Goldmine: Activity Tab Names

A client asked: I use the Filter function when I try to find an activity (e.g. email) in the Pending or History columns, but I still struggle to find specific people or activities. Is this improved in GMPE?

It sure is - Goldmine Premium has many new features, one of which allows you to show the contact name in the Pending and History tabs.

To do this, make the following change:

* Select Tools > Options > Record
* Check the "Show contact name on activity tab"
* Click OK

Now instead of struggling to find an email from a certain person at your largest client, it’s easy to sort or filter on the contact name and quickly find that email you're looking for.

Goldmine: LinkedIn GM+View

A client wants to know: Is there a way to use the GM+View to integrate LinkedIn with the current contact?

Sure, this business networking site is rapidly growing in popularity and a GM+View based on the Goldmine contact name is a great way to utilize the power of LinkedIn and Goldmine.

* Select Web > Setup GM+View
* Click New > Enter LinkedIn as Template Name
* Click in the large text box > click
* Erase or overwrite the html in the box with the following:

Note: To receive a text file with the html below, send an email to dave@marksgroup.net with a subject line of "LinkedIn"
-------------------------------------------------------------------


Save the GM+View and when it opens, it will place the contact name in the LinkedIn search and return the LinkedIn results. This is usually close enough, but if not, you can also type in the LinkedIn contact you are looking for in the Keyword Search.

Goldmine: Slow Searches?

A client recently asked: I am using Goldmine Premium and the searches seem slow. Is there a way to correct this?

When you double-click a field to lookup by contact name, Goldmine does a search where the contact name begins with nothing which returns the entire database! Unless you can start typing before Goldmine starts searching, you will find your search to be slow.

You can modify this behavior by using a function called the "Lookup Alignment Delay". By modifying this, you give yourself more time to start typing in the search box before Goldmine starts searching the entire database.

To adjust, do the following:

* Select Tools > Options > Lookup tab
* Modify the Lookup Alignment Delay to 7 (7/10th of second)

This should provide you ample time to start typing your search criteria. If not, move it up to 9 or 10. If you are really quick, move it down to 4 or 5.

This setting can be different for everyone, so test different delays until you get the right one for you.

Goldmine: Got Notes?

A client asked: We use the Notes tab for preliminary information for suspects and prospects. Is there a way to put a check mark on the Notes tab so we know that it contains information?

Using the Notes tab for generic or preliminary information such as directions or comments about the contact is useful. However, unless you go into the Notes tab there is no way to know there is something there. To indicate you have Notes in a contact, use the following to put "Have Notes" on the upper half of the contact window.

* First, while logged in with master rights, Right-Click > New Field.
* Select dBASE Expression and Click OK.
* Move the field to an area of the screen where you have open space
* Double-click and add "Has Notes" (with quotes) in Field Data area
* Select the Color tab and add the following to Data Color
* Select Expression and type in iif(trim(notes) > ' ', 255, 16777215)
* On the Layout tab, set Field Label to 0 and Data Size to 10.
* Click OK.

Now when a contact has data in the Notes field, Has Notes will appear under the Address fields in the upper half of the Contact.

Goldmine: Finding Contacts

A client wants to know: We communicate with prospects and customers primarily by email. Is there a way to find contacts without an email address?

Yes, you can use a SQL query to show you all your contacts without an email address.

To do this, select GoldMine’s main menu, choose Lookup > SQL Queries then copy and paste the code below into the top section then click Query. If you are using GoldMine Premium Edition then use Tools > Filters & Groups and the SQL Query tab.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

select company, contact, city, state, zip, key1, key2, key3, key4, key5 from contact1 where accountno not in (select accountno from contsupp where contact = 'E-mail Address' and rectype = 'P') order by company, contact

-------------------------------------------------------------------

You will see your results and if they appear useful use the 'Save' button to reuse this later on. Within the results, you can Right-Click > Output To > Excel to save the results, print them, and further analyze.

Goldmine: Finding Unlinked Emails

A client asked: We have a number of emails which were filed without being linked to a contact. Is it possible to find these emails?

Yes, you could use a SQL query. Add the following to the SQL Query textbox in Goldmine:

select * from MailBox where AccountNo is Null

This will return unlinked emails and the results can be used to build a group. From this, the emails can be linked to the correct contact.

Goldmine: More Contact Information

A client asked: We use the GM+View for driving directions to clients. Are there other views that are available?

Sure, to search on a client email, you would do the following. This places the email address in Google and returns information about the current contact.

To implement this GM+View:

* Open the GM+View > Click New
* Type Contact Google Search as the name
* Click in the large text box > click
* Highlight the html in the box > Delete it

Enter the hmtl below:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: to receive a text file with the html below, send an email to dave@marksgroup.net with a subject line of "Google Search"



Save the view and make sure there is a valid email address in the contact. This should be automatically placed in Google and searched. You may be surprised with the information you find!

Note: For a large collection of GM+Views and lots of other Goldmine explanations, tips and enhanced functionality, check out the "Goldmine Hackers Guide" by DJ Hunt

Goldmine: Pipeline Funnel

A client asked: How are the rungs in the Pipeline Funnel determined?

GoldMine’s Opportunity Manager gives companies and individuals an easy way to manage and track sales throughout the sales cycle with the Pipeline Funnel.

For salespeople and managers the Pipeline Funnel gives you an overview of the number of opportunities and total dollar value of the opportunities at each stage of the sales process.

To use the Pipeline Funnel:

Determine whether you want to see all opportunities, the opportunities of a user group, or a single users’ opportunities. This is done by changing the Manager drop down in the Opportunity Manager.

Then click the funnel icon, above and to the left of the Manager.

In the center of the rungs of the funnel will be the stage, “10 – Initial Contact, etc.” as well as the number of opportunities in that stage. Then to the right of each rung will be the total dollar value of those opportunities, and their percentage of the total sales. In the very top rung, the gray area, will be the total forecast and total # of sales.

The rungs are determined by the F2 lookup for Stage field within the Opportunity Manager.

Goldmine: Tracking Your Sales Pipeline

A client wants to know: We want to start tracking our Sales Pipeline using Goldmine. Where do we start?

To maintain an accurate and up to date pipeline, you need to make sure you update an Opportunity after each visit or call to a prospect. Forgetting to create that opportunity and a good prospect can end up "falling through the cracks". Below is a simple trick to make the process of creating a new opportunity easier and part your daily workflow.

* When completing an activity, e.g. a call or appointment, if it’s a good prospect, click the “New” button in the Complete window to create a new opportunity for the prospect.

* After clicking New, you’ll be asked to confirm who the opportunity is for. You can accept the default record or select another. Select Opportunity and any template that might be appropriate.

* Then complete the basic information and click OK. The opportunity will show up in the Opportunity Manager

This information can be used in the Pipeline Funnel, Goldmine and Crystal reports to better track your sales pipeline.

Goldmine: Auto Fill Text Boxes

A client asked: Do we have to use the pop-up selection method for required fields? Is there a way to fill in the closest match on some fields and use the pop-up selection on others.

Yes, whether to use a pop-up or auto-fill is controlled on a field by field basis. To use the auto-fill method, do the following:

* Click on the F2 lookup icon > click on Setup
* Check the auto-fill option
* When the user starts typing, the closest match will appear
* If Force Valid Input is unchecked, the user entry will be accepted
* If Force Valid Input is checked, the user must select from the list

For many users, the auto-fill is preferred since it functions like other software packages. Also, auto-fill is especially useful if you have exceptionally large F2 Lookup lists. Auto-fill is unchecked by default.

HEAT: Passing Crystal Parameters

A client asked: Is there a way to add information to a Crystal report without filling in the pop-up parameters?

Yes, there is a trick using HEAT Call Logging that uses data inside a Call record to populate the parameters. Below is how you configure the built-in utility:

* Select Report > Manage Reports
* Add a report with a parameter
* Select "All Assignments by Assignee."
* Go to the Report Parameters tab
* Click on the Assignee parameter
* Click the first checkbox: Preset parameter values
* Click Add, then hit insert Assignment.Assignee

When using this function, Crystal Reports will not prompt for the parameter. This will run the report and take the Assignee from the Call record.

HEAT: Call Log Shortcuts

A client recently asked: Is there a way to avoid using the tabs? Our users do not complete functions that require opening a tab.

Yes, it is actually quite easy to place a number of functions on the Call Log form to avoid the need to open a tab. Some of the functions called from the front form are: Save Call, Create Assignment, Create Journal, and Go To Ticket

To develop this functionality, you need to use the Administrator module and create an edit set. This will allow you to add buttons to the front screen to run many functions without ever going to another tab.

Below are the instructions to Save a Ticket:

* Select Administrator > Select New Edit Set
* Select Call Log > Open Form
* Select Command Button > Place of the form
* Select Control > Connect Autotask
* Select the "Save a Call" autotask > Click OK

Commit the edit and open Call Logging. A new catalog should be created and then you will see the new Save a Call button. Clicking on this will save the call. Use this process to create other buttons as outlined above.

Note: In order for these buttons to be set up, separate AutoTasks need to be created that perform each of these functions. Once these AutoTasks are created, they can be linked to the buttons via an Edit Set or Quick Customize using the HEAT Administrator module.

HEAT: Effective Calendar

A client recently asked: Is it possible to use a specific Calendar based on the Call Log or Assignment data?

Yes, you can pass a calendar from a ticket through BPAM. Passing a calendar constraint on a call record or assignment is often overlooked. Depending on the specific data of a call record or assignment, you can assign a calendar instead of forcing all records to use a single calendar in a BPAM rule.

To do this, you need:
* A field in the Call Log table for Calendar name
* A BPAM rule (If ticket stays unchanged for X amount of time)
* A Calendar to be used

To create this, do the following:
* Use Administrator to add the "Effective Calendar" field to the Call Log table.
* Commit the edit set.
* Create a BPAM rule "If a ticket stays unchanged for x amount of time"
* Add the new calendar field to the "Field" drop-down box in BPAM*
* Add the calendar definition in Hours of Operation

Now, depending the data in the Call Ticket, the user can assign a calendar instead of all users being forced to use the same calendar.

HEAT: Separate Tickets by Team

A client asked: We want to restrict tickets within the HEAT database so that only a member of a department can see their tickets. Is this possible?

Yes, you can separate tickets within HEAT based on security rights so other groups within your organization can use the same HEAT database. This requires well thought out Roles and Teams and adjusting the Rights to Role Settings.

The security right, "Go to Only in Open Call Groups", controls whether or not the Role has access to tickets outside of the Call Group given and Teams can determine which Call Groups are available to a HEAT user.

For example, if you have two groups in your organization, Network Services and Human Resources and they both would like to use the HEAT database, two Roles can be created, one for each group.

Then you can breakdown each group into Teams. Network Services can have Teams called NS Hardware, NS Software, NS Change, etc. Human Resources can have Teams called HR Benefits, HR Payroll, HR Complaints, etc.

So, if a someone belongs to the Team HR Benefits, then that person would belong to the Role HR which would then inherit the right to only see specific HR tickets, and not IT.

HEAT: Creating Easy Alarms

A client recently asked: We would like to use the Alarms in HEAT, but it requires too many steps. Is there a faster way to setup an Alarm?

Yes, you can simplify this process by creating a series of pre-defined Alarms that can easily be set from the toolbar. These Alarms can be used to set reminders to follow-up on open issues and manage tasks. Alarms can also be linked to Call Records.

For example, you can create Alarm AutoTasks that will set reminders for various intervals (e.g 1 Hour, 1 Day, and 7 Days). You can also include ticket information in the alarm.

Here's how to build a 1 Hour AutoTask Alarm:

* Select Manage Autotask > click Add
* Name the Autotask > check Display on menu
* Click Add > select the Create an Alarm action
* Select 1 Hour > add "Followup" to the Subject
* Insert the CallLog.CallID field after "Followup"
* Insert Call Log fields in the Notes field
* Use the format: Customer:{|Subset.CustID}
* Add other Call Log fields (e.g. CallDesc, Status)

Repeat this for other intervals and save them to an AutoTask folder. You can then place a shortcut to this folder onto the toolbar.

Now, when working on a ticket, if you would like to schedule a follow-up call or action, click the toolbar button and select the follow-up time. The alarm will be set automatically.

Quickbooks: Account Numbers on Reports

A client wants to know: I want to display Account numbers on certain reports or at certain times. How can I do this?

The Account numbers display not on the Chart of Accounts list and the Account field drop down menus and also on financial reports like the Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss.

You can hide the Account numbers in Financial Reports by turning off Account Numbers in the accounting Company preferences. However, you have to do so each and every time you create a financial report. Since you can only turn off Account numbers as the file Administrator and only in single user mode,turning off the Account numbers each time you want to print financial reports is not practical.

Instead, you need to use a setting that will hide the Account numbers by default and then you can edit the Company Preferences only when you want the Account numbers to show (e.g. when printing the General Ledger and/or Trial Balance reports).

Do the following to hide the Account numbers on financial reports:
* Edit the description for each Account on the Chart of Accounts, including any that
you have made inactive but that might still show on financial reports. In most cases the description should be the same as the Account name.

* Edit the Reporting Company Preferences to display Accounts by Description rather than by “Name only.” The “Name only” setting doesn’t describe fully what the Name setting does. When you select “Name only” on the window shown below, QuickBooks reports include both the Name and Number.

* QuickBooks will now show the description in financial reports, not the name and number. If any Accounts do not have a description, QuickBooks will revert to displaying the Account by name and number, but just for the selected Accounts with no description. Once you add a description and refresh the report, the Account number will go away.

Note: You can enter a slightly different wording for the Account in the description field. For example, the Account name can read Accounts Receivable and the Description could read Receivables – Trade. The latter is a better wording for financial reports and the QuickBooks users will still see the wording “Accounts Receivable” on the Chart of Accounts window and on QuickBooks forms

Quickbooks: Missing Invoice Report

A client asked: I use the Missing Check Report to find checks that are unaccounted for. Is there a similar report for missing invoices?

No, however, you can create one using Quickbooks. Since QuickBooks has a report programmed to show missing Check numbers, finding a way to modify the existing report to show missing invoice numbers is the best way to get the information you need.

Do the following to create a Missing Invoice report.

* Create a Missing Checks report by selecting the Reports menu, selecting Banking and then selecting Missing Checks. QuickBooks displays the window shown below.

* Do not change the default bank account that appears in the Specify Account field and press OK to display the report.

* QuickBooks creates a report of Checks in numerical order and the report notes any missing and/or duplicate check numbers.

* Click the Modify Report button and then click the Filters tab to display the report filters.

* Remove the Account filter shown below.

* Filter by Transaction Type for “Invoices” and by Detail Level for “Summary Only.”

Edit the title of the report and memorize the report for future use.

Note: You can use the steps above to filter by other transactions types as well. Doing so will allow you to create a Missing Journal Entries report, Missing Estimates report, etc.

Crystal Reports : Formatting Percentages

When creating a formula that should return a percentage value, you will need to format the field correctly to get the "%" sign to properly show.
Right-click on the field in question, select Format Field.
Click the "Display Currency Symbol" checkbox.
Click the "Customize" button.
Click the "Currency Symbol" tab.
Change your currency symbol from "$" to "%".
Then change the "Position" to "-123%".
This forces the percentage symbol to appear at the end of the numerical value.
This will give you percentages thus: "87.22%".

Crystal Reports : Viewing the Report Selection Criteria on the Report

When the Selection Criteria becomes very complex for any given report, I often find it helpful to display the whole Selection Criteria right on the report.
To do this, you need to insert a "Special Field" from the Field Explorer.
Select Insert | Special Field.
Drop down the Special Fields list.
The field we want to insert is Record Selection Formula.
You will also notice that the Group Selection Formula is also available here.

Crystal Reports : Counting Unique (Distinct) Records

When creating a "Summary", using the Count function may not be desirable. It is often the case that a report must only return the number of unique contact records, as other tables (i.e. History) may contain multiple rows for each customer.
Select Insert | Summary.
Select the fieldname you wish to summarize.
Make sure to select Distinct Count as the Summary Operation.

Crystal Reports : Changing an Existing Group

You may need to change the existing report "Groups" after defining them.
To do this, select from the top-level menu, Report | Change Group Expert.
Here, you will see all your defined Groups. You may select any of them and use the "up" and "down" arrows to change the Group order.
This is a nice way to regroup the report without having to do a lot of work.

Quickbooks: Using Customers and Jobs

A client asked: We would like to account for every entry with either a customer or job entry. Is this possible?

You can use customer or job names in QuickBooks to segment your financial statements and to filter many of your QuickBooks summary reports and detail reports for specific customers or jobs. However, certain entries may not apply to specific customers/jobs or you may need to allocate the entry across multiple customers/jobs.

For example, you may need to allocate expenses for tools and equipment that you use over all of the jobs for any given year to multiple jobs. You may also incur expenses like utilities and other administrative expenses that you will never apply to a job.

So, depending on the transaction you can:

* Create a customer called “Overhead” and post the entry to that customer. If you prefer you can use a journal entry to allocate the overhead to the specific customers/jobs.

* Split the detail of the transaction so that the single transaction (e.g. check, bill or invoice) applies to multiple customers/jobs.

Whatever method you use, this willalways use a customer or job on each and every transaction. If you do not include a customer or job, you will:

* Create a discrepancy between the Profit & Loss by Job and the Profit & Loss. Transactions that do not include a Customer/Job name simply do not show on the Profit & Loss by Job report. If you use a Customer called “Overhead,” you will show the same totals on both the Profit & Loss and the Profit & Loss by Job.

* Receive a warning message that the transaction does not include a Customer/Job name. (This warning is available in the Contractor Edition only.) If you exclude the customer/job name on selected posts only (e.g. posts that are overhead or posts to Balance Sheet accounts), the benefit of this warning is diluted. Over time, users will become desensitized to the message.

For this reason it is best to use the Overhead Customer name on posts to Balance Sheet accounts even though QuickBooks does not allow you to filter the Balance Sheet by Customer/Job.

Quickbooks: Auto-Apply Payments

A client asked: We would like to turn off the auto-apply for payments. Is this a mistake and, if not, how do we turn it off

It is almost always correct to turn off auto-apply for payments. There is a preference in the Sales & Customers preferences to automatically apply payments on the Receive Payments window. Uncheck this to turn off the feature.

With auto-application turned on, QuickBooks first looks for an invoice that is the same amount as the payment from the customer. If there is no invoice for the same amount as the payment (e.g. partial payments or checks that pay more than once invoice), QuickBooks applies the check to the oldest open invoice. If any amount is unapplied after paying the oldest open invoice, QuickBooks applies the remainder to the next oldest open Invoice and so on.

Although this feature is designed to increase data entry efficiency, it is almost always best to turn the feature off because the auto-payment process only works well when the check is the exact amount of the invoice. The application of non-exact amounts to the oldest invoice is rarely the best approach.

There is one exception - if you almost never have more than one open invoice for a customer at any given time, you can use the auto-application of payments to invoices with little risk of misapplication.

Quickbooks: Improving Performance

A client recently asked: Our Quickbooks is running slow. What can I do to speed up performance?

There are a number of things you can do to increase performance:

Set QuickBooks So the Home Page Does Not Show When You Open the File. To change the default setting for each user:

* Log into QuickBooks using each user’s name and password
* Access the User Desktop View preferences
* Uncheck the box that reads, “Show Home page when opening a company file.”

Running the Home page uses system resources each and every time a user opens and closes either the program or each time a user switches from one data file to another. The more access the user has to financial information, the more resources QuickBooks uses to display the Home Page.

Set User Preferences to Clear All Open Windows Each Time You Exit QuickBooks.

* Log into QuickBooks using each user’s name and password
* Access the User Desktop View Preferences
* Select the radio button that reads, “Don’t save the desktop.”

If you save the desktop, QuickBooks will reopen every window you used in your previous session, including reports that require a tremendous amount of QuickBooks resources to generate.

Turn off Reminders. Unless it is essential for you to view reminders each time you open QuickBooks, edit Reminders User Preferences if necessary to uncheck the box that reads, “Show Reminders list when opening a Company file.”

CRM: Save and Close

A client asked: We have sensitive information and it is important that users do not leave certain windows open. Is there a way to close a window automatically regardless of whether a user clicks Save or Save and Close?

Yes, you can use the following javascript in the OnSave event of the form to always be closed after saving:

* Select Settings > Customization
* Select Customize Entities > select the form
* Select Forms and Views > Open the form
* Click Form Properties > Edit the OnSave event
* Add this javascript:

window.opener='myForm';window.close();

* Save > Publish the Customizations

Now when a user clicks Save on this form, it will also close protecting your sensitive information.

CRM: Tracking Competitors

A client wanted to know: What is the best way to keep track of my competition?

Keeping an eye on your competitors is often something that is overlooked by the sales team. You can use MSCRM to easily track your competitors as you work on opportunities.

First, take some time to setup your competitors. Add everything you know about them so that anyone that reviews the competition report can see what they are up aaainst.

To set up your competitors:

* Select Sales > Competitors > New
* Enter Competitor > enter Analysis data
* Save and close

Now, when you enter an opportunity you can select the competitor(s) that is also working on this customer. This will allow you to track their activity and eventually you will build up a history of deals won and lost against a competitor and the reasons why.

To track the competition:
* Select > Opportunities > Edit an opportunity
* Select Sales > Competitors > Add an Existing Competitor
* Save and Close

The last step is to create an Advanced Find on Opportunity and add the Competitor column to the grid. Open this during the sale cycle to track competitors and add/remove them as the situation dictates.

CRM: Increasing the Attachment Size

A client wants to know: I have tried to increase the size of attachments in MSCRM. Is there some other way than changing the the value of the MaxUploadFileSize field in the OrganizationBase table?

Sure, there are methods that can be used through the user interface and also through external files.

First, I would try using the MSCRM user interface. This is the supported method and increases the attachment size to 8192 KB per attachment. To make this change, do the following:

* Select Settings > Administration
* Select System Settings > E-mail tab
* Update the 'Set file size limit for attachments'

If this is not sufficient, you can also modify the web.config file. To do this, open the web.config using notepad or some other text editor.

* Open the MSCRM web.config file
* Locate httpRuntime and change the following:
* Save the web.config and restart IIS.

Note: if you are unclear about any of the steps in the web.config method, contact your CRM partner. Also, always make a copy of web.config before making any changes.

CRM: Custom Entity Owner Fields

A client recently asked: We are using CRM 4.0 and when we create custom entities they have no 'Owner' field. We've tried creating it manually but this doesn't allow us to assign the record at any stage. What are we missing?

There are two types of ownership for custom entities and how you create ownership could be your problem. When a custom entity is created, one of the required fields is 'ownership'.

Your options are 'User' or 'Organization'. User is the default, and if
you choose it then each record will have an owner and you can do assignments.

If you choose 'Organization' as the ownership type, then the record does not have an owner. Once the entity is created, you cannot change this option.

If this is your problems, then you will need to recreate the entities. If this is the case, use the following method to create a custom entity with a User ownership type:

* Select Settings > Customization > Customize Entities
* Click New > Provide a name for the Entity
* Under the Ownership drop-down > select User
* Save the entity > Go to Forms and Views
* You should see the form with Name and Owner fields.

You can add fields, forms and relationships to the new entity. When you are finished, click Publish Customizations and the new entity should appear (with an Owner field).

CRM: Using Announcements

A client asked: We recently started using Announcements and would like to make it the starting page for everyone's MSCRM web client. How can we do this without manually changing hundreds of user default settings?

To make this change programmatically, you can do the following:

* Open SQL Management Studio > select New Query
* Select the MSCRM database > paste in the following code:

update UserSettingsBase
set Homepagearea='Workplace',Homepagesubarea='nav_news'

* Reset IIS

This will cause all MSCRM useers to open to the Announcements page.

Also, to add new Announcements easily, create a shortcut to the New Announcement page. To do this, you would do the following:

* Select Settings > select Administration
* Click on Announcements > Click New
* Press F11 to obtain the url (you may need to do this more than once)
* Create a new shortcut and copy the url into the properties

This will give you a shortcut on the desktop to add Announcements. Otherwise you need to go to Settings > Administration > Announcements > New Announcement each time to create an announcement.

Using a shortcut requires only one click.

Crystal Reports : Using Simple Shapes to Draw Attention

I've always stressed the importance of making a report easy on the eyes.
Techiques to accomplish this are typically simple (i.e. adding a line, page break, etc).
One way to single out a "block" of fields for the reader isto surround thm with a solid box.

To do this, select from the top-level menu Insert Box.
Now "draw" out your new box in the designer using a click-drag.
Once the box is drawn, you can move it and resize it however you like.

Keep in mind that the "box" object is relatively stupid and cannot move itself to accomodate fields, so it may need some tweaking to get looking exactly right.

Crystal Reports : Force a New Page After a Group Prints

It is often handy to "split" a printed report into seperae groups of pages.
Example : a report lists history analysis, grouped by Userid. One Userid ends and another begins right on the same page, which can make it confusing to read.
A solution would be to force the report to insert a page break after every Userid is printed.
To do this:
1. Right-click on the Group Footer of the Group in question.
2. Select "Format Section"
3. Check the "New Page After" checkbox.
4. Okay your way back out.

Now every time the Group Footer is printed, Crystal will insert a page break, printing the next Userid on a new page.

Crystal Reports : Use Multiple Columns in a Report

This is one of he features I wish wasn't buried. It's very handy to be able to print several rows of columns (think mailing labels).
The way to do this is:
1. Right click on the Details section
2. Select "Format Section"
3. On the right-hand side, check the box labeled "Format with Multiple Columns"
4. Notice the Layout tab that is now available. Click on it
5. Here you define how wide to make your columns. Use the "Width" textbox to supply the desired width in inches.
6. Okay you way back out.

You'll now notice that your Details section is split into however many columns Crystal can fit on the page using your Width from above.

Crystal Reports : Move Multiple Items Easily and Accurately

You may find that when trying to re-arrange multiple fields to make room on a report, this can be difficult. Also, when moving fields between Sections, using the mouse can slightly skew their arrangement.
I find it most effective to multiple-select your fields using a Control-Click and then use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move them up, down, left and right. By pressing an arrow key, the selected objects move one "click" at a time. This make it very easy to align fields without having to correct for the mouse.

GoldMine: Is Your Data Insecure?

A client asked: I have the feeling that an employee is outputting Goldmine information in preparation for his move to another (competing) company? What can I do to prevent this?

There are many things you can do to keep your Goldmine data secure at the Windows level, SQL level and Goldmine level. Discuss the first two items with your Network Administrator and SQL DBA. After these options are locked down, then you can attack the Goldmine level.

First, if this individual has master rights, remove them. To do this, go to:

Tools > User Settings > Double-click on the user's name
On the Profile tab, uncheck Master Rights

While you are in User Settings, go to the Access tab
Uncheck 'Output To' menus to prevent right-clicking and exporting to Excel

There are several other fields you may want to disable: Delete (Contact Record), Delete Unlinked Email (General Access) and functions under the Menu tab.

You may also want to check out the Time Clock tab. This shows login/logut times for this user and, since a lot of "covert activity" is done after hours, you may want to check for late night logins.

GoldMiine: Customized Templates

A Goldmine client asked: The variables I can insert into an email template seem very limited. Is there any way to extend these variables before the defaults?

There sure is! In fact, the number of variables you can enter is virtually unlimited. Specifically you can create “user variables” in the userID.ini to do marketing call-outs.

These variables are:

* User specific, customized to each user’s liking
* Easily addressed in templates
* Unlimited in what can be created

An example of creating and using variables from the userID.ini is shown below:

First, locate the UserID.ini you want to work with and make a copy. In this case, you would DAVE.ini and Copy of DAVE.ini. This way you can always go back to the original if you have problems.

Open the ini (with notepad) and locate the [user_var]. If there is not one, insert [user_var] between the existing sections.

Add the following lines under the [user_var] section header:

[user_var]
Nickname=Dave
FRSProduct=HEAT 9.0
FRSCertitications: HEAT Certified Specialist
Companycontact=45 E City Ave, Bala Cynwyd, PA
Mobilephone=610-334-9353

Add these variables to the template:

RE: <<&User_Var.FRSProduct>>

Dear [First]~:

[Body]

Your Account Manager,
<<&User_Var.Nickname>>

<<&User_Var.Companycontact>>
<<&User_Var.FRSCertifications>>
<<&User_Var.Mobilephone>>

This will produce a formatted email like this:

RE: HEAT 9.0

Dear Joe:

[Body]

Your Account Manager,
Dave

45 E City Ave, Bala Cynwyd, PA
HEAT Certified Specialist
610-334-9353

The possiblities are endless. You can add static phrases in the template (like "Mobile Phone" in front of the mobile variable) and the variables are unlimited.

GoldMine: Quick Forecast Tip

A client asked: Are there ways to speed up the entry of products, forecasted sales and producing the forecasted sales report?

I know of one way, see below for details:

* When you enter a product (in the F2 Lookup), enter the Product Name and Price
* Use this format in the F2 Lookup: Product // Price (e.g. Goldmine // 500)
* When you select this product it will add the product and the price
* When you run the Forecasted Sales reports, they will show the price

Although this requires some setup of Products in the F2 lookup, after the intial setup, it should allow quicker entry of forecasts and production of forecasted sales
reports.

GoldMine: Keep It Private

A client asked: How do I add activities to my calendar that I want to keep private?

When you are scheduling appointments that you want to keep to yourself (personal appointments, interviewing a new employee, etc), you can do the following:

Enter the appointment but do not link it to the contact that it is scheduled with.

* Select Schedule Appointment > in the pop-up uncheck "Link to selected contact"
* When you unlink the appointment, the name of the contact disappears
* You can type a name in the empty text box or leave it blank
* Complete the remaining fields as required

You may also want to check the private checkbox so other users do not see the details of the activity.

GoldMine: Recent Contacts

A Goldmine client asked: How can I find out which contacts were added this month?

That depends on your database type. If you are using a SQL database, you would enter this query in your SQL Query pane:

select company, contact, createon, phone1, source, key1
from contact1
where year(createon) = year(getdate()) and
month(createon) = month(getdate())

If you are using the DBase database, you need to enter the following query:

select company, contact, createon, phone1, source, key1
from contact1
where createon >= '5/1/2009' and createon <= '5/30/2009'

The DBase version would need to be modified each month.

HEAT: Changes to SupportMail

A client recently asked: Have there been any changes to SupportMail with HEAT version 9.0? Specifically, we would like better control over polling times.

Yes, in the Administrator module, there is now a Mail Defaults option. Mail defaults let you configure email options such as polling frequencies, labels for external mail folders (MAPI, Lotus, POP, and GroupWise, and default Journal Types).

To Set Mail Defaults:

* In the Administrator Dashboard, click the Mail link in the Set System Defaults section (or, in the Administrator main window, select Defaults>>Mail from the menu bar). The Mail Defaults Settings dialog box opens.

* In the Check For Messages/Alarms every field, type a numeric polling value, specifying how often the system will check for new email messages.

* Type a Minimum and Maximum Value.

* In the External Mail Folders section, type a label for your external mail folders. These labels appear in the SupportMail interface and the Address Book, and identify your external mail clients:

– MAPI
– Lotus
– POP
– GroupWise

Use this feature to rename the folder to something users can recognize. For example, if you have enabled Support Mail to link to Microsoft Outlook, the label could be named Outlook.

* To set a default Journal Type for emails that are copied into a journal, select the Set Journal Type check box. Then select a default journal type from the Journal Type drop-down list.

Support Mail is recommended as the default journal type so journal entries copied in from emails are easily identified.

* To set a default Journal field into which emails are copied, select a field in the Message Text Destination Field drop-down list.

Text saved to the Journal entry typically includes email header information such as the identification of the sender, receiver, any persons copied on the message, date and time sent, the subject of the email, and the text of the message.

The amount of information transferred from an email message to the journal entry is limited by the maximum size of a database field. For example, if a text field is used to store the message, typically no more than 255 characters are saved in the journal entry.

Click OK when you have completed your new mail default settings.

HEAT: This Used To Be Hard

A client wants to know: Even with security set up to only allow certain users access to Call Types, Categories and other system tables, we continue to have additions and changes that are not approved or consistent. Is there a way to track who is making the changes?

Yes, with a nifty feature added in HEAT version 9.0. You can now add the ModBy, ModDate and ModTime to any table by clicking a button. This way you can see, right on the form, when it was changed and who made the change.

To implement this for the Call Type table, you would do the following:

* Open Administrator > Create a New Edit Set
* Open the Call Type table > Select Table View
* Click "Modifications Tracking Enabled"
* The ModBy, ModDate, and ModTime fields are added
* Select each field > Click the Add to Form icon
* Go to the Form View and format these fields
* Commit the edit set and open Call Logging

After Call Logging creates the new catalog, go to Accessories > Table Maintenance > Call Type. Open the table and click Form View. The ModBy, ModDate, and ModTime fields will now appear on the form. Make a change, save it and the fields will be populated (including your login). Click on any of these fields and try to remove the contents. You can't, they are system fields and read-only by default.

Gotcha!

CRM: Easy IFrame

A client asked: Is there a way to show the contacts related to an account on the Account form?

Yes, this can be done using the IFrame functionality of CRM. See below for details:

* Create a new tab using Settings > Customizations > Account. This will be used to hold the IFrame with the related contacts. Add a section to the tab.

* Create an IFrame on the account form and name it "ContactFrame" (no quotes).

* Set the URL to "about:blank" (no quotes).

* Check "Pass record object-type code and unique identifier as parameters".

* Uncheck "Restrict cross frame scripting"

* Select the new Related Contacts tab / Contact List section to display the contacts.

* In the Form Properties > OnLoad event, add the following JavaScript:

var navContacts; navContacts = document.all.navContacts; if (navContacts != null) { navContacts.style.display = "none"; document.all.IFRAME_ContactFrame.src="/sfa/accts/areas.aspx?oId=" + crmForm.ObjectId + "&oType=2&security=852023&tabSet=areaContacts"; } else { alert("navContacts Not Found"); }

Save and publish this change. Go to the Workplace and open an account. Any related contacts should show in the Related Contacts tab.

CRM: Using SQL

A client asked: Can SQL be used with CRM to find duplicate records as part of cleaning up the database?

Yes, below is a SQL query that will find duplicate leads. It can also be used to find duplicate contacts with a few modifications.

To use this query, open the SQL Management Studio and select your MSCRM database. Click New Query and make sure your MSCRM database appears in the drop down box. Enter the query below and click Execute. It should return any duplicates in the Results pane:

SELECT firstname, lastname, address1_city AS City, LEFT(firstname, 4) + LEFT(lastname, 4) + LEFT(address1_city, 5) AS Dup_Add, COUNT(*) AS Num
FROM FilteredLead
GROUP BY firstname, lastname, address1_city, statecode
HAVING (COUNT(*) > 1) AND (NOT (firstname IS NULL)) AND (NOT (lastname IS NULL)) AND (statecode = N'0')
ORDER BY lastname

These duplicate records can then be reviewed and either modified or deleted.

QUICKBOOKS: Pay Your Dues

A Quickbooks client asked: A director in our community organization has $500.00 due to him from a loan he made to the organization. He wants to use this to prepay his monthly dues. How should this be handled using Quickbooks?

First, you should prepare a journal entry to debit accounts payable and credit membership dues. If you are using accrual accounting and want to use this to pay his dues each month, you will need to prepare a separate journal entry for each month being credited.

The process is below:
* Select Company > Make General Journal Entries
* Select Accounts Payable > Enter a debit of %500
* Select Membership Dues > Enter a credit of $500
* Make sure the director is setup as Vendor
* Click Save and Close

Once the journal entries are entered:
* Select Vendor Center > Pay Bills
* Select the bill > Set Credits to clear A/P

QUICKBOOKS: Customized Reports

A client asked: When I enter invoices, I include the make and model of the customer's automobile. How can I create a report that shows the customer and their vehicle information?

First, create a custom field for automobile information:

* Go to Customer Center and double-click on any customer.
* Select the Additional Info tab and Define Fields
* Enter the auto information for all your customers

You can also add the custom field to your invoices:

* Go to Customers -> Create Invoices
* Click on Customize button
* Select Additional Customization
* Click on the two boxes next to your custom field

You can then use the custom field to customize reports:

* Select one of the List reports (e.g. Phone List)
* Click on Modify Report
* In the Display box, remove phone and add customer type

This should give you the report with customer and auto information.

QUICKBOOKS: Cash Up Front

A client wants to know: Our company is staffed with self-employed subcontractors (listed as Vendors) that are paid weekly. They also receive Cash Advances from a separate cash account. What is the proper way to record these payments?

This can be handled by mapping your 1099 to include the cash advance account. The instructions are below:

* Go to Edit > Preferences > Tax: 1099
* Click the Company Preferences tab (log in as Admin)
* Click the drop down arrow next to Box 7 Account
* Select Multiple accounts
* Select all the accounts you use when paying your sub-contractors

This will allow you to continue paying them from separate accounts but record correctly on their 1099.

QUICKBOOKS: Separate Programs

A client recently asked: Our CPA firm offers both accounting services as well as IT Consulting. We would like to track the two types of services separately. Do we need separate company files?

Since your firm is one corporation, I recommend having both programs in the same QuickBooks file. You can do this by using Classes.

* Turn on class tracking at Edit -> Preferences -> Accounting -> Company Preferences (you may need to be signed in as the Admin to do this).

* Add the classes you want to use at Lists -> Class List. Click on the Class button and select New. In addition to accounting and IT consulting, you will need to add a general class for any transactions that can't be assigned to either program.

* Make sure to include a class on all your transactions. You can get a list of all the transactions that don't have a class assigned by going to Reports -> Company & Financial -> Profit & Loss Unclassified.

* You also can get a Profit & Loss by Class report in Reports -> Company & Financial.

This approach will allow you to report on each program separately when needed but maintain a single Quickbooks file for your firm.

QUICKBOOKS: Change Orders

A Quickbooks client had this question: How do I enter a change order on a proposal?

First, if you are using Quickbooks Premier for Contractors, any time you make a change to an estimate a popup comes up asking if you would like to add a change order to your estimate. However, if you aren't, you can accomplish the same thing by adding subtotal items:

* Go to Lists > Item List
* Click on the Items button
* Select New and select Subtotal as the type.

You should add two subtotals, one for the total before the change order and one for the total after. Add clear descriptions for each subtotal such as: "Original Contract Total" and "Change Order Total". You may want to also add the approver's name and the date to the Change Order Total.

Then, whenever you have a change order, add a line using the first subtotal item, line(s) for the the change order items, and a line for the revised subtotal item.

GoldMine: Customer Service

A client asked: Does GMPE contain more features for follow-up service to customers or do you still need to integrate to HEAT to add case-related information to the customer?

HEAT integration still exists with GMPE and may be appropriate for some Goldmine users, however, GMPE contains a built in case management more suited to issues related to customer service.

To Use the Service Center:
The Service Center window is divided into two sections; a List view and a Detail view. Double-click on a case in the List view and the Details view opens.

To Create a Service Request:
* Select GoTo > Service Center or select Service from the main Navigation Panel.
* At the Service Center, click New Case. The Contact Search Center window opens.
* Double-click on a contact or group of contacts and click Select.If you have many records listed, use the Search capability at the top of the window.
* To create a case from a new contact, click New Contact and complete the New Record dialog box.The Service Center window opens and the new case appears with a system-generated case number in the Case Number field. Depending on the case, some fields also may be system-generated.
* Complete each field by clicking next to the field and either entering text in the field box or selecting values by clicking the down arrow on the box.

To Resolve a Case:
After a case is resolved, it is removed from the active list.

* At the Service Center window, at the toolbar, click Resolve.
* The Resolve Case Dialog opens.
* In the Notes field, enter information about the resolution of the case.
* To notify the selected user of the resolution via e-mail, make sure the E-mail Notification checkbox is checked, and type your message into the Message box provided.
* When finished, click Resolve, or select Cancel to exit the dialog without resolving the case.

There are several other features available in the Service Center including reassigning a case, escalating a case and grouping cases. The Service Center is an important part of the customer service process (i.e. following up on issues after the sale) which ultimately leads to customer retention.

GoldMine: RSS Feeds

A client asked: Can I add RSS Feeds to GMPE? I have a number of feeds I would like to track in one place.

Yes, you can use My Goldmine to add and view prepopulated RSS Feeds or add your own.

See below for instructions:

* Go to Web > My GoldMine
* Click the X in any existing content to remove
* Click Add Content to Column to add an RSS feed
* From the pop-up, select an existing feed or click Add Resource
* Add Resource allows you to add your own feeds

There are also several Goldmine functions (Todays Sales, Todays Activities, etc) that can be added to a column. Note that each column can contain multiple feeds or Goldmine functions. This allows you to use My GoldMine like a dashboard of Goldmine and RSS feed information.

GoldMine: Where did the InfoCenter Go?

A client asked: What happened to the InfoCenter in GMPE? Has it been replaced by something else?

Yes, the InfoCenter has been replaced by the KnowledgeBase. This knowledgebase includes a Personal Base that is viewable only by you. The Knowledge Base offers you a way to create and publish documets with both 'Public' and 'Personal' sections.

GoldMine's Knowledge Base can help you more effectively manage and disseminate your organization's mission-critical information. It supports unlimited Books, Folders and Topic pages that allow you to logically organize a variety of content. External files can also be linked to entries to provide access to the most current and up-to-date information you need.

You can restrict who can update or view Knowledge Base entries by defining specific read/write access settings for various sections; this allows you to keep content centralized, without compromising security.

To access the Knowledge Base:

* Select Go To > Knowledge Base, or select Knowledge Base from the navigation pane.
* Use the Knowledge Base toolbar to navigate and manage.
* View information by selecting a tab.

Knowledge Base: Maintains information created by, for, and about an organization.
Depending on rights, all users can potentially view all Knowledge Base topics.
Only users with Master Rights can add, edit, or delete Knowledge Base items.

Personal Base. Maintains information useful to an individual user that only the user can view and update. The only way to access a PersonalBase is to log in to GoldMine as the user who created the PersonalBase.

To create Knowledge Base books, folders and topics:

* Select Go To > Knowledge Base, or select KnowledgeBase from the navigation panel.
* To create a book, click the New Book toolbar icon.
* At the in the left pane under Knowledge Base, type a name.
* Click in the right pane to add HTML or click Attach a file to add an attachment.

Adding text or attachments at the book level is possible but will interfere with a book level Table of Contents. Adding a TOC replaces the text on the book, folder, or topic.

To add a folder, highlight the book to which you want to add the folder and click the New Folder toolbar icon. The new folder appears under the selected book. Type in the name of the folder. Click in the right pane to add HTML text or click the Attach a file toolbar icon to add an attachment.

To add a topic page, highlight the book or the folder to which you want to add the topic and click the New Topic Page toolbar icon. The new page appears under the selected book or folder. Type the name of the topic.

Goldmine: Universal Search

A client wanted to know: What is Universal Search and how do I use it?

Universal Search is a new feature added to GMPE that allows you to find information that you want to see in virtually any area of Goldmine and presents it in a single view. Universal Search finds your information in email, contact notes, activity notes, linked documents, the Knowledgebase and many other areas.

To access the Universal Search:

* Select Go To > Search > Universal Search
* Enter the phrase to search for and click Go
* To select what areas are searched, click Advanced
* Type in an word to search for (e.g. complaint)
* This will return all areas where the word 'complaint' is shown
* Click on a row and the related contact/document is opened

The Universal Search can be valuable in finding important information (like lost sale, complaint or hot prospect) or for locating a contact/activity where you have incomplete information.

Goldmine: Contact Center New and Improved

A client asked: What's different about the Contact Center in GMPE? It looks the same to me.

Well, look closer. There are several changes that are listed below:

* First, click on any tab (e.g. Pending), then click on a Header column
* You can now drag the header to any position in the column order
* With the columns ordered the way you like, sort by clicking a header

* Then right-click on a column header and select Group
* An open area appears where you can drag a header to form a group
* If you drag Activity and Contact you will form a group with both
* Click the plus sign to expand the group(s) below the headers

* Another differing feature is the Preview options
* Look to the far right of the column for a bar labeled Preview
* Expand the Preview bar and a window will open on the right side
* This displays the details of rows as you scroll down for any tab

There are more changes to the Contact Center, experiment with them; e.g. when on a Contact click the hyperlink next to the Contact Name. Then explore the horizontal options of viewing of expanding and viewing a contact.

CRM: Customized Marketing List View

A client wants to know: How do I print specific columns of a Marketing List? I want fields other than those displayed by the Marketing List and the Marketing List is not customizable.

Try using Advanced Find as follows:

* Create an Advanced Find and select Contacts
* Under Related, select Marketing Lists
* Select Marketing List equals [yourmarketinglist]
* Click Find and review results > click back to query
* Use Add Columns to customize the list printed
* Save the Advanced Find as "Print: YourMarketingListName"

When you want to print, use this Advanced Find instead of printing from the Marketing List. It will allow you to customize the printed marketing list with any contact field.

CRM: How Many Leads Are There?

A client asked: Is there a quick way to tell someone how many leads we have at any moment?

Sure, if someone walks up and asks how many leads do you have (or other items), you can setup a function to tell them by clicking a few buttons.

First, you need to create an Advanced Find for Leads. That way when someone asks you how many leads you have you can go to My Views and select Open Leads.

To count them, you do the following:

* Open the Advanced Find for Leads
* Click Export Data to Excel
* Select Static Worksheet (Records from All Pages)
* Click Export > In the File Download box, click Open
* Jump to the last line of the Excel file for a count of Leads

This export/count method can be used for anything that you can create an Advanced Find for and export to Excel.

CRM: Quick Call

A client recently asked: Is there a quick way to log activities that were completed immediately?

Yes, you can use the following script when you want to have the due date set to the current date. This can be used for logging phone calls, and tasks that are completed right away.

When you open activity is populates today's date/time and creates a null value in duration. You can then enter Notes, Subject and select Save and Close to complete.

Add this script to the OnLoad form property:

var CRM_FORM_TYPE_CREATE = 1;
var CRM_FORM_TYPE_UPDATE = 2;
switch (crmForm.FormType)
{
case CRM_FORM_TYPE_CREATE:
crmForm.all.actualdurationminutes.DataValue = null;
crmForm.all.scheduledend.DataValue = new Date();
break;
case
CRM_FORM_TYPE_UPDATE:
break;
}

This is added to the Phone Call entity to log calls
that are resolved while you are on the phone. When a
person calls, open their Account > select Activity >
Phone Call and the date/duration are filled by the script
above.

Enter the Subject and Notes, click Save and Close and the
Call is completed.

HEAT: Wait a minute!

A client had this question: Is there a way to stop a multi-line autotask to run an external program, get some information from the external program then return to HEAT to enter the data?

Yes, there is a feature in the Run a Program action to 'Wait for Program to Terminate" This, combined with the Run an AutoTask action, will allow you to branch out to an external program, get your information from the external program (e.g. Goldmine) and return to the same point in the autotask where you left off.

An example, using Goldmine as the external program, is below:

* Create a new autotask called External Information
* Click Add > select the Run a Program action
* Under Filename, browse out to the Goldmine executable
* Check the box 'Wait for the program to terminate'
* Click OK > add the Goto Call(Ticket) autotask
* Add the @Prompt function to the Call ID expression
* Add 'Enter Call ID' to the @Prompt function
* Click OK > associate with a toolbar icon > Click Close

When you run the autotask, it will run Goldmine and pause at that point in the autotask while you search Goldmine for the information you need. When you close Goldmine, the autotask will resume where it left off. Enter a Call ID in the pop-up box and add the information obtained from Goldmine

HEAT: World Wide Knowledgebase

A client asked: We copy and paste our Call Description into Google, to search for solutions, all day long. Isn't there a way to automate this?

Yes, there is. A detailed explanation is outlined below. The process gives an analyst the ability to search Google using the error message or any other information typed in the Call Description field.

To implement this functionality:

* Create a new autotask using the Run a Program action.

* In the Filename section, insert the following text:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q={|CallLog.CallDesc]}

* Because of the copy/paste function, you may need to re-insert the {|CallLog.CallDesc} field in the string after pasting (Hint: use the Token Editor):

* Connect this AutoTask to a toolbar icon or a button on the form.

When the analyst fills out the Call Description and clicks the button or icon, Google will search the internet for information related to the contents of the Call Description field.

HEAT: Small Changes

A client recently asked: Is a way to edit part of a formula that resides in an Auto Task without having to delete it and recreate the whole formula?

Yes, you can edit the Token. This will save you time when editing a large number of formulas with a small change.

Below is an example:

In Call Logging, edit Create Asgnmnt for Dev under the Call Flow folder

* Expand the Call Flow folder > select Create Asgnmnt for Dev
* Edit the Create Assignment action > scroll down to Target Date
* Double click on the Value field > the Token Editor will pop up
* Find the Calendar Type that states: "7 Day X 24 Hour"
* Highlight the Calendar Type > replace it with "Helpdesk Hours"
* Click Check to verify > click OK until the autotask is saved

You could then use this same process to edit the other Create Assignment autotasks. This is far quicker than copying the autotask and editing each action and quicker than deleting the calendar formula and recreating it. The Token Editor can be used on any formula where just a small change is needed.

CRM: Multi-Entity Advanced Finds

A client asked: We are using the Advanced Find extensively but want to know how to combine entities in an Advanced Find.

There are many options you can add to your Advanced Find when combining Entities (by the way, "Entity" is computer-speak for an Account, Contact, Product, etc). This is best illustrated by an example:

* Select an entity from Sales, in this example select Contacts
* On the toolbar above, click on Advanced Find
* In "Look For" select Opportunities
* Click on Select and choose the Created On fied

Note: we are creating an Advanced Find to show Opportunities created this year with additional information from other entities

* From the drop-down, select This Year
* Click Find and you will see the Opportunities for this year
* The fields shown, however, are only from the Opportunity entity.
* To add another Entity (e.g. Contacts), click Edit Columns
* Click Add Columns and select a Record Type (Potential Customer)
* Add fields from the new entity (FullName, Email, Parent Customer)
* Click OK > Click Find > Review Results

* In this case, we want Opportunities by Est Revenue
* Select Edit Columns > use arrows to move Est Revenuue to the front
* Move Potential Customer: Contact to second postion
* Change Sort Order to Est Revenue / Descending
* Use Change Properties to change the size of columns
* Click OK > Click Find

When you are satified with the results, click Save As and give the Advanced Find a name to be saved under Saved Views. That's it! You should now be able apply these steps to any combination of entities.

CRM: Screening Customer Service Emails

A client asked: Is it possible to run an advanced find to get all incoming emails to Customer Service Executives (users) where the sender is not a CRM user?

Yes, your Advanced Find would contain the following:

Method 1:
In Look For: Select Email Messages
Note: not just Activities - you need to set it to Email Messages

To Recipient = user1@yourcompany.com
OR To Recipient = user2@yourcompany.com
AND Sender <> user1@yourcompany.com
OR Sender <> user2@yourcompany.com

This method would be fairly labor-intensive in that you would need
to continue user1, user2 to userx (where x = the last user)

Method 2:
To Recipient = user1@yourcompany.com
OR To Recipient = user2@yourcompany.com
AND Sender DOES NOT CONTAIN @yourcompany.com

This would work but would block ANYONE in your company from being included in the Advanced Find (not just CRM users)

The advantage of Method 2 would be less work in setting it up; the advantage of Method 1is that it would be more exact.

CRM: Add Twitter to CRM

A client recently tweated: Is there a way to incorporate Twitter with CRM?

Yes, there is! Just use the steps below and you can follow your Twitter activity within any CRM Account selected.

* Select Settings > Customization > Customize Entities > Account.
* The Account entity window will open.
* Click on Forms and Views, then double-click Form.
* The Form: Account window will open.

* Click Add a Tab
* create a new tab called “Twitter” > Click OK.
* Click Add a Section > call it Twitter > Click OK.
* Click Add an IFRAME.

* In the Name section, call it IFRAME_TwitterSearch.
* Put about:blank as the URL.
Note: JavaScript will populate the Twitter Search string.

* Check "Pass record object-type code and unique indentifier as parameters"
* Uncheck “Restrict cross-frame scripting.”
* Click on the Formatting tab
* Set it to automatically expand to use available space.
* Click OK.

On the “Form: Account” window, click on Form Properties.
Select OnLoad, click on Edit.
Check the “Event is Enabled” box, add this JavaScript.

var CRM_FORM_TYPE_CREATE = 1;
var CRM_FORM_TYPE_UPDATE = 2;
switch (crmForm.FormType)
{
case CRM_FORM_TYPE_UPDATE:
crmForm.all.IFRAME_TwitterSearch.src="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=" +
crmForm.all.name.DataValue;
break;
}

* Click OK when finished.
* Save all changes to your Account form.
* At the “Entity: Account” window, click Actions, select Publish.

This will create a Twitter Account tab and show any current Twitter activity for that Account. This can be used within any entity - e.g. add to Product to see the live twitter feed about your products or services.

CRM: Please State Your Name

A client asked: Our Full Name shows as FirstName LastName. This format does not work for our company. Is there a way to customize this field to show LastName first, followed by FirstName and then MiddleName?

There are actually several formats you can select from and they do not require any customizations. To change the format of the full name, you can do the following:

* Select Settings > Administration > System Settings
* Under the General Tab > Select Full Name Format
* Click on the drop down > Select the format desired
* Click OK

You will receive a message that this change only applies to future entries. Previously entered full names will remain as entered. If this presents a major problem, you can develop an update query to adjust the existing name. Be sure to back up your CRM data before running any query.

If you want to run an update query, it would be in the format below:
update contactbase set fullname = first + middle + last. This query would need to be formatted for what method to use to execute it (SQL Server, Access, etc)

CRM: Get Right to the Issue

A MSCRM client requested this: Is there a quick way to open the windows that create a New Case, a New Account or a New Lead? We would like to open certain CRM windows directly from the desktop instead of navigating through the CRM Web Client.

There is a way to do this and it can be done for any window within the MSCRM Web Client.

To create a shortcut to a CRM entity like New Case or New Lead:

* Open the CRM Web Client
* Navigate to Services then Cases and choose 'New'
* If the URL is not visible, click Ctrl+N and a windown with the url open
* Copy the URL to the clipboard
* Right click on your desktop and choose New Shortcut.
* Paste the URL into the location box
* Click next and give the shortcut a meaningful name.

You can do this for any entity and it is useful if you have an entity you want to get to quickly.

Crystal Reports : Saving the Data with the Report

I find it very handly, when developing a report, to Save Data with Report.
You can find this under File Options Reporting Save Data with Report.
What this means is that once the report is "refreshed" you can save the data along with it. This can save time if the report you're working with takes a long time to run. Saving the Data preserves the data in a local cache.

Crystal Reports : Using Lines to Seperate Sections

Often it is the case that a complex report becomes too "busy" to read easily.
Let's say that we are grouping by State, but it's difficult to look at the page and know where one state ends and the other begins.
There are many ways to alleviate this, but one of my favorite and simplest is to Insert Line.
This will insert, as expected, a line into the report which you can place wherever you want.
Typically, you'll want it to be in a Footer. This way, the line is drawn after each group is printed, effectively seperating the groups in a visual manner.

Crystal Reports : Exporting to Excel Cleanly

To export to Excel, click on the little "envelope" icon on the toolbar.
Select Destination: Disk File
Now drop down the Format list box. You'll see two choices for Excel. One should read "Excel", the other, "Excel (Data Only)"
In general, Crystal does a great job of exporting to a spreahsheet. However, it does take some pretty serious liberties with cell spacing and sizing. But if you're looking to act upon the data in the spreadsheet after exporting, you should try the Data Only format, as it will export none of the cosmetic touches of the report.

Crystal Reports : Enablng Landscape Size

This happened to me the other day. I went to File Printer Setup and the Landscape option was greyed out.
I found the default printer to be the "Microsoft XPS Document Writer". Once I changed it to an actual, physical printer, the Landscape option was available again.

HEAT: That Ticket Was Resolved!

A client had this quesiton: We have a lot of open tickets that are resolved but no one ever went in and closed them in Call Logging. Can this be an automatic function?

Yes, you can tie the resolution of an assignment (or assignments) to closing the ticket. This process uses an If statement to check if all the assignments are resolved when an assignee resolves their current assignment.

If they are all resolved it will prompt for closing information. If they are not all resolved it will resolve just that assignment as normal.

The steps to implement this process are:

* Create a new AutoTask to close the call ticket. This Update Ticket AutoTask will need to include prompts, @ValidatedPrompts or hardcoded values for all Close Required fields and needs to close the call and Save.

* Modify the current Assignment-Resolve AutoTask to include an IF statement action.

* This IF Statement Definition should have the following as the logic for the IF line: [mailto:{@Functions.@AllResolved()}==T @Functions.@AllResolved()}==T]

* The True Response for this IF Statement would be the inserted AutoTask created in Step One above.

* The False Response for this IF Statement needs to be left as the checked option of Run Task.

* When the assignee clicks the Resolve button (associated to the Assignment-Resolve AutoTask), the process will resolve the current assignment, then check if all Assignments are now resolved, if they are it will run the AutoTask prompting the user for Close Required information and close the call ticket.

* If all Assignments are not resolved, the AutoTask will complete the resolution of the current Assignment only.

There are a number of benefits to this approach. It relieves the job of someone going back and closing the tickets. It also creates better reports and metrics by eliminating open tickets that have, in fact, been resolved and should be closed. And perhaps the best part is that it requires no extra actions on the part of the assignees in terms of resolving their assignments.

HEAT: RDP Direct Connect

A client asked: We use Remote Desktop as part of our Service Desk support to connect to a end-user's PC. Is it possible to launch RDP from within a ticket and have it connect directly to the user specified in the Call Ticket?

Yes, this could be done by creating a custom field on the Call Ticket to hold the user's IP address. This would allow a Service Desk analyst or technician to click a button on the Call Logging form and connect directly to the user's PC with the problem.

To create this function, you would:

* Add a field called IP Address to the Subset form of the Call Record
* Add a field called MachineIP to the Profile form
* Create an autofill of the Subset IP Address from MachineIP
* Use the CustID to autofill the Subset with the MachineIP
* Create an Autotask using the Run a Program action
* Create a new Run a Program action AutoTask.
* For the Filename section: type in the value mstsc.exe.

In the Arguments, insert the following text where the bold item is the inserted field from the subset. Note: When using text editors to copy/paste, the inserted field attributes may become broken requiring the field to be re-inserted. If the below text is copied and pasted to the Arguments line, you may need to delete and re-insert the proper field.

Do this by right clicking on the field and use Insert Field from the menu that appears. Note: The /w: and /h are switches for the size of the Remote Desktop window when launched and can be altered. /w: 800 /h:600 /v:{Subset.MachineIP}

Connect this AutoTask to a button next to the Subset.MachineIP field and label it RDP. When an Service Desk analyst or tecch creates a ticket and selects the CustID, the MachineIP will auto fill. That tech can then click the RDP button to automatically launch an RDP session to that particular machine expediting a quicker resolution.

HEAT: More Better?

A client asked about this: We have a lot of custom icons linked to Autotasks/Reports and our Toolbar is very crowded. Is there a way to expand the Toolbar to allow for more icons?

One option to consider is that you do not have to add a single icon for each Auto Task or Report that you want to have easily available on your HEAT toolbar. You can actually add a single icon for Auto Tasks or Reports that are grouped into a folder.

This will allow you to have more Auto Tasks and/or Reports available on your toolbar without having to distinguish between dozens of icons.

In the example below you will see the steps to add an Auto task folder with multiple Auto Tasks to the toolbar by only adding one icon:

* In HEAT Call Logging, go to Auto Tasks > Manage AutoTasks
* Click once on the folder that has the Auto Tasks that you want to add to the toolbar.

This allows you place "group icons" on the toolbar that represent Quick Call Autotasks or Call Trend Reports

HEAT: Copy Call Groups

A client asked: We would like to move our Call Groups between our development environment and our production environment, however, we cannot find a way to import/export Call Groups. Does this functionality exist?

Currently there is not an export/import feature for HEAT Call Groups. Using HEAT, the only way to migrate Call Groups from a development environment into a production environment is to recreate all the call groups.

This is a labor intensive way to recreate the group and is difficult to keep synchronized. Fortunately, there is a way to move call groups from one HEAT environment to another using the SQL Database Copy Tools.

The steps below will allow you to migrate these without the need to do double work. As always, make a backup before making any changes to your Production environment

* Make sure that all users, services, etc are logged out of the system.
* Make a copy of the HEATGrp table in the test environment.
* Then overwrite the HEATGrp table in the Production environment.
* Verify that call groups appear in the Production Groups menu.
* Test run the call groups.

If testing is successful, you can allow users to log back in. If not, restore your backup and examine what occurred that prevented the Call Groups from migrating.

HEAT: Changes to Groupwise Functionality

A client recently asked: How do I utilize the new Groupwise 7 functionality in HEAT?

When configuring an Autotask send message action or Busniess Rule Monitor Send e-mail action for use with the Groupwise 7 client there are two parts:

* Make sure the Groupwise client is installed on the PC
* Open the HEAT Call Logging > User Preferences > Groupwise Tab.
* Note: this tab can only be edited if the Groupwise client is installed.
* This is where the Groupwise Server, UserID and Password are added.
* Fill in the settings > Clear the check box to disable Groupwise

When configuring the Send Message action in an Autotask or Business Rule add a 'GW:' prefix on the To: line (similar to the 'MAPI:' prefix used for Exchange)

* Then insert the field or address.
* Note that the Simple MAPI function no longer exists in HEAT
* The option to enable it or disable it has been removed from the Mail preferences

QUICKBOOKS: Get Paid Faster!

A client asked: Do you have any advice on how to use QuickBooks to speed up collecting our outstanding receivables?

Sure, use the following techniques to get paid faster:
* List your payment terms directly on your invoice.
* Add a message on the invoice stating your late payment policy.

To add these items, you will need to customize the invoice. This is done as follows:

* Single-click—not double-click—the template in the list.
* Click the Templates button at the bottom > Click Duplicate.
* In the Select Template Type window, select Invoice.
* Click OK.

The new template appears in the Templates list. It will have the same name as the original template with "Copy of" in front of it. For example, if you duplicate the Intuit Product Invoice, the new template will be called "Copy of Intuit Product Invoice."

* In the Templates list, double-click the new template.
* Click the Manage Templates button > enter a new template name
* Click OK.

In the Basic Customization window, customize the template:

* Add or remove fields and columns on the invoice
* Add special sections to the invoice, such as your late payment policy
* Add a remittance tear-off section or special instructions

These changes require that you:

* Open the Additional Customization Window
* Select Header or Footer
* Select the checkbox to show on the screeen or on the printed form
* Save the changes

QUICKBOOKS: My Keyboard is Too Slow

A client had this problem: When I enter in the journal entries, I get ahead of the journal entry contents because I type too fast.

When you create a lot of journal entries, you need a way to create them quickly:

Tip #1: Turn on auto-numbering. Normally, QuickBooks numbers journal entries automatically. If this feature happens to be turned off, you need to turn it on. Open the accounting preferences.
On the Company tab, select the Automatically assign general journal entry number checkbox.

Tip # 2: Fill in memos automatically. When you create an entry, select the Autofill memo checkbox. This is useful when you have many lines to enter and you want the same memo to appear on each line.

QUICKBOOKS: Quicker! Better! Faster!

A QuickBooks client wants to know: Is there a way to optimize the speed of my searches in QuickBooks?

Today's business environment wants information now! Cell phones, Instant messaging, Twitter and many other technologies offer information as it is occurring. Why not QuickBooks?

To search/mine QuickBooks for information that you need to make decisions as fast as possible, we recommend the following:

Narrow your search!
To narrow your search, use more than one word. "And" is always implied. That means if you search for travel hotel ocean, your search results would contain all three of those words. If a file—or invoice—only includes one of these words, the file wouldn't show in your search results.

Omit Needless Words!
To exclude a word, enter a hyphen (-) in front of a word to remove it from the search. For example, if you wanted to find all results that contained the word "travel" but did not contain the word "ocean", you would search for travel -ocean.

Type Faster!
Don't worry about case sensitivity. Search results are not case-sensitive. To search for "this," you can enter either THis, This, tHis, this, or this.

Be Specific!
Search for an exact phrase, such as the name of a customer, by putting the phrase in quotes. Only matches containing this exact phrase will be returned in the search results.

Don't Ignore My Adpositions!
Certain words are not included in your search. These are words such as "the" or "a" (referred to as adpositions). If you want to include these words, you can do it one of two ways:
Enter a + sign in front of the word, such as +the.
Enter the word as part of a phrase, such as "The Marks Group."

Still not fast enough? It's possible that Find msight work better han Search in certain situations.

QUICKBOOKS: Where's My Report?

A client asked: When we run large reports in QuickBooks, the entire system slows down. What can we do to resolve this?

First, for many reasons, you should consider upgrading to QuickBooks Enterprise. For larger data files, QuickBooks Enterprise provides improved performance in a number of key reports.

However, while you are deciding if QuickBooks Enterprise is right for your company, we also suggest the following for running large reports:

* If possible, defer running the report until other users have logged out of the company file.
* For the best performance, run the reports on the computer where you store your company file. If the file is on a network computer that is unavailable to you, use the fastest computer connected to the network.
* Be aware that some reports require more time to create than others. The slowest reports are journal reports and cash basis transaction reports.
* In the Reports & Graphs preferences, consider selecting "Prompt me to refresh" or "Don't refresh." Refreshing reports automatically can slow performance.
* Refresh a report or graph only when you are ready to work with its data. If "Refresh needed" appears in the toolbar of a report or graph and you are not working with the report or graph, leave the report or graph unrefreshed.

QUICKBOOKS: Need For Speed

A client asked: We have performance issues when more than one user is in QuickBooks. Are there steps we can take to increase our performance?

Yes, there are a number of items you can adjust to increase performance. First, however, consider upgrading to QuickBooks Enterprise. You may have just outgrown your version of QuickBooks.

In addition to upgrading QuickBooks, there are several performance-improving tips listed below:

When running a multi-user version of QuickBooks, there are situations that can cause QuickBooks to run slowly when two or more users are working in the company file.

For the best performance in multi-user mode, be sure to install QuickBooks or the QuickBooks Server on the same computer where the company file is located and set up that computer according to the recommended multi-user setup:

* Whenever possible, place your company file on a computer that has QuickBooks installed.

* Select a computer that meets or exceeds the recommendations for processor, memory, and disk space, as defined in the printed Startup and Quick Reference Guide. The amount of RAM on the computer can significantly affect performance.

* Select a computer with the least amount of non-QuickBooks activity

If you decide to upgrade to QuickBooks Enterprise, consider using a dedicated computer that is not used for other purposes.

You can also improve the performance of day-to-day operations by modifying your QuickBooks preferences:

* In the Reminders preferences, select "Don't Remind Me" for tasks for which you don't need a reminder.

* In the Reports & Graphs preferences, select "Prompt me to refresh" or "Don't refresh." Refreshing reports automatically can slow performance.

* For QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions, you can modify the General preferences to optimize multi-user performance.

GoldMine: A Quick, Easy & Colorful Way To See Your Sales Pipeline

GoldMine’s Opportunity Manager gives companies and individuals an easy way to manage and track moderate to complex sales throughout the sales cycle.

For individual salespeople and managers alike, the Pipeline Funnel gives you an overview of the number of opportunities and total dollar value of those opportunities at each stage of the sales process.

First, determine whether you want to see all opportunities, the opportunities of a user group, or a single user’s opportunities. You can choose by changing the Manager drop down at the top right of the Opportunity Manager. Then simply click the funnel button to the left of the drop down.

In the center of the rings of the funnel will be the stage, “10 – Initial Contact, etc.” as well as the number of opportunities in that stage. Then to the right of each ring will be the total dollar value of those opportunities, and their percentage of the total sales. In the very top ring, the gray area, will be the total forecast and total number of sales.

The rings are determined by the F2 lookup for Stage field within the Opportunity Manager.

GoldMine: Spring cleaning with Merge/Purge

A merge/purge combines two duplicate records into one. Information on the contacts, details, referrals, history, links, opportunity, and project tabs will be combined into a single record.

For fields like contact, company, etc., the record tagged first will be the record into which the second record will combine. If the first record tagged is missing information, say a fax number, but the second tagged record isn’t, the fax number will be populated in the surviving record. This is our favorite method for removing duplicate records from GoldMine!

First, we need to Tag two records. This is done in the Contact Search Center by clicking the check boxes to the two duplicates. After tagging two records you’ll notice the title bar of your contact record will tell you that you have two tagged records.

There is no undo after a merge/purge so be sure you have the correct two records tagged.
Check and Double-Check!

Now go to Tools >> Data Management >> Merge/Purge Records >> Merge Tagged Records.
GoldMine will ask if you’re sure. Click Yes to complete the Merge/Purge.

GoldMine: Use Filters to Find Lost Contacts

Have you ever wondered which contacts in your GoldMine database have not been contacted in the past 6 months or more? Did you know that you can create a filter that will tell you just that?Here’s how:

From the menu, select Lookup >> Filters. This opens the Filters and Groups dialog box.

Select the 'New' button to open the 'New Filter' dialog box, containing 3 tabs - Properties, Build and Optimize.

In the 'Properties' tab enter the Filter Name (for example, Not Contacted in 6 months).

Click the 'Build' tab and in it, select the Field name as "Lastconton", the Operator as "Lesser or Equal" and enter the Value as "07/01/2007" (the Value is the date from which you would like to count the number of untouched contacts).

Select the 'Insert Condition' button and click OK.

The new filter created will be displayed in the Filters and Groups dialog box. Right mouse click on the new filter and select 'Count' to find out how many contacts were untouched from 07/01/2007.

GoldMine: Link Documents to Contact Records

We often maintain information about our customers, prospects and vendors in different folders on our computer. Did you know that you can link those files to the GoldMine contact record?Here's how:

Look up the contact. Go to the 'Links' tab in the second half of the contact record.

Right click and choose New. The 'Linked Document' dialog box will pop-up.

Enter the name of the document, the Document Owner and any notes pertaining to the document.

Browse out to where the document is located on your computer. Choose it and click OK.

The document will now be listed on the Links tab.

Just double click on the document to launch the program and open the document.

GoldMine: Using Leads Analysis

Using Leads Analysis, you can track valuable information on the current status of sales efforts and analyze the effectiveness of various advertising and promotional efforts in generating inquiries and sales.

To Use Leads Analysis
1. Select GoTo>>Lead Management>>Analyze Leads. The Leads Analysis dialog box appears.
2. To add, edit, or delete a leads analysis, click Maintain. The Open Leads Analysis Table dialog box appears.
3. Select the lead file you are analyzing in the File Description drop-down list.

The information pane displays the following columns:

Source: Name of the lead source, such as Comdex. This entry appears in the Source field of the contact record.
Leads: Total number of contact records in the database with this value in the selected field.
Closed: Total number of contact records with this source that have at least one purchase, as recognized by the presence of a sales activity record in the history file.
Ratio: Percentage of closed sales based on number of leads.
Sales: Total dollar amount of sales generated by this lead source. This value is sum of all sales activity history records linked to the Contact Records with this source.
Potential: Total dollar amount of future sales activities scheduled on the Calendar. This value is calculated by summing up all the Forecasted Sales calendar records linked to the contact records with this source.

You can also view Cost and Profit, and Cost and Price per lead. To view the other options, right-click in the information pane and select View. Select the view of your choice.

To locate a particular source, type the first few letters of the source in the Find Source text box.

You can also use the following options:
Analyze: Displays the Leads Analysis - Analyze dialog box. Regenerates the leads analysis information for the current leads analysis database. You must select the field on which to base the analysis, and the range of dates to be scanned for calculation of statistics.
Sort: Displays the Leads Analysis Sort Menu dialog box, from which you can select the ordering of the records in the Leads Analysis dialog box.
Zoom: Displays complete information about the highlighted leads analysis record in the Leads Analysis Zoom dialog box.

Click Close to close the Leads Analysis dialog box.

GoldMine: E-mail Templates

In GoldMine you can easily set up an e-mail template with your signature line and use this for all of your e-mails.

* Go to the Document Center (click on the Write button)
* Right click on E-mail Templates and choose New
* A blank e-mail template will open
* In the subject line type in what you want the template to be named, i.e., "Genes signature"
* In the body of the e-mail enter two or three lines and type in your e-mail signature, i.e.

Gene Marks
The Marks Group
gene@marksgroup.net
www.marksgroup.net

* Click on save template
* If your alerts are on a alert box will pop up, click OK
* The Mail Merge Property Box will pop up. Click on Cancel as you will not be merging this template
* Right click on the template itself , choose Set as Default and choose New Message
* Repeat the process for Reply and Forwarding Message
* Close the Document Center.

Each e-mail you create will now have your signature on the bottom

GoldMine: Linking Folders to the Link Tab

Clients often want to link an entire folder and not just a document to the links tab. This can easily be accomplished by following the steps below:

* Go to the Links Tab.
* Right click in an area on the Tab and select New.
* Enter the name of the folder in the Document Name Field.
* Browse out to the folder that you want to link and choose any file in the folder and click OK.
* Edit the file name line to remove the file name and backslash so the path in the line is only to the folder.
* Click on OK.

Now if you click on the link you will be taken directly to the folder.

GoldMine: Records with no History

Many clients have records that have no history associated with them for a particular timeframe. They either move them into an archive database or they delete the records. You can find these records by running the following SQL Query.

Go to Lookup/SQL Query. Copy and paste the following into the SQL Query Box:

Select *
From contact1
Where accountno not in (select accountno from conthist
Where ondate >= '1/1/2006' and ondate <= '2/15/2008')

Click on Save, name the query and save it.
Click on Query and the results will be returned.

You can now create a group from the SQL Query results and either move the records into another database or delete them.
You can use this query over again and just change the date range.

GoldMine: Carrying over Completion Notes on Activities

Many clients don't realize that with a quick preference change you can carry of your completion notes from activity to activity so you don't have to type in the same information over and over.

* Go to Tools>>Options* Go to the Schedule Tab
* Check the box next to "Carry over completion notes when scheduling follow-up calls"

Having this box checked will actually carry over notes from activity to activity on all activities. You can easily delete any information you don't want but you do not have to retype information from activity to activity.

GoldMine: F2 Lookups - adding additional information

Many clients want to add multiple entries in fields. This can be accomplished by editing your F2 Lookups.

* Choose a field where you would like to add multiple entries from the F2 Lookup list.
* Click on the arrow at the end of the field box* When you add a new item into the list, put a ; (semi-colon) at the end of the name, i.e.,"Active;"
* You can also edit any existing entries and add the semi-colon to the end

You can now populate your field with multiple entries and each will have a comma in between them.

QUICKBOOKS: "Two" Many Tax Rates

A client had this question: How do I set it up services that when performed at my location are charged a 6 percent tax rate and when performed at the customer's location are charged their local tax rate?

You will need to setup two service items, one at your tax rate and one at the customer's tax rate. When billing the services, select the service by tax rate. To set up the service items:

* Select Customer Center > Item List
* Select Service > Fill in the fields describing the service
* Select Tax Code > Enter the Tax Code for your location
* Save the Service Item

Repeat these steps and enter your customer's tax code

QUICKBOOKS: Increase My Taxes

A client asked: I set up Other taxes for an employee along with normal state and federal taxes. The Other tax deduction worked the first time and after that stopped working. What could be causing this?

There are several things you can check to resolve this problem:

* Select the Payroll Item List > right click on the Other Taxes items
* Edit using the Wizard > Make sure the setup is correct
* Make sure there are no limits set up
* Select Employee > File > Payroll and Compensation tab
* Select Taxes > Select Other > Review the setup

Also, try rebuilding the data file by running File > Utilities > Rebuild
You may need to run this three to five times.

QUICKBOOKS: Changing the Company Name

An Enterprise client asked: Our name appears as "The Professional Association of Teachers and Student Teachers", but we use PATAST. We need the long name for some reports but want to change it for everything else. Can we do this?

Yes, if you want to change your company name, there are a number of ways to do it without affecting the integrity of the company database.

* Select Company > Company Information
* Enter the Company Name you want as the default
* To control by report > Select the Report Center
* Select Profit and Loss > Standard
* Click the Modify Report button > Click Header/Footer
* Modify the Company Name for this report

You need to select which name you want as the default name and which is related to reports (based on your company's needs). However, QB Enterprise is very flexible in terms of Header information.

QUICKBOOKS: Where Does The Invoice Go?

A QuickBooks client asked: When you receive an NSF check, the recommended method is to reissue the invoice plus any NFS charges. Does this also correct your accounts receivable detail?

This question asks if the original invoice paid by the NSF check needs to be adjusted in some way to assure that the A/R Trial Balance matches the G/L Trial Balance amount for Accounts Receivable.

There are several issues to be considered to answer this:

* Does your customer want you to redeposit the check (in this case, you would invoice only for Bank Charges or, more often, simply expense them)

* Are you using accrual or cash basis accounting (this affects which accounts were posted to when entering the payment)

* How does your company handle NSF charges in general (post to a NSF Income account, post to an expense account, post to a contra-income account?)

Once you have considered the accounting practices you use, then you can apply the correct method to handle a NSF check issued as a payment by a customer. For example, we will assume that we are using the accrual method, that we do not charge customer for NSF bank charges and post them to an expense). A typical scenario follows:

* Invoice Issued > Invoice Paid
* Payment applied in Quickbooks > Open invoice cleared
* Bank returns check as NSF > Customer asks you to resubmit
* Check clears on resubmit > Cash applied to checking account
* Bank statement is reconciled > NSF charge is posted to Bank Charges via J/E

In this case, there is no need to adjust the invoice paid because it was paid by the second submission of the check. As long as this happened within the same accounting period, then no adjustment would be needed. As far as the Bank Charge for the NSF check, it is not typical to charge a customer for this (unless they are consistently delinquent). So this would be expensed with the other bank charges at month-end.

If you still have questions, you should contact your QuickBooks ProAdvisor or your accountant.

QUICKBOOKS: Do You Need More Credit Cards?

An Enterprise customer asked: Can I have more than one credit card assigned to a customer?

Technically, No. But if you can be a little creative and flexible, you might be able to use the Job feature under the Customer Center to add multiple credit cards to a customer.

* Select the customer center and add a job for a customer.
* Name this "job" based on a location of the customers
* Edit the Job and under Payment Information, add a credit card
* Add jobs for locations, departments or anything causing a need for credit cards

Before creating too many jobs, make sure that this will work with the posting of payments within your company.

HEAT: Use That Activity Log

A client wants to know: Is there a way to document changes that are made to a call ticket and then abandoned?

Yes, you can use the "Create Activity Log Record" autotask action (in version 9.0 only) to capture this information (and much more). You would create this as follows:

* Create an autotask > Click Add
* Select "Create Activity Log Record" action
* Click Record Type > Select UNSAVED
* In Duration, select the amount of time to be added to the Log
* Select the Calendar to be used
* Enter a Description for the Log entry (can use Insert functions)
* Insert the information to be displayed in the Watch fields
* Click OK

This autotask can log unsaved changes and other types of entries, including work done outside of HEAT and within HEAT based on a condition you define.

HEAT: Automating HEATBoard Issues

A client wants to know: I have a need to create HEATBoard issues when certain conditions exist. I would like to automate this function. Is there a way to do this?

Yes, but only in HEAT version 9.0. To create a HEATBoard issue automatically, you would do the following:

* Create an autotask that checks for the condition
* Create an autotask that is executed when this condition exists
* Click Add > Provide a Name > Click Add
* Select the "HEATBoard Issue" action > Fill in the HEATBoard form
* Click OK

This will then put up a HEATBoard Issue whenever a condition is met and the autotask branches to this action. This could be used to alert (by the HEATBoard) everyone that a critical situation exists without relying on an analyst to identify this situation and post it on the HEATBoard.

HEAT: Field Is Null?

A client recently asked: I am creating an autotask and want to run other autotasks when a field is empty. Is this defined as {FieldName}=="", {FieldName}IsNull or something else?

In HEAT version 9.0, this is much less ambiguous. To define a multi-step autotask that branches based on a field being empty, you would do the following:

* Select Manage Autotasks > Edit the Autotask
* Click Add > Select the "If a Field is Empty Statement" action
* Select the table and field from the drop-downs
* Enter the autotask to run when true and when fales
* Click OK

This makes it much simpler to define a null or empty value in a field to cause an autotask to branch. This is available only in Version 9.0

HEAT: Messaging Center

A client asked: Is there a way to receive ATG tickets from more than one source (e.g. MAPI and POP) on the same server?

Yes, with HEAT version 9.0, ATG is basically replaced by the Message Center (although the ATG Ticket Service is also retained as a legacy application).

The Message Center allows you to receive tickets from MAPI, POP, GroupWise, XML, Web Services and Lotus Notes. These can all be setup on the same server and create/update tickets from any or all of the "Listeners"

To set up multiple Listeners to update your HEAT database, you would:

* Open the Message Center > Select Message Sources > Select Add
* Select POP from the List > Select the POP3 config file
* Select Messaging Storage > Select Server, Login and MC database
* Click Add > Enter POP3 Settings > Enter SMTP Settings
* Complete the Messaging Center tab > Add Create/Update Rules

Start the Messaging Center and make sure the POP3 option is enabled. Once this is done, tickets sent to email address defined in POP3 will create or update a ticket. Repeat this process for any other data source desired (MAPI, XML, etc)

HEAT: Web Based Call Logging

A client recently asked: Is there any other way of accessing HEAT through a browser other than iHeat?

Yes, in the latest version of HEAT (9.0), there is a web-based version of the Call Logging form. This does not require a login and offers the same features as the workstation Call Logging version (with a few exceptions).

To run the Call Logging WebUI:

* Select Start > All Programs > HEAT
* Select Call Logging WebUI > Enter your User ID
* Use the form as you would Call Logging
* Create, edit and view call tickets as usual

Tip: use Google Chrome to run the WebUI, it is much faster.

There are a very few differences between the CL WebUI and CL - for example, in the WebUI, you cannot create autotasks, however you can run autotasks as usual. The WebUI does not require an install, so it can be opened anywhere and any time.

Crystal Reports : Viewing the SQL Query

Every Crystal Report (Selection Criteria) can be rendered into it's constituient "SQL Query".

Note: this will only work on SQL Servers.

Once your report is in place and working as desired, select (from the top-level menu)
Database SQL Query.

You will get a little window that contains the SQL Code used to select the records from the database. You can copy and paste this text into, say, a SQL Query Designer. This is incidentally also a nice way a build SQL Queries using Crystal Reports.

Crystal Reports : Using Hyperlinks

Within a Crystal Report, you have the ability to make any field a hyperlink to a Web Site, Disk File, E-Mail Address or another Crystal Report file. This can be handy if you typically view the report within the Designer and want to provide easy access to commonly used items.

1. Right-Click on the field you'd like to hyperlink (text fields are by far the most popular for this).
2. Select the "hyperlink" tab.
3. Choose your hyperlink "type", as outlined above.
4. Provide the actual hyperlink address (ie. http://www.google.com) in the "Hyperlink Information" text box.

Crystal Reports : Using Borders

In the formatting section of each field in the designer, there is the ability to add a Border or "rectangle" around them. This is on a per-field basis.
For example:
1. Right-click on the field you want to format.
2. Select "Change Border"
3. This displays the "Border" tab in the "Format Editor" window
4. Notice that we can specify a border for
a. Top
b. Bottom
c. Left
d. Right
5. Simply choose the appropriate border style for each "side" of the field
a. The styles are Single, Double, Dashed, or Dotted

This is a nice way to make certain fields stand out on the report. For instance, a Grand Sales Total.

Crystal Reports : Inserting Page Numbers

A very typical field to see on a report is the "Page N of M" Special field.
Crystal has a collection of "special" fields that you can insert. You can see these fields by expanding the Special Fields folder underneath your Field Explorer.
By inserting the Page N of M field in the Page Footer, we can now see "Page 1 of 23" (for example) on the bottom of each page.

MS CRM: Make adding ‘Notes’ to an Account easy!

Users sometimes complain about the number of clicks it takes to view or enter notes into the system. You can address this plea for help moving the ‘Notes’ section of the Notes tab to the General tab where upon opening the record, they can immediately view previously entered notes or simply click on ‘Click here to enter a new note….’ and begin typing!

Move to Settings >> Customization >> Customize Entities >> Accounts.
Click the ‘Forms and Views’ item on the menu bar, search for and double-click to open ‘Form’- the main application form.

Move to the ‘Notes’ tab. Double-click in the Notes section just above the Notes area. The section should become outlined in green and a Section Properties window should open if you’ve done it correctly. If you click within the Notes area, you’ll receive a warning notifying you that you won’t be able to modify the field.

Move to the ‘Location’ section of this window and change the ‘tab’ value to ‘General’. Click ‘OK’.

Now, delete the ‘Notes’ tab. Be sure to be on the now-empty Notes tab. Click ‘Remove’ in the Common Tasks area. Click ‘OK’ on the confirmation dialog box. Click ‘Save and Close.’

Publish your customizations. In the Customize Entities center, highlight the Account entity and click ‘Publish’ on the toolbar. This will distribute your changes to all users.

MS CRM: Hide Sub-Accounts on the Details menu bar

If your organization will not need to use Sub-Accounts area, hide it!

Move to Settings >> Customization >> Customize Entities >> Accounts.
Click the ‘Forms and Views’ item on the menu bar. Search for and double-click to open ‘Form’- the main application form.

Click ‘Form Properties’ in the Common Tasks area.
Select ‘OnLoad’ in the Event list. Click ‘Edit’.
Check the ‘Event is enabled’ checkbox.
Type the following in the text box including the semi-colon: navSubAct.style.display=”none”;
Click ‘OK’. Click ‘Save and Close’ until you’ve completely closed out of the Account entity.

Publish your customizations. In the Customize Entities center, highlight the Account entity and click ‘Publish’ on the toolbar. This will distribute your changes to all users.

MS CRM: How to search for a Contact from the Account search center

Dynamics CRM 4.0 allows you to add ‘search for’ fields to some system-provided views for all entities. Let’s say you’ve defined 2 ‘primary contacts’ for each Account; a Sales contact and an Accounting contact. You’d also prefer to NOT have to flip between the two entities to search for the contact. You can add these fields to the above mentioned views to provide your users the flexibility of looking for a contact from the Account search center.

Move to Settings >> Customization >> Customize Entities >> Accounts.
Click the ‘Forms and Views’ item on the menu bar, search for and double-click to open the ‘Quick Find Active Accounts’ view. This is the view the systems calls when you begin typing in the ‘Find’ field of the Account search center.

Click ‘Add Find Columns’ in the Common Tasks area. Select the Sales contact and Accounting contact attributes. Click ‘OK’.

Now, add these fields to the display columns of the view. Click ‘Add View Columns’ in the Common Tasks area. Select the attributes again. Click ‘OK’.
Adjust the location of the fields within the view display by highlighting the field and moving it using the green arrows in the Common Tasks area. Click ‘Save and Close.’

Publish your customizations. In the Customize Entities center, highlight the Account entity and click ‘Publish’ on the toolbar. This will distribute your changes to all users.

MS CRM: Create another ‘primary contact’ for an Account

Dynamics CRM 4.0 now allows you to create multiple relationships between entities very easily! Suppose you regularly deal with 2 primary contacts at an account; one in the Sales Department and one in Accounting and would like to expose both on the main form of the account.

First, rename the existing primary contact to ‘Sales Contact’.
Click the ‘Attributes’ item on the menu bar, search for and double-click to open the attribute named ‘primarycontactid’ with a display name of ‘Primary Contact’. Change the ‘Display Name’ to “Sales Contact”. Click ‘Save and Close.’ This will now change how the label for this attribute is displayed on the main form and all views that include this attribute.

Click the ‘N:1 Relationships’ item on the menu bar to begin creating the new Accounting Contact relationship. Click ‘New Many-to-1 Relationship’.
In the ‘Primary Entity’ field select ‘Contact’ since we are looking to create another Contact relationship with the Account. Assign a name that describes the relationship like ‘new_Acctg_Contact’. Enter a ‘Display Name’ like ‘Accounting Contact’. The ‘Name’ of the relationship attribute will auto-populate based on the Display Name you enter. Enter a further description.

Since we are defining this relationship as a single contact and we want to expose on the main form, select ‘Do not Display’ in the Navigation Pane Item area. Keep ‘Relationship Behavior’ set to ‘Referential’. Click ‘Save and Close.

Click the ‘Forms and Views’ item on the menu bar to add the ‘Accounting Contact’ to the entity’s main form. Double-click ‘Form’ to launch the form designer. Highlight the section you’d like to add the attribute to and click ‘Add Fields’ in the Common Tasks area. Check the box next to ‘Account Contact’. Click ‘OK’. Move to the desired location within the section using the green arrows in the Common Tasks area. Click Preview >> Create Form on the form’s toolbar to preview the results before publishing. Click ‘Save and Close’.

Now, publish your customizations. In the Customize Entities center, highlight the Account entity and click ‘Publish’ on the toolbar. This will distribute your changes to all users.

GoldMine - Searching based on additional contact’s data

How can I search for a contact record in my GoldMine database based on additional contact’s data?

You can search for a contact record in GoldMine using the additional contact’s information. Follow the instructions given below to do this.

Open Contact Search Center.

Select Name (additional) option from the Look up list.

Enter the first or the first few letters of the additional contact’s name in the text box that is provided.

Use Enter key to search.

Sending Meeting Requests in GoldMine

How do I send meeting requests to my team using GoldMine?

You can create meeting requests and send it to other GoldMine users by implementing the following steps:

Choose Schedule from the main menu bar. Choose Event from the drop down window.

In the dialog box that appears, fill in all the fields.

Tick "Send a request with the event to" and select the contacts.

Click the Resources tab and select the resources you want to schedule with the activity.

Click the Recurring tab and select the date range, frequency and occurrence of the activity.

Click the Group tab and tick "Schedule to a group of contacts" and select the contact records.

GoldMine - Permanently Delete Email Attachments

When you delete an email in GoldMine, the attachments will not be removed by default. If you want to delete the attachments also along with the email, then you will have to customize GoldMine by following the steps given below.

Click 'Tools' / 'Options'.

Click 'E-mail' tab.

Click 'More Options' to open 'E-mail Preferences' dialog box. Click 'Advanced' tab.

In 'Message' area select 'Delete attachments when deleting the mail' option.

Playing an Alarm Sound in GoldMine

You can play a sound whenever an alarm pops up in your GoldMine. To do this:

Click the Tools button on the Main Menu bar. From the drop down menu, choose Options.

Click Alarms tab on the window that appears.

Check the Play Alarm sound file. Browse and select the sound file you want to play whenever an alarm pops up.

Click OK.

Launch an external Application from GoldMine

How do I launch an application from GoldMine?

Many of us often work with other software programs such as QuickBooks along with GoldMine. You can launch them easily from within the GoldMine window. To do this, follow the instructions given below.

Click Customize on the toolbar. This will open your taskbar; right-click anywhere in the taskbar and select Add New Item. This will launch Taskbar Group Item Selection dialog box.

From Item Type drop down list, select External Application.

Enter a suitable caption for the icon that is to be added to GoldMine taskbar (ie QuickBooks).

Browse and select the application (.exe file) that is to be added, by clicking on ellipse button […] placed next to Application text box. The path of the chosen app will be automatically displayed in Start Directory text box.

The Command Line specifies additional conditions to occur when the application starts. You can either type the command, or click to display a popup list. From the list you can select commands from one or more of the following categories:
o User details
o Contact details
o System info

You can select an icon for the file that you are adding by clicking on ellipse […] button next to Icon text box, but GoldMine will use a default icon if you don’t have one available.

Click OK.

GoldMine - Search Center Filters

A client asked "When I am in the Contact Search Center, can I search for clients who are in a particular state and city?"

Yes, you can easily filter information in the Contact Search Center.

* Click on the Search button
* In the drop down box next to Search by choose State, in the next box choose Equal To and in the last box choose the State you wish to search on
* Click on the plus sign at the end of the row and another search line will appear below and choose And in the first drop down box
* In the Search box choose city, in the next box again choose Equal To and in the last box choose or type in the city you which to search on
* You will now only see contacts in that particular city in the state
* You can add as many lines of search criteria as you need to filter out the data you want to view in the Contact Search Center

GoldMine - Pending and History Drop Down Lists

You can easily view your History and Pending items by particular users, particular dates, etc.

* Click on the History Tab of a contact
* Next to Activity click on the down arrow and choose E-mail Out
* You will now see a listing of just outgoing e-mails to that contact
* Your choices in the drop down list will be any of the activities you have completed for that contact
* You can do the same with any of the headers on the history tab
* You can output the information into Word or Excel by right clicking in the History area and choose Output to and the information will be put into an Excel Spreadsheet or a Word document
* When you have finished, make sure you go back to the drop down under the column header and choose "All" or you will only see the activity you have chosen to view on all of your contact records

GoldMine - Contact Search Center Groups

GoldMine allows you to "Group" information in the Contact Search Center. A simple grouping would be the following:

* Click on the Search button and open the Contact Search Center
* Search for all the contacts within a particular state
* You can now group all of the contacts in the state by city
* Right click on the header bar in the Contact Search Center and choose Group from the menu
* A bar opens up above the search criteria area that says "Drag a Column Header here to Group by that Column"
* Left click on the word "City" and move the Column Header up into the bar
* You will now see that all of your cities will be listed below the state in the area below the column headers with plus signs next to each
* Click on the plus sign next to a city and it will list each of the contacts that are located in that city below the city name
* When you have completed your searching, move the Column Header back into the bar with the other column headers and the "Group" bar will close

As you can see, the possibilities with this are endless. You can group by several different categories at the same time!

GoldMine - Lookup Fields Auto Fill

A client is having an issue when running a filter on fields when users mistype information into the field. Can lookup fields auto-fill when a user starts to type in the field to avoid missing contacts in a filter?

Yes, you can activate an auto fill feature in lookup fields by changing the lookup settings.

* Go to the field you want to have auto filled
* Click on the arrow at the end of the field box to give you the pop-up box with the dropdown list
* Choose Setup
* Check the box next to Auto Fill and click Okay
* Anytime anyone starts to type in that field it will automatically fill the field from the list

GoldMine - Keeping E-mail in the Inbox

A client recently asked why after they replied to an e-mail, the original e-mail was moved to the filed folder. Is it possible to keep the original e-mail in the inbox until you are ready to file it yourself?

Yes, you can keep the message in your inbox by changing a setting in your User Preferences.

* Go to Tools/Options
* Choose the E-mail Tab
* Click on More Options
* Choose the Composing Tab
* Uncheck the “Complete Original Message” option
* Click OK and OK
* Your message will now stay in your inbox
* Make sure you file the message so it will be recorded in history

HEAT: MapQuest Directions in HEAT!

2. A client asked: We use both Goldmine and HEAT 8.45. We really like the GM+ Browser in Goldmine. Is there anyway to create this in HEAT?

Yes, a similar feature is included in the latest version of HEAT, Version 9.0. On the Call Logging form, there is a "Web Browse" page that functions like the GM+ Browser in Goldmine and it is actually easier to use (no need to write html).

To use the Web Browse in HEAT 9 for MapQuest directions, you would do the following:

* Select Autotask > Manage Autotasks (websites are added with an autotask)
* Select Add > Enter the Autotask name
* Click Add > Select Web Browse
* Add the Page URL > http://www.mapquest.com/beta/directions
* Click the checkbox for "Submit a Form for the PageURL"
* Click the Auto Fill button > the webpage (Mapquest) opens in a window
* On the drop-down Select Form, select directionsForm
* The text boxes on Mapquest to be filled will flash
* Enter placeholder characters in each box (e.g. xxx) > these will be used later
* Click OK > Values will appear in the POST/GET DATA text box
* Replace the xxx's with the correct HEAT field (insert field) or a static value

Make sure to use the GET function and also that your state is the two digit code, not the full state name.

Below are the contents for the POST/GET Data box for directions from the Marks Group address to the customer's address stored in the Profile:

&start$addressLine1=45 E City Ave&start$addressInput=&start$city=&start$state=PA &start$postalCode=19004&end$query&end$addressLine1={Profile.Address1}&end$addressInput=&end$city={Profile.City}&end$state={Profile.State}&end$postalCode={Profile.ZIPCode}&options$type=fastest&options$type=shortest&options$avoidHighways=true&options$avoidTollRoads=true&options$avoidSeasonal=true

Note: this data string was created by using the procedure above. No knowledge of the scripting was required (you just point and click)

HEAT: Parent-Child Call Tickets

A client asked this: Can HEAT be configured to create a Parent-Child relationship between call tickets?

Yes, in HEAT version 9.0, there is a new autotask called Goto Call(Ticket). Use this action to search for a specific call record; performs the same action as Ctrl+G or File > Go to Call ID, enabling you to open a specific Call Record by its Call ID. You can also use HEAT field values, @Functions, filenames, temporary filenames, assignments, journals, or counters to configure an expression that identifies which call(s) to go to.

Utilizing HEAT field values, you to link calls by storing Call IDs in fields for a record, then execute the action using a command button, which results in the stored call record being opened.

Note: If you run the Go to Call AutoTask before the current call record has been saved, you will be prompted to fill in all fields required to save the call record, so the current call can be saved before the AutoTask runs.

To Create a Goto Call Action:

* Select Autotask > Manage Autotasks
* Click Add > Enter the Autotask Name
* Click Add > Select Goto Call(Ticket) > Click OK.
* The AutoTask Goto Call Action dialog box opens.
* In the Title field, type a name for the Goto Call action.
* In the Call ID expression field, type the Call ID for the call record (as
shown in the Call Status Banner).
* With your cursor in the Call ID expression field, you can also click Insert to use HEAT field values, @Functions, filenames, temporary filenames, assignments, journals, or counters to configure an expression that identifies which call(s) to go to.

HEAT: Export Call Browse to Excel

A client wants to know: How do I get the information out of the Call Browse windows (Ctrl B) other than printing it?

This also depends on which version of HEAT you are using. If you are using HEAT 8.45 or below, there is really no viable way to extract the data. You can copy but only one row at a time.

So, enter HEAT version 9.0. This has an Export button on the Call Browse window
and can export to several data types (Excel, XML and text).

To export:

* Click Ctrl B > Maximize Window
* Sort by Column > Click the Export button
* Navigate to a location > Save as an Excel, XML or text file

This is a small tip but a huge feature. This allows you to export based on any Call Group you can create. It allows you to delete columns (click on column and drag down). It allows you to change the column order (click on column and drag right or left) and then sort by the moved column and print. You can restrict to show only Open calls (by the Call Group), eliminate entries without information in your key column (Call Group), etc. You get the idea, this is an extremely fast way to report on any call group formatted however you want. And after you export to Excel, you can use all the Excel features (like graphs, pivot tables and macros).

HEAT: Create Restricted Call Groups

A client asked this: We are using HEAT 8.45 and want to restrict the calls of a specific group of users from the rest of the HEAT users. We do not want to use a separate database - is there any other way to do this?

Yes, it is a bit labor intensive, but can be done:

The primary tools available are view sets and call group security. In addition, the use of security roles and teams are implicit in this method of securing the data for a group (or groups) of HEAT users.

View sets are used to restrict which fields are viewed on a HEAT form. For example, if we want to restrict certain fields from appearing in the Profile then we can create a view to show that only to the restricted group. Views can also be assigned to Teams, so we can restrict IT analysts from viewing Team views that are classified as the restricted team.

View sets would in concert with Call Group security to lock down the HR data. Call Group security is outlined below.

In Administrator, it would be necessary to lock down the following rights by security role. This would involve having an Unrestricted security role and a Restricted security role.

The rights that would be restricted are:

* Team Groups
* Heat Board
* Call Groups
* Simple Searches
* Right to Go To Call

So, under the each security role, they will be given specific access to view the Call Group, Team Group, Heat Board, etc for their calls only. The respective departments, however, would not be allowed to create any of the above items or enable them.

As an additional layer of security, in the event that something is missed in the security role definition for IT, the following group would serve as a catch-all for any Restricted ticket that might inadvertently appear:

For example, if you use the Dept field o designate which are Restricted tickets, then you can create a Call Group that designates all open assignments that are not closed, not resolved and not in the Restricted department as Active IT Calls and that is all they will be allowed to view

Note: for handling Call Browse, by restricting Call Groups, you would restrict Call Browse to only showing tickets in their allowed Call Group.

Note: for handling Go To Ticket (to prevent someone from randomly entering ticket numbers under Ctrl G, there is a right in Administrator called Right to Go To Call, which would be disabled for IT except for tickets in their allowed Call Groups.

HEAT: Yes-No Message Box

A client recently asked: Is there any way to enhance the dialog box that pops up when you run the Prompt() or ValidatePrompt() functions?

Yes, there are two ways to approach this, the hard way and the easy way. First, if you are using HEAT 8.45 or lower you will need to use the hard way. This method requires that you use the HEAT API and create a custom pop-up box that is created in vb.net or c#.net. This involves writing software in one of these languages, learning the functionality of the HEAT API and then connecting to the HEAT data through the API. Plan on spending some time on this and be sure to involve your partner because the API is not available directly to customers.

The easy way is to upgrade to HEAT 9.0. This provides an autotask function that can be used to create a message box with multiple lines of text, inserted functions or fields (e.g. password) and instructions to the user (e.g. "To continue with the reset of the received date/time, press Yes. Otherwise press No to cancel")

To create this in version 9, you would do the following:

* Select Autotask > Manage Autotasks
* Click Add > Enter the Autotask Name
* Click Add > Select the Display Message Box action
* Click in the Message Box Text field
* Select the font, font size, bolding, text alignment, etc
* Enter the message the you want the user to see
* Enter any HEAT fields or functions you would like in the message
* Select the message box option - either OK, OK/Cancel or Yes/No
* You can also specify an icon and auto hide timeout

Click OK to save the autotask. This autotask can be assigned to a toolbar icon, command button or called by another autotask. This allows the Message Box to appear at a decision point and gives you the choice to continue or cancel.

Crystal Reports : Suppressing and/or Revealing Report Sections

While designing a report, you may find it helpful to Suppress (hide) sections, easily Revealing them later.
Within Crystal, right-click on the Section name on the left hand section of the designer.
Then select Hide or Suppress, depending on your need.
Hide will still allow you to "Drill Down" and see the section in question.
Suppress will not allow you to reveal the section at all until you right-click on it and select Show.

Crystal Reports : Using the Zoom Tool

Within Crystal, you may change your Zoom perspective to easier see all objects on a page. This makes it easier to arrange the report to be aesthetically pleasing.

Within Crystal select View Zoom from the top-level menu.

Then enter in your desired zoom level. Typically, a level of 50% will allow you to see the entire page.

Crystal Reports : Converting Numbers to Text

Conversely, you may use a Crystal formula to convert any Numeric field to Text by using the ToText function.
Example:
ToText({Table.Column})
This will allow you to use String functions (i.e. Mid, Left, etc) on any Numeic field.

Crystal Reports : Converting Text to Numbers

When using Text fields, you can convert them to Numeric by creating a formua field and using the ToNumber Crystal function.
Example:
ToNumber({Table.Column})
This will allow you to perform math upon the text field in question.

Crystal Reprorts : Formatting fields as Currency

Any numeric field can be formatted as "currency" by:
1. Right-click on the field itself
2. Select "Format Field"
3. Go to the "Common" tab
4. Select your Style (i.e. thousands seperator, etc)
5. Click the checkbox labeled "Display Currency Symbol"

An Enterprise user wants to know what the “QuickBooks Database Server Manager” utility is and how it is utilized.

The QuickBooks Database Server Manager is a utility that allows you to configure the QuickBooks Server for multi-user access. You can use the QuickBooks Database Server Manager to:
• Scan folders for QuickBooks company files that need to be configured for multi-user access.
• Monitor local hard drives to configure new company files automatically.

To Open the QuickBooks Database Server Manager -Go to the Start button, click Programs, click QuickBooks, and then click QuickBooks Database Server Manager.

Scan Folders feature:
All company files stored on the server must be scanned once to ensure that they're configured properly to allow other users access to these company files. Once the Server Manager is open, click the “Scan Folders” tab and indicate which folders contain QuickBooks company files. If you're not sure where files are stored, you can choose to scan entire disks. Click the Scan button. The display bar will indicate which folders are being scanned.Once the scan is complete, the company files in the scanned folders are configured for multi-user access.
Monitored Drives feature:
Use the Monitored Drives feature to keep the QuickBooks Database Server Manager up to date as you add new company files to your server. Once the Server Manager is open, click the “Monitored Drives” tab. Click to select all local drives that you want to be monitored for company files that are added, removed, or renamed.
Note: Mapped drives are not displayed and cannot be monitored.
Updates feature:
Use the Updates feature to download updates to the QuickBooks Server and to view the version of the QuickBooks Server. Once the Server Manager is open, click the “Updates” tab. Follow the onscreen instructions to check for and install updates.
System feature:
Use the System feature to find system information about the computer where the database server is installed. Click the System tab in the Database Server Manager.Review the system information for the computer where the database server is installed.

An Enterprise user wants to know how to resolve the issue of duplicate customer records...

The best way to handle duplicate customers (and vendors, also) is to merge them. To do this,select the Customer name you don’t want to use and in the Edit window, change the customer or job name (at the top of the window) to the same name as the entry you're combining it with. Click OK then click Yes to confirm that you want to merge the two names under the same name.

NOTE: Once you merge two customers or jobs, you can't reverse it.

There are a few situations where you can't merge a customer or job:
• You can't combine more than two names at a time.
• You can't combine customer names if both names have jobs. You must first delete or move the jobs from the customer name you want remove.
• You can't merge a customer name with a name from a different list, such as merging a customer with a vendor.

An Enterprise user wants to know how to setup an independent contractor to receive a 1099-Misc at year end.

If you work with individuals or companies to whom you send 1099-MISC forms, you can set up QuickBooks to track all 1099-related payments. At the end of the year, you can have QuickBooks print your 1099-MISC forms.

First open the 1099 tax preferences. Edit>Preferences>Tax:1099. Select the Company Preferences tab and for the “"Do you file 1099-MISC forms?" option, select Yes. Next link the 1099 categories you report to the IRS to the QuickBooks accounts you track them in, and then click OK.

Once the preferences have been set up, you need to set up the vendors eligible for receiving 1099-MISC forms. To do this, select the vendors from the Vendor Center, click on “Edit Vendor” and on the Additional Info tab enter the vendor tax ID number and then check the “vendor eligible for 1099” box.

Each time you make a payment to a 1099 vendor, QuickBooks automatically adds the amount to the total you must report on the vendor's 1099-MISC form. You can view your 1099-related payments by creating 1099 reports. After verifying that the reports include the right vendors and cover the right accounts, you can print 1099-MISC forms for your vendors on preprinted forms designed for your printer.

A QBE client recently encountered an issue where customers were disappearing from their customer list and they weren’t sure how to get them back.

I’ve seen this happen on several client customer lists and have not received a satisfactory answer from Intuit as to why it occurs. It can, however be rectified.

To re-populate the customer list with the missing customers you will need to rebuild the data file. To do this, from the File dropdown, select Utilities and Rebuild Data. You will be prompted to make a backup copy of the data file prior to the rebuild. Once the rebuild is complete, check to see if the missing customers have been re-populated. Sometimes this rebuild has to be done a few times for it to work.

An Enterprise Client asks, “What’s the best way to handle a bounced (NSF) check from a customer?”

When a customer's check is returned for insufficient funds, perform the following steps:
1. Create items for tracking bounced checks and their associated charges (a one-time setup task).
2. Use the items created in step 1 to re-invoice the customer for the bounced check, plus any bank fees you want to recover. This step also backs out the original transaction on your books.
3. (Optional) QuickBooks has a Bounced Check letter that you can send along with the new invoice.
4. Enter your bank's bounced check charge when you reconcile your bank statement.

GoldMine: Schedule Activities without Linking to Contacts

To schedule activities without linking them to GoldMine contacts, follow the steps given below:

Click Schedule on the main menu bar.

Choose Appointment from the drop down box.

Click the 'Detail' tab.

Uncheck the 'Link' option.

Click Schedule.

GoldMine: Creating Resources for Activities

Resources for activities include items like meeting rooms, company cars or equipment. When you schedule a meeting, you can also schedule the resources by following the steps given below:

Select Tools>>Configure>>Company Resources. The Resources Master File will appear. Click New.

Type the Resource Name and Profile.

Type or Select the Code.

Select the Custodian (person responsible for the booking) or leave it as public.

Click OK.

GoldMine: Specify Rights for Contact Fields

You can specify rights for a contact field in GoldMine by following the steps below:

Right-click the field for which rights should be set and select 'Properties'.

'Field Properties' dialog box will be displayed. Click 'Security' tab.

Specify rights for the field and click 'OK'.

GoldMine: Using GoldMine to Forecast Sales

You can record the anticipated close date of a pending sale, sales amount and the probability of sales closing through 'Forecast sales schedule' in GoldMine.

Open the “Schedule Forecast Sale” dialog of a contact record by first opening the contact record in GoldMine and then clicking Schedule menu, followed by selecting Forecast Sales.

Click on the Contact drop-down arrow and select additional contacts.

From the drop-down list, select the Opportunity/Project to associate the sale with; or click New and create new opportunity or project.

Select the Product and its Code in the F2 Lookup list.

Select the User for whom you are scheduling the forecasted sale. The forecasted sale appears on the user's calendar.

Type the number of product Units the customer is expected to purchase, and the Price of each unit. The Amount field automatically calculates the total based on the entries in the Units and Price fields.

Select the Probability in the F2 Lookup list. This field is expressed as a percentage.

Select the expected Sale Date and type any special Notes related to the forecasted sale.

As in other scheduled activities, you can choose to link, alarm, or RSVP an activity by checking the different options.

GoldMine: Formatting Fields

Did you know that you can format fields in GoldMine and make them look consistent throughout? To ensure a consistent format for a field in GoldMine, you have to activate the convert case/format feature.

Select Tools from the main menu bar.

Select Global Replace Wizard from the drop down menu.

Choose "Update a field using advanced options" from the Wizard.

Select the field you want to format.

Select the proper case/format conversion option from the 'Convert to' options and click OK.

GoldMine: Searching Notes in GoldMine

You can search your notes in GoldMine using the Contact Search Center.

Open the Contact Search Center (Lookup >> Contact).

For the 'Lookup' field, from the drop down list, select 'Notes'.

Similarly, for the 'that' field, select 'Contains' from the drop down list.

In the last field, type in the word that you are searching for and hit 'Find'.

The result will list all contacts whose notes contain the word you have searched for.

Note: To search for multiple words in notes, click on the 'Insert Condition' button, choose And/Or and input the next word you want to search for.

GoldMine: Use Filters to Find Lost Contacts

Have you ever wondered which contacts in your GoldMine database have not been contacted in the past 6 months or more? Did you know that you can create a filter that will tell you just that?Here’s how:

From the menu, select Lookup >> Filters. This opens the Filters and Groups dialog box.

Select the 'New' button to open the 'New Filter' dialog box, containing 3 tabs - Properties, Build and Optimize.

In the 'Properties' tab enter the Filter Name (for example, Not Contacted in 6 months).

Click the 'Build' tab and in it, select the Field name as "Lastconton", the Operator as "Lesser or Equal" and enter the Value as "07/01/2007" (the Value is the date from which you would like to count the number of untouched contacts).

Select the 'Insert Condition' button and click OK.

The new filter created will be displayed in the Filters and Groups dialog box. Right click on the new filter and select 'Count' to find out how many contacts were untouched from 07/01/2007 or whatever date you chose.

GoldMine: Schedule Activities to a Team of GoldMine Users

Did you know that GoldMine allows you to schedule activities to an entire team at one go? If you have more than one person in your sales team working on the same account, you can use GoldMine to schedule tasks to everyone involved at the same time. Here's how you can do it:

Select the contact (account) for which you would like to schedule an activity.

Select Schedule and choose the type of activity.

In the next window, click on the Users tab and select the users (sales people) you wish to add - simply click on the user name in the left-hand column and use the Select button (arrow) to add it to the right-hand column.

Use the Free/Busy tab to check scheduling conflicts for the users.

Once you have added all the sales people, click on Schedule. This will add the activity (appointments, calls, etc.) to each GoldMine user’s calendar and activity list.

GoldMine: Keeping Up With Follow Ups - A Key To Success Made Easier

Here’s a good way to manage ‘follow-ups’ or FUPs.

If you need to call someone or meet with someone at a specific day or time, you would schedule a call or an appointment. The follow-ups discussed here are ones that don’t necessarily need to be done on a specific date or a specific time, but are scheduled so you can remember to touch base with someone on the phone or by dropping them an email.

First, schedule a “Next Action” via Schedule > Next Action. In the reference line use “FUP if Not Heard From” (adding that as a drop down makes this quicker). In the date field, schedule it out for however many days, weeks, or months makes sense and put an ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, etc. in the Time field which makes it a Priority.

After scheduling, these activities will be displayed in the ‘Untimed Activities’ section of the calendar.

These will tend to be your lower priority activities, as they don’t necessarily have to be done on a particular day. To make sure they transfer over from week to week and don’t get forgotten you need to check your preferences. Under Tools > Options, on the Calendar tab you’ll see an
Auto-Roll-overs Section.

Check Next Actions so if you don’t get to a particular follow-up it’ll simply roll-over and remain on your calendar until you complete it.

Goldmine: A quick “Google Search” of any GoldMine Contact

The GM+View can display relevant information about the contact you are on from just about any web site out there, but sometimes confusion can occur when a contact has a common name.

This GM+View uses email address instead of name to identify a contact.

To set this up go to File > Configure > GM+View or Web > GM+View in GoldMine Premium Edition. Note: You do need Master Rights to do this.

Then click the New button.

Type in the Template name, e.g. Google Contact Info, then click down into the white space below, then click on the (H) button in the upper right. This allows us to tell the view what we want to display.

After clicking (H) you’ll see some HTML code… Highlight all of it and delete it.

In its place, write the following:

Then choose Save & Exit.

Click OK from the GM+View Tab Settings screen.

Now, within the GM+View tab you can quickly find out more about your contact!

MS CRM: Manage your time and activities with help from reminders

Pop-up reminders—similar to those in Microsoft Office Outlook—are one of the most requested features for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Although reminders are not available in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you can take advantage of the integration between Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook to display Outlook reminders for most activities, including tasks, phone calls, and e-mail messages.

1. To display Outlook pop-up reminders automatically, create the task, e-mail, or appointment in Outlook with Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook installed.

2. Set the reminder.

3. Save the activity as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM activity.

a. In Outlook, on the form, on the CRM toolbar, click Track in CRM to create a Microsoft Dynamics CRM record.

If you are on the task form, you can select a different Microsoft Dynamics CRM activity to create by clicking the down arrow. You can save the Outlook task as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM task, phone call, letter, or fax.

b. To select a parent record, Click Set Regarding (in Outlook 2007) or Regarding in (Outlook 2003) to select a Microsoft Dynamics CRM record that this activity is regarding.

You can either select a previously used record under Select, or click More to select the record.

MS CRM: Use Read-Only Fields on Workflows

Sometimes you may want to automatically update a field through a workflow, but don't want this field to be modified by the user. If a field is read-only you will find it is not possible to assign values to it on a workflow. To work around it, follow these steps:

1-Uncheck the "field is read only" option on Settings>Customization>(Entity)>Attributes
2-Access the workflow and add the properties you need on the field.
3- Go back and set the field to read-only once again.

MS CRM: Apply the workflow to your activity records

Now that you've created and published your new workflow, you can use it to close your activity records.

Once you've closed an activity, you cannot edit or reactivate it.

1. In the Navigation Pane, click Workplace, and then click Activities.

2. From the Type list, select Fax.

3. Select the fax records that you want to close:
Press the CTRL key on your keyboard to select multiple records. You can also create an Advanced Find query to find records that meet specific criteria, such as the date that they were created on or the marketing campaign with which they are associated.

4. On the Actions toolbar, click Run Workflow.

5. In the Look Up Records dialog box, select your Bulk Close Fax Activities workflow, and then click OK.

6. In the confirmation message, click OK.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online starts your workflow and changes the status of the fax records that you selected to Completed, with a status reason of Sent.

You can view closed activities in the activity's history. In the activity record, under Details, click History.

MS CRM: Close multiple activities with a workflow

When you create a workflow, you can choose to make it available for yourself and your coworkers as an on-demand workflow or an automatic workflow. Automatic workflows start on their own, when the conditions defined in the workflow have been met. You start on-demand workflows yourself, whenever you want to perform the actions defined in the workflow logic.

Create similar workflows for each type of activity you work with so that you can also close them automatically when you need to.

1. In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, and then click Workflows.
2. On the Actions toolbar, click New.
3. In the Create Workflow dialog box, set required properties for the workflow.

• In the Workflow name box, type Bulk Close Fax Activities.
• From the Entity list, select Fax.
• In the Type area, make sure that New blank workflow is selected.
• Click OK.
  

4. In the Workflow Properties area in the top half of the Workflow form, set additional properties for the workflow.

• From the Publish As list, select Workflow.
• Under Available to Run, select On demand.
• Under Options for Automatic Workflows, clear the Record is created check box.
  

5. In the Workflow Logic area in the lower half of the Workflow form, click Select this row and click Add Step.
6. On the Workflow Logic toolbar, click Add Step and select Change Status.
7. Click Type a step description here and replace the default text with Set status of fax to Sent.
8. From the first Change record status to list, select Fax, and then select Sent.
9. On the Form toolbar, click Save.
10. On the Form toolbar, click Publish, and then click OK.
11. Click Close.

MS CRM: Identify neglected accounts, leads, and cases using default reports

Default reports for viewing neglected accounts, leads, and cases all work basically the same. You specify a parameter to define how long a record has been neglected and how to group the data. For the Neglected Accounts report, you can also select whether to include subcontacts and subaccounts.

Run the Neglected Accounts report:

1. In Workplace, under My Work, click Reports, and then double-click Neglected Accounts. The default filter appears. You can modify the filter as needed.

2. Click Run Report.

3. On the next screen, select the number of days that you define as neglected, select the grouping, and then click View Report. You'll see a chart grouped the way you specified.

4. Click an area of the chart to see the details.

HEAT: Heat Plus Knowledge

A client had this question about HPK: How do I match up which NXT file in the content folder with a specific library name when they are different?

The association from library name to library file name can be found in the NEXTPAGE.SDF file. This file is in plain text and can be opened in Notepad.

The file is located in the path C:\Program Files\HEAT\Plus Knowledge\bin. If Heat Plus Knowledge was installed with a path other then default, follow that path and look for the Plus Knowlege folder which should contain the bin folder. The entry for each library should look something like this:

allow-manage-content="yes"fullpath="C:\Program Files\HEAT\Plus Knowledge\content\Knowledge.nxt"id="14672924-abb1-41"mount-date="20080801T123923"name="Knowledge.nxt"nfotitle="Current Knowledge"online="yes"title="Current Knowledge"/>

The fullpath portion of the entry for the library shows the location and filename of the library file. The title portion of this entry shows the name given to the library that shows up within the website itself.

Each library will have its own entry that will begin with the infobase tag.

HEAT: Value on the Dashboard

A client had this problem: Can I turn off the Dashboard that opens every time I open Call Logging? The metrics are hard-coded and I use Managers Console for metrics.

Yes, but take a closer look at the Dashboard before you turn it off. I agree that the metrics are hard-coded and could be done in Managers Console, but on the other hand, they are right there when you open Call Logging - you can take a quick look and move on.

But I think there are other features of the Dashboard more important than the metrics and that solve some long-standing issues with HEAT functionality. The first is Broadcasts. In the past you needed to open HEAT Supportmail and use that for Broadcasts. With the Dashboard, Broadcasts can be queued and viewed on a graphical form:

* Right click and select New under Broadcasts
* Enter the Broadcast Details and Send
* The Broadcast is available on the Dashboard as Call Logging is opened
* It also shows in the tray at the specified time

Also consider My Call Groups

By using a simple check box, you can display any set of call groups on the Dashboard:

* Open or create a Call Group
* Navigate to Group > Edit Group Criteria
* Check the "Display on Heat Dashboard"

Again, this displays your favorite Call Groups immediately as you open Call Logging. If, however, you still want to turn it off, you can do the following:

* Select Edit > User Preferences > Display
* Clear the checkbox labeled "Show Dashboard at Startup

HEAT: HSS Attachments

A client asked: How do I add attachments to Heat Self Service?

When adding attachments through HEAT Self Service, an HTML file, containing a link to the actual attachment, is attached to the call ticket. Users in Call Logging can open the attachment and click on the link which will then open the attached file.

In order to successfully upload attachments in HEAT Self Service, a ticket must first be submitted to the database. Once this is completed, the HEAT Self Service users can open or edit existing issues and upload attachments.

The following configuration settings are needed for attachments to work with HEAT Self Service.
* Create an Attachments directory in the HEAT Self Service directory on the web server. Note: The attachment directory must be a sub-directory of the HEAT Self Service virtual directory structure.

* Share out the HEAT directory on the HEAT Self Service web server. To do this, locate the HEAT folder, right click, and select Properties. Within the HEAT Properties dialogue window, click on the Sharing tab, select Share this folder and name the share HEAT.

* The HEAT Self Service Virtual Directory path needs to be changed from A directory located on this computer to A share located on another computer. Open Internet Information Services (IIS), expand Default Web Site, right click on HEATSelfService Virtual Directory and select Properties. Within the Virtual Directory tab, select A share located on another computer.

* Once the radio button is selected, the local path will change from a drive letter to UNC format.
* Enter the server name and the name of the share to be used for HEAT Self Service.
• The {server} section in the example below is the name of the HEAT Self Service web server.
• The {share} section in the example below needs to include the full path to the HEAT Self Service files.

Example: \\HSSWebServerName\Heat\HeatSelfService.

* Once you have the correct Network Directory defined, click on the Connect As… button and select a user that has modify rights to the HEAT folder and its subdirectories. The selected user will also need to have the ability to write to the Attachment directory used for HEAT Self Service.

* Launch the HEAT Self Service Configuration Tool. Select Edit>>Web Server Settings. Make sure that the Physical Path and the Divisions Path are using UNC pathing.

* In the HEAT Self Service Configuration Tool, click on Edit > Preferences. On the General tab, verify the path for the Virtual Root is the UNC path configured in the Web Server Settings. If not, make sure the Physical Path and the Divisions Path are UNC as defined in step 7.

* Also, within the HEAT Self Service Configuration Tool Preferences > General tab, in the Issue Attachments field, browse to or type in the name of the attachments directory for the new share that was created. In the HEAT Self Service Configuration Tool, select Security > Customers. Highlight the Customer Type(s) you want to give view and/or edit rights for attachments and change the SelfService Attachments right accordingly. Select Apply then OK, and save your changes to the Configuration Tool.

* Launch Services from the Control Panel. Stop the World Wide Web publishing service.

* Search the Web Server for *.hfw and delete the file that references the data source being used to access HEAT SelfService. Important: Do not delete the Calendar.hfw, or any files that are used by Crystal if installed on the server.

* Open the windows registry editor by clicking Start>>Run, type regedit and click OK. Before making any changes to the Registry, it is recommended you first export a backup of the key being modified. Simply right click on the key, select Export, select a location for the backup file, enter a name for the file, and click Save.

* Go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\FrontRange Solutions\HEAT SelfService key and delete the following entries, then save the registry and exit:

• LD
• SD
• WD

* Start the World Wide Web Publishing service.
* Open the HEAT SelfService Configuration Tool to recreate the registry keys and the catalog file.

Login and test the new attachment setup functionality.

HEAT: Call Group or Work Group?

A client asked: When I run an AutoTask to copy a call, it fails. What could be causing this?

When a copy call AutoTask is run (without turning on the ".M" feature), data is pulled from the current Call Record in the Work Group instead of the current Call Record in the current Call Group. If the Work Group is empty, the copy call AutoTasks appears to completely fail.

The cause of this issue is that the AutoTask code now switches to the current call to the Work Group before gathering all the data for the new Call Record. To resolve this issue, users need to modify the AutoTasks that utilize this functionality in order for them to work as desired.

To Modify AutoTasks:
In order to have the copy information AutoTasks to work as desired, please follow the steps below:

* In Call Logging, select AutoTask > Manage AutoTasks…
* Locate and highlight the AutoTask that requires updating.
* Click Edit.
* Select the Action that is creating the call, then click Edit.
* Highlight the first field in the list that is coping data (any field that is not using {System} or {No Value}. Then, move the cursor over the field until the cursor turns to an ‘up’ arrow. Then, double-click the field.
* After double-clicking the field, the Token editor appears.
* Change the field by adding a “.M” after the field, but before the end parentheses. Click OK.
* Repeat these steps for all fields containing a value.

Don’t forget to review other tables (e.g. Detail and Assignment). After completing the above steps, the AutoTask will now work as desired and copy calls in the current Call Group.

HEAT: Track Maximum License Trends

A client recently asked: I would like a report of the maximum licenses over a certain duration (a week, a month, etc). Where in the HEAT tables can I find this information?

To get this information, you need to visit the Drivers and Downloads of the FrontRange support site. From there you need to download and unzip the "Max User Count Utility".

This utility gives you the ability to view maximum licensing use trends over time in one hour increments. To use this tool:

* Unzip the file downloaded
* Run setup.exe
* Ensure the Max User Count Utility Service is running
* Select Start > Programs > MaxUserCountUtility
* Select the proper database server database and credentials

The utility will monitor all Call Logging login and logout activity via a new table named HEATMaxUserCount and returns the Current Licenses in use value and the Maximum Licenses in use value.

The Maximum Licenses in use value is tracked via a bar graph and displays the value in one hour intervals.

Crystal Reports : Sum a non-numeric field

Sometimes you may need to sum a "non numeric" (or text) field. Crystal will not allow this to happen until we convert the text field to a numeric one.
Let's assume the text field we want to sum is called "Price".
Step #1 : Create a new formula field.
Step #2 : Within the new formula field, use the following : ToNumber(Price).

The "ToNumber" function in crystal will now allow us to Sum the formula field within the report.

Crystal Reports : Conditionally change font color

You can specify the color of any font in your report to change based upon a "condition".
A typical example would include making a sales total field "red" if it drops below a certain value.
Let's assume our Sales Total field is called "SalesTotal".
Step #1 : Right-click on the field in question and select Format Field.
Step #2 : Click on the "Font" tab.
Step #3 : Click on the "x-2" (formula) button next to Color.
Step #4 : Use the following fomula: if SalesTotal < 100 then crMaroon else crBlack

This formula forces the sales total to be drawn in red if it drops below 100, oherwise it stays black.

Pro Tip: When testing a condition to change the font, any fields on the report are available to use.

Crystal Reports : Using the Grid to align objects

When using the Crystal Designer, you can choose whether or not to see the "Grid" (think of graph paper). This can help you align fields and objects within the report. To see the Grid, go to View Grid in Design. You may also choose this again to turn the Grid off.

Crystal Reports : Inserting your Company Logo

You can display your company logo on a Crystal Report (or indeed any picture file).
Go to Insert Picture from the top-level menu. Then browse for the picture you want to insert. Once it's inserted, you can resize it to fit the report.

MS CRM: Schedule Re-index / Deletions Service Jobs for Off-Hours

By default, the CRM 4.0 Re-Indexing and Deletion jobs are scheduled to run every 24 hours. Unfortunately, the start time for these jobs defaults to the time of day when they were originally installed on your server, typically sometime during regular business hours.

To avoid any potential performance impact that might result from these jobs competing with users for resources, they can be scheduled to run during the night, when few, if any users would be affected.

To set the time and/or frequency of these processes, use the ScaleGroupJobUpdate tool from Microsoft support.

Download the tool to the CRM Server desktop and start it by double-clicking on ScaleGroupJobUpdate.exe. ( You’ll need to be CRM administrator with access to the CRM application server to use the tool.)

(If you’re hosting more than one CRM organization, make sure set the tool to the correct organization.)

Choose the Job Type “Deletion Service” and set the “Base Time” to the time of day you would like the job to run – then click Update. (The base time is the time of day the jobs will attempt to run each day if scheduled to run every 24 hours.)

Change the Job Type to “Re-Indexing Service” and again set the base time and click update.
The default interval for both jobs is 1440 Minutes (24 hours) – this can be adjusted for one or both jobs if needed.

Additionally, by setting the “Job Next Run”, you can effectively run these jobs ‘on-demand’ (i.e. Re-index records after a large data import or run the deletion service after a significant number of records are deleted to perform a ‘hard-delete’ of those records.)

As always – please review the instructions and information on Microsoft’s site before using the tool in your environment.

Thanks to Scott Sewell for the tip - http://blog.customereffective.com

MS CRM: Get rid of duplicate email addresses

One of the worst things that you can do in CRM is have duplicate e-mail addresses. For example, you never want to have the same e-mail address on a user and a contact record, or on a contact and an account record. The reason is that CRM for Outlook and the e-mail router use the e-mail address of incoming and outgoing e-mails to resolve which records to track the e-mail against.

If, for example, you have the same e-mail address on a contact record as well as that contact's account record, when an e-mail comes in from that user, CRM will not know which record to set that e-mail regarding. The e-mail will track, but it will not be associated with any CRM records (what good will that do?). Use the SQL script linked below to quickly identify if you have duplicate e-mail addresses in your system, then edit those records in CRM to correct the problem.

Here is a SQL script that you can use to identify if duplicates exist in your CRM database. Just run the script against your MSCRM database: http://blog.customereffective.com/blog/2008/01/find-duplicate.html

Note: Each SQL query is best run separately. Make sure you are running the query/script only, and not the title or explanation of what each query is to do.

Get familiar with the MS CRM 4.0 for Outlook diagnostic tools

You may be familiar with the Outlook client diagnostic tool located at Start >All Programs >Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 >Diagnostics. When you run the diagnostic wizard, it will find and even fix some of the most common problems with CRM 4.0 for Outlook. However, were you also aware of the advanced diagnostic tools available with the CRM 4.0 web client?

When you run the diagnostics tool, instead of clicking "run diagnostics," click the support mode button.

This will give you two tabs to choose from. The Synchronization Troubleshooting allows you to enable/disable specific synchronization processes.

The Advanced Troubleshooting tab includes options similar to the CRM server diagnostics tool, but this time for the client. You can turn on tracing, delete Outlook temporary files, and create a file that includes relevant logs and machine profile information.

If you ever have issues with a PC running the Outlook client, you will save significant time dealing with Microsoft support if you first create a trace file of the issue and generate the troubleshooting file for support and submit with your support case.

MS CRM: Use Read-Only Fields on Workflows

Sometimes you may want to automatically update a field through a workflow, but don't want this field to be modified by the user. If a field is read-only you will find it is not possible to assign values to it on a workflow.

To work around it, follow these steps:

1-Uncheck the "field is read only" option on Settings>Customization>(Entity)>Attributes
2-Access the workflow and add the properties you need on the field.
3- Go back and set the field to read-only once again.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Update Rollup Schedule

The Microsoft CRM Sustained Engineering (SE) team has now completed the transition to a frequent Update Rollup servicing model for Microsoft CRM 4.0. Starting with the release of Update Rollup 2 on January 15th, the CRM SE team will release most of its updates only in Update Rollups.

Update Rollup 1 can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=57c6267b-3b13-49dd-bfed-3cc83633aea7&displaylang=en

Update Rollup 2 can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=AA671769-61E9-45C4-919F-C88199AA4241&displaylang=en

The CRM SE team is planning to release Update Rollups on 8-week cycles; therefore, Update Rollup 3 is scheduled for mid-March. While quality is the focus of every release, we are also trying to be predictable in our release schedule so that our customers can schedule deployments of our Update Rollups with confidence. In November, when we released Update Rollup 1, we set the date of Update Rollup 2 to January 15th and we met this timeframe. We will do our best to establish a release rhythm that our customers can come to depend on.

The CRM SE team realizes that some issues will need to be released quicker than an 8-week schedule. For these cases, the CRM SE team will release Critical on Demand fixes. The Critical on Demand process will follow the previous hotfix process and an individual hotfix will be available from Microsoft Customer Service and Support. The Microsoft Customer Service and Support teams will work with the CRM SE team to determine issues that need to be released as Critical on Demand updates.

This change does not affect servicing for the Microsoft CRM 3.0 family of products.
How customers report issues to Microsoft will not change. Customers should continue to contact Customer Service and Support for any issues.

Thanks to Matt Brown, http://blogs.msdn.com/crm/

GoldMine: Create a New Contact while Scheduling an Activity

Did you know that you can create a new contact while you are scheduling an activity in GoldMine? This is useful when you realize that the contact that you want to schedule the activity for does not exist in your GoldMine. So, instead of canceling the scheduling activity, you can create a new contact in GoldMine on the fly. Here’s how:

On the menu bar, select Schedule > Appointment to open the Schedule an Appointment dialog box. Schedule the activity as usual.

Now, click on the button that is to the left of the 'Contact' field and from the options, select 'Create a new contact'.

This will open a New Company and Contact dialog box.

Fill out the information and select OK.

A new contact is now created in GoldMine along with the activity scheduled for that contact.

GoldMine: Drag and Drop Contacts to Create an Activity

Did you know that you can simply drag and drop a contact on your GoldMine calendar to create an activity? Here's how:

To open the calendar, select Go To > Calendar from the menu.

From the Contact Search Center, select the contact you want to create the activity for, and drag and drop it on your calendar.

The 'Schedule an Appointment' window will pop up with the contact data filled in.
After that, enter any other details to schedule your activity for that contact.

GoldMine: How To Find Everyone You Spoke About “X” With

When completing an activity, if you are diligent about recording in the Notes field what you spoke with your contacts about in GoldMine, it’s very easy to find everyone you spoke about a topic with.

Let’s say you want to find everyone where you mentioned ‘gadgets’.

Here’s the SQL Query:

select contact1.contact, contact1.company, conthist.ondate,conthist.ref from contact1, conthist where contact1.accountno =conthist.accountno and conthist.userid = 'BILL' and conthist.notes like'%Gadgets%' order by ondate

Simply change the ‘BILL’ to your userid and replace ‘Gadgets’ with your search term!

To use this, from GoldMine’s main menu choose Lookup > SQL Queries then Copy & Paste the above in the top section then click Query. If you are using GoldMine Premium Edition then Tools > Filters & Groups and then the SQL Query tab.

Thanks to Chad Smith, www.thegoldmineblog.com

GoldMine: Auto Populate That ‘Dear’ Field!

A few months ago we posted regarding the use of the “Dear” field in GoldMine:
http://marksgroup.blogspot.com/2008/10/goldmine-user-asks-how-to-use-dear.html

To ensure that the Dear fields gets populated with at least your contact’s first name we’ll use the “Lookup.ini”. The lookup.ini is GoldMine’s way of automatically updating one field based on another. In our case with the Dear field we’ll be updating it based on the contact field.
The Lookup.ini is an actual file is located wherever your GoldMine is installed, whether it be on your local machine or the network.

Be sure to use Notepad or another text editor to open and edit the Lookup.ini. Here’s the code to get the Dear field to update when you create a new contact record.

[AutoUpdate]New=DEAR

[Dear]Otherwise=&firstname

Every new record, as long as you put in the contact name, will have the Dear field populated with the contact’s first name. That can always be overridden with one of our “Mr.”, “Mrs.” Or “Dr.” formulas.

GoldMine: Record Alerts, Part II

Here are some advanced tips for records alerts.

First, if you want to change an existing alert, for example to change the three letter code of ‘ATG’ to ‘CRD’, we’re going to do that within the Knowledge Base.

Go to > Knowledge Base. Double-click on System then Double-click on Contact Alerts. You’ll see all available records; you can add additional comments within the main window.

To change the 3 letter code or reference, Right-Click > Edit on the page icon on the left. Then in the Topic Properties the code and line text can be modified.

When closing the Knowledge Base or navigating to another entry, GoldMine will prompt you save the modified text. If you’re happy with the changes simply click Yes.

By default, a record alert pops up 7 seconds after a contact is ‘touched’. This can be changed by adding a line to your GM.INI file which is located wherever GoldMine is installed, e.g. S:\GoldMine… You may see it just as “GM” if you are hiding file extensions in Windows. It should open using Notepad.

Look for RecAlertSec=2 under the [GoldMine] Section. Change 2 to the number of seconds before the alert should pop up. Since we’re doing this within the GM.INI file the change will be universal.

To view all records with a record alert, go to Lookup > SQL Queries and paste this query in:

select contact1.company, contact1.contact, contact1.phone1, contsupp.notes from contact1, contsupp where contsupp.rectype = ‘A’ and contact1.accountno = contsupp.accountno order by company

Using GoldMine’s Record Alerts

GoldMine’s Record Alert function allows you to create a set of different alerts that will automatically ‘Pop Up’ whenever a user, any user, views a record.

You might find these very useful to display messages for:

• Top & Important Clients
• Key Prospects
• Customers on Credit Hold
• Customers with specific needs
  

To add a record alert to a contact go to Edit > Record Properties > Record Related Settings then click on the Alerts tab.

This window shows alerts that have already been created. Once an alert is created it can be used on any record. To use an existing alert check Enable Alerts then check the relevant alert(s).

To create a new alert click the New Alert button.

The Code can be any three letters. The Alert Description should be a few words describing the alert. The Message can contain any special verbiage. When setting up a new alert, remember that these are can be used universally so you probably don’t want anything too contact specific. Click OK after you’ve set the alert.

The newly created alert will automatically be set for the current record. Click OK to enable the alert.

If you check the Log this alert to history when a user is alerted option, at the bottom of the window, GoldMine will automatically create a history record whenever the alert is activated. An alert will be activated whenever someone views the record for more than 7 seconds.

When testing this out, be sure you leave the record for which you set the alert, then go back to the record to activate the alert.

GoldMine: Using Occasions to Remember your Customers’ Anniversaries

GoldMine allows you to automatically be reminded every year of a customer, prospect or any acquaintance’s birthday, anniversary, etc. using Occasions. Once set, you’ll get a reminder every year before the day of the event.

First, find the contact record you want to create the Occasion for.

Then go to Edit > Record Properties > Contact Details. Choose the Occasions tab.

Then click New to create a new Occasion. A contact can have multiple Occasions.

Use the Reference field as a reminder of the detail of the Occasion, and use the Category field for the type. GoldMine has predefined the categories as: Other, Anniversary, Birthday, Festival, Reunion and Retreat. The User will be who gets the reminder.

Then click on the Date Span tab.

Here you’ll want to set the Date as well as how many days before the date you’ll want an Alarm. The "Occurs" section will automatically update based on the Date.

Click OK.

You’ll now see the new Occasion. Occasions also show up in your Activity List and Calendar!