2010 (Version 12) What s new in ACT! Version 12 New Features and Functionality in ACT! Version 12

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1 2010 (Version 12) What s new in ACT! Version 12 The ACT! by Pastel Version 12 release comprises a number of improvements to the package, which include customisable Opportunities, a fresh and user-friendly new navigation interface, a useful Welcome screen with shortcuts, e-marketing* and much more. All of this enables you to work more effectively, become more productive, and interact more efficiently with your contacts. *Requires additional subscription. New Features and Functionality in ACT! Version 12 Currency This new feature enables currency selection when creating a new ACT! database. Users will be able to specify the default currency for all currency values in the database/s. ACT! languages The same ACT! database is accessible to users of different languages. For example, if a French-speaking ACT! customer has created a database, it will be available in German for a German-speaking ACT! user. Opportunities Opportunities in ACT! are now completely customisable (similar to Companies, Groups and Contacts). Users will now be able to attach Notes, Histories, Activities and Documents to these Opportunities. Custom tables can be added to Opportunities. The security model of Opportunities can be modified to allow limited access by teams or individuals, such as in Companies, Groups and Contacts. An Opportunity can be created which does not require a contact to be associated with it. The products / services grid can be edit and customised in the Opportunities Detail view. Navigation The navigation in ACT! now reflects the accordion style navigation in the left pane as well as the addition of more visible buttons along the top row. Display of the Look For search box has been hidden by default in the latest version of ACT!. Users will be able to unhide this option at anytime. ACT! will now display the Contact List every time the user looks up all contacts. Dynamic menus will display according to the view selected. For example, Contact-related menus will display when Contact view is selected. 1 ACT! Whats New in Version 12

2 Welcome Page A new view has been added to ACT! to assist new users in getting up and running. The new view has links to common start-up tasks as well as many Help resources. The tasks in the new view are specific to user types in ACT!, so that non-admin users will not be shown admin-only related tasks. The new default view for all ACT! 2010 users is the Welcome screen, however after closing ACT! for the first time users will be prompted to change their default view if they require to do so. E-Marketing In the latest version of ACT! e-marketing capabilities have been added. This enables users to access functionality supplied by Swiftpage for marketing purposes as well as for tracking results through ACT!. Please note that e-marketing requires an additional subscription through Swiftpage. Colour Schemes Allows users the ability to select between 2 colour schemes for ACT!, either Sage Green or Sage Silver. Web Info Tab This new tab in ACT! allows users to see context-aware information from the internet for the selected Contact. This tab is available in both Contact and Company views. The tab contains several canned links as well as the option for users to add their own links according to their specific needs. 2 ACT! Whats New in Version 12

3 Remote Database Creation The Remote Database Creation panel has been modified to allow users to create up to 50 remote databases at one time. Report View The Report View is an additional view which displays all the reports saved to a users database. In this view, users can specify favourite reports, run reports, edit reports and modify the descriptions of reports. 3 ACT! Whats New in Version 12

4 New Reports 13 brand new default Opportunity reports have been added. They are: - Opportunities by Record Manager and Process - Opportunity Summary by Record Manager and Process - Opportunities by Process and Status - Opportunities by Estimated Closing Month - Won Opportunities and Days Open - Won Opportunity Summary by Sales Process - Won Opportunities by Sales Process and Competitor - Won Opportunities by Sales Process and Reason - Won Opportunities by Sales Process and Record Manager - Won Opportunities by Sales Process - Won Opportunities by Actual Closing Month - Pipeline Report by Sales Process and Stage - Pipeline Report and Products by Sales Process and Stage New Dashboard Charts Components Views 12 new dashboard chart components and 2 new standard dashboard views have been added to ACT! Version 12. The new dashboard views are: - ACT! Administrative Dashboard - ACT! Contacts Dashboard The new dashboard components are: - Recently Edited Contact - Recently Created Contacts - Contact History Count by History Type - Contacts by Country - Contacts by Department - Opportunities Open by Product - Opportunities with Contact Info - Opportunities by Products - Opportunity Weighted Total by Stage - Remote Database Information by User - Remote Database Sync Status by User - User Status New OleDB Provider A new OleDB provider (OleDB 2.0) has been provided in ACT! Version 12 that gives users access to Group/Company memberships as well as to the Activity information. icalendar Support Users can send activity notifications via icalendar format. vcard Support Users can export contact information in the form of vcard/s by right clicking on the contact from the Contact List View or using the Contacts menu. - Note: this only applies to Admin or Manager users. Relationship dialogue Users now have the ability to resize the relationship dialogue. Registration / Installation The number of required Registration Questions have been reduced. An automated answer file has been provided to assist in the silent install process. 4 ACT! Whats New in Version 12

5 Additional information Detailed System Requirements All minimum system requirements are based on single user environment (one computer accessing a local database). Recommended server system requirements are for environments with more than one user accessing the same database. Your system and setup must meet the minimum requirements in order to receive technical support. ACT! by Pastel Version 12 Minimum System Requirements System Requirements GB available hard disk space - DVD drive - SVGA (800x600) or higher resolution monitor, recommended resolution is 1024x768 Processer speed for Windows XP MHz Pentium III processor (or equivalent) MB system memory (1 GB recommended) Processer speed for Windows Vista / Windows GHz Pentium IV processor (or equivalent) - 1 GB system memory Works With - Microsoft Outlook XP, 2003, and 2007 (SP3 recommended for Outlook XP and 2003) - Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 SP21 - Lotus Notes 6.5, 7.0.2, and Eudora Internet Mail SMTP/POP3 - Microsoft Office 2002, 2003, and 2007 (SP3 recommended for Office XP and 2003 and SP2 Recommended for Office 2007) - Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, 7.02, and Adobe Reader 6.0, VMware Workstation 5.x, and 6.x; VMware Fusion, VMware Server 1.x, 2.x - Citrix using Presentation Server 3.0, 4.0 or Parallels Desktop for Macintosh 4.0, and Parallels Workstation 2.2 for Windows - Sun Virtual Box 2.x ACT! by Pastel Version 12 Scalability Recommendations Users Processor Memory ACT! Version SQL Server GHz Pentium IV 1 GB ACT! by Pastel Version 12 Express Edition (or equivalent) GHz Pentium IV 1 GB ACT! by Pastel Version 12 Express Edition Devices that Sync with ACT! by Pastel Version 12 Minimum System Requirements ACT! Link for Palm OS - Palm OS MHz device processor - 8 MB system memory; 500 KB free plus 1 KB for each contact - Palm HotSync Manager (4.1.0 recommended for Windows XP, included with Palm Desktop 4.1.4e) and (included with Palm Desktop 6.2)4 ACT! Link for Pocket PC - Pocket PC 2000, 2002 and Phone Edition (Windows CE 3.0) - Windows Mobile 2003 (Windows CE 4.0 and ) - Windows Mobile 2005, 5.0 and MHz device processor - 16 MB system memory; 500 KB free plus 1 KB for each contact - Microsoft ActiveSync (4.5 recommended for Windows XP) - Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center ACT! Whats New in Version 12

6 ACT! by Pastel Version 12 Operating System Compatibility Matrix Client Windows XP SP3 5 - Home (32-bit only) - Media Center Media Center Small Business Server Windows Vista 6 SP1 - Home Basic - Business Windows Server SP1 - Small Business Server Windows Server 2008 R2 - Datacenter Edition Database Server: Windows XP SP3 - Home Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (32-bit only) Express SP3 - Media Center Media Center Small Business Server Windows Vista SP1 - Home Basic - Business Windows Server 2008 SP1 - Small Business Server (64-bit only) Windows Server 2008 R2 - Datacenter Edition Windows XP SP3 (64-bit only) Windows Vista SP1 Windows Server 2008 SP1 Windows Server 2008 R2 - Datacenter Edition 6 ACT! Whats New in Version 12

7 Database Server: -Windows Installer Service 4.5 Microsoft Express.NET 3.5 Service Pack 1 SQL 2008 (64-bit) (64-bit only) - Requires manual set up of the ACT! database instance Windows Vista SP1 - Windows Installer Service 4.5.NET 3.5 Service Pack 1 - Requires manual set up of the ACT! database instance Windows Server 2008 SP1 - Windows Installer Service 4.5.NET 3.5 Service Pack 1 - Requires manual set up of the ACT! database instance Windows Server 2008 R2 - Datacenter Edition Internet Sync Service Windows XP SP3 Requirements (32-bit only) - IIS ASP.NET - Small Business Server - IIS ASP.NET10 Windows Vista SP1 - Business - IIS 6.0 compatibility within IIS ASP.NET Windows Server 2008 SP1 - IIS 6.0 compatibility within IIS ASP.NET - Small Business Server (64-bit only) Windows Server 2008 R2 - Datacenter Edition ACT! Link for Palm OS Windows XP SP3 - Home (32-bit only) - Media Center Media Center 2005 Windows Vista SP1 - Home Basic (32-bit only13 ) - Business 7 ACT! Whats New in Version 12

8 Windows Server 2008 SP1 ACT! Link for Pocket PC Windows XP SP314 - Home Requirements (32-bit only) - Media Center Media Center 2005 Windows Vista15 SP1 - Home Basic - Business Windows Server 2008 SP1 1. Outlook Express is available on Windows XP and Windows Server On 64-bit versions of Windows, Internet Explorer 32-bit is recommended. 3. Recommendations are based on in-house performance and scalability tests wherein, using simulated user loads, product performance was within 20% or 2 seconds (whichever was longer) of single-user product performance. Databases used in the tests averaged 1000 contacts per user. Individual customer performance may vary based on actual database size, hardware variations, network traffic, and product usage. 4. Palm HotSync Manager is recommended for Windows Vista. 5. Windows XP Professional limits the number of concurrent network connections to 10 (Home Edition limits concurrent connections to 5). 6. Windows Vista limits the number of concurrent network connections to 10 (Home Basic and Home Premium Editions limit concurrent connections to 5). 7. Core Server Installation of Server 2008 is not supported bit Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is available for purchases separately from Microsoft bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation bit Windows Server 2003 must have ASP.NET configured to 32-bit mode bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation bit Windows must have IIS configured for 32-bit emulation. 13. Palm, Inc. does not support 64-bit or Windows Server version of Windows. 14. Microsoft ActiveSync 4.5 is recommended for Windows XP Platforms. 15. Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 is required for Windows Vista Platforms. Upgrading to ACT! by Pastel Version 12 Important Notice For ACT! 2005 (V7), 2006 (V8), 2007 (V9), 2008 (V10) and 2009 (V11) users It is critical that you create a backups of your and all your contact databases before you upgrade to the latest version. The latest version of ACT! uses a different Microsoft SQL Server version than used in ACT! 2005 (version 7) and ACT! 2006 (version 8) Once you have installed and updated the database/s you CANNOT roll back to a previous version, unless you have proper ACT! backups You current database/s will be overwritten as soon as you update the them to the latest version. 8 ACT! Whats New in Version 12

9 For ACT! 2004 (v6) or earlier users If you are using ACT! 2005 (v7), 2006 (v8), 2007 (v9) or 2008 (10) but still have ACT! 2004 (v6) or earlier with Internet Mail setup, installed on the same machine, then this Internet Mail will be converted during the installations of the new version of ACT! It is strongly recommended that you rename your folder to ACT6_ The default location C:\Documents and Setting\<user name>\my Documents\ACT\ For Multi Users If you are sharing a database with other users, all users must upgrade to the latest version of ACT! in order to continue sharing the same database. Prior to upgrading it is recommended that all users log out of the database. Users will be unable to log into the newly updated database until their version of ACT! has been updated. For Synchronisation Users If you have been setup as a synchronisation user, your remote database will also have to be updated for you to continue synchronising with the master database. Best practice would be to have all sync user synchronise their databases with the master database prior to upgrading to the latest version. On Network / Internet Sync service These sync services will need to be uninstalled and reinstalled from the new version install disc in order to continue monitoring incoming syncs. Special not for Handheld Link Users: Link for Palm OS & Pocket PC It is strongly recommended that you synchronise your device before creating backups. You will have to uninstall your current linking software and install the upgraded version in order to continue using your handheld device. Preparing your computer for the Upgrade Process The following will help to speed up your installation of ACT! Windows System Requirements It is required that you have the following updates to your version of Windows - Microsoft Windows XP Home or Professional (SP3) - Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise and Web Edition (SP2) - Microsoft Windows 2003 Small Business Server OS (SP2) - Microsoft Windows Vista Home, Basic or Premium (SP1) - Microsoft Windows Vista Business, Enterprise or Ultimate (SP1) - Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise or Small Business Server (SP1) Windows Installer 3.1 This updated version is required in order to successfully install ACT!. It is included on the install disc and will automatically be installed if not present on your machine. Software Based Firewall users If you make use of a software-base firewall, you will have to temporarily disable it to install ACT!. Not applicable to hardware-based firewalls. You can enable the firewall after installation has completed. Best practice: Disconnect machine from the Internet. Disable firewall software according to firewall vendor s instructions. Install ACT!. Enable firewall software according to firewall vendor s instructions. Re-connect machine to the internet. Another great option to ensure that ACT! installs without interruptions, would be to install while machine is in Selective Startup Mode. 9 ACT! Whats New in Version 12

10 ACT! Installation Information You will be able to install ACT! 2009 without uninstalling the older version of ACT! first. These version include ACT! 2008 (v10), 2007 (v9), 2006 (v8) and 2005 (v7). The installer will detect a previous version of ACT! and uninstall it before installing the latest version. Best practice: First uninstall previous version of ACT! (2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005) from the Add/Remove programs before attempting to install the latest version. There is no need to remove ACT! 2004 (v6) or earlier from the pc before installing the latest version of ACT!. Installation of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 While installing ACT! 2010 (V12) Microsoft SQL Server 2005 will be installed to your Program Files. In order to prevent the MSXML 6.0 Parser part of the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 install not to fail, you will need to make sure that your current version of MSXML is lower than 6.0 Simply go to Add / Remove Programs on your system and find the MSXML component from the list. If you find MSXML 3.0, 4.0 (SP2) or MSXML 6.0 Parser, then you will be able to continue with the install. If you find MSXML 6 Service Pack (KBxxxxxx) then you will need to follow a specific method in order to remove it before installing Microsoft SQL Server 2005 It is strongly recommended that you contact our Support department on for assistance. Upgrading your database Once you have installed ACT! you will have to upgrade your database/s. Each database will upgrade automatically upon opening. Upgrade process takes approximately 3 5 minutes. Outlook Users Outlook Cache Mode: If you are using ACT! with Outlook 2003 and Outlook is set to cache mode, several issues can occur, including, but not limited to the following: When closing/exiting ACT! , an error occurs When deleting messages from the Drafts folder, the wrong is deleted When deleting messages in the messages list, the focus jumps to the top message (rather than the previous or next) When you delete the top message in the messages list, the preview remains Sent messages remain in the Outlook until you perform a Send/Receive from Outlook The Find Messages feature in ACT! finds only one message, but duplicates that message in the list of found messages It is not recommended that you use this mode. Please refer to Outlook 2003 documentation for information on disabling cache mode Address Book: If you use Outlook Integration, you will have to reselect the ACT! Address Book after upgrading your database. 10 ACT! Whats New in Version 12