ACT! by Sage. Premium for Web 2007 (9.0) User s Guide

Transcription

1 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0) User s Guide

2 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0) User s Guide Copyright Notice and Trademark 2006 Sage Software SB, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Sage Software logo and ACT! are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software SB, Inc., or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Released: 9/2006 for ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0). Version: TP156x100 This document may not, in whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machinereadable form without prior consent in writing from Sage Software SB, Inc., 1715 North Brown Road Lawrenceville, GA ATTN: Legal Department. ALL EXAMPLES WITH NAMES, COMPANY NAMES, OR COMPANIES THAT APPEAR IN THIS MANUAL ARE FICTIONAL AND DO NOT REFER TO OR PORTRAY IN NAME OR SUBSTANCE ANY ACTUAL NAMES, COMPANIES, ENTITIES, OR INSTITUTIONS. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ANY REAL PERSON, COMPANY, ENTITY, OR INSTITUTION IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this manual. However, Sage Software makes no warranties with respect to this documentation and disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Sage Software shall not be liable for any errors or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this manual or the examples herein. The information in this document is subject to change without notice. End User License Agreement ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0) is protected by an End User License Agreement. To view the agreement, go to the Help menu in the product, click About ACT!, and then click the View the End-User License Agreement link. Printed in the United States of America

3 Contents Introduction Introduction... i Learning About the Software...ii If You Are a New User: Practice with the Demonstration Database... iv Introducing the User s Guide Scenario... v Setting Up the ACT! Application Chapter 1. Setting Preferences... 1 General Preferences... 2 Name and Salutation Preferences... 2 Calendar and Scheduling Preferences... 3 Date and Time Preferences Preferences... 4 Spelling Preferences... 4 Startup Preferences... 5 Creating Records Chapter 2. Contact Records... 9 Contact Detail View Using the Contact Tabs Entering Contact Information Adding Contacts to the Database Duplicating Contacts... 15

4 Attaching Files to Contacts Adding Secondary Contacts Chapter 3. Group Records...19 Creating Groups and Subgroups Adding Contacts to Groups and Subgroups Viewing and Managing Groups and Subgroups The Groups/Companies Tab The Group Detail View The Groups Tree The Group List Reorganizing Groups and Subgroups Duplicating Groups and Subgroups Chapter 4. Company Records...27 Creating Companies and Divisions Adding Contacts to Companies and Divisions Viewing and Managing Companies and Divisions The Groups/Companies Tab The Company Detail View The Companies Tree The Company List Reorganizing Companies and Divisions Duplicating Companies Linking Contacts to Companies Linking Contact and Company Fields Chapter 5. Notes and Histories...37 About Notes About Histories Inserting Notes Recording Histories... 39

5 Scheduling Activities & Tasks Chapter 6. Activities and Calendars...43 Scheduling Activities with Contacts Scheduling Recurring Activities Letting Other Users Schedule Activities for You About Activity Time Zones Viewing and Printing Calendars Responding to Scheduled Activities Recording Completed Activities Chapter 7. Task List...55 Viewing and Clearing Activities Changing the Task List Display (Filtering) Finding Information Chapter 8. Finding Information...61 Sorting Records in List and Detail Views Finding Information Using Lookups, Keywords, and Queries Using Lookups to Find Records Looking Up Tagged Contacts Using Quick Search Using Keywords to Find Records Using Advanced Queries to Find Contacts Creating Advanced Queries Editing Advanced Queries Chapter 9. Running Reports...71 Running Reports for Contacts, Groups, and Companies. 72

6 Communicating with Contacts Chapter 10. ACT! Document Templates...77 Chapter 11. Writing Messages and Letters...79 Using the ACT! Premium for Web Program Using with Mail Merge Setting Up an System Selecting to Use Microsoft Outlook Integrating with Outlook Installing Components for Outlook Integration Adding Address Books in Outlook Setting History Options in Outlook Using Microsoft Outlook with ACT! Sending Messages and Recording Histories Attaching Outlook Messages to ACT! Contacts Setting Up an Merge System Sending Documents to Multiple Contacts Writing Documents with the ACT! Word Processor Editing and Formatting Documents Completing Documents Tracking Sales Opportunities Chapter 12. Opening and Managing Opportunities...95 Opening and Working with Opportunities Understanding Stages in a Process Viewing and Exporting the Opportunity List Closing Opportunities or Changing the Status to Inactive 99 Follow-up Activities for Opportunities

7 Chapter 13. Forecasting and Reporting Opportunities..101 Forecasting Opportunities Creating Opportunity Pipelines Creating Opportunity Graphs Running an Opportunity Report Administering Users & Data Chapter 14. Users and Teams User Security Roles Browse Role Restricted Role Standard Role Manager Role Administrator Role Checking Your User Security Role Creating Users User Permissions Teams Chapter 15. Securing Data Password Security Record Access Public Access Private Access Limited Access Changing the Record Access to Private for Contacts Record Manager Changing the Record Manager Field-Level Security Definition of Access Levels Default Access Levels

8 Field-Level Security for Teams Field-Level Security for Users Field-Level Security in Layouts Field-Level Security in Reports Field-Level Security in Word Processor Templates Customizing the ACT! Experience Chapter 16. Customizing Columns Customizing Columns in List Views and Tabs Appendixes & Index Appendix A. Commands in the ACT! Premium for Web Application Appendix B. Glossary Appendix C. Features and Access by User Role Index

9 Introduction Introduction

10

11 Introduction Welcome to the ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0) software, the #1 contact and customer manager application. This software will help you: Organize your data for quick and easy access to customer information. Manage and grow business relationships. Manage and prioritize your tasks. Forecast and track opportunities. Centralize customer information securely. The ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups 2007 (9.0) software is designed for business teams and workgroups. Depending on the edition you purchase, the ACT! software runs on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition or Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition. The ACT! application includes the ability to secure your data, including five user roles: Administrator, Manager, Standard, Restricted, and Browse. Each role has access to certain features and data. For more information, see Chapter 14, "Users and Teams." For a list of new features available in this version, see Help. This Introduction tells you: Where you can learn about the software. How to use the demonstration database. About the scenario used throughout the User s Guide. Introduction User s Guide i

12 Introduction Learning About the Software Several sources of information can help you learn how to use the software. Help Help contains all the information and procedures for using the software. Use the Contents, Index, and Search tabs to find the information you need. To access Help From the Help menu, click Help Topics. When you open Help, it opens in a new browser window. You can resize or move the window. User s Guide Explains how to use the application s features in the browser interface. It includes an overview of basic tasks and steps for doing them. The User s Guide also contains real-world scenarios based on the sample users and contact information in the demonstration database that is installed with the software. These scenarios help you understand how to use the software to manage your customer relationships and increase your productivity. For more information, see "Introducing the User s Guide Scenario." Additionally, the User s Guide directs you to Help topics to find more information about using the features. For example, you may need more information about how to identify the contact information you want to synchronize. You read the User s Guide and see a table like the one that follows, which lists the relevant topics in Help. See the following topic(s) in Help Resetting the Subscription List Understanding Subscription Lists The User s Guide is available as a.pdf document from the Help menu (under Online Manuals). ii ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

13 Learning About the Software Other ways to learn about ACT! There are other ways to expand your understanding of the software, such as: Knowledge Base Articles. These articles are available on the Knowledge Center Web site. The Knowledge Center contains Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Knowledge Base technical documents. Introduction To access the articles 1. From the Help menu, point to Service and Support, and then click Contact Information. The ACT! Service and Support page appears in a new browser window. 2. From the Support menu at the left of the page, click Knowledge Center. 3. In the middle of the page, click the Knowledge Center hyperlink. 4. Follow the instructions on the page to connect to the Knowledge Base. Experimenting with the software. There may be ways to perform a task other than those given in the User s Guide and Help. The steps in the User s Guide may direct you to use a toolbar button, but you also may be able to select a menu command. Find the method that works best for you. User s Guide iii

14 Introduction If You Are a New User: Practice with the Demonstration Database You may want to practice entering data using the demonstration database, ACT9Demo, installed with the application. This database contains sample user, contact, company, and group records and scheduled activities. Chris Huffman is the Administrator user for the demonstration database. To access the demonstration database 1. Open the ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups Log on page in a browser window. Tip: See your administrator if you do not have a Web address for the ACT! Premium for Web Log on page. 2. In the Log on to field, select ACT9Demo. 3. In the Username field, type Chris Huffman. 4. Click Log on. iv ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

15 Introducing the User s Guide Scenario Introducing the User s Guide Scenario Scenario The following scenario is the basis for examples throughout this guide. This scenario uses the user and contact records found in the demonstration database. Chris Huffman owns a gourmet gift items company that sells gift baskets, chocolates, and coffees. Chris has several sales and office employees working at the company. Business is growing, and Chris and the other employees need a better way to manage day-to-day tasks, customer and vendor information, and opportunities. On a typical day, Chris and her employees review products with vendors, place customer orders, and make appointments with potential buyers. They want a tool that lets them: View all information, such as names, phone numbers, addresses, and Web sites, about the people they do business with. Schedule appointments with people and easily see daily appointments and tasks. Keep a history of orders, notes about customers, and other important information. Track and forecast opportunities. Communicate by or letter to one contact or to a group of contacts. Run contact, opportunity, and other reports. Access the same contact information and update it when they travel or work remotely. Introduction User s Guide v

16

17 Setting Up the ACT! Application Setting Up ACT!

18

19 Chapter 1 Setting Preferences You can set up preferences to have the ACT! software work the way that you do. You can set options to customize name and salutation settings and determine how contact names appear. You can also set preferences so that alternating rows on list views and tabs are shaded. If you log on to the ACT! database from another computer, most preference settings still apply. In this chapter, you will learn about setting these preferences: General preferences for display of views and fields and for resetting your password Name and salutation preferences Calendar and scheduling preferences Date and time preferences preferences and set up Spelling preferences Startup preferences Setting Up ACT! User s Guide 1

20 Setting Preferences General Preferences General preferences include: Whether to display country codes for phone fields. Whether to allow editing of histories and notes. Whether to show grid lines or alternating background colors. The number of rows to display on tabs or list views. Setting your password. See the following topic(s) in Help Setting the number of rows to display in list views and tabs Setting the option to allow or disallow editing of histories Setting the option to allow or disallow editing of notes Setting the option to display country codes in phone fields Setting your password Showing alternating background colors for rows on list views and tabs Showing grid lines for list views and tabs Name and Salutation Preferences Name and salutation preferences let you: Set the fields that are used for the salutation. Manage lists of name prefixes and suffixes. Require the Contact Name dialog box to appear when you enter a contact name with more than two parts. See the following topic(s) in Help Customizing name prefixes and suffixes Setting default salutation preferences Setting the option to display contact name definition dialog box 2 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

21 Calendar and Scheduling Preferences Calendar and Scheduling Preferences You can set options for activities and calendars that make it easier to manage and schedule activities. For example, you can set a preference to make meetings default to a one-hour duration. See the following topic(s) in Help Changing the appearance of cleared activities Enabling activity conflict alerts Setting default options for activity types Setting preferences for calendars Setting scheduling preferences for activities Date and Time Preferences Date and time preferences control how dates and times appear. You can set a short date style, such as 12/14/2007, and a long date style, such as Wednesday, December 14, You can also select a 24-hour or 12-hour time display, specify to display AM/PM indicators, and set a time zone for activities. Setting Up ACT! See the following topic(s) in Help Setting date and time preferences User s Guide 3

22 Setting Preferences Preferences preferences let you: Set up an system to use with the ACT! Premium for Web program. The system setup also lets you choose Microsoft Outlook in place of the ACT! Premium for Web program. Download and install a file that puts tools and controls for ACT! integration in Outlook. Set up an system, such as Microsoft Outlook, for mail merge. Specify how the ACT! Premium for Web program composes messages and adds signatures. For more information about setting an system to use with ACT! Premium for Web, integrating with Microsoft Outlook, and performing a mail merge, see Chapter 11, "Writing Messages and Letters." See the following topic(s) in Help Creating or changing your signature text Setting preferences Spelling Preferences Using spelling preferences, you specify whether to ignore uppercase words or words with numbers and whether to check spelling in notes or histories. You can also add words to or remove words from your user dictionary. See the following topic(s) in Help About the spelling checker Setting spelling preferences 4 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

23 Startup Preferences Startup Preferences Startup preferences control what happens when you start the application. You can: Specify a default startup view. Set record access for new contacts, groups, and opportunities. Automatically link new contacts to a company record. See the following topic(s) in Help Setting startup preferences Setting Up ACT! User s Guide 5

24

25 Creating Records Creating Records

26

27 Chapter 2 Contact Records The central element in the ACT! Premium for Web software is the contact. A contact is a customer, business associate, friend, or anyone that you need to keep track of. All contact information name, address, phone number, employer, and so on makes up the contact record, which is stored in the database. Everything you do in the application relates to a contact. You can enter all of the information you now keep in files, notes, and so on, into the database so that you can easily access it. You can insert notes, add sales data, record details of meetings and conversations, schedule meetings and other activities, attach files, and perform other actions for contacts. When you delete a contact, all of the information pertaining to it is deleted, too. You can view contact information in the Contact Detail view and Contact List. You can also add secondary contacts to a contact. Secondary contacts are individuals associated with the contact, such as the contact's assistant, manager, or business partner, whose information you need, but who do not require a separate contact record. In this chapter, you will become familiar with the Contact Detail view and learn to: Enter contact information. Attach files to contacts. Add secondary contacts. Creating Records User s Guide 9

28 Contact Records Contact Detail View When you open the application, the default view is the Contact Detail view, which displays information about one contact. The Contact Detail view is created from a layout. Layouts are the arrangement of the fields, tabs, and background. The default Contact Detail view has two sections: the top portion of the view contains fields for entering basic information about the contact and the bottom portion of the view contains tabs for specific types of information (e.g. potential sales or when and how you have contacted the individual). The ACT! Premium for Web application has a toolbar, menus, and a navigation bar as shown in the illustration ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

29 Contact Detail View What s in the Contact Detail view? Feature Function 1 Menus and Toolbar Provides access to features, such as adding a contact or scheduling a meeting. 2 Navigation bar Contains buttons you use to change to another view, for example, to view the calendar. 3 Top portion of layout Includes the fields containing basic contact information, such as name, address, and telephone numbers. 4 Tabs Contains tabs that display related information about the contact, such as meetings held (activities), discussions about the contact s business needs (notes), s sent and actions taken (histories), prospective and won sales (opportunities), and other details. 5 Server time zone indicator Using the Contact Tabs Displays the time zone of the ACT! Premium for Web server. By default, the ACT! Premium for Web application is set to use the server time zone when you schedule an activity. You can set a preference to use your time zone for activities. For more information, see "Date and Time Preferences," on page 3. 6 Layout indicator Changes the layout that appears, which affects the background color, fields, and so on. The default contact layouts (included with the application) contain the following tabs. On some tabs, you can modify the display of information, customize the columns, and sort the data. Creating Records Note: The information that appears in the tabs depends on your access to the record and other security features. For more information, see Chapter 15, "Securing Data." User s Guide 11

30 Contact Records Notes tab Notes are details about conversations, financial information, and other types of information you want to track. Notes created for the contact appear in the Notes tab. In this tab, you can view and insert notes and select other contacts to share notes with. For more information, see Chapter 5, "Notes and Histories." History tab Histories are actions you have performed for the contact, such as holding a meeting or sending an message. Sometimes the software automatically generates a history, for example, when you change data in a field, but you can record a history at any time. Histories recorded for the contact appear in the History tab. In this tab, you can view and record histories, select other contacts to share histories with, and attach files to the contact. See "Attaching Files to Contacts" on page 16. Activities tab Activities are meetings, calls, and to-do tasks. In the Activities tab, you can view activities scheduled with the contact. You can schedule, reschedule, and clear activities in the tab. For more information, see Chapter 6, "Activities and Calendars." Opportunities tab Opportunities are potential sales. Opportunities for the contact appear in the Opportunities tab. In this tab, you can open, change, and close opportunities for the contact. For more information, see Chapter 12, "Opening and Managing Opportunities." Groups/Companies tab You can organize contacts into groups and also make them members of companies. In the Groups/Companies tab, you can view the groups and companies that the contact is a member of. You can also add the contact to a group or company. For more information, see Chapter 3, "Group Records," and Chapter 4, "Company Records." Secondary Contacts tab In this tab, you can add secondary contacts for the contact. You can also promote secondary contacts to primary contacts. See "Adding Secondary Contacts" on page ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

31 Contact Detail View Documents tab In the Documents tab, you can add documents, such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, to the contact record. To view or edit a document, you must have the program used to create the document installed on your computer. See "Attaching Files to Contacts" on page 16. Contact Info tab This tab contains information about the contact record, such as when it was created and the last time it was changed. Some fields are completed automatically by the software and you cannot edit them. Other fields let you select the Record Manager and define who can access the contact record. The Record Manager user "owns" the contact data. For more information about the Record Manager and record access, see Chapter 15, "Securing Data." User Fields tab This tab includes ten customizable fields that can be used for other information that you want to track, such as the contact s hobbies, interests, or contract service dates. The user fields are defined using the Define Fields feature in the ACT! Premium for Web server application. Home Address tab This tab includes fields for the contact's personal information, such as phone numbers and addresses not included in the top portion of the Contact Detail view. You can access information and perform tasks associated with these tabs from other views. For example, you can schedule activities from calendars, not just in the Activities tab. Creating Records See the following topic(s) in Help About contacts Selecting layouts Using the navigation bar, toolbars, and menus User s Guide 13

32 Contact Records Entering Contact Information You can add contacts to the database in several ways: manually enter the information, duplicate information from another contact, or import data from another database, program, or file using the ACT! Premium for Web server application. In this section, you will learn to manually enter the information and duplicate information from another contact. Note: Users with a Restricted role and above can add contacts to the database. For more information about user roles, see Appendix C, "Features and Access by User Role." Adding Contacts to the Database A contact record contains fields you enter information into. You can use as many or as few of these fields as you need. To add a contact 1. On the toolbar, click the New Contact tool. A blank Contact Detail view appears. Tip: A field that has a drop-down arrow contains a list. Click the arrow and select an item from the list, or type one or two letters in the field, and the field is automatically completed from a matching item in the list. 14 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

33 Entering Contact Information 2. Complete the fields, pressing TAB to move between them. Note: Make sure that the contact s first and last name, as well as any title, are correctly identified because they are used in the salutation when you write a letter to the contact. You can set a preference for how this information is used in the Name and Salutation Preferences dialog box. 3. (Optional) In the Contact field, click the browse button (...) to edit contact name details. 4. (Optional) In the Phone, Mobile, and Fax fields, click the browse button (...) to display a dialog box where you can format telephone numbers. 5. New contacts are saved to your database as soon as you move to another record or perform another action. Duplicating Contacts When you add contacts, you can enter data more quickly by duplicating information from an existing contact. You can duplicate information from certain fields, known as primary fields, or from all fields. The default primary fields are: Company, Phone, Fax, Address, City, State, ZIP Code, Country, and Web Site. Creating Records To duplicate contact information 1. Display the Contact Detail view of the contact to duplicate. 2. On the toolbar, click the Duplicate Contact tool. User s Guide 15

34 Contact Records 3. In the Duplicate Contact dialog box, select a duplicate field option, and then click OK. See the following topic(s) in Help Adding and deleting contacts Entering basic contact information Entering phone number formats Printing contact, group, and company information Verifying contact names Attaching Files to Contacts You can attach documents, such as reports, letters, memos, or messages, to the contact s History tab. You can also scan documents, such as receipts and invoices, and attach the scanned versions to the contact. Additionally, you can attach documents to the contact using the Documents tab. Attaching a document on the Documents tab creates a copy of the document that you can open and edit within the ACT! application. These copies are stored locally on your machine. As an example, if you use an Excel spreadsheet to track expenses for a business conference, you can add the spreadsheet to your contact record. To attach a file to the History tab 1. In the Contact Detail view, click the History tab. 2. Click the Attach File tool. 3. In the Attach File dialog box, click Browse, locate the file, and then click Open. 4. In the Attach File dialog box, click OK. To attach a file to the Documents tab 1. In the Contact Detail view, click the Documents tab. 2. Click Add Document. 16 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

35 Adding Secondary Contacts 3. In the Upload File dialog box, locate the file, and then click Open. See the following topic(s) in Help About the Documents tab Attaching files to contacts Attaching files to or removing files from histories Deleting attached files from contacts Adding Secondary Contacts You can add secondary contacts for a primary contact. If at some point in time, you need to track your relationship with a secondary contact, you can promote him or her to a primary contact. To add a secondary contact 1. In the Contact Detail view, click the Secondary Contacts tab. 2. Click New Secondary Contact. The New Secondary Contact dialog box appears. 3. Enter information in the fields and on the Phone/ and Business Address tabs. 4. Click OK. Creating Records See the following topic(s) in Help About secondary contacts Adding and deleting secondary contacts Changing record access for secondary contacts Editing secondary contacts Promoting secondary contacts User s Guide 17

36

37 Chapter 3 Group Records You can organize contacts into groups so you can work with them more efficiently. A group is a collection of contacts with something in common, such as being assigned to a project or sharing an interest. A group s information appears on the Group Detail view. Like with the Contact Detail view, the Group Detail view is created from a layout and has two sections. A group can include unlimited subgroups. A subgroup is a subset of a group. For example, a group may include individuals who live in the same state; within that group, you might have subgroups for towns and cities. You can also create sub-subgroups. Each group can have an unlimited number of subgroups. You can arrange groups and subgroups in hierarchies up to fifteen levels deep. The Groups tree on the Group Detail view displays this hierarchy of available groups and their subgroups. The tree lets you easily view groups. Once you have created a group or subgroup, you can add contacts as members. To make it easier, you can duplicate group and subgroups records, including contact members. In this chapter, you will learn to: Create groups and subgroups. Add contacts to groups and subgroups. View and manage groups and subgroups. Duplicate groups and subgroups. Creating Records User s Guide 19

38 Group Records Creating Groups and Subgroups Standard users and above can create groups and subgroups. For more information about user roles, see Chapter 14, "Users and Teams." There are several ways to create groups and subgroups. The following steps show one way. To create a group or subgroup 1. On the navigation bar, click Groups to display the Group Detail view. 2. On the toolbar, click the New Group tool or the New Subgroup tool. 3. In the Group field, type a unique name for the group. 4. In the Description field, type a description for the group. You can enter up to 128 characters in this field. Once you have set up a group or subgroup, you can add contacts to it, as described in the next section. Note: Standard users and above must be the Record Manager of a group or subgroup to delete it. Administrator and Manager users can delete any group or subgroup. 20 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

39 Adding Contacts to Groups and Subgroups Adding Contacts to Groups and Subgroups You can automatically add members to a group or subgroup by creating a query, for example, all contacts who live in a city. Members added this way are dynamic; they stay in the group only as long as they meet the criteria in the query. If you want contacts to remain in a group or subgroup no matter what changes occur, you add them manually. These contacts are static group members. To add contacts to a group or subgroup using a query 1. Display the group or subgroup record. 2. Click the Contacts tab, and then click Add/Remove Contacts. 3. In the Add/Remove Contacts dialog box, under Dynamic members, click Edit Criteria. The Group Criteria dialog box appears. 4. In the Field Name box, select an item from the list. For example, select State. 5. In the Operator box, select an item from the list. For example, select Equal To (=). 6. In the Value box, select an item from the list or type a value. For example, select CA. 7. Click Add to list. The criteria you selected appears in the center pane. 8. To preview the contacts who will be included as members, click Preview. 9. To add criteria, repeat steps 4-7. To modify the criteria, click the And/Or option. 10. When you are finished creating the criteria, click OK. The members appear in the Contacts tab. Creating Records User s Guide 21

40 Group Records To manually add a contact as a member of a group or subgroup 1. Display the group or subgroup record to add members to. 2. Click the Contacts tab, and then click Add/Remove Contacts. The Add/Remove Contacts dialog box appears. 3. Click Contacts. The Select Contacts dialog box appears. 4. Select the contacts from the Contacts to select from list, click the right-arrow button to add them to the Selected contacts list, and then click OK. - or - Type the contact name in the Look for field and click Search to find the contact to add, click the right-arrow button to add that contact to the Selected contacts list, and then click OK. Note: You can multi-select contacts in the Select Contacts dialog box by holding down CTRL and clicking the contact names. 5. Click OK to add the selected contacts to the group. See the following topic(s) in Help About groups and subgroups About queries Adding or removing contacts as members of groups and companies Saving and reusing queries 22 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

41 Viewing and Managing Groups and Subgroups Viewing and Managing Groups and Subgroups You can view and manage groups and subgroups using the Groups/Companies tab, the Group Detail view, the Groups tree, and the Group List. The Groups/Companies Tab Contacts can be members of multiple groups and subgroups. The Groups/Companies tab on the Contact Detail view lists the groups and subgroups the contact is a static member of. Note: The Contacts tab in the Group Detail view shows contacts that are both static and dynamic members of the group. The Group Detail View Information about an individual group or subgroup is available from its Detail view, which you access from the Groups button on the navigation bar. The Group Detail view looks different than the Contact Detail view, but has many of the same tabs, such as Notes, History, Activities, and Opportunities. You can choose group layouts using the field at the bottom right of the Group Detail view. Creating Records User s Guide 23

42 Group Records The Groups Tree The Groups tree displays the hierarchy of available groups and subgroups. If a plus sign appears next to an item, you can click it to display subordinate items. The plus sign changes to a minus sign. Click the minus sign to hide the subordinate items. Use the Groups tree to: View the entire group hierarchy. Find a group or subgroup. Note: If you attempt to display a number of subgroups that exceeds the performance capacity of your browser, an error message appears. Browse the subgroups in the Group Detail view instead. The Group List Use the Group List to view all groups, find a group, create a group or subgroup, duplicate a group, delete a group, add contacts to group membership, and perform other tasks from the shortcut menu options. The results of a group lookup display in the Group List. For example, you perform a lookup of groups that are resellers for your company. When you click OK, the database is searched and the group records resulting from the search appear in the Group List. You can then save this lookup as a new group. If only one group is found, the Group Detail view appears. The Group List also contains the View Groups/Companies Navigator button. Click this button to easily select a group or company for viewing. You can customize the Group List columns to fit your needs. 24 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

43 Duplicating Groups and Subgroups Reorganizing Groups and Subgroups You can reorganize groups and subgroups, for instance to: Promote a subgroup to a group. Move a subgroup to another group. Demote a group to a subgroup. See the following topic(s) in Help Moving groups and subgroups Selecting layouts Using the Group Detail view tabs Viewing the hierarchy of groups and subgroups Duplicating Groups and Subgroups You can create a new group or subgroup by duplicating an existing one. When you duplicate a group that has subgroups, only the group record is duplicated. When you duplicate a subgroup, the duplicate becomes another subgroup of the group record. There are several ways to duplicate a group or subgroup. The following steps describe one way. Creating Records Note: When you duplicate a group or subgroup, both membership and the criteria for members are duplicated. Scenario Chris wants to create a subgroup, "Marketing," within an existing group. She can duplicate the group record, which contains the address and contact information, and choose to duplicate data from the record s primary fields or from all fields. She can modify the subgroup for any unique information. User s Guide 25

44 Group Records To duplicate a group or subgroup 1. Open the Group Detail view for the group or subgroup to duplicate. 2. From the Groups menu, click Duplicate. 3. In the Duplicate Group/Subgroup dialog box, select to duplicate data from primary fields or from all fields, and then click OK. The Group Detail view appears. 4. In the Group field, type the new group name. 5. In the Description field, type a description for the group. 6. On the toolbar, click the Save tool. See the following topic(s) in Help About finding groups and group information About the Group List Creating and deleting groups Creating and deleting subgroups Printing contact, group, and company information Saving lookups as groups 26 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

45 Chapter 4 Company Records You can organize and manage contacts using companies and divisions. A company record type has special features that let you easily track contacts within a company. A company s information appears on the Company Detail view. Like the Contact Detail view, the Company Detail view is created from a layout and has two sections. A company can include divisions. For example, you might create a division for all contacts who work in a certain department within the company. You can also create sub-divisions. Each company can have an unlimited number of divisions. You can arrange companies and divisions in hierarchies up to fifteen levels deep. The Companies tree on the Company Detail view displays this hierarchy of available companies and their divisions. The tree lets you easily view companies. Once you have created a company or division, you can add contacts as members. To make it easier, you can duplicate company and division records, including contact members. You can link a contact to one company, which creates a hyperlink of the company name on the Contact Detail view and Contact List and enables automatic updating of some information. Using the Define Fields feature in the ACT! Premium for Web server application, you can also link contact and company fields so that data changed in one record is automatically updated in the other record. Creating Records User s Guide 27

46 Company Records In this chapter, you will learn to: Create companies and divisions. Add contacts as members of companies and divisions. View and manage companies and divisions. Duplicate a company. Link contacts to companies. Link contact and company fields. Creating Companies and Divisions Standard users and above can create companies and divisions, and then add contacts to them. For more information about user roles, see Chapter 14, "Users and Teams." There are several ways to create companies and divisions. The following steps describe one way. To create a company 1. On the navigation bar, click Companies. 2. On the toolbar, click the New Company tool. Note: If this is the first company you are creating, you do not have to click the New Company tool. A blank Company Detail view appears. 3. In the Company field, type a company name. 4. Complete the other fields as necessary. 28 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

47 To create a division Creating Companies and Divisions 1. Display the company you want to add a division to. 2. On the toolbar, click the New Division tool. A blank Company Detail view appears. 3. In the Company field, type the division name. 4. Complete the other fields as necessary. When you display the company, the division you added appears in the Divisions box on the right side of the Company Detail view. Once you have set up a company or division, you can add contacts to it. Note: Standard users must be the Record Manager of a company or division to delete it. Administrator and Manager users can delete any company and division. See the following topic(s) in Help Creating companies from contacts Creating or deleting companies Creating or deleting divisions Printing contact, group, and company information Creating Records User s Guide 29

48 Company Records Adding Contacts to Companies and Divisions When you create a company or division, you must specify the contacts to include as members. You can automatically add members to or remove members from a company by creating a query. Members added this way are dynamic; they stay in the company only as long as they meet the criteria. If you want contacts to remain in a company or division no matter what changes occur, you add them manually. These contacts are static company members. To add contacts as members of a company or division using a query 1. Display the company (or division) record. 2. Click the Contacts tab, and then click Add/Remove Contacts. 3. In the Add/Remove Contacts dialog box, under Dynamic members, click Edit Criteria. The Company Criteria dialog box appears. 4. In the Field Name box, select an item from the list. For example, select Department. 5. In the Operator box, select an item from the list. For example, select Equal To (=). 6. In the Value box, select an item from the list or type a value. For example, type Manufacturing. 7. Click Add to list. The criteria you selected displays in the center pane. 8. To preview the contacts who will be included as members, click Preview. 9. To add criteria, repeat steps 4-7. To modify the criteria, click the And/Or option. 10. When you are finished creating the criteria, click OK. The members appear on the Contacts tab. 30 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

49 Adding Contacts to Companies and Divisions To manually add a contact as a member of a company or division 1. Display the company or division record to add members to. 2. Click the Contacts tab, and then click Add/Remove Contacts. The Add/Remove Contacts dialog box appears. 3. Under Static members, click Contacts. The Select Contacts dialog box appears. 4. Select the contacts from the Contacts to select from list, click the right-arrow button to add them to the Selected Contacts list, and then click OK. - or - Type the contact name in the Look for field to find the contact to add, click the right-arrow button to add that contact to the Selected Contacts list, and then click OK. Note: You can select multiple contacts in the Contacts dialog box by holding down CTRL and clicking the contact names. Creating Records See the following topic(s) in Help About companies and divisions Adding contacts to and removing contacts from groups or companies Creating companies from contacts Saving lookups as companies User s Guide 31

50 Company Records Viewing and Managing Companies and Divisions You view and manage companies and divisions using the Groups/Companies tab, the Company Detail view, the Company tree, and the Company List. The Groups/Companies Tab Contacts can be members of multiple companies and divisions. The Groups/Companies tab on the Contact Detail view lists the companies and divisions the contact is a static member of. Note: The Contacts tab in the Company Detail view shows both static and dynamic members. The Company Detail View Information about an individual company or division is also available from its Detail view, which you access from the Companies button on the navigation bar. The Company Detail view looks different than the Contact Detail view, but has many of the same tabs, such as Notes, History, Activities, and Opportunities. You can choose company layouts using the field at the bottom right of the Company Detail view. 32 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

51 The Companies Tree Viewing and Managing Companies and Divisions The Companies tree displays the hierarchy of available companies and divisions. If a plus sign appears next to an item, you can click it to display subordinate items. The plus sign changes to a minus sign. Click the minus sign to hide the subordinate items. Use the Companies tree to: View the entire company hierarchy. Find a company or division. The Company List You can use the Company List to find companies, create a company or division, create a lookup, move a company, and add members to company. You can sort the Company List and customize the columns to fit your needs. The results of a company lookup display in the Company List. For example, you perform a lookup of all companies located in the state of California and the results appear in the Company List. If only one company is found, the Company Detail view appears. The Company List also contains the View Groups/ Companies button. Click this button to select a group or company for viewing. Creating Records User s Guide 33

52 Company Records Reorganizing Companies and Divisions You can reorganize companies and divisions, for instance to: Promote a division to a company. Move a division to another company. Demote a company to a division. See the following topic(s) in Help About the Company List Moving companies and divisions Selecting layouts Using the Company Detail view tabs Viewing the hierarchy of companies and divisions Duplicating Companies Standard users and above can duplicate a company record. Once you have duplicated the company information, you can edit it and add divisions and new members. When you duplicate a company that has divisions, you only duplicate the company record. When you duplicate a division record, the duplicate becomes another division of the company record. There are several ways to duplicate a company. The following steps describe one way. To duplicate a company 1. Open the Company Detail view for the group or subgroup to duplicate. 2. From the Companies menu, click Duplicate. 3. In the Duplicate Company dialog box, select to duplicate data from primary fields or from all fields, and then click OK. The Company Detail view appears. 4. In the Company field, type the new company name. 34 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

53 Linking Contacts to Companies 5. In the Description field, type a description for the company. 6. On the toolbar, click the Save tool. Linking Contacts to Companies You can link a contact to a company. The contact becomes a member of the company and the company becomes a hyperlink to the contact record. The hyperlink also appears in the company column of the Contact List. When you make changes to the company, you can choose to have those changes passed on to linked contacts. You can set a preference in the Startup Preferences dialog box to automatically link new contacts to their company records. To link a contact to a company Note: A contact can be a member of multiple companies but can be linked to only one company. 1. On the Contact Detail view, in the Company field, click the browse button (...). The Link to Company dialog box appears. 2. Select the company to link the contact to. Linked contacts are members of the company. Their notes, activities, and so on, appear in the company tabs with some restrictions. For more information, see Chapter 15, "Securing Data." Creating Records See the following topic(s) in Help About linking contacts to companies Linking a contact to a company Setting startup preferences User s Guide 35

54 Company Records Linking Contact and Company Fields Using the Define Fields tool in the ACT! Premium for Web server application, you can link additional contact fields to company fields or remove existing links. A linked field affects all companies in the database. For example, you can link the contact Fax Phone field to the company Fax Phone field so contacts inherit the fax numbers of companies they are linked to. If you change the fax number in a company record, the change applies to every contact that is linked to that company. View the fields that are linked to each other through the Contact Detail view by clicking View Linked Fields from the Companies menu. Note: You must link each field in an address (Address 1, Address 2, City, and so on) separately. When a contact field and company field are linked, the contact field inherits information from the company field as follows: On the Company Detail view, when you edit information in the linked company field, you can choose to push the updated information to the linked contacts. On the Contact Detail view, you can click the Update contact with company data tool to pull any changes from the company record. See the following topic(s) in Help Linking contact and company fields Viewing linked fields 36 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

55 Chapter 5 Notes and Histories In this chapter, you will learn to insert notes and record histories for a contact, company, or group. About Notes You can add information to a contact, group, or company using a note. A note can include any information, such as financial analysis or details of a meeting, that will help you manage the relationship. You view notes in the Notes tab on the Contact, Group, and Company Detail views. The Notes tab on the Contact Detail view contains all notes belonging to the contact. The Notes tab on the Group Detail and Company Detail views contain all notes shared with the group or company and notes for contacts that are members of the group or company. You can view the content of a selected note in a preview pane on the Notes tab. You can copy text from the preview pane, but you cannot paste text into it. You can show, hide, and resize the preview pane. Creating Records About Histories You can record a history for a contact, group, or company record. A history can record an action, such as sending an message to the contact. The software automatically generates some histories when you hold a meeting, send an message (if the record history option is set), and so on. Histories provide you with chronological information about the contact relationship. User s Guide 37

56 Notes and Histories Inserting Notes You view histories in the History tabs on the Contact, Group, and Company Detail views. The History tab on the Contact Detail view contains all histories belonging to the contact. The History tabs on the Group Detail view and Company Detail view contain all histories shared with the group or company and histories for contacts that are members of the group or company. You can view the content of a selected history in a preview pane on the History tab. You can copy text from the preview pane, but cannot paste text into it. If the Notes and History tabs do not display information the way you want, you can use the Customize Columns tool to add or remove columns. For more information, see Chapter 16, "Customizing Columns." You can also use the filters to show items for a certain date or date range. There are several ways to insert a note for a contact, company, or group. The following steps describe one way. To insert a note 1. Display the Contact, Group, or Company Detail view. 2. Click the Notes tab, and then click the Insert Note tool. The Insert Note dialog box appears. 3. In the Regarding text box, type the information. Note: You can type as much information as you want in the Regarding text box. 4. When finished, click OK. 38 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

57 Recording Histories You can change any of the default fields, attach a file, share the note with a group or company, format the text, check the spelling, and make the note private so other users cannot view it. For more information about making the note private, see Chapter 15, "Securing Data." Recording Histories There are several ways to record a history for a contact, company, or group. The following steps describe one way. To record a history 1. Display the Contact, Group, or Company Detail view. 2. Click the History tab, and then click the Record History tool. The Record History dialog box appears. 3. From the Type and Result lists, select a history type and result that best fits what you want to record. 4. From the Regarding list, select an item or type the subject of the history item. 5. In the Details text box, type the information. Creating Records Note: You can type as much information as you want in the Details text box. 6. When finished, click OK. User s Guide 39

58 Notes and Histories You can change any of the default fields, attach a file, share the history with a group or company, format the text, check the spelling, schedule a follow-up activity, and make the history item private so other ACT! users cannot view it. For more information about making the history item private, see Chapter 15, "Securing Data." See the following topic(s) in Help About the History tab About the Notes tab 40 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

59 Scheduling Activities & Tasks Scheduling

60

61 Chapter 6 Activities and Calendars Activities include telephone calls, meetings, and to-do items. You can schedule an activity with contacts or users, and you can associate an activity with groups and companies so that it appears on the Activities tab for the groups and companies.these activities may also include custom activities that were created in the ACT! Premium for Web server application, such as an activity called "Business Trip." Calendars display all your activities and to-do items for a day, a work week, or a month. You can view your calendar and the calendars of other users (if you have access to their records), and you can grant other users access to your calendar so they can schedule activities for you. By default, the application displays activities on calendars using the time zone of the ACT! Premium for Web server. You can set a preference to use a different time zone. In addition to calendars, activities appear in the Activities tab of the detail views (contact, group, and company) and in the Task List. For more information about the Task List, see Chapter 7, "Task List." You can define preferences to customize how calendars appear and set default options for scheduling activities. For more information, see "Calendar and Scheduling Preferences," on page 3. In this chapter, you will learn: To schedule activities with contacts. To schedule recurring activities. To let other users schedule activities for you. About activity time zones. To view and print calendars. To respond to scheduled activities. To record completed activities. Scheduling User s Guide 43

62 Activities and Calendars Scheduling Activities with Contacts You can schedule an activity from the currently displayed contact, group, or company record; a calendar; the Activities tab; the Opportunity List; or the Task List. If an activity needs to occur at regular intervals, such as a monthly meeting, you can make it a recurring activity. Note: Restricted users and above can schedule, edit, and delete activities. Scenario Activities must be scheduled with at least one contact (which can be you). You cannot schedule an activity with a group or company, but you can schedule it with one contact, and then associate it with the group or company so that the activity appears on the Activities tab for the group or company. When you schedule an activity, you can: Include details. Set alarms to remind you. Specify a location. Set a priority level. Specify how the activity appears on calendars and the Activities tab. You can schedule one activity with multiple contacts and have this appear as a separate activity for each contact. Chris wants feedback about product orders she shipped to several contacts. She schedules one activity, including all of the contacts she wants to call, and specifies to schedule the activity individually with each contact. As she completes the call for each contact, she records details and clears the activity scheduled with that contact. You can send an message to a contact to notify him or her of the activity. You must have software set up and the contact record must include an address. 44 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

63 To schedule an activity Scheduling Activities with Contacts 1. On the toolbar, click the Schedule Call, Schedule Meeting, or Schedule To-Do tool. Note: To schedule a custom activity, from the Schedule menu, click Other. In the Schedule Activity dialog box, select the activity type from the Type list. The Schedule Activity dialog box appears. 2. In the General tab, enter the activity information, as necessary: - Using the calendars and lists, select a Start Date, End Date, Start Time, and End Time. Note: To schedule an activity without a specific time, click Timeless in the Start Time list. Timeless activities appear in the daily recap area of calendars, which is beneath the Mini-calendar. - To display a horizontal bar on the calendar for activities that span one or more days, select Use Banner. - In the Schedule With list, select a contact to schedule the activity with (the current contact is the default, but you can click Contacts, then click Select Contacts to select other contacts). Note: To schedule a personal activity, click My Record. Scheduling - In the Regarding field, select an item from the list or type a description for the activity. Tip: If you need more space for the activity s description, use the Details tab. User s Guide 45

64 Activities and Calendars - In the Resources field, select a resource from the list, if any. (Resources must be created in the ACT! Premium for Web server application before you can view and select them.) - If the resource has an assigned location, it appears in the Location field, but you can type a location for the activity. - From the Priority list, select a priority. The default setting is Low. - To specify colors, in the Color field, click the browse button (...) and select the color. You can specify a color for the text and for the stripe that appears next to the activity on the daily and work week calendars. Tip: Use different colors for different types of activities and priorities or for different users. - To be reminded of an upcoming activity, from the Ring Alarm list, select an alarm option. The default setting is No alarm. - To schedule the activity for another user, click the Schedule For button. From the Schedule For dialog box, in the Schedule this activity for list, select the user, and then click OK. Note: Only an Administrator and Manager user can schedule the activity for another user, or if the user has given you access to his or her calendar. For more information, see "Letting Other Users Schedule Activities for You," on page To send an message to each contact that the activity is scheduled with, select Send activity to contacts. 46 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

65 Scheduling Activities with Contacts 4. To create a separate activity with each contact that the activity is scheduled with, select Create separate activity for each contact. 5. To make the activity private, select Private. 6. To make the activity recurring, click the Recurrence tab. Follow the steps in "Scheduling Recurring Activities," on page Click OK. 8. If you specified to send an message that contains the details about the activity, the message appears. Click Send to send it. To associate an activity with a group or company 1. Schedule the activity as described in steps 1-6 of "To schedule an activity" on page In the General tab, in the Group/Company field, click the browse button (...). The Select Group/Company dialog box appears. 3. To schedule an activity with a group, select a group from the list under the Look for field, and then click the rightarrow button. 4. To schedule an activity with a company, click the Companies/Divisions tab, select a company from the list under the Look for field, and then click the right-arrow button. Tip: To associate the activity with all groups and companies, click the double-right-arrow button on the Groups/Subgroups or Companies/Divisions tab. Scheduling 5. Click OK. The activity appears in the Activities tab on the Group Detail or Company Detail view. User s Guide 47

66 Activities and Calendars Scheduling Recurring Activities Scenario You may have activities that occur at regular intervals, such as weekly meetings. You can schedule the activity once and specify how often it occurs. Recurring activities have an icon showing two arrows in a circle. It appears in the Recurring column on the Activities tab and Task List. Chris has several regular activities: she meets with her vendors each Monday, sends invoices to her accountant every other Friday, and picks up her daughter from piano lessons on the last Saturday of each month. Chris can enter these periodic activities once, specify them as recurring, and then specify when and how often they occur. To schedule a recurring activity 1. Schedule the activity as described in steps 1-7 of "To schedule an activity" on page In the Schedule Activity dialog box, click the Recurrence tab. 3. Under Occurs, select how frequently the activity occurs. The default setting is Once. The information in the Activity Occurs box changes depending on the frequency you select. 4. Select the details for the occurrence. For example, if you selected Weekly, select the days of the week that the activity occurs. 5. From the Starts calendar selector, select a start date. 6. Select No End Date, or select Ends, and then select the end date. 7. Click OK. 48 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

67 Letting Other Users Schedule Activities for You Letting Other Users Schedule Activities for You You can grant access so other users can schedule activities for you. Users with Administrator or Manager security roles always have this access, but you can grant scheduling access to users with Restricted or Standard security roles. Note: A user who schedules an activity on your behalf can only schedule activities with contacts he or she has access to. Users can view activities on each other s calendars, depending on an activity s record access setting. If an activity is marked as public (the Private option on the Schedule Activity dialog box is not selected), the activity details are visible. If the activity is marked as private (the Private option is selected), the activity details are not visible; only the time of the activity is visible. For more information about record access, see "Record Access," on page 117. To grant scheduling access to another user 1. From the Schedule menu, click Grant Calendar Access. 2. In the Calendar Access dialog box, select the user you want to let schedule activities for you, and then click Access. 3. In the Edit Access dialog box, select View and Schedule, and then click OK. See the following topic(s) in Help Scheduling activities for other users Scheduling User s Guide 49

68 Activities and Calendars About Activity Time Zones Scenario By default, the application displays activities using the ACT! Premium for Web server time zone. You can select a different time zone in the Date & Time Preferences dialog box. The Web server for Chris company is located in the company's main office in New York, so activities display in Eastern Standard Time by default. She travels to London twice a year on a buying trip and would like her activities to display in the local time zone, Greenwich Mean Time, when she is there. She sets the preference to (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time when she arrives in London, and changes it back to (GMT-05:00) Eastern Standard Time when she returns to New York. If you schedule an activity with other users, each user's activities appear on the calendars and in Activity tabs (Contact Detail, Company Detail, and Group Detail views) according to the user s time zone preference. Alarms also use the selected time zone. The default time zone icon and the time zone hyperlink appear in the status bar at the bottom of the calendar, Task List, and the Activity tab. If you change the time zone from the default setting, the icon and the selected time zone also appear at the top of calendars and the Task List. You can click the time zone hyperlink to display the dialog box to change the time zone. 50 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

69 Viewing and Printing Calendars Viewing and Printing Calendars You can use the daily, work week, and monthly calendars to view and schedule activities. The number of activities for the calendar display appear in the status bar at the bottom of each calendar. When you view a calendar, you can display the previous or next day, week, or month by clicking the Move Back or Move Forward tools in the toolbar. To display basic activity information Hold the pointer over an activity on a calendar. Activity details appear in a pop-up window. The details include the activity type, who the activity is scheduled with, what the activity is about, the date and time, and so on. Ellipses indicate that there is more information than can display in the pop-up window. To view the full details, click the Regarding hyperlink. Note: You can also view activity information in the Task List or in the Activities tab of a contact, group, or company record. Daily calendar Displays one day, divided into time intervals. Vertical bars indicate activities that span more than one time interval. Work week calendar Displays a work week, as set in Preferences. Each day is divided into time intervals. Vertical bars indicate activities that span more than one time interval. Monthly calendar Displays a month. Horizontal bars, or banners, indicate activities that span one or more days. Mini-calendar Displays a month. Days that are bold indicate that an activity is scheduled on that day. Scheduling User s Guide 51

70 Activities and Calendars You can print a day, week, or month calendar, choosing from several formats, such as Day-Runner and Day-Timer, and you can specify the information you want to print, such as the dates and types of activities to include. Note: Any user role can print calendars. To print a calendar 1. On the toolbar, click the Print tool. The Print dialog box appears. 2. From the Printout type list, select Day Calendar, Week Calendar, or Month Calendar. 3. From the Paper type list, select the paper format to use. 4. To preview the page, select Preview. 5. To set options for printing the calendar, click Options, select the items to include in the calendar, and click OK. 6. Click OK. See the following topic(s) in Help About calendars Displaying and using the Mini-calendar Displaying calendar information Filtering activities on calendars Tips and shortcuts for calendar views Viewing another user s calendar Viewing Recap Lists for other users 52 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

71 Responding to Scheduled Activities Responding to Scheduled Activities When an activity is scheduled with you, the activity automatically appears on your calendar and you receive an notification about the activity. The scheduled activity is considered tentative until you accept or decline the activity. To respond to a scheduled activity 1. On the Calendar or Recap List, click the activity icon or hyperlink. The Schedule Activity dialog box appears. 2. Do one of the following: - To accept the activity, click Accept. - To decline the activity, click Decline, and then click Yes when prompted. 3. To change the priority level, from the Priority list, select a level. 4. To change the activity status panel color, click the Color field, and then select a color. 5. To change the lead time for the alarm, from the Ring alarm list, select a lead time. 6. To schedule the activity on behalf of another user, click Schedule for, and then select the user to schedule the activity for. You must have delegate rights to schedule an activity for another user. 7. Click OK. On the user's calendar, the activity's status panel has a striped appearance, indicating a tentative status, or a solid appearance, indicating an accepted status. Scheduling See the following topic(s) in Help Checking the response status for activities Editing activities Rescheduling activities User s Guide 53

72 Activities and Calendars Recording Completed Activities When you complete an activity, you can clear it from your schedule, record an outcome for it, and, if necessary, schedule a follow-up activity for it. You can view a history of cleared activities in the History tab of the contact, group, or company record. You can re-open a cleared activity. Depending on the preferences you set, uncleared activities roll over to the next day. For more information, see Chapter 1, "Setting Preferences." Note: Clearing an activity does not delete information about the activity; it marks it as completed and changes the display on calendars and in the Task List. There are several ways to clear an activity; the following steps describe one way. To clear an activity and schedule a follow-up activity 1. From the Calendar, locate the activity to clear, and then select the check box for the activity. 2. In the Clear Activity dialog box, enter the activity details and select a Results option. 3. To schedule a follow-up activity: a. Click Follow-up. b. In the Schedule Activity dialog box, specify information for the activity, and then click OK. 4. Click OK. See the following topic(s) in Help Clearing activities Deleting activities Recording activity histories Rescheduling activities 54 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

73 Chapter 7 Task List The Task List displays activities for a specified period of time, such as all activities for a day. You can filter (i.e., limit the list by various fields, such as activity type or date) and sort the list to display only the activities you want to see or print, in the order you prefer. The number of activities, based on the filters applied and for the time specified, appears in the status bar. You can change or clear activities from the Task List. The application displays activities using the time zone selected in the Date & Time Preferences dialog box. By default, the time zone is the same as the ACT! Premium for Web server time zone. You can use the Date and Time Preferences dialog box to select a different time zone for displaying activities. A time zone icon and the time zone appear in the status bar at the bottom of the Task List. If you have changed the time zone from the default, the icon and the selected time zone appear at the top of the Task List. In this chapter, you will learn to view and clear activities and to filter the Task List. Viewing and Clearing Activities The following illustration shows all activity types for a custom date range, including cleared activities (displayed with a line through them). Scheduling User s Guide 55

74 Task List To view your Task List and activity details On the navigation bar, click Task List. Tip: To change an activity, click its Edit hyperlink. To clear an activity 1. On the navigation bar, click Task List. 2. In the Cleared column, select the check box for the activity to clear. 3. In the Clear Activity dialog box, complete the information for clearing the activity, and then click OK. 56 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

75 Changing the Task List Display (Filtering) Changing the Task List Display (Filtering) You can filter the Task List by date, activity type, and priority. You can also choose to show private and cleared activities. You can view the activities for other users for whom you have access, by clicking Select Users and selecting users from the list. To filter the Task List 1. On the navigation bar, click Task List. 2. From the Dates, Types, Priorities, and Options lists, select the options to use in the filter. See the following topic(s) in Help About the Task List Editing activities Viewing another user s tasks Scheduling User s Guide 57

76

77 Finding Information Finding Information

78

79 Chapter 8 Finding Information You can find information using several methods, including sorting records, performing lookups, using keywords, and creating queries. When you search for information (using lookups or queries), the results appear in the Contact List. In this chapter, you will learn to: Sort records. Use lookups, keywords, and queries. Sorting Records in List and Detail Views You can sort contact, group, or company records in the list or detail views. Several sort methods are available. To sort records in a view or tab Click a column heading to sort the column in ascending or descending order. Click it again to reverse the order. To sort records from the Tools menu 1. From the Tools menu, click Sort. The Sort dialog box appears. 2. In the Sort by field, select a field, and then select whether to sort in ascending or descending order. 3. To further refine the sort order, complete the remaining fields, and then click OK. For example, you might sort by Edit Date, then by Last Name, and then by First Name. User s Guide 61 Finding Information

80 Finding Information Finding Information Using Lookups, Keywords, and Queries To effectively manage contacts, groups, and companies, you must be able to find records and information when you need it. Finding information can be as simple as looking for someone by first name, or as complex as finding all contacts who live in the western region of the United States and who purchased more than 100 units of your product in the last six months. You can find records and information in one of the following ways: Create a lookup, which is a selection of records based on search criteria that you specify. When you perform a lookup, the results of the search appear in the Detail view or List. Use Quick Search to perform a keyword search of fields for a selected record type. The following table shows where you can perform a Quick Search for each type of record. Record Contact Company Group Opportunity Where you can search Contact Detail view, Contact List, Task List, and calendars Company Detail view and Company List Group Detail view and Group List Opportunity List Use a Keyword Search to find records by searching for any word that appears in a database record. You can search for keywords in the fields of contact, group, and company records and in the Activities, Opportunities, Notes, and History tabs. 62 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

81 Using Lookups to Find Records Use Advanced queries, a method of searching for information by comparing all records in the open database with multiple criteria. The query creates a lookup of the records that match those criteria. You can perform Advanced queries on Contacts and Opportunities. After searching, you can view lookup status text, which appears below the alphabetical filters in the Contact List. The lookup status text explains what the current contact lookup view is referencing. Using Lookups to Find Records You can use a lookup to find records. For example, you might look up all contacts who work at the same company so you can produce a phone list for that company. To find records using a single search criterion 1. From the Lookup menu, click a lookup command. For the example given (to look up all contacts who work at the same company), from the Lookup menu, select Company. The Lookup dialog box appears. Note: The Lookup dialog box does not appear if you select one of the following commands: My Record, All Contacts, Keyword Search, Previous, All Groups, All Companies, or All Opportunities. 2. Under Search For, type a word to search for or select a word from the list, and then click OK. For the example given (to search for all contacts for a specific company), under Search For, type the company name. User s Guide 63 Finding Information

82 Finding Information When the results appear, a record counter at the top of the results area shows the total number of records found and indicates which record (by number) is displaying. If the results are not what you need, you can modify the lookup. To complete the example (creating a phone list for all contacts that work at a company), from the Reports menu, select Phone List. In the Define Filters dialog box, ensure Current Lookup is selected, and then click OK. Looking Up Tagged Contacts To look up contacts who do not share information, you can select or tag contacts in the Contact List, and then create a lookup of the tagged contacts. To create a lookup from tagged contacts 1. On the Contact List, select the contacts to include in the lookup. A check mark appears beside the selected contacts. 2. Click the Lookup Selected hyperlink. The results of any search contain only those records you have access to. For more information about record access, see Chapter 15, "Securing Data." See the following topic(s) in Help Commands in the Lookup menu Finding contacts using the Contact List Finding records with empty fields Looking up contacts, companies, or groups using Any fields Looking up opportunities Narrowing, adding to, or replacing a lookup Using tag mode and the alphabetical filter in the Contact List 64 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

83 Using Quick Search Using Lookups to Find Records You can use the Lookup and Keywords fields on the navigation bar to quickly search for records containing one or more keywords. To use Quick Search 1. On the navigation bar, click the type of record to search on: Contacts, Groups, Companies, or Opportunity List. For example, to search contact fields, click Contacts. 2. In the Lookup list, select the field that contains the text to search for. The list contains fields for the type of record you selected in step 1 (for example, if you selected Contacts, the list contains contact fields). 3. In the Keywords text box, type the text to search for. For example, to find all contacts in the state of New York, in the Lookup list, select State, and then in the Keywords text box, type NY. 4. Click Go. The Contact, Group, Company, or Opportunity List displays the records that contain the keyword text. If only one record is found, the detail view for that record appears. User s Guide 65 Finding Information

84 Finding Information Using Keywords to Find Records Another way to find records is by searching for keywords. As stated previously, a keyword is any word that appears in a database record. You can search the parent records (contacts, companies, or groups) and the extended-data records (notes, histories, activities, and so on). For example, to find a note about budgets for a contact, you can search the notes of all contact records for entries containing the keyword "budget." To find records using keywords 1. From the Lookup menu, point to Advanced, and then click Keyword Search. The Keyword Search dialog box appears. 2. In the Search for field, type the word or phrase to find. 3. Under Search these records, select a record type: Contact, Group, or Company. 4. Select a source records option: - For contacts: All records, Current record, or Current lookup. - For groups: All groups, Current group lookup, or Selected group. - For companies: All companies, Current company lookup, or Selected company. 5. To search in a selected group or company, select the group or company from the list. 6. Under Look in, select one or more extended-data record types or field search options. 66 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

85 7. Click Find Now. Using Advanced Queries to Find Contacts The search results appear at the bottom of the window. You can access a record from the list or click Create Lookup to create a lookup of all records in the list. See the following topic(s) in Help Creating lookups from keyword search results Keyword search record types and results Tips for keyword searches Using Advanced Queries to Find Contacts An Advanced query compares all contacts in the database with the criteria you specify. All contacts that match the criteria (and that you have access to) are listed in the resulting lookup. Advanced queries use operators, such as greater than (>). For example, to find all contacts in the U.K. whose sales volume is more than 10,000 units and all contacts in Germany whose sales volume is more than 20,000 units, you need to create an Advanced query. You can also use Advanced queries to add or remove contacts as dynamic members of groups and companies. For more information, see "Adding Contacts to Groups and Subgroups" on page 21 and "Adding Contacts to Companies and Divisions" on page 30. Creating Advanced Queries All users can create Advanced queries for fields they have access to. For more information, see "Field-Level Security" on page 122. To create an Advanced query 1. On the navigation bar, click Advanced Query. User s Guide 67 Finding Information

86 Finding Information 2. In the Advanced Query dialog box, in the Type field, select Contact or Opportunity. The default setting is Contact. Note: Even though you can select Opportunity in the Type field, the result of an Advanced query is always contact records. 3. In the Field Name field, select a contact or opportunity field. 4. In the Operator field, select an item, such as Contains or Equal To (=). 5. In the Value field, type a value or select an item that corresponds to the selected Field Name item. 6. Click Add to list. The criteria statement (field name, operator, and value) appears in the columns in the middle pane of the dialog box. 7. Click Preview to see the list of records resulting from the search criteria. 8. To remove the criteria and start over, click Remove. 9. To add another criteria statement to the query, repeat steps 3 through 7, and use the And/Or column and left and right parenthesis columns to build the query. Tip: To change the And/Or setting, in the middle pane of the dialog box, click in the And/Or column for the item and select an option from the list. 10. When you finish selecting criteria, click OK. The Contact List displays contacts that result from the query. 68 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

87 Editing Advanced Queries Using Advanced Queries to Find Contacts All users can edit Advanced queries. However, if you modify a query that contains any fields which have been deleted from the database or to which you do not have access, you cannot save the query. You must delete the criteria statement containing the inaccessible field to save the query. To edit an advanced query 1. From the Lookup menu, point to Advanced, and then click Advanced Query. 2. In the Advanced Query dialog box, click the Open tool. 3. Locate the query, and then click Open. The query criteria appears in the Advanced Query dialog box. 4. To add a criteria statement, select values in the Type, Field name, Operator, and Value fields, and then click Add to list. 5. To remove a criteria statement, select it, and then click Remove. 6. To see the list of contact records that meet the criteria statement, click Preview. 7. To change the And/Or setting, in the middle pane of the dialog box, click in the And/Or column for the item and select an option from the list. 8. When you finish modifying criteria, click OK. 9. When the Advanced Query message appears, select an option, and then click OK. The default setting is to Replace the current lookup. User s Guide 69 Finding Information

88 Finding Information The results of the modified query appear in the Contact List. See the following topic(s) in Help About queries Saving and reusing queries Tips for creating queries 70 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

89 Chapter 9 Running Reports You can use the reports provided with the ACT! application to view information in your database. Reports can include information for contacts, groups, companies, and opportunities. When you run a report for contacts, groups, or companies, you can include data for any of the following: The current contact, group, or company The current lookup All contacts, groups, or companies For example, you can run a History Summary report for one contact or run a Contact report listing all contacts in a state. The information that appears in a report depends on the type of report you run and the options you use to filter the data. Some filters are only available for reports that include sections for them. To see the sections that appear in a report template, see "Summary of reports" in Help. Note: You modify report templates in the ACT! Premium for Web server application. This chapter gives information about running reports for contacts, groups, and companies. Chapter 13, "Forecasting and Reporting Opportunities," gives information on running reports for opportunities. Note: Any user can run a report. User s Guide 71 Finding Finding Information

90 Running Reports Running Reports for Contacts, Groups, and Companies This section explains how to run reports for contacts, groups, and companies. Note: If you run a report that includes a field you do not have access to, the field does not appear in the report. Note: By default, activities in reports use the ACT! Premium for Web server time zone. You can select a different time zone. When you change the time zone from the default, activities in reports use the selected time zone. To run a report for contacts, groups, or companies 1. Select or look up the records to include in the report. 2. From the Reports menu, click the report to run. Note: To select a group or company report, point to Group Reports or Company Reports, and then click the report. The Define Filters dialog box appears. The options that appear on the General tab depend on the type of report you selected. 3. Under Create report for, select the contacts, groups, or companies to include. The options depend on whether you selected a contact, group, or company report. 72 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

91 Running Reports for Contacts, Groups, and Companies 4. (Optional) If you are running a contact report, select Exclude 'My Record' to exclude your My Record from the report. 5. Under Use data managed by, select whether to include All users or Selected users. If necessary, select the users from the list. 6. (Optional) Click the Activity, Note, History, or Opportunity tab to specify the data to include. Note: The Activity, Note, History, or Opportunity tab may not appear in the Define Filters dialog box if the selected report does not include sections for them. 7. Click OK. The report appears in HTML format in a browser window. From the browser window, you can print or save the report. See the following topic(s) in Help About reports Printing reports Saving reports Summary of ACT! reports User s Guide 73 Finding Information

92

93 Communicating with Contacts Communicating

94

95 Chapter 10 ACT! Document Templates If you frequently compose documents that are similar to each other, you can simplify the process using a template, which is a form or outline that can contain formatting, images such as your company logo, and standard text. Templates are available for letters, memos, faxes, and messages. Templates let you quickly compose documents by adding information, such as the name and address, from the contact record. When you perform a mail merge using the template, the word processor replaces the field markers in the template with data from the records you have selected. For more information, see "Sending Documents to Multiple Contacts" on page 90. You can modify templates or create your own. (It is generally easier to modify a template than to create one.) You can save and reuse templates and share them with others. Letter, memo, message, and fax templates contain special characteristics, as shown in the following illustration. Communicating User s Guide 77

96 . ACT! Document Templates What s in a letter or memo template? Feature Function 1 Fields Contact fields, such as name and address. (You can add a field from the ACT! database to the template. When you create the document from the template, information from the contact record replaces the field.) 2 Brackets Angle brackets (< >) identify fields in an ACT! word-processing template. Brackets ([ ]) indicate where to type your custom information. 3 Body Text you write for this document. The body can include fields. See the following topic(s) in Help Creating document templates Editing document templates Selecting document templates 78 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

97 Chapter 11 Writing Messages and Letters The ACT! software includes several tools for communicating with contacts: The ACT! Premium for Web program Microsoft Outlook integration, in case you want to use Outlook instead of the ACT! program Mail merge The ACT! Word Processor In this chapter, you will learn about these tools. Communicating Tip: To send an message to a contact, the contact must have an address. To find contacts who are missing addresses, use the Address command on the Lookup menu, and select the Empty field option in the Search for box. Using the ACT! Premium for Web Program You can choose to use the ACT! Premium for Web program with an Internet account (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)/POP3) from an Internet Service Provider (ISP). You can set preferences that specify how your system formats messages and other options. You can write and send an message to one or more contacts. If you currently use Microsoft Outlook to send, receive, and manage messages, you can set up Outlook as the default program to use while in the ACT! Premium for Web application. When you compose an message, Outlook s compose message window appears instead of the window for the ACT! Premium for Web program. User s Guide 79

98 Writing Messages and Letters You can download and install an executable file to put controls and tools on the Outlook toolbars to record history and attach Outlook messages to ACT! Premium for Web contacts. In Outlook, you can add up to three ACT! address books and databases so that you can: Send messages and record histories to ACT! contacts. Attach Outlook messages to ACT! contacts. In Outlook, you can set a default option for how an Outlook message appears in a contact's History tab. Using with Mail Merge You can use either ACT! or Outlook to send a message to many contacts. For example, you have a standard letter that you send when you attend a trade show. You want to send the letter as an message to all contacts that have offices in the area. You would use mail merge to send the message. You need to have an system set up to process the mail merge. Setting Up an System ACT! Premium for Web supports one SMTP account. You may need to get the SMTP server information (SMTP address and whether it requires authentication) from your system administrator or your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Note: These steps only apply to the ACT! Premium for Web program. If you will use Microsoft Outlook instead of the ACT! Premium for Web program, see "Selecting to Use Microsoft Outlook," on page ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

99 Setting Up an System To set up an system 1. From the Tools menu, click Preferences. 2. In the Preferences dialog box, click the hyperlink. 3. In the dialog box, click Setup. 4. In the Setup dialog box, do the following: a. In the My address field, type your complete address. This is a required field. b. In the Real name field, type your name. This is a required field. The Organization and Reply address fields are optional. c. Under Outgoing mail server, in the SMTP server field, type the name and address for the SMTP server. d. If the SMTP server requires authentication, select My SMTP server requires authentication. e. In the Account name field, type the user name for the account. f. In the Password field, type the password for the account. g. To have the system remember the password, select Remember password. Communicating Note: If you do not complete the Account name and Password fields and select Remember password, you are prompted to enter this information before you can access . h. Under Default signature, in the Add this signature to my addresses field, select a signature, or click Edit Signatures and create an signature. User s Guide 81

100 Writing Messages and Letters i. To validate the SMTP server and settings and to send a test message, click Test Account Settings, and then follow any instructions. j. Click OK. 5. To set preferences, in the ACT! composing options box, complete the options and fields. 6. Click OK. See the following topic(s) in Help About About the Compose window Sending messages using the client Setting preferences Setting up an system Selecting to Use Microsoft Outlook You can make Microsoft Outlook the default system to use with the ACT! Premium for Web application. Note: If you use Microsoft Outlook as your program with ACT! Premium for Web, you can set some preferences in Outlook. For information on setting the preference for recording history to ACT! from Outlook, see "Setting History Options in Outlook" on page 86. To select to use Microsoft Outlook 1. From the Tools menu, click Preferences. 2. Click the hyperlink. The Preferences dialog box appears. 82 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

101 Integrating with Outlook 3. To use Microsoft Outlook as the system to process merges, select the Microsoft Outlook is my default program check box. This lets the ACT! Premium for Web application apply the correct formatting for mail addresses in the mail merge. When the message appears, click OK. Communicating Note: For more information about using Microsoft Outlook to process mail merges, see "Setting Up an Merge System," on page 89. You can also add ACT! address books and set ACT! history options in Outlook. For more information, see "Integrating with Outlook," on page 83. Integrating with Outlook To integrate ACT! Premium for Web with Outlook, you install an integration component, add an ACT! Premium for Web address book, and set ACT! Premium for Web history options in Outlook. Once you add the address book, it adds ACT! tools on the Outlook toolbar. You can use these integration tools and controls to record history and attach Outlook messages to ACT! Premium for Web contacts. With ACT! Premium for Web address book integration and history, you type a contact name in the Outlook To, Cc, and Bcc fields or select a name from the Outlook or ACT! Premium for Web address book. The integration resolves the address and attaches a history to the ACT! Premium for Web contact with a matching address. The integration tools and controls are available in Outlook provided that you have at least one ACT! Premium for Web address book set up in Outlook. User s Guide 83

102 Writing Messages and Letters Installing Components for Outlook Integration You must download and install the ACT! Premium for Web executable file for Outlook integration. You download the executable file from the ACT! Premium for Web Preferences dialog box. Note: Restricted users and above can download and install the executable program. Each user must download and install the program on his/her computer. To install components for Outlook integration 1. Close Outlook. Outlook must be closed to install the integration control program. 2. Open ACT! Premium for Web. 3. From the Tools menu, click Preferences. 4. Click the hyperlink. 5. In the Preferences dialog box, under Microsoft Outlook integration, click the Download button. 6. When asked whether to run or save the file, click Run, and then, when the security warning appears, click Run again. 7. Select the folder to extract the files to, and then click OK. 8. When the success message appears, click OK. 9. In the Open File - Security Warning dialog box, click Run. The InstallShield Wizard checks your system for Outlook versions, verifies that you have not already installed the program, and checks for enough space on your hard drive for the program. 84 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

103 Integrating with Outlook 10. When the Welcome page appears, read the text, and then click Next. The wizard installs the program. 11. Click Finish. Communicating Adding Address Books in Outlook In Outlook, you can add up to three ACT! Premium for Web address books, representing three ACT! Premium for Web databases. You can select one database to record histories to and attach to ACT! Premium for Web contacts. Tip: To view the Web Service address for the database you are logged on to, in the Preferences dialog box, under Microsoft Outlook integration, select the Click here link. You use the Web Service address when setting up an address book in Outlook. The steps for adding an address book differ for Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2002 (XP) or The following procedure is for Outlook 2002 (XP) or 2003 users. If you use Outlook 2000, refer to Help. To add an address book in Outlook 2002 (XP) or Open Outlook. 2. From the Tools menu, click Accounts. The Accounts wizard opens. 3. On the Accounts page, under Directory, select Add a new directory or address book, and then click Next. 4. Select Additional Address Books, and then click Next. 5. Select ACT! Premium for Web 2007 Address Book, and then click Next. The Address Books dialog box appears. User s Guide 85

104 Writing Messages and Letters 6. To add the first address book, click Add. 7. In the Add Address Books dialog box, in the Web Service field, keep the default address or type another. 8. In the ACT! Premium for Web database field, keep the default database name associated with the Web Service address, or select another database from the list. 9. Type the user name and password for the selected database, and then click OK. Outlook tries to connect to the specified ACT! database. A message informs you if the connection was successful. 10. To add a second and third address book and database, repeat steps 6 through Click Finish to close the dialog boxes. 12. Exit Outlook, and then open it again. You must close Outlook for the ACT! address books, tools, and controls to be added to it. Note: If you change your password for the database in the ACT! Premium for Web application, you must also change it for the address book. Setting History Options in Outlook In Outlook, you can select an ACT! Premium for Web database to record histories to and set record history options for. You can choose an option to: Record the date, time, and subject line of an message. Record the date, time, subject, and message text. 86 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

105 Using Microsoft Outlook with ACT! Record the entire message as an Outlook.msg file attachment that includes images and other attachments. Caution: If Microsoft Word is your default Outlook editor, you cannot record history in an ACT! Premium for Web database. Communicating See the following topic(s) in Help About ACT! address book integration with Microsoft Outlook About using Microsoft Outlook while in the ACT! application Adding or removing ACT! address books in Outlook Changing ACT! address book information in Outlook Setting or changing ACT! history options in Outlook Viewing the Web Service address Using Microsoft Outlook with ACT! After you have set Outlook as your default system, added an address book, and set a history option, you can use Outlook to: Send messages and record histories to ACT! Premium for Web contacts. Attach Outlook messages to ACT! Premium for Web contacts. User s Guide 87

106 Writing Messages and Letters Sending Messages and Recording Histories You can send an message in Outlook and record a history of the message to an ACT! Premium for Web contact. A service outside of Microsoft Outlook and ACT! Premium for Web processes histories. The service runs automatically to process pending histories. Errors in processing are recorded to an error log file on your system. Note: Histories involving multiple contacts are shared histories; your access to the contact determines access to the history. For more information, see Chapter 15, "Securing Data." Attaching Outlook Messages to ACT! Contacts You can attach an Outlook message to an ACT! Premium for Web contact record in the following ways: Attach an message while you are composing it. You can attach it to a contact listed in the To, Cc, and Bcc address fields or to a contact not listed in the address fields. When you send the message, it is attached to the contact s History tab as an Sent history type and the Last field on the Contact Detail view is updated. Attach an message from an Outlook folder, for example, a message you received and read. When you use the Attach to ACT! contact tool, the message is attached to the contact s History tab as an Attachment history type and the Last field on the Contact Detail view does not update. 88 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

107 Setting Up an Merge System A service outside of Microsoft Outlook and ACT! Premium for Web processes attachments. The service runs automatically to process pending attachments. (The same service processes histories.) Errors in processing are recorded to an error log file on your system. Communicating See the following topic(s) in Help Attaching Outlook messages to ACT! contact records Sending messages in Outlook and recording ACT! histories Troubleshooting errors for Outlook integration with ACT! Setting Up an Merge System Before you can begin using to create mail merges for multiple contacts, you must set up an merge system so that the ACT! application knows the program to use. You can choose to use your default system or you can use Microsoft Outlook. To use your default system, you click the Merge Setup button on the Preferences dialog box to complete the merge fields. To use Microsoft Outlook for merges, you must enable the Outlook option, and then complete the fields on the Merge Setup dialog box. You can create or modify a special template to run a mail merge. For more information, see "Sending Documents to Multiple Contacts," on page 90. See the following topic(s) in Help Setting up an merge system Using mail merge with User s Guide 89

108 Writing Messages and Letters Sending Documents to Multiple Contacts You can use mail merge to send a document, based on a template, to one or more contacts. When you use mail merge, you can choose to or print the document. You can also choose to send the merged document to your wordprocessing application so you can modify it. Writing Documents with the ACT! Word Processor With the ACT! Word Processor, you can: Write and edit letters, memos, fax cover pages, and messages. Create and edit templates. For more information, see Chapter 10, "ACT! Document Templates." Create documents for a single contact or use mail merge to generate documents for multiple contacts. Format text. Create headers and footers. Check spelling. Insert files and hyperlinks in your documents. Edit, save, print, or completed documents. Editing and Formatting Documents You can modify and format your document using the menu commands and tools on the toolbar, even if you used a template to create the document. To edit and format your document, you might: Find and replace words or phrases. Change font attributes. Cut and paste text. Adjust page margins. Set tab stops. 90 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

109 Writing Documents with the ACT! Word Processor Create headers and footers. Add numbered or bulleted lists. Insert tables, files, and hyperlinks. Insert page breaks. Insert date and time stamps. Communicating Tip: To change attributes for the entire document, click Select All from the Edit menu. See the following topic(s) in Help About formatting paragraphs in documents Creating and formatting bulleted lists in documents Creating and formatting numbered lists in documents Formatting pages in documents Formatting tables in documents Formatting text in documents Inserting hyperlinks in documents Inserting images in documents Completing Documents When you have finished working with a document, you can save or print it. You can also print labels with the contact s information on them. Labels are generated using a report template. They are printed using the report engine and output as a Acrobat Reader.pdf file. See the following topic(s) in Help Printing documents Printing mailing labels Saving documents Sending documents in messages User s Guide 91

110

111 Tracking Sales Opportunities Tracking Sales

112

113 Chapter 12 Opening and Managing Opportunities An opportunity is a potential sale to a contact. The software provides a sales process, through which you can track opportunities from beginning to end. The sales process is divided into stages. At each stage, you can determine the likelihood that the sale will close, and you can use this information to forecast your sales pipeline. Information about opportunities can include the products and services the buyer is interested in. The ACT! Sales Cycle process is included with your installation of the application. The ACT! Premium for Web server application also provides the ability to create a customized process. In this chapter, you will learn to: Open opportunities. View and export data in the Opportunity List. lose opportunities or make them inactive. Schedule follow-up activities. Tracking Sales Opening and Working with Opportunities When you open an opportunity, you can select the process, the stage within the process, and the status, such as open or inactive. Using the tabs in the Opportunity dialog box, you can select the products or services the customer is interested in, and include details. To open an opportunity 1. From the toolbar, click the New Opportunity tool. The Opportunity dialog box appears. User s Guide 95

114 Opening and Managing Opportunities 2. Complete information about the opportunity, such as: - The opportunity name - A contact, group, or company associated with the opportunity - The opportunity status, process, and stage - The estimated close date Note: When you select a stage, the Probability field displays the percent associated with the stage. Type over the default to change it. 3. In the Products/Services tab: - Add or delete products - Enter an adjusted price for a product or apply a discount 4. If you use custom opportunity fields, complete the fields in the User Fields tab. 5. Optionally, add opportunity details in the Details tab. 6. In the Opportunity Info tab, enter information, such as: - Open date - Close date - Reason for closing the opportunity - Source that referred the opportunity - Record Manager - Name of the person or business competing for the opportunity Note: The Close date and Reason fields are enabled only when the Status for the opportunity is Closed - Won, Closed - Lost, or Inactive. 96 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

115 Opening and Working with Opportunities 7. To make the opportunity private so that other users cannot view it, select Private. Note: Only the Record Manager, Administrator, or Manager can make the opportunity private. 8. To schedule an activity regarding the opportunity, click Follow Up. 9. Click OK. Understanding Stages in a Process The stages associated with each process indicate where the opportunity is in the sales cycle. For example, a stage might be Initial Communication or Negotiation. The percentage assigned to each stage indicates the likelihood of closing the sale. When you open an opportunity with a new contact, you might assign the "Initial Communication" stage (10% chance of successfully closing the sale), and when you schedule a meeting to make a presentation to the contact, you might update the stage to "Presentation" (40% chance of successfully closing the sale). The probability, or percent, is automatically listed when you select a stage, but you can change it. When you select products and services to include in the opportunity, you can discount individual products. The product cost and price per unit are specified in the Product List in the ACT! Premium for Web server application; you cannot change them from the Web client application. Tracking Sales Note: You can add a product not found in the product list to the opportunity, but it will not be available for other opportunities. User s Guide 97

116 Opening and Managing Opportunities Scenario Chris opens an opportunity for a contact who requested more information about several products. To estimate where the prospect might be in the sales cycle, she sets the stage to "Needs Assessment" and selects the products the contact is interested in. As an incentive to purchase the products, Chris offers a discount on products purchased within the next two weeks. See the following topic(s) in Help Adding and discounting opportunity products or services Changing estimated closing dates of opportunities Editing or deleting opportunities Opening opportunities Viewing and Exporting the Opportunity List From the Opportunity List, you can view and print a list of your opportunities and the opportunities of other users. All users, regardless of role, can view the Opportunity List. Note: If you do not have access to the contact associated with a public opportunity, the opportunity does not display in the list. You can filter the list of opportunities so that you see only certain opportunities, such as opportunities that have been closed and won. You can also export a list of opportunities to Microsoft Excel. To do this, you must have Microsoft Excel 2000, XP (2002), or 2003 software installed, and you must have a Standard or above role. To export a list of opportunities 1. On the navigation bar, click Opportunity List. 2. Filter the opportunities using the filters. 98 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

117 Closing Opportunities or Changing the Status to Inactive 3. On the toolbar, click the Export to Excel tool. 4. Click Open. The list displays in Microsoft Excel. You can click the Opportunities Pivot Chart tab to view a pivot chart of the opportunities. You can also view an opportunity pipeline or graph. See Chapter 13, "Forecasting and Reporting Opportunities." See the following topic(s) in Help Exporting and viewing lists of opportunities Filtering opportunities from the Opportunity List Closing Opportunities or Changing the Status to Inactive You can close an opportunity (for example, when the sale is complete) or make it inactive. When you close an opportunity, you can specify your reason for closing it. If necessary, you can reopen a closed opportunity, changing the Open Date to the current date and the Close Date to None. Administrator or Manager users can delete any opportunity. Standard users can delete opportunities that they are the Record Manager of. Tracking Sales See the following topic(s) in Help Closing and reopening opportunities User s Guide 99

118 Opening and Managing Opportunities Follow-up Activities for Opportunities You can schedule a follow-up activity related to an opportunity. In the Opportunity dialog box, click the Follow Up button, and details from the opportunity are automatically included in the activity. See the following topic(s) in Help Scheduling follow-up activities 100 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)

119 Chapter 13 Forecasting and Reporting Opportunities Visual representations of opportunities, such as pipelines or graphs, help you manage your sales. In this chapter, you will learn to: Create an opportunity pipeline or graph. Run opportunity reports. Forecasting Opportunities You can create an opportunity pipeline or graph, which are visual representations that help you forecast and manage opportunities. For example, you can view the pipeline to see the number of opportunities you have in each stage in a process, and then look up the opportunities you have at a specific stage. Tracking Sales Creating Opportunity Pipelines An opportunity pipeline shows the number of open opportunities at each stage for a specific process. You can print the pipeline. To create a pipeline 1. On the navigation bar, click Opportunity List. 2. On the toolbar, click the Opportunity Pipeline tool. 3. In the Opportunity Pipeline Options dialog box, complete the following: - Under Create graph for, select the contact or lookup option for creating the graph. - Under Display data for sales managed by, select All users or Selected users. If you chose Selected users, select the users from the list. User s Guide 101

120 Forecasting and Reporting Opportunities - From the Process list, select the opportunity process to create a graph for. - To change the color for a stage, double-click the color to change, and then select a new color. - In the Header/Footer fields, type the information to appear in the header and footer of the graph. 4. Click Graph. The Opportunity Pipeline appears. Creating Opportunity Graphs You can graph opportunities for a specific date range, user, status, and value (total value or total quantity), and you can specify the type of graph that appears, such as a line graph or bar graph. You can print the graph. 102 ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0)