Link Contact to Multiple Accounts

[Guest]

In MS Business Contact Manager 2003 you could not link a contact to
more than one account. I thought that in 2007 they would fix this
limiting and stupid design, but it is still present. Why is it
designed like this, and is there anyway to fix it without having to go
through some multi-step work around each time I link a contact. This
is critical for my business. Let me give you an example: A Realtor having
the same title company (contact) handling several different properties
(accounts). I would appreciate any suggestions.

Matt

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Matt,

I feel your pain. I have contrived numerous, kludgey work arounds via
extended Outlook task record linking etc. This built in design limitation
restricts the BCM user to a "1-to-many" only relationship between the Account
Record and the Business Contacts. Unless you are a skilled programmer, you
will have to live with this. While it is entirely possible for there to be a
"Many-to-many" data item relationship with a SQL db, MS apparently has
decided that a more robust db platform with those types of features are best
reserved exclusively for their CRM Dynamics solution. Smaller business users
like us are not considered by MS to be a viable target user base for this
kind of functionality. There are MANY real world usage relationships where
this linking versatility would help but alas with BCM, "One size fits all."

If you just can't live with this feature missing I can recommend an
alternative SQL Express Outlook-Centric add-in solution that DOES enable this
multiple Company/Account to Contact link relationship. Check out
www.avidian.com.

Best Wishes,

-THP

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Matt,

An additional reason that has been stated over the years for this design
limitation is BCM's Communication History "roll-up" feature that lets you
view all the history of every linked Business Contact in one place within the
Account record's history. Without being too much in the know myself
regarding the programming tasks involved, apparently this would be hard to
change now that BCM is committed and known for this feature. However, I
still think that this is an unnecessary and unfortunate false trade off built
into BCM.

The Prophet Outlook SQL add-in from Avidian is an excellent solution for many.
They are releasing their newest version 4.5 by the end of this month that
will be fully Vista and Office 2007 compatible.

-THP

Matt,

I feel your pain. I have contrived numerous, kludgey work arounds via
extended Outlook task record linking etc. This built in design limitation
restricts the BCM user to a "1-to-many" only relationship between the Account
Record and the Business Contacts. Unless you are a skilled programmer, you
will have to live with this. While it is entirely possible for there to be a
"Many-to-many" data item relationship with a SQL db, MS apparently has
decided that a more robust db platform with those types of features are best
reserved exclusively for their CRM Dynamics solution. Smaller business users
like us are not considered by MS to be a viable target user base for this
kind of functionality. There are MANY real world usage relationships where
this linking versatility would help but alas with BCM, "One size fits all."

If you just can't live with this feature missing I can recommend an
alternative SQL Express Outlook-Centric add-in solution that DOES enable this
multiple Company/Account to Contact link relationship. Check out
www.avidian.com.

Best Wishes,

-THP

In MS Business Contact Manager 2003 you could not link a contact to
more than one account. I thought that in 2007 they would fix this

[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]

Matt

 

[Lon Orenstein]

Matt:

You could use Opportunities for the listing or transaction record and link
that to the contact (buyer or seller). Then, link the associated contacts
like title company person, appraiser, inspector, et al to the Opp record,
not the contact record.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Lon,

I have no intention to negate your well intentioned suggestion to use the
Opportunity record above, but if I interpret and understand Matt's situation
and your response correctly, this would NOT work because he would still be
faced with an identical "1-to-many" only linking restriction using the
Opportunity Record. The BCM Opportunity record shares this same "wonderful"
linking limitation as the Account record by allowing 1 and only 1 (either or,
not both) Business Contact or Account Record to be linked to an Opportunity
at a time!!

I have been ranting about this uncorrected BCM design oversight for almost 4
years now so it's kind of a sore spot for me.

-THP

Matt:

You could use Opportunities for the listing or transaction record and link
that to the contact (buyer or seller). Then, link the associated contacts
like title company person, appraiser, inspector, et al to the Opp record,
not the contact record.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com

In MS Business Contact Manager 2003 you could not link a contact to
more than one account. I thought that in 2007 they would fix this

[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]

Matt

 

[Luther]

Lon,

I have no intention to negate your well intentioned suggestion to use the
Opportunity record above, but if I interpret and understand Matt's situation
and your response correctly, this would NOT work because he would still be
faced with an identical "1-to-many" only linking restriction using the
Opportunity Record. The BCM Opportunity record shares this same "wonderful"
linking limitation as the Account record by allowing 1 and only 1 (either or,
not both) Business Contact or Account Record to be linked to an Opportunity
at a time!!

I have been ranting about this uncorrected BCM design oversight for almost 4
years now so it's kind of a sore spot for me.

-THP

Matt:

You could use Opportunities for the listing or transaction record and link
that to the contact (buyer or seller). Then, link the associated contacts
like title company person, appraiser, inspector, et al to the Opp record,
not the contact record.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com

In MS Business Contact Manager 2003 you could not link a contact to
more than one account. I thought that in 2007 they would fix this

[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]

Matt

Don't Projects work for connecting multiple Contacts to a single
entity?

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Luther,

YES, the new Project record in BCM version 3 DOES exactly work in this manner.
That is precisely why I continue to rant about this continued oversight with
the Opportunity record BCM v.3. This additional multiple linking section is
conveniently located right smack in the middle of the front General tab of
each Project record and is titled "Related accounts and business contacts."
What is bizarre is that both of the BCM Project and the Opportunity records
are designed from the same native Outlook Task object and yet when the
Project record was designed and added they did this right as opposed to the
Opportunity record where this feature is still missing. Someone obviously
did not think it important enough to also enable this feature with
Opportunities as well and it thus makes me wonder how much real-world sales
empathy and experience that this decision team even has. If this was
possibly an aesthetic, layout related decision, I really don't care if they
have to create another tab area of the Opportunity record to view these
multiple Contacts.

From a sales usage standpoint, the BCM Opportunity record should be the most
robust and feature rich among all of the tools in the BCM arsenal. It is
better than previous versions but still lags behind with dumb oversights like
this.

Based entirely upon the newer v.3 BCM Project record design, we know that
this CAN be done with Opportunities. The question is how many future
versions will pass before it ever happens?

-THP

Lon,

[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]

- Show quoted text -

Don't Projects work for connecting multiple Contacts to a single
entity?

 

[Luther]

Luther,

YES, the new Project record in BCM version 3 DOES exactly work in this manner.
That is precisely why I continue to rant about this continued oversight with
the Opportunity record BCM v.3. This additional multiple linking section is
conveniently located right smack in the middle of the front General tab of
each Project record and is titled "Related accounts and business contacts."
What is bizarre is that both of the BCM Project and the Opportunity records
are designed from the same native Outlook Task object and yet when the
Project record was designed and added they did this right as opposed to the
Opportunity record where this feature is still missing. Someone obviously
did not think it important enough to also enable this feature with
Opportunities as well and it thus makes me wonder how much real-world sales
empathy and experience that this decision team even has. If this was
possibly an aesthetic, layout related decision, I really don't care if they
have to create another tab area of the Opportunity record to view these
multiple Contacts.

From a sales usage standpoint, the BCM Opportunity record should be the most
robust and feature rich among all of the tools in the BCM arsenal. It is
better than previous versions but still lags behind with dumb oversights like
this.

Based entirely upon the newer v.3 BCM Project record design, we know that
this CAN be done with Opportunities. The question is how many future
versions will pass before it ever happens?

-THP

[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]

- Show quoted text -

Don't Projects work for connecting multiple Contacts to a single
entity?

Perhaps having a sales opportunity with more than one customer was
more confusing to more users, than the number of users who sell an
item to multiple customers.

I see in Microsoft Accounting that users can only send an invoice,
etc, to a single customer, so this limitation is not unique to BCM.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Multiple linking functionality for the Sales Opportunity record has little to
do with how many items get sold or to how many customers. Regardless of the
number of items or buyers involved, most opportunities involve a number of
secondary decisionmakers and influencers that are also communicated with.
There is nothing really confusing about this. Most opportunities may involve
a single customer entity (organization or person) but the decision for that
single entity to buy or not to buy often involves many others too. This is
true and very common for both product or service related sales among both
large and small business sales opportunities.

It is not really about how many customers there are but rather how many other
business contacts play a role in the successful unfoldment of an opportunity
process. With powerful search features now with Vista and Outlook, it is not
the end of the world for the BCM Opportunity record to be so restricted in
its linking. It is just needlessly inconvenient. Navigation and ease of
usage are hindered.

Before any future release I would recommend that a wide ranging test group of
non-tech outside users be formed to agressively run BCM through their real
world use paces. They can then report what works well vs. less well in terms
of navigation and workflow. This type of non-tech beta feedback would likely
flush out more of these kinds of crazy maker limitations.

Then again, maybe I am just the odd duck out here in the real world with my
particular BCM complaints.

-THP



-THP

Luther,

[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
Perhaps having a sales opportunity with more than one customer was
more confusing to more users, than the number of users who sell an
item to multiple customers.

I see in Microsoft Accounting that users can only send an invoice,
etc, to a single customer, so this limitation is not unique to BCM.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Invoicing a single "Customer" entity is indeed a common accounting practice
however, in its current design, Office Accounting will only link its customer
entity to the BCM Account record. On the BCM side of the fence, the Account
record is intentionally defined by MS as an Organization and not a Person.
Unless a user breaks free of this MS assumed, "one-size-fits-all" restrictive
definition, one is left wondering how to connect a single person (non-
organization) to the Accounting side's customer entity. Solution: You can't
relate a single person business contact as an Office Accounting Customer
unless you are willing to name an Account record as an individual contact
name in ADDITION to the MS prescribed use of the Account record as being
intended for organizations only.

The current BCM and Office Accounting configuration is slanted toward the
usage assumption of managing mainly product sales only between one business
ORGANIZATION to another business ORGANIZATION. If the "customer" in your
particular marketplace for your products and or services is a PERSON, you
have to adapt your thinking in order to accomodate BCM's designed data items
and how they are allowed to link (or NOT link) together.

-THP

Multiple linking functionality for the Sales Opportunity record has little to
do with how many items get sold or to how many customers. Regardless of the
number of items or buyers involved, most opportunities involve a number of
secondary decisionmakers and influencers that are also communicated with.
There is nothing really confusing about this. Most opportunities may involve
a single customer entity (organization or person) but the decision for that
single entity to buy or not to buy often involves many others too. This is
true and very common for both product or service related sales among both
large and small business sales opportunities.

It is not really about how many customers there are but rather how many other
business contacts play a role in the successful unfoldment of an opportunity
process. With powerful search features now with Vista and Outlook, it is not
the end of the world for the BCM Opportunity record to be so restricted in
its linking. It is just needlessly inconvenient. Navigation and ease of
usage are hindered.

Before any future release I would recommend that a wide ranging test group of
non-tech outside users be formed to agressively run BCM through their real
world use paces. They can then report what works well vs. less well in terms
of navigation and workflow. This type of non-tech beta feedback would likely
flush out more of these kinds of crazy maker limitations.

Then again, maybe I am just the odd duck out here in the real world with my
particular BCM complaints.

-THP

-THP

On Jun 11, 11:17 am, "mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com" <u8453@uwe>
wrote:

[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]

I see in Microsoft Accounting that users can only send an invoice,
etc, to a single customer, so this limitation is not unique to BCM.

 

[Luther]

Invoicing a single "Customer" entity is indeed a common accounting practice
however, in its current design, Office Accounting will only link its customer
entity to the BCM Account record. On the BCM side of the fence, the Account
record is intentionally defined by MS as an Organization and not a Person.
Unless a user breaks free of this MS assumed, "one-size-fits-all" restrictive
definition, one is left wondering how to connect a single person (non-
organization) to the Accounting side's customer entity. Solution: You can't
relate a single person business contact as an Office Accounting Customer
unless you are willing to name an Account record as an individual contact
name in ADDITION to the MS prescribed use of the Account record as being
intended for organizations only.

The current BCM and Office Accounting configuration is slanted toward the
usage assumption of managing mainly product sales only between one business
ORGANIZATION to another business ORGANIZATION. If the "customer" in your
particular marketplace for your products and or services is a PERSON, you
have to adapt your thinking in order to accomodate BCM's designed data items
and how they are allowed to link (or NOT link) together.

-THP

Multiple linking functionality for the Sales Opportunity record has little to
do with how many items get sold or to how many customers. Regardless of the
number of items or buyers involved, most opportunities involve a number of
secondary decisionmakers and influencers that are also communicated with.
There is nothing really confusing about this. Most opportunities may involve
a single customer entity (organization or person) but the decision for that
single entity to buy or not to buy often involves many others too. This is
true and very common for both product or service related sales among both
large and small business sales opportunities.

It is not really about how many customers there are but rather how many other
business contacts play a role in the successful unfoldment of an opportunity
process. With powerful search features now with Vista and Outlook, it is not
the end of the world for the BCM Opportunity record to be so restricted in
its linking. It is just needlessly inconvenient. Navigation and ease of
usage are hindered.

Before any future release I would recommend that a wide ranging test group of
non-tech outside users be formed to agressively run BCM through their real
world use paces. They can then report what works well vs. less well in terms
of navigation and workflow. This type of non-tech beta feedback would likely
flush out more of these kinds of crazy maker limitations.

Then again, maybe I am just the odd duck out here in the real world with my
particular BCM complaints.

-THP

-THP

On Jun 11, 11:17 am, "mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com" <u8453@uwe>
wrote:

[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]

I see in Microsoft Accounting that users can only send an invoice,
etc, to a single customer, so this limitation is not unique to BCM.

Both BCM and MOA have Accounts and Customers, respectively, which are
entities with whom sales and monies are exchanged, and then child
Contacts, people associated with those entities. So at least they are
consistent with each other in that regard. I believe MSCRM also has a
similar schema.

I agree that it is confusing to businesses that only deal with people
to have a separate Account to bill the person and a Business Contact
getting in touch with the same person.