Store BCM2007's data in Exchange

[Ratbat]

The FAQ's for Business Contact Manager 2007 (BCM2007) say:

My company uses Exchange Server to manage our email and communications. Can
I use Outlook with Business Contact Manger with Exchange Server?
Yes.

But it turns out that is not true (unless you really stretch the definition
of true). Below is a posting from this discussion group on the subject. The
point is that without support for Exchange you place a huge barrier in the
way of a small business going from a single user of BCM2007 to add the second
user. Instead of being an easy no brainer that just involves laying down a
few more dollars each month, it is now a huge task of purchasing an extra
server, setting it up, creating a VPN and maintaining the whole thing.

It is a bit silly to expect a non-technical company to do that just to add
one extra user. With hosted exchange they just add another user to their
account and they are away. That’s why BCM2007 needs to store its data in
Exchange, all of its data.

Details below.

Ratbat



he FAQ's for Business Contact Manager 2007 (BCM2007) say:

My company uses Exchange Server to manage our email and communications. Can
I use Outlook with Business Contact Manger with Exchange Server?
Yes.

But I cannot find any information on how to set it up.

Here is what I am use to with Outlook and what I need to happen for BCM2007:
I put something in my dairy on my desktop PC and by the magic of Exchange,
shortly afterwards it appears in my diary on my laptop. I do not have to
press any buttons to sync, I do not even have to been in the same country,
let alone the same network, Exchange just sorts it out (it even syncs to my
phone). Fabulous.

To test BCM2007 I installed on it on a third machine and connected it to my
hosted Exchange service (the host is 1and1).

And I can see that BCM2007 is passing some data through the Exchange
server, because both my desktop and laptop (using a copy of Outlook 2007
which does not have Business Contact Manager installed), now have a tab for
Business Contact Manager has appeared under contacts, without me having do
anything (although I cannot open up the tabs).

However, if I install fourth machines with BCM2007 and point it to use the
Exchange account, all other Exchange data is correctly synchronized between
the two, but not the data from BCM2007. I can add a contact in BCM2007 on one
machine and it never appears on the other.

I think the problem is that BCM2007 stores its data in a different PST files
to the Exchange mailbox. I have noticed in the folder listing a Mailbox and a
BCM entry. Obviously only the mailbox entry gets to go to the Exchange server
and thereby replicated to the other machines.

What I cannot find is a way to tell BCM2007 to store its stuff in the
exchange server.

Microsoft says it will do it, but I cannot find any documentation on how to
set it up. Do I need to change a setting on the PCs or does my host need to
change something on their servers?

Well, Ratbat, welcome to BCM!

Microsoft didn't exactly LIE, but they didn't tell you the whole truth.
Yes, BCM works with Exchange to synchronize the tasks and appointments and
email from Outlook but NO, not the BCM contacts. Those are synched
separately from Exchange. You setup a "master" PC with a "master" BCM
database and go through the process to share the BCM database and then allow
others to connect to it (documented in other posts here). So, BCM synchs
and Exchange synchs and you're then up to date.

If you're using a dedicated server at 1and1, you could use a VPN connection
and host your BCM db there. Or, setup a PC in your office and synch when
you come back to the office and connect to the LAN.

HTH,
Lon


Lon,

Thanks for taking the time to reply Lon. That’s a whole big fib from
Microsoft there. There is a big difference between their “yes†in the FAQ’s
and the reality of the situation. I hope someone from Microsoft is reading
this post and feeling a little ashamed of themselves!

Without BCM all we needed to do was spend a few dollars a month on a hosted
exchange service and the job was done. We could share contacts and tasks
between different people, regardless of their location, or which PC they were
working on, or how they were connecting to the Net, it even worked with
nothing more than a web browser in an Internet Café. Now we have to buy a
server, setup the software for a BCM database, create a VPN and maintain all
of this. All just to add a second user to BCM. It is not exactly friendly for
the type of small business BCM is meant to be aimed at.

These are three Microsoft products (Outlook, BCM and Exchange) that half
work together already, the job needs to be finished off.

Enough ranting from me, the message for Microsoft is clear: Make BCM do what
your FAQ’s say it does: work with Exchange.

RatBat.

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[Luther]

The FAQ's for Business Contact Manager 2007 (BCM2007) say:

My company uses Exchange Server to manage our email and communications. Can
I use Outlook with Business Contact Manger with Exchange Server?
Yes.

But it turns out that is not true (unless you really stretch the definition
of true).

Truth is for philosophers to argue over.

The statement is correct. BCM v1 did not work if Outlook was using
Exchange, then the answer in the FAQ was No. BCM 2007 works with
Outlook with Exchange, so the answer is now yes.

I think the issue is with the definition of "use". Yes, Outlook works,
but Exchange will not synchronize BCM data. With BCM and Exchange
2007, their intersection is as small as possible. The issues that kept
Outlook from working with both together have been addressed, but
Exchange does not "know" about BCM. I'm sure the BCM team would be
delighted if Exchange were to become "BCM aware" and start
synchronizing BCM data. But that's probably not high on the list of
Exchange feature requests.

 

[Ratbat]

Then the real question should have been “can I use BCM2007 and Exchange in
the same profileâ€. Saying it works with Exchange implies that it works with
Exchange and it does not. It works alongside Exchange with a few limited
interchanges, but then I guess you would have a hard time getting that answer
past the marketing guys who have to sign off on the web pages.

I am coming to the end of my evaluation of BCM now and I think I will not be
rolling it out to my team. The reason I looked at BCM is that I wanted a
something that worked in the Outlook Universe. Outlook is so pervasive that
everything knows how to work with. Every piece of software can import or
export to it, every phone works with it straight out of the box.

However, what I have found with BCM is a product that sits uncomfortably
with Outlook. Like a badly tailored suit, it fits were it touches. I looked
at some other products that performed CRM inside Outlook, but they did not
inspire me. I assume they do not have the level of investment they could
because there is an 800 pound gorilla in the room in the form of Microsoft.
Even if Microsoft’s offering is weak it is still on the table and that will
make investors shy of attempting to create and market something better. So
unless BCM improves, this market will go nowhere.

It appears that Microsoft direction has been predicated on this logic:

“BCM is a product for small business, Exchange is a product for big
business, therefore they do not need to work together and to make them work
together would stop us selling Microsoft CRM.â€

This logic is wrong because of the existence of hosted Exchange. Huge and
increasing numbers of small businesses use hosted Exchange and more would do
if they understood what it could do for them (and more of them are finding
out all the time).

Without Exchange support BCM will only ever be a single user product.
Although more users could be added in theory, it is all much too technical
for the type of small business it is aimed at. So only a small number of
enthusiasts will even attempt to add that second user. The product will die
unless it truly becomes part of Outlook.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Ratbat