Need Summary Opinion On BCM Flexibility

[Parker]

I hope someone from MS sees this post and weighs in on this information.

I've read almost all of the posts in this forum to get a grasp on BCM
reality. Some aspects of BCM seem disconcerning. But, I want to make sure
my perceptions are correct. Generally, I am a strong proponent of MS office
applications, but sometimes familiarity breeds contempt.

If you have information that either clarifies, supports or contradicts my
statements below, I hope you will take a moment to respond to this post. I
don't want to mislead people, and I am hopeful that the BCM shortcomings I've
discovered are inaccurate.


1. Similar to 'contacts', BCM does not support mapping of fields into
'user-defined' fields for import or export. the only way to move
'non-standard' fields/data into Contacts is to create the custom fields in
contacts and manually reenter the data. BCM does not allow user-defined
fields.

2. BCM allows the creation of user-defined fields, but data entry into the
user-defined fields is not possible. For example, if I want to track a field
for all of my business contacts, such as "Next Step" or "Current Status" so
that I can sort or group based upon a finite set of possible inputs, I can
add these fields to a table view, but I cannot actually enter data into the
fields.

3. When copying contacts to BCM, any 'user-defined' field data is not
copied and is not available for use in BCM.

4. Business Contact Forms cannot be customized (Tools --> Forms --> Design
--> Personal Forms Library --> Business Contact). Adding a user-defined
field to the form can be done in edit mode, but cannot be saved nor can the
form be published.

5. If you have tracked letters and other attachments using 'contacts' by
pasting them into the 'notes' field, those are lost in the copy process into
BCM. The only solution is to manually locate those attachments again and use
the 'add' button in the BCM contact form. There is no answer when dealing
with large numbers of contacts with attachments.
BTW> has anyone come up with a work around for this? I've used this to keep
track of document exchanges with clients. Unfortunately I have too many
contacts to manually locate/attach the files again.

6. Drop down list values cannot be changed (add/modify/delete) to provide
values that are more aligned with a particular small business owner need.

I know this is a 'con' list, but due to these issues, I am unable to take
advantage of the good things of BCM.

-Parker

 

[Luther]

Statement One) BCM does not support custom fields. Either adding new
ones or modifying existing fields.

Now, you may find posts or web pages that claim something different.
That is because:

Statement Two) BCM stores and retrieves all the MAPI properties Outlook
asks it to store.

If statement two doesn't mean anything to you, then stick with
statement one.

Statement two explains why some people, who understand how Outlook
works in deep ways, can create custom solutions for their customers,
unsupported by Microsoft.

 

[Tim P via OfficeKB.com]

Parker,

Your post is thoughtful and deliberative. Perhaps I can add some
constructive value to your perceptions based upon my own trial and error
experimentations. As we all know, Microsoft is dominant in most things
software related and sometimes that seems to create a design mindset of being
untouchable thus the shocking lack of interoperability with certain
applications. Your main concern centers around ease of BCM user modification
with form fields, etc. Even if you have some programming saavy and can pull
off a non-supported modification, this is clearly NOT one of BCM's intended
strengths. Anyone who has seriously experienced this ease of modification
with other competing software programs cannot credibly assert this. Compared
to numerous other Contact Management applications BCM is best used (or chosen
not to be used) as is, on a "one size fits all" basis. A lot of manual
accomodation is the only way I could use this myself.

I have a growing consulting service that is very telephone and data intensive.
I used to be an exclusive user of Outlook and tried experimenting with using
ACT along with Outlook like so many do. I then tried to use BCM version 1
when it was released in 2003 because the concept of working with improved
capabilities exclusively within the Outlook environment was much more simple
and appealing. Manual data migration issues aside, my biggest reason for
pulling the plug on BCM version 1 was its buggy unstable beta type
performance. (Intolerable forms cache issues, etc.). Version 1 just didn't
seem quite ready yet for prime time. I was able to remain within Outlook by
using (for 15 months) the Prophet 2004 application found at www.avidian.com.
This is a great application that I highly recommend and it has performed
exactly as it is designed to with several features many of us here wish BCM
had available such as group emailing and easy field value modification. This
summer I have been recognizing the need to develop far stronger contact
management integration with my business financial procedures and the soon to
be released Office 2006 Small Business Accounting component and its intended
design link with BCM looks like a very promising package. I decided to
revisit BCM with the recent version 2 release and have been using it on a
second laptop on a trial basis. BCM v2 has installed perfectly and thus far
has proven to be very stable. I am now faced with the choice to either fully
commit to BCM and live with its design limitations or explore other
alternatives. I am leaning toward moving fully into BCM for now with hopes
of Microsoft's CRM evolving a bit further and also coming down in price. If
my business continues to grow I could benefit from a fuller CRM.

I am probably more of an exception because I can make the business process
trade off accomodations to BCM's limits. Most competitive small business
users probably will not compromise (nor should they) and that's too bad for
Microsoft I guess. It wouldn't have to be that way and hopefully future
releases SOON will change that.

Sorry for such a long post. Just some thoughts from a loyal Outlook end user
in business for himself.

Hope it helps.

-THP

 

[Ed Marmon]

guys,

i dont think i'll be using bcm due to its limitations, but i sure do think
that the two of you and select other non-mvp's here are really the heart
and soul of what's good and eminently useful discourse here. good luck to
both.

 

[Tim P via OfficeKB.com]

As if my last post wasn't long enough! ...

A quick additional comment. The main reason for my loyalty to Outlook and
preference to remain within this platform is my use of an excellent Outlook
add-in from Franklin Covey called Plan Plus which integrates a robust life
leadership goal setting/task tool that helps me balance my entire life's
information management between all roles and relationships. Working for
myself as a small business man, this helps to prevent me from becoming all
consumed wearing the many different hats I need to at times.

Check it out at www.franklincovey.com

-THP

Parker,

Your post is thoughtful and deliberative. Perhaps I can add some
constructive value to your perceptions based upon my own trial and error
experimentations. As we all know, Microsoft is dominant in most things
software related and sometimes that seems to create a design mindset of being
untouchable thus the shocking lack of interoperability with certain
applications. Your main concern centers around ease of BCM user modification
with form fields, etc. Even if you have some programming saavy and can pull
off a non-supported modification, this is clearly NOT one of BCM's intended
strengths. Anyone who has seriously experienced this ease of modification
with other competing software programs cannot credibly assert this. Compared
to numerous other Contact Management applications BCM is best used (or chosen
not to be used) as is, on a "one size fits all" basis. A lot of manual
accomodation is the only way I could use this myself.

I have a growing consulting service that is very telephone and data intensive.
I used to be an exclusive user of Outlook and tried experimenting with using
ACT along with Outlook like so many do. I then tried to use BCM version 1
when it was released in 2003 because the concept of working with improved
capabilities exclusively within the Outlook environment was much more simple
and appealing. Manual data migration issues aside, my biggest reason for
pulling the plug on BCM version 1 was its buggy unstable beta type
performance. (Intolerable forms cache issues, etc.). Version 1 just didn't
seem quite ready yet for prime time. I was able to remain within Outlook by
using (for 15 months) the Prophet 2004 application found at www.avidian.com.
This is a great application that I highly recommend and it has performed
exactly as it is designed to with several features many of us here wish BCM
had available such as group emailing and easy field value modification. This
summer I have been recognizing the need to develop far stronger contact
management integration with my business financial procedures and the soon to
be released Office 2006 Small Business Accounting component and its intended
design link with BCM looks like a very promising package. I decided to
revisit BCM with the recent version 2 release and have been using it on a
second laptop on a trial basis. BCM v2 has installed perfectly and thus far
has proven to be very stable. I am now faced with the choice to either fully
commit to BCM and live with its design limitations or explore other
alternatives. I am leaning toward moving fully into BCM for now with hopes
of Microsoft's CRM evolving a bit further and also coming down in price. If
my business continues to grow I could benefit from a fuller CRM.

I am probably more of an exception because I can make the business process
trade off accomodations to BCM's limits. Most competitive small business
users probably will not compromise (nor should they) and that's too bad for
Microsoft I guess. It wouldn't have to be that way and hopefully future
releases SOON will change that.

Sorry for such a long post. Just some thoughts from a loyal Outlook end user
in business for himself.

Hope it helps.

-THP

I hope someone from MS sees this post and weighs in on this information.

[quoted text clipped - 45 lines]

-Parker