follow up calls - how do we manage them?

I

Ian

Thanks Tim,

Sorted it now. Thank you for your help. I can take a good look at Prophet.

Back to the original conversation we were having, I'll let you know what
progress I make with the problem of scheduling follow ups with BCM. I have
serveral users on it and have a degree of reluctance to ditch it and spend
more money...although if Prophet can make us more productive, it will carry
the cost easily.

Ian
 
T

Tim P via OfficeKB.com

Ian,

I will be very curious to learn how things work out for you and what you
eventually decide to do.

-THP


Thanks Tim,

Sorted it now. Thank you for your help. I can take a good look at Prophet.

Back to the original conversation we were having, I'll let you know what
progress I make with the problem of scheduling follow ups with BCM. I have
serveral users on it and have a degree of reluctance to ditch it and spend
more money...although if Prophet can make us more productive, it will carry
the cost easily.

Ian
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
 
I

Ian

Guys,

I think I just found a way to deal with this linking issue with tasks.

When you are in an account and want to create a a task, go:

New, task (as normal)
Add the notes you want
Then just "cut and paste" the name of the account from the account main
screen, to the "contact" field (bottom left of the task screen).
The link is now made.

After you have saved the task, when you go back into it, you can drill
straight through to the account.

Sounds too simple to me :)

I'll let you know if it starts acting strange.

Cheers.

Ian



Tim P via OfficeKB.com said:
Ian,

I will be very curious to learn how things work out for you and what you
eventually decide to do.

-THP


Thanks Tim,

Sorted it now. Thank you for your help. I can take a good look at Prophet.

Back to the original conversation we were having, I'll let you know what
progress I make with the problem of scheduling follow ups with BCM. I have
serveral users on it and have a degree of reluctance to ditch it and spend
more money...although if Prophet can make us more productive, it will carry
the cost easily.

Ian
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
Tim if you know of any discussion forums on Prophet I would sure appreciate
it.
 
T

Tim P via OfficeKB.com

Ian,

Much kudos to you for discovering such a great short-cut solution as a
helpful work-around for this. Sometimes the simplest solution is the most
obvious yet elusive one! Your cut & paste idea sure beats the more
cumbersome navigating necessary in order to manually create this link from an
Outlook (Task)record item back to the BCM (Account) record item in order to
effect a 2 way navigation route for "drilling" both ways between these 2
items. I still wish that this design oversight wouldn't necessitate such
creative invention and I sure would love to see some kind of "Tips & Tricks"
users guide published.

-THP


Guys,

I think I just found a way to deal with this linking issue with tasks.

When you are in an account and want to create a a task, go:

New, task (as normal)
Add the notes you want
Then just "cut and paste" the name of the account from the account main
screen, to the "contact" field (bottom left of the task screen).
The link is now made.

After you have saved the task, when you go back into it, you can drill
straight through to the account.

Sounds too simple to me :)

I'll let you know if it starts acting strange.

Cheers.

Ian
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
 
I

Ian

Tim,

I must admit, it gave me a shock to discover something so simple…..and me
not being a techie aswell!

I like you idea of a tips and tricks guide, maybe MS will pick up on this
(we know you're listening) :)

On the wider point, I can see us sticking it out with BCM as I feel the
overhead of change may be too great. We have 5 users and loads (and I mean
loads) of data - circa 34k of contacts. It’s a common story - “the software’s
not great but the pain of change is too highâ€. I say it’s a shame the
software isn’t great in the first place!

Don’t get me wrong, there is some good stuff here and I know it’s never
going to be all things to everybody, but some of the features that will be
common to most, if not all businesses, e.g. follow up calls, should be better.

Anyway, we need to hold and share the d/b centrally as we’re tired of doing
the import / export routine and I’m looking at getting an Exhange Server and
SBS, although I’m not sure if or how this works with BCM.

Have you done this or do you have any thoughts here?

Ian


Tim P via OfficeKB.com said:
Ian,

Much kudos to you for discovering such a great short-cut solution as a
helpful work-around for this. Sometimes the simplest solution is the most
obvious yet elusive one! Your cut & paste idea sure beats the more
cumbersome navigating necessary in order to manually create this link from an
Outlook (Task)record item back to the BCM (Account) record item in order to
effect a 2 way navigation route for "drilling" both ways between these 2
items. I still wish that this design oversight wouldn't necessitate such
creative invention and I sure would love to see some kind of "Tips & Tricks"
users guide published.

-THP


Guys,

I think I just found a way to deal with this linking issue with tasks.

When you are in an account and want to create a a task, go:

New, task (as normal)
Add the notes you want
Then just "cut and paste" the name of the account from the account main
screen, to the "contact" field (bottom left of the task screen).
The link is now made.

After you have saved the task, when you go back into it, you can drill
straight through to the account.

Sounds too simple to me :)

I'll let you know if it starts acting strange.

Cheers.

Ian
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
Tim if you know of any discussion forums on Prophet I would sure appreciate
it.
 
T

Tim P via OfficeKB.com

Ian,

I remain mystified by this whole question of whether or not BCM will work on
a server. Officially, the answer from anything I can find from Microsoft is
no. BCM is supported only in a peer to peer network configuration. I
believe that if it were server based it would compete too directly with their
CRM. I do not have any experience of setting up something like this but I
certainly have a keen interest because fundamentally it is a great thing to
have the capability for secure, centrally accessible data via a web
connection from remote users. A LOT of the questions on this forum are from
people who are misinterpreting that as what BCM version 2 data "sharing"
means. I don't believe that BCM is intended to be server based at all
eventhough some users have indicated that it has a tolerated co-existance in
an exchange or SBS environment. Someone with more tech know how than me will
have to weigh in on this one.

BTW, I agree with your 'pain of change' sentiments. I rant here a lot about
some of the stupid oversights with its design but BCM does have some nice
features. It is because BCM comes so close sometimes that it is a big tease
enough to piss you off when certain basic functions are so lacking. BCM is a
great step in the right direction for improving Outlook but it has a ways to
go to be the premier small business tool in this regard. Suckers like us
will just have to make do as best we can I guess. Microsoft is missing the
mark of a real opportunity here with BCM's limitations. They could draw a
LOT more users if it were more robust and customizable. Who knows, maybe in
10 years or so they might just catch on!

-THP
Tim,

I must admit, it gave me a shock to discover something so simple…..and me
not being a techie aswell!

I like you idea of a tips and tricks guide, maybe MS will pick up on this
(we know you're listening) :)

On the wider point, I can see us sticking it out with BCM as I feel the
overhead of change may be too great. We have 5 users and loads (and I mean
loads) of data - circa 34k of contacts. It’s a common story - “the software’s
not great but the pain of change is too high”. I say it’s a shame the
software isn’t great in the first place!

Don’t get me wrong, there is some good stuff here and I know it’s never
going to be all things to everybody, but some of the features that will be
common to most, if not all businesses, e.g. follow up calls, should be better.

Anyway, we need to hold and share the d/b centrally as we’re tired of doing
the import / export routine and I’m looking at getting an Exhange Server and
SBS, although I’m not sure if or how this works with BCM.

Have you done this or do you have any thoughts here?

Ian
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
 
I

Ian

Hi Tim,

I appreciate your thoughts.

I don’t believe we need web access. All we want to do is to work remotely
and then when we are back in the office, synchronise with the server so that
all the users have a refresh of all the data?

Ian


Tim P via OfficeKB.com said:
Ian,

I remain mystified by this whole question of whether or not BCM will work on
a server. Officially, the answer from anything I can find from Microsoft is
no. BCM is supported only in a peer to peer network configuration. I
believe that if it were server based it would compete too directly with their
CRM. I do not have any experience of setting up something like this but I
certainly have a keen interest because fundamentally it is a great thing to
have the capability for secure, centrally accessible data via a web
connection from remote users. A LOT of the questions on this forum are from
people who are misinterpreting that as what BCM version 2 data "sharing"
means. I don't believe that BCM is intended to be server based at all
eventhough some users have indicated that it has a tolerated co-existance in
an exchange or SBS environment. Someone with more tech know how than me will
have to weigh in on this one.

BTW, I agree with your 'pain of change' sentiments. I rant here a lot about
some of the stupid oversights with its design but BCM does have some nice
features. It is because BCM comes so close sometimes that it is a big tease
enough to piss you off when certain basic functions are so lacking. BCM is a
great step in the right direction for improving Outlook but it has a ways to
go to be the premier small business tool in this regard. Suckers like us
will just have to make do as best we can I guess. Microsoft is missing the
mark of a real opportunity here with BCM's limitations. They could draw a
LOT more users if it were more robust and customizable. Who knows, maybe in
10 years or so they might just catch on!

-THP
Tim,

I must admit, it gave me a shock to discover something so simple…..and me
not being a techie aswell!

I like you idea of a tips and tricks guide, maybe MS will pick up on this
(we know you're listening) :)

On the wider point, I can see us sticking it out with BCM as I feel the
overhead of change may be too great. We have 5 users and loads (and I mean
loads) of data - circa 34k of contacts. It’s a common story - “the software’s
not great but the pain of change is too highâ€. I say it’s a shame the
software isn’t great in the first place!

Don’t get me wrong, there is some good stuff here and I know it’s never
going to be all things to everybody, but some of the features that will be
common to most, if not all businesses, e.g. follow up calls, should be better.

Anyway, we need to hold and share the d/b centrally as we’re tired of doing
the import / export routine and I’m looking at getting an Exhange Server and
SBS, although I’m not sure if or how this works with BCM.

Have you done this or do you have any thoughts here?

Ian
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
Tim if you know of any discussion forums on Prophet I would sure appreciate
it.
 
D

Dave

I'd like to thank Ian, Tim and joeycan for confirming my opportunity tracking
experience with BCM & Outlook. I employ reusable Tasks for reminders,
back-link via the Contacts field in the Task to the Account, and either use
the manual Link to Record in a Task for existing Tasks or the Create new Task
in an Account to achieve bidirectional navigation. This is at least a
workable approach.

In my opinion, the key requirements for BCM's competitive success are to:
1. Integrate BCM with Outlook in such a way that the full functionality of
Outlook is available in BCM and enhanced by the additional functionality
offered with BCM.
2. Support fluid relationship management among contacts (e.g., individuals,
accounts, organizations and roles [including positions]), events (e.g.,
calendar [schedule] & condition [task] driven), processes (opportunities,
sales cycles, delivery cycles) and supporting content (e.g., documents,
folders, attachments, notes, messages). Linkages need to be as automated as
possible to reduce work effort.

Selling and delivering occur in a non-linear fashion that can only be
handled through effective integration and agile management of this kind of
information.

I am also the owner of a small consulting firm and must depend on software
to relieve me of administrative overhead that I don't have time for. BCM
shows glimmers of this vision but needs a more thoughtful and
better-architected approach to achieve it.

If I stumble across any “eurekasâ€, I'll pass them on.
 
I

Ian

Hi Dave,

Agreed on all points...and too many more to list here!.....please do let me
know of any inspirations!

Ian

Dave said:
I'd like to thank Ian, Tim and joeycan for confirming my opportunity tracking
experience with BCM & Outlook. I employ reusable Tasks for reminders,
back-link via the Contacts field in the Task to the Account, and either use
the manual Link to Record in a Task for existing Tasks or the Create new Task
in an Account to achieve bidirectional navigation. This is at least a
workable approach.

In my opinion, the key requirements for BCM's competitive success are to:
1. Integrate BCM with Outlook in such a way that the full functionality of
Outlook is available in BCM and enhanced by the additional functionality
offered with BCM.
2. Support fluid relationship management among contacts (e.g., individuals,
accounts, organizations and roles [including positions]), events (e.g.,
calendar [schedule] & condition [task] driven), processes (opportunities,
sales cycles, delivery cycles) and supporting content (e.g., documents,
folders, attachments, notes, messages). Linkages need to be as automated as
possible to reduce work effort.

Selling and delivering occur in a non-linear fashion that can only be
handled through effective integration and agile management of this kind of
information.

I am also the owner of a small consulting firm and must depend on software
to relieve me of administrative overhead that I don't have time for. BCM
shows glimmers of this vision but needs a more thoughtful and
better-architected approach to achieve it.

If I stumble across any “eurekasâ€, I'll pass them on.

--
DMRC


Ian said:
We have a simple requirement and as yet BCM does not seem to fulfil it. This
is getting very frustrating to the point of ditching the product. Here it is:

We need to be able view a list of follow up calls to accounts (or business
contacts – either will do) that need to be made each day. From that list we
need to drill through to the account and make the call. Sounds simple doesn’t
it? ….You’d think.

Apparently BCM doesn’t support Follow up flags in any meaningful way (due
dates especially), or enable a list view of accounts that can be sorted by
follow up flag “due dateâ€.

Also, Tasks are clearly held outside of BCM and the only way to make a link
that you can drill back to the account with is to manually search and attach
from the contact box on the task.

Yes, I know you can link the task to an account when the task is created
from within the account, but you can’t drill back to the account from the
task (unless you’ve gone through the unnecessarily long process of manually
attaching it first). This makes using tasks in the way we understand it,
unmanageable.

Surely wanting a follow up list sorted by date is standard contact
management functionality.

Sorry for the “rant†but as a company we want to access our list of follow
up calls quickly and make them.

Please help us if you have any good suggestions as to how we can truly make
the best of BCM?

Thank you.
 
T

Tim P via OfficeKB.com

Dave,

Have you had the chance to take a look at the newly released Dynamics MSCRM 3.
0? This new release appears to offer most of what you have stated is needed
in BCM albeit for much more $$$. I wish it did not have to be such an all or
nothing choice because full CRM would be a bit of overkill to make the leap
to financially. The added functionality would be extremely useful despite
that the Microsoft Marketing gurus and apologists keep inaccurately trying to
convince us smaller users that our targeted current needs can be met with BCM.
From the early reviews it appears that MSCRM is far more seamless with
Outlook than the sometimes kludgy fit that BCM provides. Most notably is
that you do not have to maintain 2 separate contact db folders. I'm not sure
I can wait around until mid to late '06 and then likely again be underwhelmed
by the next version of BCM. It's a tough business call that I will have to
make sooner than later.

-THP


I'd like to thank Ian, Tim and joeycan for confirming my opportunity tracking
experience with BCM & Outlook. I employ reusable Tasks for reminders,
back-link via the Contacts field in the Task to the Account, and either use
the manual Link to Record in a Task for existing Tasks or the Create new Task
in an Account to achieve bidirectional navigation. This is at least a
workable approach.

In my opinion, the key requirements for BCM's competitive success are to:
1. Integrate BCM with Outlook in such a way that the full functionality of
Outlook is available in BCM and enhanced by the additional functionality
offered with BCM.
2. Support fluid relationship management among contacts (e.g., individuals,
accounts, organizations and roles [including positions]), events (e.g.,
calendar [schedule] & condition [task] driven), processes (opportunities,
sales cycles, delivery cycles) and supporting content (e.g., documents,
folders, attachments, notes, messages). Linkages need to be as automated as
possible to reduce work effort.

Selling and delivering occur in a non-linear fashion that can only be
handled through effective integration and agile management of this kind of
information.

I am also the owner of a small consulting firm and must depend on software
to relieve me of administrative overhead that I don't have time for. BCM
shows glimmers of this vision but needs a more thoughtful and
better-architected approach to achieve it.

If I stumble across any “eurekas”, I'll pass them on.
We have a simple requirement and as yet BCM does not seem to fulfil it. This
is getting very frustrating to the point of ditching the product. Here it is:
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
Thank you.
 
T

Tim P via OfficeKB.com

Additional comment:

I just spent some time by phone with Avidian and they are developing a new
Prophet version 3.5 (to soon follow their currently just released v. 3.0)
that will offer a client for Outlook Web Access (OWA). This will make it
even easier for web based, multi-user remote access to data. A lot of the
current challenges for more effective data sharing among multi users will be
resolved. This would be applicable for the data sharing needs of everyone
from the single user entrepreneurial salesperson up to enterprise level of
need. No more synch hassles as everything could be accessed and updated in
real-time. The old days of expensive IT infrastructure requirements to do
this sort of thing are fading fast. For anyone interested in exploring this
alternative go to www.avidian.com. (I do not work for Avidian or benefit
financially from referring to them). If BCM can't or won't be improved in
order to enable greater user adoption, there are certainly some other
alternatives for small business users to consider.

"Necissity is the mother of all invention!"

-THP


Tim said:
Dave,

Have you had the chance to take a look at the newly released Dynamics MSCRM 3.
0? This new release appears to offer most of what you have stated is needed
in BCM albeit for much more $$$. I wish it did not have to be such an all or
nothing choice because full CRM would be a bit of overkill to make the leap
to financially. The added functionality would be extremely useful despite
that the Microsoft Marketing gurus and apologists keep inaccurately trying to
convince us smaller users that our targeted current needs can be met with BCM.
From the early reviews it appears that MSCRM is far more seamless with
Outlook than the sometimes kludgy fit that BCM provides. Most notably is
that you do not have to maintain 2 separate contact db folders. I'm not sure
I can wait around until mid to late '06 and then likely again be underwhelmed
by the next version of BCM. It's a tough business call that I will have to
make sooner than later.

-THP


I'd like to thank Ian, Tim and joeycan for confirming my opportunity tracking
experience with BCM & Outlook. I employ reusable Tasks for reminders,
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
 
D

Dave

Thanks for the input Ian & Tim. I'm so busy building a business that I don't
have time to research and migrate to other products right now. Nor am I
prepared at this point to pay more for another one. I have, however, been
reading the remarks on other candidate products such as Avidian's and MSCRM
with interest.

The best product I've ever encountered that allowed rapid and flexible
development and navigation of key relationships was Organizer from Lotus
Notes. It was quite amazing.

--
DMRC


Tim P via OfficeKB.com said:
Additional comment:

I just spent some time by phone with Avidian and they are developing a new
Prophet version 3.5 (to soon follow their currently just released v. 3.0)
that will offer a client for Outlook Web Access (OWA). This will make it
even easier for web based, multi-user remote access to data. A lot of the
current challenges for more effective data sharing among multi users will be
resolved. This would be applicable for the data sharing needs of everyone
from the single user entrepreneurial salesperson up to enterprise level of
need. No more synch hassles as everything could be accessed and updated in
real-time. The old days of expensive IT infrastructure requirements to do
this sort of thing are fading fast. For anyone interested in exploring this
alternative go to www.avidian.com. (I do not work for Avidian or benefit
financially from referring to them). If BCM can't or won't be improved in
order to enable greater user adoption, there are certainly some other
alternatives for small business users to consider.

"Necissity is the mother of all invention!"

-THP


Tim said:
Dave,

Have you had the chance to take a look at the newly released Dynamics MSCRM 3.
0? This new release appears to offer most of what you have stated is needed
in BCM albeit for much more $$$. I wish it did not have to be such an all or
nothing choice because full CRM would be a bit of overkill to make the leap
to financially. The added functionality would be extremely useful despite
that the Microsoft Marketing gurus and apologists keep inaccurately trying to
convince us smaller users that our targeted current needs can be met with BCM.
From the early reviews it appears that MSCRM is far more seamless with
Outlook than the sometimes kludgy fit that BCM provides. Most notably is
that you do not have to maintain 2 separate contact db folders. I'm not sure
I can wait around until mid to late '06 and then likely again be underwhelmed
by the next version of BCM. It's a tough business call that I will have to
make sooner than later.

-THP


I'd like to thank Ian, Tim and joeycan for confirming my opportunity tracking
experience with BCM & Outlook. I employ reusable Tasks for reminders,
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
Thank you.
 
L

Lexicon

HI GUYS - This is the first time i have posted here so i wonder if the people
originally writing here about follow up calls and the like, will pick this up
again as i have read with considerable interest having experienced the same
problems.

One thing that i dont think has been covered but baffles me the most about
this subject is the felds (Columns) in the task view. For example in the
'simple list' view you get a colomn for 'subject' and one for 'due date'.

To get the account or contact phone number related to that task you have to
drill through.... but cant you add colomns via right clicking on the task
header and choosing 'customise current view', then clicking 'fields' and
choosing 'account', 'contact tel' etc so that it appears next to the
'subject' and 'due date' in the main task view????

I have tried to do this, the columns do appear, but no information is
entered in the fields, even though the task and the account or contact are
properly linked....

Am i missing the point??? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin

Tim P via OfficeKB.com said:
Additional comment:

I just spent some time by phone with Avidian and they are developing a new
Prophet version 3.5 (to soon follow their currently just released v. 3.0)
that will offer a client for Outlook Web Access (OWA). This will make it
even easier for web based, multi-user remote access to data. A lot of the
current challenges for more effective data sharing among multi users will be
resolved. This would be applicable for the data sharing needs of everyone
from the single user entrepreneurial salesperson up to enterprise level of
need. No more synch hassles as everything could be accessed and updated in
real-time. The old days of expensive IT infrastructure requirements to do
this sort of thing are fading fast. For anyone interested in exploring this
alternative go to www.avidian.com. (I do not work for Avidian or benefit
financially from referring to them). If BCM can't or won't be improved in
order to enable greater user adoption, there are certainly some other
alternatives for small business users to consider.

"Necissity is the mother of all invention!"

-THP


Tim said:
Dave,

Have you had the chance to take a look at the newly released Dynamics MSCRM 3.
0? This new release appears to offer most of what you have stated is needed
in BCM albeit for much more $$$. I wish it did not have to be such an all or
nothing choice because full CRM would be a bit of overkill to make the leap
to financially. The added functionality would be extremely useful despite
that the Microsoft Marketing gurus and apologists keep inaccurately trying to
convince us smaller users that our targeted current needs can be met with BCM.
From the early reviews it appears that MSCRM is far more seamless with
Outlook than the sometimes kludgy fit that BCM provides. Most notably is
that you do not have to maintain 2 separate contact db folders. I'm not sure
I can wait around until mid to late '06 and then likely again be underwhelmed
by the next version of BCM. It's a tough business call that I will have to
make sooner than later.

-THP


I'd like to thank Ian, Tim and joeycan for confirming my opportunity tracking
experience with BCM & Outlook. I employ reusable Tasks for reminders,
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
Thank you.
 
I

Ian

Hi Lexicon,

I don't think your'e missing anything beacuse it's the same here.

Makes no sense to me either.

Ian

Lexicon said:
HI GUYS - This is the first time i have posted here so i wonder if the people
originally writing here about follow up calls and the like, will pick this up
again as i have read with considerable interest having experienced the same
problems.

One thing that i dont think has been covered but baffles me the most about
this subject is the felds (Columns) in the task view. For example in the
'simple list' view you get a colomn for 'subject' and one for 'due date'.

To get the account or contact phone number related to that task you have to
drill through.... but cant you add colomns via right clicking on the task
header and choosing 'customise current view', then clicking 'fields' and
choosing 'account', 'contact tel' etc so that it appears next to the
'subject' and 'due date' in the main task view????

I have tried to do this, the columns do appear, but no information is
entered in the fields, even though the task and the account or contact are
properly linked....

Am i missing the point??? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin

Tim P via OfficeKB.com said:
Additional comment:

I just spent some time by phone with Avidian and they are developing a new
Prophet version 3.5 (to soon follow their currently just released v. 3.0)
that will offer a client for Outlook Web Access (OWA). This will make it
even easier for web based, multi-user remote access to data. A lot of the
current challenges for more effective data sharing among multi users will be
resolved. This would be applicable for the data sharing needs of everyone
from the single user entrepreneurial salesperson up to enterprise level of
need. No more synch hassles as everything could be accessed and updated in
real-time. The old days of expensive IT infrastructure requirements to do
this sort of thing are fading fast. For anyone interested in exploring this
alternative go to www.avidian.com. (I do not work for Avidian or benefit
financially from referring to them). If BCM can't or won't be improved in
order to enable greater user adoption, there are certainly some other
alternatives for small business users to consider.

"Necissity is the mother of all invention!"

-THP


Tim said:
Dave,

Have you had the chance to take a look at the newly released Dynamics MSCRM 3.
0? This new release appears to offer most of what you have stated is needed
in BCM albeit for much more $$$. I wish it did not have to be such an all or
nothing choice because full CRM would be a bit of overkill to make the leap
to financially. The added functionality would be extremely useful despite
that the Microsoft Marketing gurus and apologists keep inaccurately trying to
convince us smaller users that our targeted current needs can be met with BCM.
From the early reviews it appears that MSCRM is far more seamless with
Outlook than the sometimes kludgy fit that BCM provides. Most notably is
that you do not have to maintain 2 separate contact db folders. I'm not sure
I can wait around until mid to late '06 and then likely again be underwhelmed
by the next version of BCM. It's a tough business call that I will have to
make sooner than later.

-THP



I'd like to thank Ian, Tim and joeycan for confirming my opportunity tracking
experience with BCM & Outlook. I employ reusable Tasks for reminders,
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]

Thank you.
 
C

Carl

Ian,

I noticed you responded on March 3rd and hope the "team" is still active.

Was the question ever answered for "supporting Follow up flags in any
meaningful way (due dates especially), or enable a list view of accounts that
can be sorted by
follow up flag “due date�??

Is there a fix on the way from MS and a date when this will be available?

Is there an acceptable work around for now?

Any comments on the http://www.slovaktech.com/ product? (I am a little leary
installing other applpications as I do not have time to spend debugging
problems.)

Carl
 
I

Ian

Hi Carl,

In my view the follow up flags seem to have no function at all other than to
allow you to put a coloured flag against something. The dates seem to mean
nothing and so this is if no use in the real world.

I have no idea whether MS will address this.

To handle follow ups within BCM, we use Outlook Tasks.

When you create a Task, you can cut and paste the account or contact name
into the contact field (bottom left) of the Task. When the Task is due, you
can click on the contact field which will drill through to BCM and the
appropriate contact. It’s a bit clunky but works.

Hope this helps.

Ian
 
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