G
Guest
I hope someone from MS sees this post and weighs in on this information.
I've read almost all of the posts in this forum to get a grasp on BCM
reality. Some aspects of BCM seem disconcerning. But, I want to make sure
my perceptions are correct. Generally, I am a strong proponent of MS office
applications, but sometimes familiarity breeds contempt.
If you have information that either clarifies, supports or contradicts my
statements below, I hope you will take a moment to respond to this post. I
don't want to mislead people, and I am hopeful that the BCM shortcomings I've
discovered are inaccurate.
1. Similar to 'contacts', BCM does not support mapping of fields into
'user-defined' fields for import or export. the only way to move
'non-standard' fields/data into Contacts is to create the custom fields in
contacts and manually reenter the data. BCM does not allow user-defined
fields.
2. BCM allows the creation of user-defined fields, but data entry into the
user-defined fields is not possible. For example, if I want to track a field
for all of my business contacts, such as "Next Step" or "Current Status" so
that I can sort or group based upon a finite set of possible inputs, I can
add these fields to a table view, but I cannot actually enter data into the
fields.
3. When copying contacts to BCM, any 'user-defined' field data is not
copied and is not available for use in BCM.
4. Business Contact Forms cannot be customized (Tools --> Forms --> Design
--> Personal Forms Library --> Business Contact). Adding a user-defined
field to the form can be done in edit mode, but cannot be saved nor can the
form be published.
5. If you have tracked letters and other attachments using 'contacts' by
pasting them into the 'notes' field, those are lost in the copy process into
BCM. The only solution is to manually locate those attachments again and use
the 'add' button in the BCM contact form. There is no answer when dealing
with large numbers of contacts with attachments.
BTW> has anyone come up with a work around for this? I've used this to keep
track of document exchanges with clients. Unfortunately I have too many
contacts to manually locate/attach the files again.
6. Drop down list values cannot be changed (add/modify/delete) to provide
values that are more aligned with a particular small business owner need.
I know this is a 'con' list, but due to these issues, I am unable to take
advantage of the good things of BCM.
-Parker
I've read almost all of the posts in this forum to get a grasp on BCM
reality. Some aspects of BCM seem disconcerning. But, I want to make sure
my perceptions are correct. Generally, I am a strong proponent of MS office
applications, but sometimes familiarity breeds contempt.
If you have information that either clarifies, supports or contradicts my
statements below, I hope you will take a moment to respond to this post. I
don't want to mislead people, and I am hopeful that the BCM shortcomings I've
discovered are inaccurate.
1. Similar to 'contacts', BCM does not support mapping of fields into
'user-defined' fields for import or export. the only way to move
'non-standard' fields/data into Contacts is to create the custom fields in
contacts and manually reenter the data. BCM does not allow user-defined
fields.
2. BCM allows the creation of user-defined fields, but data entry into the
user-defined fields is not possible. For example, if I want to track a field
for all of my business contacts, such as "Next Step" or "Current Status" so
that I can sort or group based upon a finite set of possible inputs, I can
add these fields to a table view, but I cannot actually enter data into the
fields.
3. When copying contacts to BCM, any 'user-defined' field data is not
copied and is not available for use in BCM.
4. Business Contact Forms cannot be customized (Tools --> Forms --> Design
--> Personal Forms Library --> Business Contact). Adding a user-defined
field to the form can be done in edit mode, but cannot be saved nor can the
form be published.
5. If you have tracked letters and other attachments using 'contacts' by
pasting them into the 'notes' field, those are lost in the copy process into
BCM. The only solution is to manually locate those attachments again and use
the 'add' button in the BCM contact form. There is no answer when dealing
with large numbers of contacts with attachments.
BTW> has anyone come up with a work around for this? I've used this to keep
track of document exchanges with clients. Unfortunately I have too many
contacts to manually locate/attach the files again.
6. Drop down list values cannot be changed (add/modify/delete) to provide
values that are more aligned with a particular small business owner need.
I know this is a 'con' list, but due to these issues, I am unable to take
advantage of the good things of BCM.
-Parker