Hot Fix 2 for ACT! 2010

Changes To Your Installation

Automating backups for ACT! by Sage

Manual Backup

ACT! Scheduler Backup

Batch File Backup

ACT! Email Backup

Corporate and third-party Backup

Which MS SQL versions should you use with ACT! 2010 (#ACT2010)

Note: You must purchase SQL CALs for Standard separately from Microsoft

Upgrading ACT!, especially when you are using add-ons

What's New in ACT! by Sage 2010

Handheld Contact computer application release for ACT! 2009, 2008, and 2007

Sage eSummit 2.0 – ACT! by Sage Agenda

Title

Presenter

Description

Time

Thoughts on ACT! 2010 beta (#ACT2010) - The good, the bad and the ugly

ACT! 2009 11.1 Hot Fix 2 Released.

New Subgroups for ACT! Fanatics on LinkedIN

Handheld Contact Announces New Editions including a free sync service

Connecting to ACT! by Sage data

New Handheld Contact Consoles

Register Now for the ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2010 Beta!

Improve calendar performance in ACT! and other applications

Register now for the ACT! 2010 beta

Using ACT! Internet Mail client with non-standard ports

First Certified ACT! by Sage SAGE

How to Get Faster Technical Support for ACT! by Sage

Should Have:

Consider Adding:

What Have You Tried:

Other Tips:

New ACT! by Sage YouTube Channel

Connecting the Pieces of Social Media

Social Media -- Marketing “Campaigns” or Collaborations