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ACT! By Sage 2009 is available

Xavier Nyssen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:00:00 +0200

This brand new release is available since Augustus in the USA. For the rest of the world, the release should be available in the next days or weeks.

What about this version? Not really many new features. But as we use it since its beta version, we have to tell that this is the most stable version ever since the famous 6.0 version. This release is not only stable, but also very fast. All users still in version 2007 (9.0) or previous should upgrade whitout any hesitation. For users in version 2008 (10.0) it is probably less obvious to pay for a new release which doesn't give you a real new feature. Except if you really need a better Outlook integration.

The improved e-mail integration provides you more options for tracking and organizing e-mails in ACT: on-the-fly e-mail history recording, attaching e-mails en masse, scheduling an activity from the e-mail and especially the ability to use the native outlook rules to record an e-mail in ACT.

Search capabilities were also improved: the dialog box has been enhanced with new options and you have a new submenu in Lookup which gives you a fast access to your previous lookups.

Calendar printouts have been improved and Premium users could now select more than 10 users in the calendar filters.

It is also easier to configure the scheduler at your needs. And the synchronization box has been really improved to show you what data is tranferring step-by-step.

You'll find all details about these new feature on the Knowledge Base: What's new in ACT By Sage 2009 (11.0).

HotFix 10.0.2.1

Stephen Lemaire — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:31:00 +0200

Here are the main issues who are fixed :

Data fields do not always refresh after performing a contact lookup. This causes data to be saved incorrectly when moving through contacts.
File Synchronization Performance (Provide an 83% file sync performance enhancement)
Synchronization Time-out occurs if Subscription list has been modifiedRestoring a Sync Remote database does not properly set the SQL Server Database Options

You'll be able to download this hotfix and find all the fixes here

ACT! 10.0.2 Available

Xavier Nyssen — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:01:00 +0200

Sage just released the new update for ACT! This service pack contains several bug fixes and some new features.

Like this release enables one–to–many custom sub-entity creation (only via the SDK), database schema will be updated. So all users in a workgroup must be on the same version to access and take advantage of the new release.

In this brand new release, we shall retain especially the creation of new sub-entities via the SDK as the main improvement. This feature provides interesting new way to store informations about your contacts.

Main bug fixes and improvements:

Corrected performance issue on the contact list where a user sorts by clicking on the column heading
In previous releases performing a Group or Company Lookup in the Advanced Query dialog, followed by a second Group or Company lookup created unexpected results by displaying a previously viewed Group. This no longer occurs and the appropriate Group or Company is displayed.
Fixed loss of details issue when an activity was rescheduled from the scheduling conflict dialog. This problem no longer occurs and details are retained when rescheduled.
In past releases, after adding two ACT! databases as Outlook address books, users were unable to delete either one. This has been corrected and users can delete unnecessary address books as needed.
Initial user filter settings were set to all users in the default opportunity dashboard components instead of just the logged-in user, in previous releases. This is no longer the case and the logged-in user is set by default for opportunity dashboard components.
Added intelligence to distinguish backups from different databases. In past releases, ACT! didn’t distinguish between backups created from different databases and would only maintain a total number of backups as set in the scheduler preference. Now the total number of backups are maintained per database.
Fixed data type issue in sync which displayed the error “Synchronization has failed. Server Error Description: Error converting data type int to tinyint. Contact your administrator for assistance.” Release changes in how some internal ID’s are stored so that this error no longer appears and sync works correctly.

Link to complete list of changes: Knowledge Base

How to Download and Apply the ACT! by Sage 2008 (10.0.2) Service Pack? Follow this procedure in the KB: Knowledge Base

Update still not available via the "Help » ACT! Update…" menu. Be sure to download the good update depending your version of ACT. You’ll find your exact version in "Help » About ACT!" Menu. Have a look at the second line of this print-screen.

The "English (Europe)" is the version in this example.

Introducing Act! by Sage 2008

Xavier Nyssen — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 13:08:00 +0100

For the first post of this brand new blog, it seems logical to begin by introduce Act! by Sage even if it is released since several months now...

What's New In ACT! 2008 (10.0)

The ACT! 2008 release is focused on new features, usability improvements, and important in-market issues. This list is provided to improve your installation and overall use experience of ACT!2008 (10.0). The new features in the 2008 Product Family are focused in the areas of User Productivity, Administration and Data Security.

USER PRODUCTIVITY

Reporting

ACT! Dashboard

The ACT! Dashboard provides you with a comprehensive, visual overview of key activities and opportunities in a single view. It provides an at-a-glance, graphical representation of this information in a highly interactive format, so you have the information you need to best tackle your day and be more productive. Set the ACT! Dashboard as your default startup view and begin your work day with a snapshot of important activity and opportunity information that requires your attention. From this view, you can also easily identify how you’re tracking toward your goals using benchmarks and summary information.

General

List Edit Mode (for ACT! and ACT! Premium only)

Quickly edit Contact, Group, and Company records directly from within list views. The List Edit Mode allows you to easily edit fields within a particular list view without having to take the time to open each record individually. Now, you can quickly and easily maintain important Contact, Group, or Company information within ACT! without leaving the list view.
Add Document Shortcuts to Activity and History Items

Add document shortcuts to Activity and History items without having to attach the full document to control database size. Allow other non-ACT! users to edit the same document, ensuring you have the most updated version in the database.

Opportunities Multiple Contacts per Opportunity

Associate multiple contacts to a single opportunity to ensure you are aware of every contact within an organization that could impact the closing of a deal, whether they are an influencer, decision maker, or play another role. Multiple Contacts per Opportunity allows you to track more than one contact associated with an Opportunity without having to create separate opportunities for each Contact, and allows for a more comprehensive view of all the contacts that are involved with an opportunity.

Opportunity List Details

View all contacts or products associated with an Opportunity from the Opportunity List view without having to click and open the Opportunity. Save time by simply mousing over the Opportunity in the List view to quickly identify additional information for that Opportunity.

Opportunity Date Fields (for ACT! Premium only)

Opportunity Date fields enable consistency and flexibility in tracking time-sensitive customer information. Any Opportunity User field can be turned into a date field for tracking information like quote date or shipping date. Now, you can track important dates specific to a particular Opportunity to ensure you stay on top of key deadlines associated with each Opportunity.

Groups and Companies Consistent Labels within Groups and Companies

Enter duplicate Subgroup and Division names within Groups and Companies and maintain more consistent Group and Company Record structures for improved organization and data accuracy. For example, when tracking multiple Groups or Companies with the same Subgroup or Division name, such as “Sales” or “Marketing,” you can now enter these duplicate labels for as many Group or Company records as needed.

Duplicate Checking for Groups and Companies

Automatically check for duplicate Groups and Companies contained within ACT! when entering a new Group or Company Record. When a duplicate record is found, a prompt will inform you that you are creating a duplicate Group or Company and will provide you with the option to continue or cancel the entry. You also have the option to set and define duplicate record checking criteria for up to three fields so you are only prompted when required by your pre-determined conditions. This ensures the Group and Company information within ACT! remains clean and accurate.

Group and Company Hierarchy

View the entire hierarchy of all Groups and Companies, including subgroups and divisions, when an associated Group or Company dialog box is displayed. This not only allows for easier navigation, it also allows you to more clearly see relationships within the hierarchy, so you can easily decipher which Subgroup and Division is associated with parent Groups and Company records.

Advanced Queries for Groups and Companies

Extend advanced searching capability to perform Advanced Queries on Groups and Companies, allowing you to find Group and Company information more easily. Create new queries identifying all Groups and Companies listed as prospects or located in the same territory. You can save the Advanced Query for later searching and easily re-define the search criterion, reducing time spent on future searches. This enables you to better leverage your customer information based on search results.

Be carreful! This brand new feature has limitations. Actually, Advanced Query for Groups or Companies returns you only Groups or Companies, and you are not able to use both Contact fields and Group/Company fields. For example, it is not possible to create a query which return you a lookup of all contacts having an e-mail address from companies having a "Prospect" status. You have two choices:

You can make an Advanced Query on company fields [ID/Status=Prospect and Referred By=Trade Show] to return a Company List, then you can use UrContactLookup to return all contacts belonging these companies

You can use directly UrQuery to easily return you all contacts from companies having ID/Status=Prospect and Referred By=Trade Show in only one query

ADMINISTRATION AND DATA SECURITY

Company Security (for ACT! only)

When working in a networked environment, improve data security by marking any Company Record private. You can control which users can access Company information, including Company membership and shared Notes and History. Company Security ensures only you have access to the information you mark as private.

Group and Company Security (for ACT! Premium only)

Improve data security by limiting the access to any Group or Company Record by user or by teams of users. Control which users can view and/or edit Group and Company information, including Group and Company membership and shared Notes and History, and automatically limit the access to any new Groups and Companies created, based on the security preference set for ongoing Group and Company. Group and Company Security ensures that team members have access to only the information for which they are authorized.

Custom Permissions for Subscription List

Managers and administrators can restrict remote users from requesting contacts via the subscription list, thus reducing issues when sync requests fall outside the criteria of the defined sync set. Custom Permissions for Subscription List ensures that the sync set defined by the administrator is the only data the remote user can see.

Temporarily Suspend Database Sync on Certain Remotes

Administrators can temporarily suspend a remote database from synchronizing to the parent database to protect unwanted data or deletions from affecting the parent database. It also allows the administrator to help diagnose synching issues by restricting particular remote databases from synchronizing until issue has been resolved.

USABILITY ENHANCEMENTS

Microsoft Outlook E-mail Integration
- Outlook integration users can now use Microsoft Word as their e-mail editor and create histories for that e-mail.
- ACT! 2008 features improved Outlook Address book setup through prompting the user to complete the Outlook Address Book configuration during E-mail integration setup.
- Users can create contacts directly from the Outlook inbox view without opening the Outlook E-mail form.
- When attaching message to a contact, ACT! auto-resolves and suggests the contacts name, so user doesn't have to find the contact and select it.
- A new preference and on-the-fly option provides the ability to have Outlook E-mail histories messages marked as private.
Attachments
- Added “Attach shortcut” (a pointer to a file on a mapped drive) in addition to the “Attach file” (copies the file to the ACT! database folder structure) option when attaching files to ACT! entities.
  
  Attach Shortcut Notes:
- Shortcuts will sync and back up, but source files will not.
- Shortcuts will function on remotes if source path is accessible.
  - “Attach File” is same functionality as in 9.x
  - You can “mix” attaching shortcuts and files
- On conversion of v6.x database, user has option to
  - Convert attachments as shortcuts, or
  - Convert attachments as files (as in 9.x)
Security
- Users with the Manager role are excluded from Limited Access records by default on newly created limited access records.
- Added a new “Access Changed” history type that logs specific changes to the ACL (by user).
- A new custom permission has been added called Manage sync subscription list which prevents a remote user from “data fishing” without this permission.
Lookups and Queries
- ACT! 2008 adds new operators in the Advanced Query feature. These new operators include:
  - Does Not Contain
  - Greater Than
  - Greater Than or Equal To
  - Less Than
  - Less Than or Equal To
- Yes/No fields are now available in Lookup By Example.
Printing
- Printing a Monthly calendar now allows more than 2 months to be printed at a time.
- Read-only fields are available to be included in address book printouts.
Other
- Duplicate Checking criteria now include contact name parts including, first name, last name, middle name, name prefix, name suffix.
- Character fields may be changed to date or date/time types.
- Alarms older than 30 days will no longer automatically deactivate.
- Find field (in dialogs) now provide enhanced keyboard support allowing down ARROW keys to moves from field to list.