Volume 7, Issue 1

Links to this issue's topics:

Joel Scott Describes How to Customize Your GoldMine Tabs
New People/New Skills/New Services
ACCAPAC CRM Version 5.7 Is Here
Joel Scott Dusts Off His Smith Corona -- Announcing GoldMine for Dummies 7.0
The GoldMine/Outlook Link is Now Available for dBase Users!
Tech-Talk -- Sage CRM 5.7 and GoldMine 6.7
Upcoming Training Dates
Hardware Services
Web Harvesting: A Turnkey Solution You Can't Afford to Pass Up
We Wander the Web (Weblinks You Should Know)
Newsletter Archives

A Word From The President -- Customizing Your Tabs in GoldMine

Out of the box GoldMine comes with 14 defined Tabs. Nine of these Tabs are in the front row and the remaining five are hiding in the row behind the original nine. If you look at the history of GoldMine, the product started with just one row of nine Tabs. Over the years, as the number of features expanded, so did the number of Tabs. At least one important Tab has been consigned to the second tier, but now you have the power to fix that.

The Links Tab helps you keep track of all the documents and files associated with each record. The Links Tab is far too important to live in the second tier. In fact, the Links Tab is generally more important and more often used than several of the original Tabs that still live in the first tier.

There are several candidates for demotion from the first tier to the second. My recommendation is to demote the Summary Tab to the second tier and replace it with the Links Tab. I’ve used GoldMine since the early 1990s and have never once felt a need for the Summary Tab. My second choice for demotion is the Referrals Tab. Although I do use the Referrals Tab, I don’t use it all that often and most of our clients don’t use it at all. The Notes Tab is another candidate for demotion. You probably shouldn’t be using it, but like most GoldMine users, you probably do.

Assuming that you are willing to go along with my recommendation, here are the steps you need to demote the Summary Tab and promote the Links Tab at the same time

1. Select Edit.
2. Select Preferences.
3. Select the Record Tab.
4. Select the Tabs Button – the Display Tabs Dialog Box appears.

5. Click on &Summary which is at the top of the list – the line is highlighted.
6. Click on the Move Down button – you will see with each click the &Summary Tab moves down one notch. Continue clicking the Move Down button until &Summary is just below the &Links line.
7. Select the OK button – you are returned to the Preferences Dialog Box and then to GoldMine’s sign on screen. When you log back into GoldMine, your changes will have taken effect.

These changes apply only to the workstation you are using and will not affect anyone else, unless you take advantage of Overrides in your GM.INI file and make this a company-wide setting. There is no global or company-wide setting for this. Also, you will only see the first row of Tabs in the Display Tabs Dialog Box. You can’t change the order of any Custom Tabs you may have added to GoldMine.

If any of the Tabs annoy you so much that you just want to eliminate them, you can also do this from the Display Tabs Dialog Box by removing the check mark from each Tab. Selecting the Reset button will restore all the original, default settings in case you change your mind.

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New People/New Skills/New Services

Paul Boiano
Paul will be heading our new LeadGen department. Paul's background is as a business systems developer. He has extensive experience with several CRM applications and is in charge of developing and maintaining our new referral program. Be on the lookout for communications from Paul over the next several weeks as we deploy the program.

Karen W. Boyd
Karen brings a whole new dimension to CCC Customer Service. As Professional Services Coordinator, it's Karen's job to estimate consulting tasks, schedule CCC consultants and track performance. Karen is available to answer client questions regarding how Service and Support Agreements are utilized. In her first couple of months, we've already seen a marked increase in efficient scheduling and improved service delivery. E-mail Karen.

Paul Cappa
Paul is our new Analyst and CRM Sales Specialist. With a deep background in technology delivery systems, Paul is uniquely qualified to provide a sales perspective that is rooted in technology -- a great combination. Paul will be making the rounds (e-mail and telephone) to introduce himself. Now is the time to take advantage of him before he becomes too familiar with CCC price lists! E-mail Paul.

Jason Sage
Jason is the newest CCC geek. He came onboard to write some very complex (and powerful) code for a recent Sage CRM client. The real excitement here surrounding Jason is that his code has opened several doors to increased capabilities in the CRM world. (Read the piece in this newsletter about our new Partner Portal and Partner Locator.) With the addition of Jason, CCC has increased our capability to customize our CRM offerings (Sage and GoldMine) in ways we used to only dream about. E-mail Jason.

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Sage CRM Version 5.7 Just Released
We've been working with 5.7 through its beta period and now with its release. There is an easier to use, more intuitive Administration module and greater flexibility in the quoting area. We'll be kicking these tires quite a bit over the next few weeks and providing a detailed review in our next Bits & Bytes.

Here is a list of new features from Sage:

• Administration menu pop out lists and home pages
• Quotes and Order Entry
• Product Entry
• Global Document Library
• Advanced Search Select Enhancements
• Escalation and Notification Enhancements
• Target list Enhancements
• Saved lists
• Enhanced Outlook Integration
• Online Help
• New Solo Solution
• User templates
• Miscellaneous other features, including calendar printing, date and time
  selections, changing visible tabs, knowing if leads are mapped to
  companies, Create Scripts for lists, E-mail Manager supporting MAPI,
  Web Leads, and Web Services.

For more information on 5.7 click here.

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GoldMine 7 for Dummies, Authored by CCC's Joel Scott, Due This Summer

CCC President Joel Scott has just re-signed with Wiley Publishing to write his fourth GoldMine for Dummies book. This edition will detail GoldMine 7 and will be available this summer. FrontRange's projected launch date for the software is Q2 of this year. Stay tuned for more information about the book and the application.

The GoldMine Integration Services for Microsoft Outlook Link is Now Available for dBase Users!

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  Tech-Talk (Sage CRM 5.7 and GoldMine 6.7)

Sage 5.7 is Here

What’s new? A lot of neat stuff:

· Improved (left column) menu navigation
· Sub-entity context improvements (more integration flexibility)
· Performance improvements (first time logon time after it's been reset is just one of many improvements)

But if you’re a system administrator or CRM developer who is looking to upgrade to 5.7 now or in the future, there is an important gotcha you need to consider.

Before we go on, rest assured that if CCC is your Sage CRM consultant, we’ve implemented your application with all the appropriate settings and safeguards so the issue described below does NOT pertain to you. However, simply as an FYI, it might be worth the read anyway.

An Important Note
The following does not apply to typical customizations, performed in the Administration area, like adding new Fields, Screens or Views. This only applies to applications, scripts, and ASP pages that insert new records into the database and rely on DBMS (database management system) identity columns.

If you have already implemented customizations to CRM that add records to the database without using the eWareRecord object, (specifically the eWare.CreateRecord method), then plan on some real prep work before you can upgrade to 5.7.

What’d they do?
CRM has been modified so that the reliance on “auto-number” or “auto-increment” fields in tables (typically used as the primary key) is not on the DBMS. Instead, CRM manages these types of columns/fields internally. So, fields that were identity columns are now numeric (most likely integers of one size or another, depending on the DBMS).

Why?
In short, this new requirement allows both Sage developers and CRM client developers the ability to support a larger variety of DBMS systems that may or may not offer identity columns.

We don’t plan on upgrading for a while, but what can we do now about this?
Well, if you have programs that insert records into CRM, change the code to use the eWare.CreateRecord method. (This is the method always practiced by CCC techs.) If you do any new development, be sure to use the eWare.CreateRecord method instead of SQL INSERTs.

Contact us if you have any questions.

Thanks to our new Sage CRM Tech specialist Jason Sage!

Fix for GoldMine 6.7's "Auto-Refresh-My-Inbox-When-I-Don't-Want-It-To" Syndrome
From our Doug Castell:

When you're in your Inbox, GoldMine 6.7 has a nasty habit of refreshing the screen every few minutes. The problem is, if you've got an e-mail highlighted and the refresh fires, you'll lose focus and have to search your Inbox for the e-mail. Here's a fix; enter this under the [Internet} section of your username.ini file:
FolderRefreshDelay=9999999

This will give you seven days without a refresh. FrontRange is reportedly working on a more permanent fix.

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Training Center of the Year Upcoming Training Dates

This is the schedule for the Rocky Hill, Connecticut Training Center.

Click here to Register.

Click here for detailed Course Descriptions.

The First Recognized Training Center for Sage CRM Upcoming Training Dates

This is the schedule for the Rocky Hill, Connecticut Training Center.

Click here for more information on Sage CRM Training offerings.

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Reminder - Hardware Services

Did you know Computer Control Corporation does hardware and networking?  Keep us in mind when purchasing or servicing computers, printers, or networks for your company.

Click here to send the hardware guys an e-mail.

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Web Harvesting: A Turnkey Solution You Can't Afford to Pass Up

Visitors to your website are some of your very best prospects. Sometimes these are existing customers interested in doing additional business with you. Sometimes these are new prospects visiting you for the very first time. And, sometimes the visitors are your competitors; you should know about those visits also. Offering information from your website is a great way to position your business as an expert in its field, and a helpful expert to boot. But be careful not to give away too much information, especially if you're not getting anything in return.

If you offer your web visitors the benefit of requesting information, the request should come into your CRM system via a web form. The form should be designed to capture important contact data about the visitor. So you'll be offering valuable information to your web visitors AND be gaining valuable contact information for follow-up in return. It's Quid Pro Quo -- online.

If you already have a good CRM system (GoldMine certainly qualifies, but so do many others) you are more than halfway home. It's crucial that you have a web form properly coded so it is accurately processing requests for more information from your website. It's also important that your CRM application is set up to optimally manage web request follow-up, both short-term and long. At Computer Control, we've set these procedures in place both for ourselves and for our clients. We can bring this expertise to bear in your environment. Let us help you down the home stretch to properly harvesting all those people and dollars that keep surfing your website.

Click here for more information on Web Harvesting.

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http://wellstyled.com/tools/

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