follow up flag list

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Guest

I am trying to use Business Contact Manger for simple follow up and getting
frustrated. What I want to do is set follow up flags for accounts as I
prospect (such as Call Back on 10/11/04 for meeting) then be able on a daily
basis see what flags are open that day and are still open from previous days.
Is this possible? From other postings I see that when I set a day/time for
a flag it SHOULD remind me if I have outlook open. Does NOT. Outlook is open
now and I have a flag I keep resetting and watching the time pass with no pop
up.

This really is a very simple and normal use for a contact manager. Might
even work using tasks IF I could create a task from an account or Business
Contact record.

Any suggestions? A contact manager is supposed to help me schedule my day,
having to read through a list of Accounts sorted by follow up flag sucks.

Thanks

Ric
 
The current version of OL only pops up alerts for flags in the default
message store - that does not include BCM. A third party program will do it,
though - take a look at http://www.slovaktech.com/.

You can create tasks from BCM Contacts and Accounts - I do it all the time.
What problems are you having?

John
 
John,

Thanks, I will look at the product you suggest. My problem is pretty
simple. I want to set a follow up flag and be able to see a list of them.
It would make sense to have them appear in Outlook Today, or have a sort
option for the contact by account (instead of only sort by follow up flag,
maybe show follow up flags by day?). Pretty normal to use a CRM tool to
remind yourself who you are supposed to call today AND be able to look ahead
say to Friday to see who you are supposed to call then so you can should you
need to change etc.

Seems totally stupid to me to have a follow up flag that does nothing. What
is the purpose of the Due By selection? Wouldn't it seem obvious that this
should interface with a calendar?

THanks for any help/advice. I will check out that software. Thanks!
 
I've just installed BCM and I'm trying to do the same thing. I wish I
could sort the contact list by follow-up due date.

Alternatively, I'll try using tasks (Ric, you can add a task under
"history" for a contact) but it's not very elegant. If I add a task
such as "Send sales brochure", a task "send sales brochure" shows up
on my to-do list, but it is difficult to trace it back to the original
contact/opportunity/account.

Any suggestions?
 
Vic and Ric:

Regarding tasks, that is unfortunately the way BCM works. I usually typed
the related contact/account/opportunity into the subject of the task and/or
linked to the contact/account using the contacts link at the bottom of the
form - an annoying amount of extra work. I speak in the past tense because
I'm forgoing BCM and moving back to generic OL, due to issues like this and
not knowing if or when BCM will be upgraded.

As to the flags, that is also just the way BCM is. For some reason you can
not display the flag date. In generic OL you can - another reason for me to
move back...

John
 
Guys,

I tried using tasks also, what a pain. Really no point in using BCM as a
CRM if it takes that much effort.

How do we get Microsoft to understand that if you set a flag you want it to
show up in a calendar AND that you should be able to sort? Arrggh. Do you
think they have anyone giving them feedback on this stuff? Idiots! Guess I
will dump this crap and buy from someone who builds a real personal CRM.

Thanks for confirming that this doesn't work!

Good luck to you both.
 
Ric:

You can post a "Suggestion for Microsoft" to this list. I would like to
assume that someone from MS monitors the list, but I have no idea. Some of
the OneNote developers are active on the OneNote list, which is pretty nice.
I haven't seen any activity on this list from anyone on the BCM team (if it
is still in existance).

Having used BCM since it came out a year ago, I feel that it is a nice step
in the right direction; it just needs a little bit of extra tweaking. Maybe
MS fears a slightly tweaked, free BCM would become to much competition for
the not-free MS CRM.

As for another product, if you want to stay within Outlook you should look
at Prophet (www.avidian.com) or TabTag (www.tabtag.com). Outside of Outlook,
the latest version of ACT! looks nice...

John
 
John-

I too am having problems setting follow-up tasks and reminders, although my
problem is not that I cannot set-up the task or reminder, but rather I am
unable to link it to the contact record in BCM. In other words, when the
reminder pops up for the task and I click on Open Item, it does not take me
into that contact record, where I can record the conversation in the Phone
log, etc. and schedule a next step, meeting, follow-up task, etc.

I have followed the instructions to try to Save to History and Select Name,
but the Contact record chosen does not appear when I hit Open Item
subsequently.

Any simple, intuitive suggestions on how to use the Actions drop down or
Items or Business Contact History to link reminders and tasks to specific
records?

Thanks,

Pete
 
Pete:

If I understand you correctly, that is one of the most annoying flaws (for
me at least) with BCM. The only way to see who or what the task is linked to
is to click on the drop-down next to "Link to History", randomly pick
"Business Contacts", "Accounts", or "Opportunities", then click on the
"Select ..." button next to the name drop-down. That opens a window in which
you can see all the BCM items linked to the task. You can't click on any to
take you to an item, but you can at least see what is linked to it. IMHO,
this is too extremely convoluted for day-in and day-out use.

I took to typing or copy/pasting into the task subject the Business Contact,
Account, or Opportunity to which the task was linked. Also, if it was a
contact or account I would link to it in the Contacts box at the bottom of
the task form. That gives you quick double-click access to the appropriate
contact/account. Again, way too much work, and I've finally grown weary of
it all.

I think the MS BCM team did a pretty good job, but it seem to me they lacked
sufficient adult supervision (real user input) when settling on the feature
list for this first version. Hopefully there will be another version
someday...

John
 
Hi, This posting has been very helpful to me (to realize that I'm not going
crazy, that a BCM should be able to MANAGE future contacts . . it's just a
bug) I did send the suggestion on the MS . . . Due By doesn't even appear in
the list . . .

BUT, I wanted to share my "work around" to this situation . . it's a bit
cumbersome, but not too bad. I use the anniversary field on the detail page
as the follow up date, and jsut change it.
Thanks.
Annette
 
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