Outlook Sync Feature Request

[stsanford]

I'm thinking of syncing Outlook, but the amount of non-business related records has stopped me in my tracks. Why not allow CommitCRM to sync over specific CATEGORY records?
For example, in my database in Outlook, I have Vendors, Clients, Students, Competitors, Colleagues and Restaurants. I would like to have Vendors, Clients and Colleagues in my CommitCRM DB.

Any chance of this sometime soon?

Another feature request would be the availability to merge one Account with another, where lets say the following:
Company A
Company B

Company A
Company B as Contact.

Thanks!

[ajgyomber]

Re: Outlook Sync Feature Request

Outlook contacts marked private will not be added toCommitCRM. You will need to go through all your contacts and check the private box for all you do not wish to appear inCommitCRM. That will fix your problem.

[stsanford]

Re: Outlook Sync Feature Request

We have a number of users using shared contacts in Outlook and GoldMine, both of which sync, marking as Private will not work for us.
Thanks for the help though.
Scott

[OSG_Dan]

Re: Outlook Sync Feature Request

I believe the original request is something which should be seriously considered. The control outlined here (as well as to an initial query as eval) is inadequate.
There should be a way to filter contacts within CommitCRM that will synch out to Outlook. ID'ing individual records as private can be laborious.

To add more robustness to the CRM side, I would like to see an ability to
---filter (lookup) based on criteria (can be done)
---Add or subtract to that lookup with another lookup (don't know if this can be done)
---Be able to use groups (a function that appears missing and is crucial in a CRM package)
---Be able to selectively synch particular groups (or filters) - this should be customizeable per user.

To sell as a total package one needs to be able to filter out leads from customers (as one example) at the synch level. Right now, we have no choice but to use one package, say goldmine, saleforces, act, for lead generation / management. And then expect our sales force to begin using CommitCRM to manage accounts when leads become customers.

[Support Team]

Re: Outlook Sync Feature Request

Hi OSG_Dan,

Thanks for your interesting input. I understand your points, especially the suggestion to be able to selectively sync particular groups with Outlook. I've added your feedback to our requests system to be further considered.

While syncing does not use grouping, RangerMSP does provide great grouping and advanced filtering options, which I believe can provide a solution for your needs. For example, each Account in RangerMSP can be assigned with an Account Type. The possible types can be customized to represent the different types you wish to manage (e.g. Customer, Lead, Supplier, etc.). While managing the Account as a lead, you can set its type this way, and easily filter the account list to show only leads or only customers - depending on your needs (simply click the type filter, where it says [all types] on the Accounts Window toolbar, and select the relevant type).

This way you can manage leads as Accounts in RangerMSP, alongside with customers, and change their type when they become customers.

You can also use other account fields to create secondary groups (e.g. use Field1, and keep other grouping criteria there or even add new data fields to Accounts and design new tabs that will hold any relevant data you'll want to filter accounts by ).

As for lookup and filters - in each window in RangerMSP, including the Account list window, you can filter the list using the Filter button, and define advanced filtering and search criteria. This is a very powerful tool, which helps you to segment your accounts and review them by groups. Same filtering options are available when generating reports (click the "Advanced >>>" button in the report generation window to see all the filtering options).
Once a filter is defined, you can also save it for future use. Whenever you want to filter the accounts list again using the same criteria simply load this filter and click OK.

I hope this give a better picture of how accounts can be grouped by several parameters.

Ethan

[racassel]

Re: Outlook Sync Feature Request

Has this been further considered?
I only want to sync contacts of type CCK (Key accounts)
And Ricky Bobby only needs his (ActMgr=Ricky Bobby)

Meanwhile, I export only what I want to a seperate Outlook contact folder. it is a one way Commit->Outlook sync, but it lets me have my way with my data.

March 5th, 2009, 12:14 PM
CommitCRM Support
Thanks for your interesting input. I understand your points, especially the suggestion to be able to selectively sync particular groups with Outlook. I've added your feedback to our requests system to be further considered.

[Support Team]

Re: Outlook Sync Feature Request

Yes, this has been considered and evaluated several times. While we totally understand the logic about this and why it may help we've come to realize that it is a more time consuming programming task than it originally seems and therefore so far we've decided to spend the resources on other, more popular items. Thank you for asking.