difference b/w accounts & business Contacts

[DM]

Hi,

I'm bit confused, whatz difference between accounts and business contacts.
is that like a lead and prospect or...........

and my second question is where can i get a help guide for business contact
manager for outlook 2007

regards
DM

 

[Luther]

Hi,

I'm bit confused, whatz difference between accounts and business contacts.
is that like a lead and prospect or...........

and my second question is where can i get a help guide for business contact
manager for outlook 2007

regards
DM

Accounts generally are intended for organizations, and Business
Contacts for people.

An Account can parent many Business Contacts.

Also, Accounts can be linked to Office Accounting customers. OA will
keep them, and children contacts, in sync.

Once you've exhausted BCM Help and the BCM videos on the Office web
site, your best bet is Lon's BCM For Dummies book.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

An even more thorough and concise clarification:

"Accounts" can also be individual people that may buy a product or service
from your small business, however, you are then kinda screwed because MS
apparently does not think that anyone has this kind of business transaction
model. If an individual person (a Business Contact) is your "customer" they
cannot be cross linked and syncronized to an Office Accounting customer
record. Nor does this individual "customer" fit the rigidly defined MS
criteria of being an organization such as a "Master Parent Contact" type of
record with linked children contacts.

In the finest BCM limited design tradition of "one-size-fits-all," the
Account record is assumed to be used only in a "Business-to-Business" model
of operation. If you do any direct sales to individuals within the public at
large, using BCM for your business data can be confusing and often not an
elegant fit into the current BCM design scheme of things.

In time (zzzzzzzzz) hopefully this design oversight will eventually evolve
and be improved.

-THP

Hi,

[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]

regards
DM

Accounts generally are intended for organizations, and Business
Contacts for people.

An Account can parent many Business Contacts.

Also, Accounts can be linked to Office Accounting customers. OA will
keep them, and children contacts, in sync.

Once you've exhausted BCM Help and the BCM videos on the Office web
site, your best bet is Lon's BCM For Dummies book.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

My previous post focused far too much upon a BCM design problem (I just can't
help it because it's so glaringly obvious!) and not enough upon a solution.

My solution? Just stop thinking logically about how you think BCM "should"
be designed more intuitively for your business. Pay less attention to what
MS actually names various data objects because there has been limited thought
put into the design and nomenclature may just change down the road anyway! I
would recommend instead that you carefully determine exactly what your
particular small business workflow needs are and just use (or not use) what
ever parts of BCM fit best. In other words, if you want to use and name an
Account Record for an individual vs. an organization, just do it. Get your
mind out of the shoebox away from the mostly clueless BCM marketing rhetoric
and you will be far less frustrated.

Use the software to fit your business. Don't waste time trying to logically
fit your business process into this software. BCM is not yet worthy of that
in my opinion. Progress has been made over almost 5 years but it needs more
improvement.

Best wishes,

-THP

An even more thorough and concise clarification:

"Accounts" can also be individual people that may buy a product or service
from your small business, however, you are then kinda screwed because MS
apparently does not think that anyone has this kind of business transaction
model. If an individual person (a Business Contact) is your "customer" they
cannot be cross linked and syncronized to an Office Accounting customer
record. Nor does this individual "customer" fit the rigidly defined MS
criteria of being an organization such as a "Master Parent Contact" type of
record with linked children contacts.

In the finest BCM limited design tradition of "one-size-fits-all," the
Account record is assumed to be used only in a "Business-to-Business" model
of operation. If you do any direct sales to individuals within the public at
large, using BCM for your business data can be confusing and often not an
elegant fit into the current BCM design scheme of things.

In time (zzzzzzzzz) hopefully this design oversight will eventually evolve
and be improved.

-THP


[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]

Once you've exhausted BCM Help and the BCM videos on the Office web
site, your best bet is Lon's BCM For Dummies book.