CRM Blog

Having been around ACT since the days of ACT! 2000, I have seen the highs and lows of ACT. And I’ve got to say that both version 2010 as well as 2011 are excellent versions with great, new features. To find out details on the various features, check out our other blog posts.

Our whole team installed and heavily tested Sage ACT! 2011.

And we give it an overall ”A”. Here’s how we graded the top 20 new features in ACT! 2011:

1. Hoover’s Lead Management: A
2. Smart Tasks (Workflow): B
3. Automated Birthday Alerts: A-
4. Outlook Sync to Contacts: A+
5. Outlook Sync Configuration: A
6. Import simplification: A+
7. Importing from Excel: B
8. ACT! Mobile Live: B-
9. E-Marketing: A+
10. Compatible with MS Office 2010: A
11. Filtering Histories by Type: A+
12. Clickable Dashboard Lists: B
13. Welcome simplification: B
14. Video Tutorials: C
15. Visual continuity with Web version: A
16. Robust Back button: B
17. Product Naming (Premium vs Pro): C-
18. Simplified User Deletion: B
19. Installing ACT without SQL: A-
20. SQL 2008 instead of 2005: B

Sage is on the right track to provide customers what they really want in ACT! They are listening to customers and consultants. And the results are obvious. Please don’t hesitate to call us for more information or a web CRM demo.

This is part 3 of 3 in our “Working with Accounts” series. In this blog we continue to offer little known tips for working with Accounts within Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Adding and Updating Attachments

1. Attachments are found in the Notes tab.
2. Attachments are especially valuable for sharing files with other users.
3. All kinds of documents can be attached (e.g. Excel, PDF, Word, JPG, etc…)
4. If you attach a document from your Desktop, and then you make a revision to that document on your Desktop, the other users will not see that revision. You will need to re-attach the revised version.

Adding and Viewing Notes

1. There is no limit to the number of notes you can add.
2. You might want to heavily consider your strategy on using notes vs history. Typically History shows correspondence results and notes records static descriptions or general information regarding the account.
3. Notes functionality is the same for all MS CRM entities (e.g. Contacts, Opportunites, Cases, etc…)

Adding and Viewing History

1. Users can manually add History records.
2. Microsoft CRM also turns every completed activity into a History record. Regardless of Activity type, whether email, letter, appointment or call, the system automatically creates the History record for you!
3. User have Export to Excel functionality for History records. If you want to view the data in Excel or create an Ad Hoc Excel report of the client’s activities, simply select the Excel button at the top of the History list view.
4. Are you not seeing all your data? No worries. You probably need to change the filters on the top of the History list. Otherwise you will see the default values (i.e. you will only be able to view History for the most recent 30 days).

Printing Account Information

1. There is a Print button at the top of almost every record. Simply click this to get a “quick a dirty” report.
2. Need a specific format? The try the exporting the record to Excel with the Excel button at the top.

For further Microsoft CRM training, please contact us or refer to our Resource Center. If you need more details regarding practical user options within Microsoft Dynamics CRM or in comparison with ACT by Sage, SugarCRM, SalesLogix, or Salesforce.com, please let us know. We would love to help clarify these differences and empower you to choose the proper web CRM software or on-premise CRM system.

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Are you looking to upgrade to Sage ACT! 2011? You might be interested in checking out these System Requirements – to make sure that you are up to the task. But odds are very high that you are just fine.

<sup>1. Outlook Express is available on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
2. On 64-bit versions of Windows, Internet Explorer (32-bit) is recommended.
3. Windows XP Professional limits the number of concurrent network connections to 10 (Home Edition limits concurrent connections to 5).
4. Windows Vista limits the number of concurrent network connections to 10 (Home Basic and Home Premium Editions limit concurrent connections to 5).
5. “Core Server Installation” of Windows Server 2008 is not supported.
6. 64-bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation.
7. 64-bit Windows Server 2003 must have ASP.NET configured to 32-bit mode.
8. 64-bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation.
9. 64-bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation.
10. Recommendations are based on in-house performance and scalability tests wherein, using simulated user loads, product performance was within 20% or 2 seconds (whichever was longer) of single-user product performance. Databases used in the tests averaged 1000 contacts per user. Individual customer performance may vary based on actual database size, hardware variations, network traffic, and product usage.
11. On 64-bit versions of Windows, Internet Explorer (32-bit) is recommended.
12. Windows XP Professional limits the number of concurrent network connections to 10 (Home Edition limits concurrent connections to 5).
13. 64-bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation.
14. 64-bit Windows Server 2003 must have ASP.NET configured to 32-bit mode.
15. Windows Vista limits the number of concurrent network connections to 10 (Home Basic and Home Premium Editions limit concurrent connections to 5).
16. 64-bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation.
17. “Core Server Installation” of Windows Server 2008 is not supported.
18. 64-bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation.
19. Windows XP Professional limits the number of concurrent network connections to 10 (Home Edition limits concurrent connections to 5).
20. Windows Vista limits the number of concurrent network connections to 10 (Home Basic and Home Premium Editions limit concurrent connections to 5).
21. 64-bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation.
22. 64-bit Windows Server 2003 must have ASP.NET configured to 32-bit mode.
23. 64-bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation.
24. 64-bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation.
25. On 64-bit versions of Windows, Internet Explorer (32-bit) is recommended.
26. 32-bit Windows XP is supported.
27. 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Server 2003 versions are supported.
28. 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista versions are supported.
29. 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Server 2008 versions are supported.
30. Recommendations are based on in-house performance and scalability tests wherein, using simulated user loads, product performance was within 20% or 2 seconds (whichever was longer) of single-user product performance. Databases used in the tests averaged 1000 contacts per user. Individual customer performance may vary based on actual database size, hardware variations, network traffic, and product usage.</sup>

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Flexible Environment
Sugar is built for the web. Sugar IS online Customer Relationship Management. The application can reside on your own environment, on Sugar On-Demand, or through Accent Gold Solutions.

TCO
If you are concerned about the Total Cost of Ownership of your business software, then you might do yourself a favor and consider Sugar 6. The monthly price point is possibly the best in the hosted CRM industry. And instead of having to pay for IT resources to constantly upgrade your system from version 6.0 to 6.1 to 6.2 and so on…, save your money!

Invest your cash in training and customization to tailor your C R M system to your business processes and needs. And that’s exactly what Accent Gold Solutions specializes in.

Let us know if you need help comparing  ALL the costs involved in rolling out a CRM solution. We have a wealth of experience with all types of roll outs. And our goal is to inform you of all of your options – be it licensing models , SAAS (Software as a Service), hosting, or other ideas you might have.

Do you need to understand your pricing options regarding Sugar vs Microsoft vs ACT vs SalesLogix vs Salesforce.com vs Goldmine?  Give us a call!

Need a free trial download? Contact us – and we guarantee you will not be disappointed.

If you are interested in a SugarCRM demo or need assistance with a SugarCRM upgrade, let us know. If you need help with understanding SugarCRM features or SugarCRM pricing, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

If you are in search of information regarding SugarCRM licenses or the SugarCRM community in general and how that fits your needs, we would be glad to assist you.

Or if you need more foundational information regarding a hosted sales CRM software tool – especially with respect to open source CRM integration, please let us know. Whether you have questions regarding hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, Siebel CRM or Zoho CRM – we would love to point you in toward the best fit for your firm.

Well, it’s 8:30 am, and I am upgrading from ACT! 2010 Premium to ACT! 2011 Premium.  By the way, I am on my 3 year old Windows XP laptop. Let’s see how this goes! 

To download the detailed instructions, including screenshots, click here.

Here is an overview of the 8 steps involved in the Upgrade.

1. Backup the database
2. Uninstall ACT! 2010
3. Restart the computer
4. Download and Unpack the software
5. Install ACT! 2011
6. Launch ACT! and Register your license
7. Upgrade the database
8. Install the Hotfix

Spoiler Alert: My entire process took me almost 90 minutes. Another one of our consultants on a hot, new, sweet, smokin’ computer completed this whole process in roughly 30 minutes.

1.       Backup your current database.

That means starting up ACT! and running the backup.

Select File|Backup|Database.

I usually un-select the option to backup the attachments to save myself time. Even if the upgrade were to somehow corrupt the database, these attachments will remain unaffected, and can thus be manually copied over at any time into a restored database.

 It is now 8:41am.

2.       Uninstall ACT! 2010

In the Control Panel, select Add or Remove Programs. Then select ACT! by Sage 2010 and hit the Change/Remove button.

Uninstall completed at 8:50.

3.       Restart your machine.

After reboot it it is now 8:55.

4.       Download the Software and Unpack the software.

After the file is downloaded, double-click on the .EXE file, which will unzip and unpack the folder to a new folder directly off of the C-drive.

It is now 9:15.

5.       Install ACT 2011!

The WinZip Self-Extractor also opens up the Sage ACT! 2011 Installation screen, where you can select the option to “Install Sage ACT!”

It then installs the Windows Installer (This part was designed by the Department of Redundancy Department) and runs a Systems Check.

Now just follow the Instructions in the Wizard.

If in the United States, then just hit Next.

Unless you really know what you are doing, it is always a good idea to let ACT! install itself to the default location.

 It is now 9:25

ACT! now deploys SQL.

Keep in mind that ACT! 2011 only runs on SQL 2008. And since most users of ACT! 2010 are running SQL 2005, they will be upgraded to SQL 2008 R2.

Now, at 9:45, ACT is installed and ready to launch!

6.       Launch ACT! (by hitting Finish) and Register your License

It took me a few minutes to find my ACT License.

It is now 9:50

7.       Upgrade the Database.

You will be asked if you want to create a backup. If you already did this in step 1, then you can hit No.

It’s now 9:54, and we are ready to rock and roll.

8.       Oh yeah. One last step. Install the Hotfix.

Download and double-click the .EXE file. Be aware of the disclaimer. The hotfix takes less than a minute to install.

OK, now we’re really done. It’s 9:55.

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