My Top Ten Favourite Sage ACT! Features in 2011
As 2011 draws to a close I have been reflecting on the features in ACT! that I use the most, the ones that work best for me. These are not exclusive to the latest version (Sage ACT! 2012), but are just the ones that I've used most this year.
Mailmerge to Letters and E-mail The ability to merge information into Word documents and Outlook E-mails has been around for a while. This is probably the function I use most. I have stack of around twenty different templates set up which allow me to generate printed documents and e-mails with a couple of clicks. I also frequently use two templates in parallel. For example, I will generate a quotation in Word, then save it as a PDF. I then generate a covering e-mail and attach the PDF. I'm still looking forward to the day I can do this as one process!
Quick Lookups Like most ACT! users if I'm trying to find stuff in my database I will most likely turn first to the Quick Lookup window at the top-left of the screen. I also run the Default Lookup Field add-on from Exponenciel ( http://www.exponenciel.com/actaddons/actaddon.aspx?ID=142 ) so that the default lookup is Company rather than Contact, which saves a couple of mouse-clicks each time I need to find a company in my database.
Outlook Calendar Sync This is running constantly in the background, syncing my ACT! and Outlook calendars in both directions. So it doesn't matter whether I'm working in ACT! or Outlook, the calendars are the same. The additional benefit is that my Android phone syncs to Outlook (one way, Outlook to phone), so all my ACT! scheduled appointments turn up on my phone. Once again, I use an add-on, the Advanced Acivity Window from Exponenciel ( http://www.exponenciel.com/actaddons/actaddon.aspx?ID=140 ) so that I can select what contact information is synchronised to Outlook and then to my phone.
Import from Excel I do a lot of importing data from Excel, and it's great that at long last you can import directly from an Excel spreadsheet without having to save as a csv file first. I can't get myself to trust the automatic field matching, I'm sure it works fine but I prefer to map the fields manually to get that warm cozy feeling that the import will go as expected. The report produced after an import should flag any errors, but to my mind, by then it's too late.
Dynamic Groups Where would I be without dynamic groups? All my regular queries are saved as dynamic groups so I can select and use the latest information instantaneously. Want to find all the accountants in Birmingham with a shoe-size of 9? Providing you have fields in ACT! to capture the raw information you can set up a dynamic group to select just the contacts you want. I always start a mailmerge by first setting up a dynamic group of the contacts who will receive my words of wisdom.
Edit | Replace This lesser known function is one that I use all the time, often when out at a customer's site. Want to change the ID/Status of 300 records from Prospect to Customer? Use Edit | Replace to do it in one go.
Create New Fields Creating new fields to capture relevant bits of information that might be useful to your business is one of the greatfeatures of ACT! Sometimes it takes a little thought where those new fields should appear. Just keep in mind that the ACT! database is made up of different tables, which in turn make up the list views (Contact List, Group List, Company List and Opportunity List). It's really easy to extract and print data from each list and it can also be exported to Excel with one click. Just make sure that any new fields are set up in the right list. For example, I've added a field called Invoice Number. I've put this in the Opportunities area so it appears in the Opportunity list.
Open in Contact Detail View By default, an ACT! database greets you with the Welcome Screen. This is interesting for about 30 seconds, but then you need to change the view to do something useful. The good news is that you can change the default opening screen to Contacts, Contact List, or Dashboards. (Tools | Preferences | Startup tab | Startup view).
ACT! Analytics "Never heard of it", I hear you say, and I'm not surprised. For a while it has been possible to generate reports in Excel by using Excel's import wizardry to access your ACT! data via the back door. (You have to have the correct permissions to do this by the way). The latest versions of ACT! come with a utility that allows simple extraction of some basic Tasks and Opportunity information and for that to be displayed in a pivot table. No. Really. This is potentially quite exciting stuff. If you would like more information check out this Knowledgebase article. http://tinyurl.com/cog3rvn
ACT! Scheduler There's no excuse for not having a backup of your database when you need it, and for not keeping your database in tip-top condition. ACT! has its own scheduler to do these things for you in the background. (Tools | ACT! Scheduler). If your main database resides on a server then set this up there. You can schedule daily backups at some convenient hour in the middle of the night. I suggest you set it up to at least retain the last five backups then delete older ones. You can also schedule database maintenence to run an hor or so later. This checks for any minor glitches and also reindexes you data so it all runs as quickly as possible.
So, there we have it. That's what I use. Surprised there's no mention of Smart Tasks, Universal Search or Google integration? It's just that I dont use them. Others may well do. ACT! is a sales and marketing toolbox. You may not need to use every tool in the box; just pick the ones that work for you!
If you would like some on-site ACT! training or support anywhere in the UK we can help. Just click the link for more information. ACT Training.
May I wish you a happy Christmas holiday and good health for tthe new year.
Jeff