Fix: Issues when installing .Net Framework 3.5

One error that sometimes occurs when installing/upgrading Act!, and many other products, is during the install/upgrade of MS SQL Server.

For Act! installs/upgrades, the typical error you might receive is as per this knowledgebase article: "Act! pre-requisite has encountered a problem and needs to close." When Installing Act!

This error is not an Act! issue, but an issue installing MS-SQL on Windows operating systems from Windows 8 onwards, when the .Net Framework v3.5 isn’t enabled or has a problem with its setup.

You can also get similar issues updating SQL Server 2014 or adding Roles when the .Net 3.5 install lacks the right service pack.

The first step is to try enabling the Framework manually via the Control Panel.

Installing .Net 3.5 via Control Panel

As per this Microsoft article, you can enable the .NET Framework 3.5 through the Windows Control Panel. This option requires an Internet connection.

1. Press the Windows key Windows on your keyboard, type "Windows Features", and press Enter. The Turn Windows features on or off dialogue box appears.

2. Select the .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0) check box, select OK, and reboot your computer if prompted.

You don't need to select the child items for Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) HTTP Activation and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Non-HTTP Activation unless you're a developer or server administrator who requires this functionality.

Troubleshooting .Net 3.5 Installation Failure

During installation, you may encounter one of these errors 0x800f0906, 0x800f0907, 0x800f081f, or 0x800F0922.

Or you might get the error “The following feature couldn’t be installed, The source files could not be found”.

Or, on Server 2012, you might get “Do you want to specify an alternate source path? One or more installation selections are missing source files on the destination server”

Microsoft covers some of the basics in this article. However, as it misses fixes for some of the errors and is, in my opinion, incomplete, I thought I would document my preferred solutions.

Check the System and Security Action Centre

1. Hold the Windows Key and press R
2. In the Run dialogue, type: wscui.cpl
3. If you see any warnings, you should resolve them.

Using DISM and an SFC/DISM Scan

Try installing via DISM to enable the .Net 3.5 Framework:

1. Open a Command or PowerShell Prompt as an Administrator – Press Windows Key + X to open Win + X menu and choose Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin) from the menu.
2. When the Command Prompt starts, changing “X” for the drive of your Windows ISO.
   DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:X:\sources\sxs
3. The operation will now start. Keep in mind that it can take a while to finish, so don’t interrupt it.

If that fails, perform an SFC scan, by doing the following:

1. From an Administrator Command Prompt
2. sfc /scannow and press Enter.
   
3. SFC scan will now start. Keep in mind that SFC scan can take about 15 minutes to finish, so don’t interrupt it.

Once the SFC scan is finished, try to install .NET Framework 3.5 again.

If it doesn’t work, you might have to perform DISM scan as well.

To do that, just follow these steps:

1. Open Command Prompt as administrator.
2. Now run each of the following commends:
1. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
2. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
3. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

The scans can take more than 15 minutes to complete, so be sure not to interrupt them

Once you complete the DISM scan, reboot and try to install .NET Framework 3.5 again.

Installing from a Clean ISO

Sometimes, the Windows files you have can be damaged. In that case, you need to follow these steps

Download the Windows Media Creation Tool

1. For Windows 10 users, download the Windows Media Creation Tool, which is a tool that helps you create a Windows 10 ISO. If running Windows 8.1, download the Windows 8.1 Installer.
2. Use the Windows Media Creation Tool to create a Windows ISO image locally.
3. When the download is complete, mount the ISO by double-clicking on it.

For Windows Server 2012 R2, you can download the appropriate Evaluation ISO

Copy the SXS folder

1. Open the mounted ISO, and go into the Sources folder.
2. There should be a folder named sxs.
3. Copy the folder to another location on your computer.
4. Right click on the copied folder, and choose Properties from the drop-down menu.
5. When the Properties window opens, click on the Security tab.
6. Select your username from the Group or user names box; check if there is a checkmark next to Read and Write in the Permissions for [Your Username] box. You could also add “Everyone” or “Domain Users” if wanting to store and run from a network share.
   
7. If you do not find the check marks, you should click on the Edit button, select your username, and check both the Read and the Write box.

Edit the Group Policy

Press Windows Key + R and enter gpedit.msc. Now press Enter or click OK. Keep in mind that this tool is available only on Pro versions of Windows 10, but there’s a way to run Group Policy Editor on the Home version of Windows.

1. When Group Policy Editor starts, in the left pane go to:
   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System.
2. In the right pane, double-click on
   Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair.
3. A new window opens.
4. Select Enabled.
5. In the Alternate source file path, enter the address of the sxs.
6. Then click on Apply and OK.
   
   Optional: Check Download repair content and optional features directly from Windows Update instead of Windows Server Update Services.
7. After making these changes, you just need to start Command Prompt as administrator and run gpupdate /force command to apply the changes.

Finally

Now it should install from an Admin Command Prompt with the command:
DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:X:\sources\sxs
Remember to change “X:\sources\sxs” to the correct location of the sxs folder.

It’s also advisable to backup your system and, if you’ve had issues like this, you might also consider:
Repairing your Windows Image

Please post to the comments if these worked for you, or if you’ve encountered this problem and these solutions didn’t help.

What CRM Experts Don’t Tell You About Winning Large Sales

Large sales, enterprise accounts, the big fish.

It’s all about the large accounts that increase profits and prestige overnight. Ever since SPIN Selling was published, sales experts have recognised that work in small sales does not transfer to large-scale deals. I will assume your team has robust sales skills once they are in the room with the prospect. Optimizing performance before and after the meeting will be our focus.

1. Preparing For Major Sales Meetings With Act!

You’ve decided to pursue a large, well-known, corporation as a client for your business. You know that landing that account will bring instant credibility throughout your region. Through networking, you have managed to identify a few managers at the company. How will you convert this information in a productive meeting?

• Do your pre-call research. Get on the phone with your customers to find out what software they are using and problems they have experienced. If you are selling technology, market research tools like BuiltWith may be helpful.
• Opportunity Notes in Act!. As you prepare for the meeting, include links to resources and notes in an Act! Opportunity for future reference. Significant sales can take weeks or months to close, so it is helpful to have these notes available beforehand.
• Hold a pre-call meeting. This step is critical if your major sales involve team presentations and coordination. A few days before your first sales call, organise a short meeting to outline what you have learned and what you plan to cover.

Sales Resource: Read Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount for additional insight on prospecting. Blount makes an excellent point with his 30-day rule. If you are disappointed with your sales results today, check your calendar from 30 days ago. For example, if you take it easy at the office in December, you will have to work extra hard in the new year to catch up!

2. Improving Major Sales Follow Up With Act!

After you hold the major sale meeting, you leave with a signed contract! Well, that might happen if you are lucky to meet an exceptionally hungry buyer. If you are seeking to close a large sale, the process takes time to close.

Disciplined follow up makes all the difference. There’s just one problem with that suggestion. Sales professionals know they need to follow up. Yet many of them get distracted with other work and sales opportunities and never get around to it. Use Act! to augment your follow up discipline.

• Set reminders. Remembering to call the next day is easy – doing so a month after a meeting is more difficult. Using Activities associated with the Opportunity in Act! helps you stay engaged with the sale.
• Connect with multiple stakeholders. Did you notice that some technical experts at the prospect’s company objected to your solution? If so, document those points in Act! and work on developing answers for them. Link all the client contacts to the Opportunity in Act!
• Use email marketing. After your initial introduction to a major sales contact, they may be interested but simply not ready to buy. Using drip-marketing or inviting them to sign up for your email newsletter are excellent ways to sustain the connection.

3. Growing and Keeping Customers Loyal With Act!

So far, I have focused on bringing new customers in the front door. That’s critical for growth especially if you just starting our breaking out of a slump. Landing new accounts is not enough. Keeping current customers happy and doing more business with them matters as well. Analyse your customers in Act to find cross-selling opportunities such as:

• Analyse your most profitable accounts. Some customers are more profitable than others. Use 80/20 analysis to identify the outliers in your profits. How can you reduce the burden generated by a high maintenance client?
• Document client review activities. Some sales professionals are good at “farming”: growing an existing account over time. To encourage this practice, ask staff to document their efforts to network and meet other people at the company. If this activity is neglected, you may lose the account if a single manager or executive leaves. Don’t wait for a problem to happen at a loyal customer before you pick up the phone.

What The Other CRM Experts Aren’t Telling You.

Why aren’t you landing more major accounts? You probably lack one of three disciplines: sales goals (you are not shooting high enough), sales strategy (you have no idea how to land the big fish) or process (you do not have the right techniques or tools). I can help you with the last of these … However, no technology can fix the other problems associated with landing big sales.

Contact me to discuss ways we can use Act! to improve your company’s sales processes and efficiency.

If you would like to help other Act! users, please post your best strategies for landing the big deals as a comment to this post.

How To Improve Customer Service With Act!

Keeping a customer engaged with your business is one of the best ways to keep your business in good health. Once your company grows beyond a few people, consistent customer service becomes more difficult. One person may consistently go the extra mile with customers while others neglect the basics. Find out how to use Act! to improve your customer service and keep customers coming back for more.

Customer Service In The News: Complaints, Competition and Attention

In a world where low prices grab our attention, does customer service matter? The answer is yes. A brief review of the press highlights the consequences of customer service.

• Avoid negative word of mouth. A quick look through your Facebook news feed, Yelp or Twitter will turn out at least a few complaints about companies. In our era, disappointed customers tend to vent their feelings quickly. A British study found: “One in four social media users in the UK has used platforms to complain within the last three months.” Preventing such complaints by improving your service standards is well worth the effort.
• Easier To Do Repeat Business. If a customer has a good experience, they are more likely to do business with you again. Take note of this example from the hotel industry: “When Leslie Ciminello arrives at the Hotel 1000 in Seattle, she knows milk and cereal will be waiting in her room’s refrigerator. Lactose-free milk and gluten-free cereal that is. It is one of the small but significant ways the hotel has kept her coming back.” (Hotels Go to Extra Lengths for the Repeat Customer). If you neglect customer service, you may be left behind by competitors eager to grow.
• Earn positive attention. Would you like your company profiled in The Sydney Morning Herald? That was a benefit American Express earned by providing top customer service. The best part? The customer service in question was delivered to someone who cancelled their service. Gaining good press even when a customer leaves you – that is a significant benefit.

It is clear that excellent customer service makes a difference. How exactly can you improve customer service? Just asking your staff to impress is one approach. What should you tell them to do? You can use Act! to devise the details of your customer service program and continue improving.

Improving Customer Service With Act!

Use the following techniques to improve customer service with Act!. Tailor these methods to the value of your customer. In the Hotel 1000 example above, they are looking for business travellers who spend significant time in hotels. Such customers deserve extra attention.

1) Identify your top customers for extra care

Your employees have limited time so you cannot afford to treat all customers in the same way. Establish a few criteria (e.g. easy to work with and highly profitable) and then make a list. These are the customers who will garner extra time and attention.

Act! Application: Add an ID/Status, Favourite check or other field for your top customer records indicating “Gold Customer” (or whichever term you prefer), so you can find those customers easily with a search.

2) Set up recurring processes to review customer feedback

McKinsey & Co is one of the world’s most successful consulting firms. Client feedback is a core component of the firm’s success. According to Herbert Henzler’s book “Pushing the boundaries: Recollections of a McKinsey consultant”, the firm’s engagement performance review is varied out every three months and includes:

What was the quality of the analyses? Did you make good use of McKinsey resources? What was the client feedback? What was the team members feedback? Which improvements were necessary and how could these be implemented?

By using this process, individual consultants and their management never go long without taking customer feedback into account. For managers, records in Act! will give you additional input to consider in assessing your staff. If your team know you will review Act! as part of your management process, they will be more likely to use it.

Act! Application: Write short Notes or History after each customer service interaction in Act!. That way, you will have the opportunity to provide feedback to your staff.

3) Design long-term customer service improvements

Some customer service issues are trying to improve in an ad hoc fashion. For instance, you may have to use a new vendor to enhance the quality of your packaging. With limited resources, how do you decide where to focus your quality improvement efforts? Take a closer look at Act! for customer service failings and opportunities.

Act! Application: Create a method to list any unresolved customer complaints or those that required management involvement to obtain a solution. Use this information to look for systemic improvement opportunities.

4) Understand why customers leave

All good things come to an end, and that includes customer relationships. When customers leave, ask your staff to find out why they left. Once you collect data for a few months, schedule a meeting to review the findings. Look for ways that improved customer service could make a difference. As a starting point, consider the most common customer service complaints according to Business Queensland:

• Faulty product. It is not enough to understand that the product broke – seek for more information so that you can make improvements.
• Incorrect descriptions of the product. If customers cannot trust you on the basics such as size and weight, how long will they keep doing business with you?
• Poor client service. This can be reduced by implementing a rotation program.
• Slow delivery. Fast delivery service from companies like Amazon have increased customer expectations.
• Inadequate response to information requests. This factor covers inquiries about account status, delivery status and beyond.
• Rude staff. Even if your product is perfect, rude or rough treatment may be all your customers remember.

Your next step:

Meet with your sales team this month to review customer service levels. Use the four points outlined in this article to prepare examples for the discussion. If you find insufficient information in your customer files or disorganised information, implementing Act! may be the solution. Contact an Act! Certified Consultant to help you implement it.

CRM Benefits for Your Sales Professionals

For company owners and managers, an effective CRM program works wonders in helping you to measure and improve your business.

What about your sales staff? What benefit does it have for them? That is the question we will explore here. After all, if management fails to “sell” CRM to the staff, you will not get much benefit from using the CRM. To make that “internal sale,” here are the key CRM benefits for sales professionals.

1. More repeat orders and business from past customers

Asking a previous customer to buy again is much easier than attracting a new one. We all know that. However, most of us lack a systematic process to maintain relationships with past customers which means repeat sales are less likely. Adopting a CRM program makes it easier to manage customer relationships by providing you with notes, order activity and reminders to get in touch with past customers.

Tip: Use Act!’s Smart Task feature to remind you to get in touch with customers. Let’s take real estate as a quick example, Set a “time delay” on the Smart Task for 3-6 months after the sale. At that point, you will be reminded to get in contact with your customer. If they are satisfied, this is an excellent time to ask for a referral or surprise them with a gift.

2. Improve sales results on complex deals

Selling to a bank or another large company is often a long and drawn out process. I have seen cases where the buying process can take months or even more than a year. With millions of dollars in revenue at stake, staying involved is well worth the effort. Just think about how complicated the process can become! Each month, you may meet new people at your target company whom all have different interests and concerns. If you fail to keep those concerns straight, you are likely to ruffle feathers and lose the order.

Keep all your data, notes and observations in the CRM makes everything much easier in a complex sale. This same process also applies to high-value professional sales such as investment management, law and accounting. Attempting to keep all of that information clear in your head is asking for failure.

3. Spend more time with customers

Every month, your managers will probably ask you for reports and other data about your sales activities. Compiling these reports is a headache that nobody wants. You may not be able to eliminate reporting entirely, but you can cut it down substantially by using Act! once you have your desired reports in place.

Tip: If you save an hour per week from administration, that time savings will not automatically translate into higher income. To achieve that benefit, use that new time on high-value activities like prospecting for your dream clients.

4. Get better leads from the marketing department

Remember the classic sales movie “Glengarry Glen Ross?”

In the scene with Alec Baldwin’s characters, underperforming salesmen complain that “the leads are weak.” Baldwin’s character tears them apart for complaining about the leads. It may be one of the most iconic depictions of sales in pop culture. Too bad it is misleading!

In reality, the value of your leads may be weak! By keeping notes on your leads in Act!, you will be able to notice patterns. You may find that inbound leads who download a white paper are much more interested in hearing from you than any other type of lead. Once you understand that point, meet with your marketing colleagues to share your experiences, so they know what to continue.

Why do better leads matter? A higher quality lead is more likely to buy and become a long-term customer. Even better, you will reduce the pain and frustration of rejection dramatically. All of these benefits are possible by thoroughly using a CRM.

5. A full CRM keeps the sales manager away

Let’s face it: nobody likes to be nagged at the office or at home. If you are disciplined in keeping your deals up to date in the CRM, you will never hear another complaint from your manager again. That means less awkward conversations at the office for you. Isn’t that peace of mind alone worth 15 minutes a day to keep your CRM notes up to date?

Tip: If your company uses a “balanced scorecard” approach to performance reviews, check to see if consistent CRM use fits with that process.

6. You can make a better case for a pay increase

How can using your company CRM consistently help you to win a raise? Your manager may want to reward good performance. However, she needs to show a business case for that decision. Revenue numbers alone may be enough in some cases. Your request will be even more compelling if you can demonstrate that you are also keeping reliable records on your customers. Keeping those records demonstrates that you are committed to the CRM program. Showing you have a repeatable process to bring in new business – as documented by your actions in Act! – helps your manager understand that you can continue to develop stellar results.

Keep Growing: Our Two Recommended Sales Books

By the way, you do not have to stop with a CRM when it comes to helping your sales staff to improve. The following two books are industry classics for a reason – you can read them multiple times and profit each time. Each book is available in print, digital or audio format so even your field reps can access the books.

SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham.

Relying on a large scale research study into effective sales practices in B2B sales, this book explains a simple process you can use to make sales over and over again. By navigating the sales conversation through the “SPIN” process, your staff will be able to make more sales. What if your team does not have enough prospects? That is where our next title comes into the picture.

The Ultimate Selling Machine by Chet Holmes.

While much of the book is aimed at company owners and managers, your sales staff can also profit from reading this book. Holmes advocates focus in the prospecting process such as creating a list of your “Dream 20” clients and then pursuing them systematically. Holmes also shows how education based marketing plays a key role in attracting prospects to your organisation.

ACT! – Configuring Your Way to Success

Sage’s Brian Mowka recently published this useful post on editing the ACT! Configuration XML file that can improve the startup speed for some users: ACT! – Configuring Your Way to Success

I hope he will publish some more posts on tweaking the XML files in ACT! to improve it's use for various users.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT! by Sage,XML

Automating backups for ACT! by Sage

One of the problems we notice is that users are not sure of the different options available to create and maintain proper backups of their ACT! data, so I thought it would provide value to list them here.

As ACT! by Sage database uses a SQL engine, it can't be backed up by simply copying the files or by using a normal backup product. The SQL service keeps a lock on the database as soon as Windows starts, even if no-one is logged into ACT!

Manual Backup

The standard function to backup a database from ACT! is: File | Backup. See:
How to back up and restore an Act! database

ACT! Scheduler Backup

Users should automate these to make sure data isn’t lost if it becomes damaged through a PC failure, virus or other problem.

In ACT! 2005 (7.0) to ACT! 2007 (9.0), only the Premium version can automate this with the ACT! Scheduler
In ACT! 2008 and later, automated maintenance and backups are also available with non-Premium builds    
You can do the attached files separately if you need to for performance or space reasons

If running Premium 2005-2007 or ACT! 2008 or later, have a look at this article to automate backups:
How to use the Act! Scheduler to automatically back up your Act! database

If backing up with the Scheduler on another PC from the database or backing up to another PC, see:
Automatic Backup Scheduled in the Sage ACT! Scheduler and Set To Save To a Network Location Hosted on Another Machine Fails

It's always good to do regular test restores to ensure the backup is working.
You can do this with use File | Restore
Then select Restore_As to restore the backup to a different name, location or onto a different machine

It's also useful to occasionally check that the "Backup" folder under the database supplemental files folder is empty. This is where ACT! places temp files during the backup process. If the backup fails, they remain there and will be included in any subsequent backups. You can delete any files in this folder unless a backup is currently in operation.

Batch File Backup

If not running Premium and not upgrading, you can do it this way.
Create an ACTBackup.bat file with Notepad as follows:

REM - Change these SET Parameters as appropriate for your system 
SET ACTSourceFolder="C:\Act\Database" 
SET ACTDestinationFolder="D:\Backups\Act\Database" 
SET XcopyOptions=/M /E /C /H /O /Y /I 
REM 
REM - Stop ACT SQL Service 
NET STOP SQLAGENT$ACT7 
NET STOP MSSQL$ACT7 
REM 
REM - Perform copy 
XCOPY %ACTSourceFolder% %ACTDestinationFolder% %XcopyOptions% 
REM 
REM - Restart ACT SQL Service 
NET START MSSQL$ACT7 
NET START SQLAGENT$ACT7 
END

With the SQL engine stopped, you can use anything to copy/backup the database and supplemental files. You could replace the XCOPY with a command line ZIP or other back-up utility.
Then run the BAT file from the Windows scheduler

While you can't restore to a different name to test it with this method, you can restore to another machine, delete the PAD file and open the ADF so it resets the machine name.

ACT! Email Backup

If using the ACT! Email client, you should also back up it's database as per:
How to Back Up and Restore Your ACT! E-mail Database

Corporate and third-party Backup

Finally, if wanting to use a proper corporate backup product that understands SQL and you have a Premium version of ACT!, you can get the SA Pass utility. This is free in Europe, but does cost in other regions - contact your local Sage office for the pricing and process.

There is a third-party product with more advanced backup and maintenance options: AutoAdmin

New Subgroups for ACT! Fanatics on LinkedIN

New sub-groups have been created under the LinkedIn ACT! Fanatics Group:

• Sales and Marketing for ACT! users
  A group to discuss general sales and marketing strategies and processes, especially as they apply to users of ACT! by Sage

• ACT! and Social Media
  A group to discuss ACT! and Social Media (Social CRM) - LinkedIN, Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo and any others

• ACT! Add-ons
  Group for ACT! users to ask questions of add-on vendors and for add-on vendors to ask users what they would like or to ask each other questions related to the SDK

• ACT! Resellers
  A group for ACT! Certified Consultants and other resellers to discuss best practices for selling, implementing and supporting ACT! by Sage

• ACT! International Advisory Council
  Council of ACT! Fanatics to discuss and evaluate technical issues within ACT! by Sage that effect international users

See the full list in the ACT! Fanatics Sub-groups

Please let me know if you have any ideas for other groups that would be useful to add

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,LinkedIN

Improve calendar performance in ACT! and other applications

Microsoft have a hotfix for Windows systems that will improve application that uses UTC dates and times - including Outlook, the Windows Event Viewer and many third-party applications.

Most date and time stamps that are created and displayed in Windows and in many applications are stored as UTC. Then, they are rendered in local time by using system APIs. Examples of these include Windows file time stamps, Outlook sent and received dates, and event logging time stamps.

Not all built-in, Windows-based applications use these newly updated APIs. However, they are available to all applications, including third-party applications. These functions are useful in many scenarios, such as a user auditing scenario in which the ability to use DST rules for previous years on a current Windows service pack is important.

Generally, if an application requires historically accurate time stamps, these functions should be used.
This update improves the performance of the functions, and enables historically accurate time-stamp lookup functionality where the application uses these APIs

Tests that have been conducted with an ACT! by Sage database have found loading 16,000 activities reduced in time from 4 minutes to 9 seconds!

The update applies to the following Windows operating systems:

• Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)
• Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• Windows Server 2008

You can read more about this update and obtain it from this Microsoft knowledge base article: Description of updates to APIs that enable Windows-based applications to retrieve historically accurate time stamps

If you download it, feel free to post here with any tests to verify improvements.

* With thanks to Sage’s Benjamin Lederer for directing me to this.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,Outlook,Performance,Windows

Updated: Getting the table structure and links from ACT! by Sage with Visio 2007

For some advanced reporting functions, you may want to figure out how all the tables in an ACT! database link together. Here is a quite powerful method to do that.

Note: This requires the ACTReader utility, which is now included with ACT! by Sage Premium 2009 11.1. If you have an earlier Premium version of ACT! (2005-2009), the Actreader is now downloadable from the ACT! Knowledgebase Article 22989. I do not think it will work with non-Premium versions.

If you have ACT! 2009, you should start by reading ACTDataDictionaryDocument.rtf. This is usually in the folder: “C:\Program Files\ACT\Act for Windows”. This will explain the content of the tables and fields.

You must be on the machine hosting the ACT! database (the server)

1. First you need to use the ActReader.exe utility to set the password:
   1. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the ACT! program directory (usually: “C:\Program Files\ACT\Act for Windows”. If using ACT! Premium for Web, then replace "Act for Windows" with "Act for Web" in the path.
   2. Locate the file ActReader.exe and double-click on it.
   3. You will get an ACT! Reader dialog box with a current password and the choice to change the password. If you do not know the current password, then create a new one and click Reset.
      You will use this password to set up the ODBC connection with ACT! Reader.
2. Create an ODBC connection for your database as per ACT! Knowledgebase Article 22989
3. Open Visio 2007 (this may work in previous versions, but I haven’t tried it)
4. Select: File | New | Software and Database | Database Model Diagram
5. Select: Database | Reverse Engineer
6. Select Microsoft SQL Server and the ODBC Database Source you created in step 2
   
7. Click Next
8. Connect to the Data Source with User: “ACTREADER” and the password you set in Step 1.
9. Select the Object Types you want to include
   
10. Select the Tables and Views you want to include – use the ACTDataDictionaryDocument.rtf to determine which you need.
    
11. Select to add the shapes
12. Click Finish.

Depending on your selections and the specs of your machine, this may take a bit of time, but you should then have a nice document with a visual view of the ACT! database structure. This can be exported to various formats available in Visio.

Here is an example image (click on image for a larger version):

If you find this useful, please post a comment to this blog and share how you’re using it.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! 2009,ACT! by Sage,CRM,database,Visio

Using Conditional Controls in ACT! Templates

Copied with permission from Linda Keating of JL Technical

[Note: This article is for a very advanced user. This is a great concept, but it may take a bit of trial and error on your part to get it to work properly. If you don’t have a good understanding of how Word’s Field Codes work you may want to invite an ACT! Certified Consultant to help you with this.]

How often have you had this thought: Wouldn’t it be great if I could use the same template to print letters that inserted custom text in the letter depending upon the value that appeared in an ACT! field. This would spare you the need of performing repetitive look-ups and mail merges.

If you set up your ACT! Word template properly, you can! Here’s an example.

A Sample Application

Let’s say you are running a fund-raising campaign and wanted to send out different letters to your individual and corporate donors. A third letter would go to your volunteers. You could perform three separate lookups and then print a separate letter to the individuals, the corporations, and the volunteers.

But here’s an easier way: Create an ACT! field called Donor Types and categorize each contact. Then perform a mail merge and let Word select which letter goes to each contact based upon the value in the Donor Type field.

This is how you set up your template so you’ll be able to print all three types of letters during a single mail merge.

Setting Up ACT!

First, you’ll need to create a new ACT! field or rename a User field to Donor Type. Then you must tag each record as either Individual, Corporation, or Volunteer.

ACT!Tip: To add the fields to the ACT! database, select Edit, Define Fields, and click the New Field button. You can also rename any of the User 1-15 fields if you are not using them for other data.

Remember: Once you’ve added new fields to your ACT! database, you need to add them to your layout in order to view them. You open ACT!’s Layout Editor by selecting Tools, Design Layouts. If you haven’t customized your ACT! layout yet, you should review the ACT! documentation.

Create the Custom Insert Text

Next you need to create the Word document files that contain the text for each of the letter types. It should be formatted as you want it printed. For this article I’ve used files named Example1.doc, Example2.doc, and Example3.doc.

WordTip: If the text is short, you can insert the text directly into the conditional command. I have found it easier to maintain separate files.

Create a Template

The third step is to design a basic template. You can create a new template by selecting File, New from the ACT! menu and then Microsoft Word – Template.

ACT!Tip: You can also start with a template you’ve already customized for things such as margins, headers, footers, and so on. This is done by selecting Write, Edit Document Template. Don’t forget to do a File, Save As before making your modifications.

Insert the Condition Controls

When entering control statements, you need to have the Word options set so you can see the Field Codes. You do this by selecting Tools, Options and then selecting the Show Field Codes option on the View tab. (You can also press Alt+F9 to Show/Hide Word’s Field Codes.)

This is how you insert Word fields:

1. Place your cursor at the position where you want to insert the conditional statements. From the Word menu select Insert, Field. The Field box appears. From the Field Names column select IF and uncheck the Preserve Formatting During Updates option. Select OK and return to your template. You should now see {IF } on your screen.

2. Place your cursor one space after the IF and enter a pair of quotation marks ("").

3. Place your cursor between the quotation marks and enter the ACT! field from ACT!’s Mail Merge Fields box. In this example it’s the Donor Type field.

4. Now insert an equal sign (=) and type "VOLUNTEER". (Note the quotes.) The expression should now look like this:
{IF "[[Donor Type]]"="Volunteer" }.

5. Place your cursor to the right of "Volunteer" and select Insert, Field and then select INCLUDETEXT from the Field Names list. Uncheck the box "Preserve Formatting During Updates" and click OK. (This tells Word what to do if the condition is True or False. The action in the first string will occur if the condition is True, otherwise the second string is used. In this example we’re going to insert text from a file.

6. Enter the path for your file — "C:\\act\document\\Example1.doc" — one space to the left of the INCLUDETEXT statement and enclose it in quotes. NOTE: the path must have double back-slashes.

7. The final step is to put a double quote ("") between the right french bracket that closes the INCLUDETEXT statement and the right french bracket that closes the IF statement. These quotes tell Word to do nothing if there is no match.

WordTip: Copy and paste this expression into the template, change the condition text and insert document name to create the rest of the choices.

After you’ve completed the template and you’re satisfied, you need to turn off the Show Field Codes option by select Tools, Options from Word’s menu, or press Alt+F9. 

Merging Your Letters

To perform the mail merge you must first perform a lookup to locate all the donors that you want to send the letter to. Select Write, Mail Merge and select your template. Select the send output to Printer option (this is a MUST).

ACT!Tip: If you select the Send Output to Word Processor when you are
generating the Mail Merge from ACT!, the conditional statements will not work after the first page. To test the template, you should select a small sample and print directly to the printer.)

Things To Watch For

Because ACT! inserts the text from the database and formats it as you have specified with the Edit, Define Field settings, you need to be certain to specify Word’s compare options properly.

For example, Word allows you to force all text to upper case for the purpose of comparing. There are other options for dealing with numeric comparisons. You should refer to Word’s manual or Help instructions for these settings.

Some Other Things You Can Do

Here are some additional ways you can use Word’s conditional statements:

• If the company address is empty, than the mailing will go to the home address.
• If the quantity is 500 or greater an additional discount of 5 percent is offered, otherwise the standard discount applies.
• Replace the True/False field from a check box with ticked or unticked checkboxes

Technorati Tags: ACT!,CRM,Word,Conditional

Why ACT! Premium for Web isn’t supported on Microsoft SBS 2008

I did know that ACT! isn’t supported on SBS 2008 as per the System Requirements, but didn’t know exactly why it can’t be till I saw this post about a Microsoft bug: http://forums.iis.net/p/1151288/1877461.aspx.

ACT! Premium for Web 2009 uses IIS6 compatibility features and on 64bit, this requires the 32bit functionality enabled which is broken in SBS 2008 as per the post above.

In addition, I’ve been told not to remove RPC/HTTP as suggested in the article as this appears to cause a cascading failure. RPC/HTTP will not function even when re-installed.

The current word from Sage is “ACT! Premium for Web 2009 was / is not supported on this operating system as it wasn't released until November 2008 whereas APFW2009 came out in August.  There are no current plans to support this.” Although, based on past experience, if MS fix their bug, it’s likely Sage will QA test this and hopefully certify it for ACT! 2010 (12).

I have heard of users with ACT! Premium 2009 (non web) who have run without issues on SBS 2008. So, if you need to, you might try it… but remember, it’s not officially supported and any issues may be difficult or impossible to resolve.

On a more general note, I typically find SBS to be a problem. Running a Domain Controller, Exchange Server and web server on the same server is a security and resource disaster waiting to happen and should be avoided if at all possible.

Technorati Tags: ACT! 2009,ACT! Premium for Web,SBS 2008,IIS

Free ACT! by Sage video training.

Sage has a number of ACT! training videos that are useful for new users. While they don’t (and shouldn’t) replace the use of a good trainer, they can be complimentary and used for brushing up on some of the areas later. I thought I would post links to them here.

ACT! by Sage and ACT! Premium:

ACT! Workspace Activities Customization Dashboard Dashboard Designer Finding Information Groups & Companies Handheld Link Installation or Handheld Contact Importing Contacts

Mail Merge Opportunities Outlook Integration Printing Setting up E-mail Setup Assistant Sharing Databases Synchronizing Writing a Letter

ACT! features for ACT! for Web:

• ACT! Workspace
• Activities
• Finding Information
• Groups & Companies
• Opportunities
• Outlook Integration

GL Computing also offers full reseller training and Consultant training.

Please contact us for for more information.

Technorati Tags: ACT,Sage,CRM,Training

Sharing ACT! – Network or Sync (Part 2)

Synchronisation is done when users need remote access to the database. This means they will operate on a local copy and have the ability to send/receive any changes made with their copy to a master copy. They may have access to all the data, or maybe just a subset of the data that they need.

Typically, the the times when you need to implement sync will be for uses like these:

• Users who operate from remote offices or from home
• Laptop users who need to work on the road
• Hosting the main database with an external provider (possibly use Premium for Web) and syncing to a copy for better control of imports/exports and mail merges.
• PDA or smart phone users with devices such as Blackberry, Pocket PC or iPhone

It is important to note that these instructions will try to explain the different options to make it easier for you to make your selection. But while it is certainly possible for a user with enough time to set this up, you’ll nearly always get a better implementation set up in less time if you involve an ACT! Certified Consultant. See How to pick the right CRM consultant?

PDA or Smart Phone users should use Handheld Contact as it is the most reliable solution. For some of it’s advantages, see: Why Handheld Contact for ACT! and PDAs

For the other uses, ACT! has a built in sync. For this to be successful, you must make sure that every user is on the same exact build of ACT! (check the full build in Help | About) and, if using a sync server, that this is also of the same build. When a new update, patch or hot fix is released, you need to be sure to apply to all systems and sync server

To set up sync, first you need to have set up the shared database on the LAN as per the previous Sharing ACT! – Network or Sync (Part 1)

Then you determine what data is to be in each Subscriber (remote) database. You do this by creating sync sets as per ACT! KB 14072. You could use the same sync set for each remote user, or have different ones so each remote site only has the data it needs.

Note all users’ My Records will always be sent to all the remote databases – and all their extended data (notes, histories, embedded or attached emails, sales ops, etc). If you need the extended data in My Records to be hidden from other users, please contact GL Computing for a security plug-in we developed to secure this data

Next, you create the Remote databases (you need a separate database for each remote). This is done as per ACT! KB 14116

Then you need to determine the way the remotes will connect to the master. There are three options:

Application Sync

• This is the only option available if you do not have a Premium version of ACT!
• Synchronisation this way requires that ACT! on the system hosting the Publisher database is open and logged into the database in order to sync.
• Set up is fairly easy as per: ACT! KB 15192
• For remote database that don’t come in and connect on a LAN, have a look at the VPN link below
• To sync without having the Publisher open and logged in, you will need to use ACT! Premium and one of the options below

Network Sync

• Uses a Network Sync server that runs as a service
• Sync service means that you don’t need ACT! open and running on the Publisher database in order for Subscriber databases to sync with it.
• Basic set up is the same as for Application Sync, but you use the Network Sync service, which you setup as per ACT! KB 22977
• Normally, this is used for users who come into the office to sync, or who connect to the office LAN via VPN
• It can also be configured to connect over the internet as per ACT! KB 17536 – if security is a major issue, this Sync server can be in a DMZ if your firewall has that ability.

Internet Sync

• Uses a sync services that provides access via an IIS web server
• This option has similar advantages to using the Network Sync service, but can be a bit more complex to set up. To do this, the instructions are as per ACT! KB 22978

VPN

• Sometimes, with Application or Network sync, you may want to set up a VPN for added security or to make it easier to get past a firewall. If you don’t have a VPN system, you can use Hamachi® VPN as per ACT! KB 23333

There is much more to sync when it comes to troubleshooting, understanding the sync panel and the sync logs. But the information in this post should hopefully give you the basics. Please add a comment if you think there’s anything extra that you’d like added.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,Sync,synchronization

Sharing ACT! – Network or Sync (Part 1)

A lot of users new to ACT!, especially those who don’t get the benefit of a consultant, seem confused between when to share on a network and when to sync… or, in fact, how to do either. So I thought I would attempt to explain the various options and include instructions on how to implement them.
The first misconception some people have is that these functions can only be done with the “Premium” or “Workgroups” editions (depending on the version or country). This is wrong. The Premium version does have some additional options, but even the standard ACT! by Sage product can do both.
As always, I recommend that users speak to a Certified Consultant before commencing your implementation, especially with database design and setting up synchronisation and learning how to get the most out of ACT!

Setting up the database server:

The usual place people need to start is with setting up ACT! on a “server” – that is, the machine that will host the ACT! database. In a small environment (< 5 users), this may be a user’s machine.

Note: ACT! is a client/server product. That means the full application MUST be installed on system hosting the database locally.

Usually, one of the questions a user will as is “What sort of server does ACT! need?” Well, that depends on a number of factors that you should provide to your consultant to determine this:

• How many ACT! users will there be?
  • How many on the LAN
  • How many via Web (if any)
  • How many remote (if any)
• Will you have a server?
  • If yes, will the server be dedicated to ACT! or shared with other services?
  • If shared with other services, what services and how busy are they?

Once you have selected the machine to host the database, you need to install ACT!. I recommend doing it this way:

• Perform a Selective restart with MSCONFIG as per ACT! KB 14499
• Install ACT! from the CD
  • ACT! by Sage 2009 as per ACT! KB 22947
  • ACT! by Sage Premium (EX Edition) as per ACT! KB 22948
  • ACT! by Sage Premium (ST Edition) as per ACT! KB 22949
  • ACT! by Sage Premium for Web (EX Edition) as per ACT! KB 23084
  • ACT! by Sage Premium for Web (ST Edition) as per ACT! KB 23088
• Update ACT! the latest patch for your version. You can download any patches from here
• Restore from Selective Start-up Mode with MSCONFIG
• Reboot
• Open ACT! - Create, upgrade or Restore_As your database
• Share the database as per ACT! KB 13878

The most common error you might get is: "The database <Database name> could not be accessed. In order to access this database, check your network connection and verify that your database server is available. It may be necessary to disable any firewall software.” – To fix it, please follow the suggestions in that link.
If you need to set up sync to share your data with remote users (external offices, laptops, smart phones), please see Part 2

Tip - Lookup across multiple address or phone fields in ACT!

Do you have multiple address field-sets in ACT!?
Do you have multiple phone fields
Would you like to lookup up phone number or contacts in an area without having to check each field?

A little known function that you can use in Lookup | Other or Advanced Lookups is to use one of the "Any ... " fields:

• Lookup | Other
• Change the Field to "Any City", "Any Phone", etc
  

For other useful Advanced Lookup functions, have a look this ACT! Knowledge Base article