Outlook 2007 and BCM (Beta) joys and frustrations

[soeyken]

Hi,

I just want to share a topic about the joys and frustrations I found
with testing the BCM beta version for Outlook 2007:

Joys:
- Installation went fine for me
- customization of forms works at basic level -> still need to
investigate where the data is stored.
- Love the new categories interface with colors

Frustrations:
- NO MANY-TO-MANY INTERFACE BETWEEN ACCOUNTS AND BUSINESS CONTACTS. I
really don't understand why such a basic and real world aspect STILL is
wrongly implemented !!!

Side note:
We mainly use BCM for sharing Contacts and Accounts and Cummunication
History, so no fancy opportunities, marketing campaings needed for use.
Maybe for future use.

Please feel free to add your thoughts, frustrations, maybe the
development team at Microsoft will read it. I will add mine as I
explore the beta

Thx,
Nico

 

[Luther]

customization of forms works at basic level -> still need to investigate where the data is stored.

Looks like everything is stored in the database.

NO MANY-TO-MANY INTERFACE BETWEEN ACCOUNTS AND BUSINESS CONTACTS.

My guess is that not very many small businesses have to deal with
people that work for multiple companies.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

[My guess is that not very many small businesses have to deal with people
that work for multiple companies]

"MY" guess is that not very many designers of BCM ever deal with the MANY
small businesses that deal with people that work for multiple companies in
the real world!

Many-to-many relationship database function is very doable for this product
design and the lack of it is simply unexcusable! In my opinion, there is no
good reason for this omission based upon real world usage scenarios.

-THP

 

[Luther]

Tim, you're back!

Are you done writing your very easy to write, very doable, Outlook
hosted CRM killer app?

When might we expect to try it out? When's the IPO?

[My guess is that not very many small businesses have to deal with people
that work for multiple companies]

"MY" guess is that not very many designers of BCM ever deal with the MANY
small businesses that deal with people that work for multiple companies in
the real world!

Many-to-many relationship database function is very doable for this product
design and the lack of it is simply unexcusable! In my opinion, there is no
good reason for this omission based upon real world usage scenarios.

-THP

Looks like everything is stored in the database.


My guess is that not very many small businesses have to deal with
people that work for multiple companies.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Hi Luther,

I have never really left. For entertainment value, I continue to lurk here
and read the numerous posts about various BCM issues that have existed for
many years now. I take no joy in the relative misery of others but I have
jumped off from riding the BCM Circus wagon myself. (BTW, you would not
believe some of the nasty comments about BCM that I have heard from some well
placed folks on the MS CRM side of things)

Anyway, because I am not a software program developer, I have neither the
time nor the expertise to write such an Outlook hosted app. One thing that I
am good at however is being in the role of "real world end-user." As a
fairly typical small business owner, I am good at recognizing when technology
is wisely deployed to help rather than hinder my needs. When technology is
less wisely designed, I am good at providing succinct feedback based upon my
opinion from my experience with BCM.

For whatever reasons, if Microsoft cannot or will not get their BCM act
together, it is only reasonable to pursue other options and to recommend such
options for others to explore as well. This provides positive incentives for
improvement IMHO. I don't really believe in the concept of a "killer-app"
because expectations for such a thing are usually unrealistic. I would
contrast my own long awaited (and mostly unfulfilled) expectations for BCM to
be very realistic however. I have found an affordable app that works very
nicely for me.

-It is built into Outlook (vs. hosted)
-It is extremely customizable.
-It has zero synchronization issues.
-It allows numerous flexible versions for deployment (PST, Exchange, SQL).
-It can easily scale to accomodate future growth and change among a wide
variety and scope of users.
-It has only 1 contact database that can be accessed by others remotely.
-It has "many-to-many" relationship linking built in.
-It is easy to learn and use.

Shall I keep going with my list here? Sound too good to be true? Is it
killer? None of these requirements are really that unreasonable, demanding,
"pie-in-the-sky" or undoable. It already does exist.

For those who are curious, check out this link below to an Australia based
developer named ExchangeWise that seems to get it right with their Outlook
CRM tool. Someday, MS BCM may get closer to the simple functionality of this
alternative app that I have found to work well for me. Until then, why fight
it?

www.mxcontact.com

Best wishes,

-THP

Tim, you're back!

Are you done writing your very easy to write, very doable, Outlook
hosted CRM killer app?

When might we expect to try it out? When's the IPO?

[My guess is that not very many small businesses have to deal with people
that work for multiple companies]

[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

A quick additional comment:

I do not work for, nor gain financially in anyway from recommending the above
linked alternative to BCM. I am just a big believer that the existance of
quality alternatives provides incentives for positive change and improvement.
If you go to this site, check out the 86 slide powerpoint presentation found
in the upper right of the home page. This provides a very educational and
compelling explanation of how this solution approaches Outlook's fit as a CRM
tool. I have been very impressed by the thorough innovation and simplicity
of this application.

-THP

Hi Luther,

I have never really left. For entertainment value, I continue to lurk here
and read the numerous posts about various BCM issues that have existed for
many years now. I take no joy in the relative misery of others but I have
jumped off from riding the BCM Circus wagon myself. (BTW, you would not
believe some of the nasty comments about BCM that I have heard from some well
placed folks on the MS CRM side of things)

Anyway, because I am not a software program developer, I have neither the
time nor the expertise to write such an Outlook hosted app. One thing that I
am good at however is being in the role of "real world end-user." As a
fairly typical small business owner, I am good at recognizing when technology
is wisely deployed to help rather than hinder my needs. When technology is
less wisely designed, I am good at providing succinct feedback based upon my
opinion from my experience with BCM.

For whatever reasons, if Microsoft cannot or will not get their BCM act
together, it is only reasonable to pursue other options and to recommend such
options for others to explore as well. This provides positive incentives for
improvement IMHO. I don't really believe in the concept of a "killer-app"
because expectations for such a thing are usually unrealistic. I would
contrast my own long awaited (and mostly unfulfilled) expectations for BCM to
be very realistic however. I have found an affordable app that works very
nicely for me.

-It is built into Outlook (vs. hosted)
-It is extremely customizable.
-It has zero synchronization issues.
-It allows numerous flexible versions for deployment (PST, Exchange, SQL).
-It can easily scale to accomodate future growth and change among a wide
variety and scope of users.
-It has only 1 contact database that can be accessed by others remotely.
-It has "many-to-many" relationship linking built in.
-It is easy to learn and use.

Shall I keep going with my list here? Sound too good to be true? Is it
killer? None of these requirements are really that unreasonable, demanding,
"pie-in-the-sky" or undoable. It already does exist.

For those who are curious, check out this link below to an Australia based
developer named ExchangeWise that seems to get it right with their Outlook
CRM tool. Someday, MS BCM may get closer to the simple functionality of this
alternative app that I have found to work well for me. Until then, why fight
it?

www.mxcontact.com

Best wishes,

-THP

Tim, you're back!

[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]

 

[Nenad Horvat]

Hi,

I also tried Outlook 2007 and BCM v3 Beta. I share your joy regarding the
installation and also love the new look.
I tried importing my database in XLS as a test. I imported accounts and
contacts but it appears that the relation between these two groups wasn't
imported. In the process of importing I selected all the neccesary attributes
for both groups. Now, in contacts there is the name of the account, but
reverse relation isn't realized - there aren't any of my contacts in account
properties. Does anyone have a solution to these problems or is it also one
of the frustrations of this BETA version?

Thanks,
NH

Korisnik "soeyken" napisao je:

 

[Luther]

The only way to maintain a link between Contacts and Accounts is
importing with BCM files. Import from ACT converts the ACT data to BCM
files, maintaining ACT's link between groups(accounts) and contacts.

When you say that contacts have the names of the accounts, I assume you
mean the company name? I think that's just a string field in the
contact and not related to the parent account. I'm not sure what the
intent is with this Company field (I think it's new in v3) given that
the account is already intended to be the organization the contact
works for.