Mail History & Exchange Server and Peer to Peer on Windows Server

S

Steve - SGD

Hi
I am looking for some advice from someone that has, hopefully, implemented
BCM in a similar environment to ours.

My company is considering using BCM as our CRM to log sales opportunities
and to also be a central 'store' for email history between us and clients.
However, we have been given conflicting advice as to how BCM works and what
it will work with.

Our set up is:
Office Professional 2003 on 20 PCs (upgrading to Office 2007 in March)
Windows Server 2003 on our file server and
Exchange Server 2003 on another server

We have been advised that BCM's - Add Email history will NOT work with
Exchange Server. Is this correct? I understand that we have to use Outlook in
cached mode and that there may be additional overhead in terms of speed etc
but this is acceptable. All we really want to achieve is to be able to see a
list of all the emails to and from a particular client in one place,
regardless of which member of our staff they are from/to.

We have also been advised that becuase the database used for BCM works on a
'peer to peer' basis that it does not sit well with a server environment.
Essentially because the database would reside on an individual PC and the
other users would share this database and it will i) slow down this PC and
ii) will have problems with multiple access to the database by different
users at the same time.

From what I have read about BCM on the Microsoft site there is no mention
that it won't work with Exchange or that there is a problem with it being
'peer to peer'. I thought it was 'ideal' for businesses of our size.

Any advice would really be appreciated.

Thanks
Steve
 
C

Chris Heydemann [MSFT]

Steve:

Others here can speak from their experience. All I can say is that BCM is
designed for what you describe.

BCM will work - and maintain E-mail history - in an Exchange environment

The BCM database is typically installed on a user's computer, as many small
business do not have a "server". However, dedicating a reaasonably
performant computer as an informal server might meet your needs. Also, it is
straightforward for an IT person to install BCM on an existing SQL
installation, without Office present. And in the next weeks, we will make a
Database Administration Tool available that makes this task easier. This
should alleviate any performance concerns of BCM running on a someone's
computer.

If you decide to go forward, feel free to let me know how it goes.

Thank you,
Chris
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top