Answer ID 12864   |    Published 07/02/2005 09:18 AM   |    Updated 04/26/2012 09:33 AM

You would like to know how to create and manage groups and subgroups in ACT!.

Introduction
Groups provide a way to categorize and organize contacts along with helping to manage relationships with accounts. Here are a couple examples of how you might use groups to manage information in your ACT! database:

• Groups as Diverse Collections of Contacts
  You can use groups as a collection of contacts that you want to view at the same time. Create groups to keep track of prospective customers, competitors, sales representatives, or personal contacts. If a group contains personal contacts, you can designate that group as private, so no one else can view the group information.
• Groups as Saved Lookups of Contacts
  A group can also serve as a saved lookup of contacts that you need to access often. For example, as a committee member, you may need to schedule meetings with other members, e-mail them, or send them memos. By creating a group for the committee, you can quickly create a lookup of all members.

Creating Groups and Subgroups:
To create a new group you must be in the Groups view:

1. To display the main Groups view, click the Groups button in the navigation bar, press F10, or click the View menu, and then clickGroups.
2. In the Groups view, there are two different ways of displaying group information:
   • From the toolbar you can select Groups to view the Group Detail information. This will show the detailed information of one group.
   • From the toolbar you can select Groups List to view a list of groups in the database.
3. Click the New Group icon or click the Groups menu, and then click New Group.
4. Type in the name of the group, and a description (if needed) as shown below.
   
5. Once completed, click the File menu, and then select Save. You will notice the Hierarchy field now contains the name of your group.

Creating Subgroups
In ACT! you have the ability to create up to 15 levels of subgroups and an unlimited number groups and subgroups at each level. To create a subgroup of an existing group or subgroup:

1. From the Groups view, click Group List icon on the toolbar.
2. If you want to create a subgroup of an already existing subgroup, check the Include Subgroups check box to display all subgroups.
3. Select the group or subgroup you wish to create a subgroup for and click the New Subgroup icon . ACT! will automatically switch back to the Group Detail view.
4. Enter the name of the subgroup and a description.
5. Once completed, click the File menu, and then click Save. You will notice the Hierarchy field now contains the name of your original group and your subgroup.
   
   Note: If you have many levels of subgroups, they will be listed in the format Main Group->Subgroup of Main Group->Subgroup of Subgroup of Main Group… and so on.

Saving a Lookup as a Group:
With ACT! you can easily save a lookup of contacts as a new group. Follow the steps below:

1. Create a lookup of contacts that you wish to be the members of the new group.
2. Click the Lookup menu, point to Groups, and then click Save Lookup as Group. The Group Detail view appears.
3. Enter the name of the new group and a description if needed.
4. Click the File menu, and then click Save.

The new group will be created and the lookup of contacts will be automatically added as a dynamic criteria. If any new contacts are added to the database that pertain to the lookup, they will be automatically added to the group. Additionally, if any group member’s fields that are associated with the saved lookup are changed to a value that no longer pertains to that saved lookup, they will be automatically removed. For more information on dynamic group criteria, refer to the section in this document titled, Creating Group Membership Criteria.
Promoting, Demoting, and Moving Groups or Subgroups:
To move, promote, or demote groups and subgroups, follow the instructions below:

1. Click the group you wish to move, promote, or demote in the Group List or ensure it is the current group in the Group Detail view.
2. Click the Groups menu, and then click Move Group.
3. Enable the Promote subgroup to group or Change to be a subgroup of: option, and then click the group you want your current group to be a subgroup of (as illustrated below).
   
   Note: The current group you are moving is listed in the title of the Move Group window. In the example above, you are designating the group called Eugene Customers to be a subgroup of Oregon Customers.
4. Click OK.

Adding Contacts to Groups or Subgroups:
After creating a group or subgroup, the next step is to add contacts (or members) to the group. A contact can belong to one or more groups or subgroups.
There are two different methods that can be used to add contacts to a group:

• Add Selected to Group – adds currently selected contacts to a group.
• Add/Remove Contacts – allows you to add and remove static contacts or create a dynamic criteria to do so automatically from the Groups view.

Add Selected to Group
The Add Selected to Group option allows you to add selected contacts to a current group. There are three views in ACT! that allow you to add the selected contacts to a group:

• Contact Detail – click the Group menu, point to Group Membership, then click Add Selected to Group.Select the group to add the current contact to. This will add only the current contact to the selected group.
• Contact List - select one or more contacts, click the Group menu, point to Group Membership, and then click Add Selected to Group.Select the group to add the selected contacts to.
• Group Detail - select one or more contacts, click the Group menu, point to Group Membership, and then click Add Selected to Group.Select the group to add the selected contacts to.

Add/Remove Contacts
When managing groups, you have the option of manually adding and removing static contacts to the group, or creating a dynamic criteria to add and remove contacts automatically. To manually add and remove group members follow the instructions below. For instructions on creating a dynamic criteria to automatically add and remove group members please refer to the section in this document titled, Creating Group Membership Criteria.

1. Open the Add/Remove Contacts window:
   1. From the Group List or Group Detail views, select the group to add contacts to.
   2. Click the Group menu, point to Group Membership, then click Add/Remove Contacts. The Add/Remove Contacts dialog will appear.
      
2. Click the Contacts button. The Contacts dialog will appear.
   
3. Click the drop-down menu at the top to Select from: All Contacts, Current Lookup, Groups, or Companies.
4. To add contacts to a group; click the contacts from the Contacts to select from list on the left, and then click the add button.
   Hint: Hold your Shift key after selecting the first contact in a list of adjacent contact records, and then click the last inclusive contact in the list to select all contact records between. Alternatively you can hold the Ctrl key and click multiple non-adjacent contact records to select them all.
   Note: Using this method, you can only remove contacts from the group that have been either been added manually or through the Add Selected to Group command. Contacts that have been added to the group automatically through a dynamic criteria will not appear on the right (Selected Contacts) side.
5. Click OK, and then click OK again to close the Add/Remove Contacts dialog.

Note: Introduced in ACT! by Sage 2010, on the Group Detail view is a total for number of members included in the Group selected. The total is located at the bottom of the Group listing (middle column).
Duplicating a Group:
Duplicating the group record creates a new group with the same group information and the same group members. Follow these steps to duplicate a group:

1. From the Group List view.
2. Double-click the group you wish to duplicate. The Group Detail view appears.
3. Click the Groups menu, and then click Duplicate. The Duplicate Group dialog appears.
   
4. Click the option that matches what data you want to duplicate:
   • Duplicate data from primary fields – copies data from the primary fields of the current group record. The default primary group fields that will be copied are: Address 1, Address 2, Address 3, City, Country, State, and Zip.
   • Duplicate data from all fields – copies data from all the fields of the current group record. This does not include the name of the group.
5. Click OK to create the duplicate group.
6. Enter a name for the new group and fill in any other fields as you require.
7. Click the File menu, and then click Save.

Note: When you duplicate a subgroup, the duplicate subgroup is also a subgroup of the same group.

Creating Group Membership Criteria:
Group membership criteria defines the conditions under which contacts are assigned to a group. You can create a criteria to dynamically add contacts to a group that pertain to a certain data set. New or modified contacts that match an already created criteria will automatically be added to the group. Contacts that are modified that no longer match the specified criteria will be automatically removed from the group.
For example, you could create a criteria for the North America group that specifies that all contacts with United States, Mexico, or Canada in the contact record’s Country field be assigned to the group.

1. From the Group List view.
2. Double-click the group you want to add a dynamic criteria to (If you are looking for a subgroup, be sure to check the box to Include subgroups). The Group Detail view opens.
3. Click the Add/Remove Contacts button. The Add/Remove Contacts dialog appears.
4. Click the Edit Criteria button. The Group Criteria dialog opens.
   
5. Select either Contact or Opportunity for the Type of field to base the criteria on.
6. Click the drop-down arrow for Field Name, and then click the field you would like to use for group membership criteria.

We are excited to finally see Sage take note of the growing trend towards a mobile workforce and cloud computing.  And while new offerings like Sage ACT Connect, Sage Premium Mobile and even ACT for Web are welcome additions, they only address a small portion of the needs that today’s mobile and remote workforce demand.

Sage is using the words Mobile, Remote, and Cloud interchangeably, and for the most part, they mean “getting ACT! on your mobile device”.

Don’t get me wrong, I can “Road Warrior” with the best, I’ve got Ipad, Iphone, Kindle, Macbook and Laptop.  But I while I love having my numbers at my fingertips and being able to fire off that email or quote from an airplane or while driving down the road, I don’t’ do my best work while mobile.  I don’t want to be distracted by screen size when I settle down for the bulk of my virtual job, and I don’t want to settle for “some of the features” of the full product.

It’s been a few years, but I was first exposed to the concept of the Virtual Desktop while doing a large corporate rollout. We have over 200 users to deploy and the IT department had settled on a Citrix solution because it was the easiest to manage.  There was no work to be done on individual workstations.  For a small IT group with the need to support some technically challenged across the country remotely a Citrix was not just a matter of convenience, it was critical.  The group they supported were some of the most productive sales teams in the country and because they brought in such big numbers, if it didn’t work, heads rolled. In fact the previous CTO had been fired because the last project went so wrong.

For this project, ACT for Web did not have the robust features our users demanded.  The ACT Sync Model, while providing many of the features, presented some technical and training challenges for our “Type A” technically challenged subjects.

A nationwide virtual desktop was the solution. It was was easier to use, much more secure and didn’t compromise on the features for portability.  Within 6 months, we had taken many of our ACT for Web clients to the ACT! Virtual desktop.  We were able to deliver the power for the Full Desktop ACT! Premium product on any device anywhere.

So, while the offering for mobile solutions for phones and looking up numbers has seen several new entries from Sage, these will most likely see full utilization only on smaller devices and for users willing to live with a “lighter” version of ACT!.

As switpage user , I learnt I have less than a minute to capture the attention of the recipient and get them to engage. It takes 15 – 30 seconds for a recipient to engage,  get the point and know what to do. Below are strategies  that  get results.

Stick to the Point
It takes 1/3 of a second for the receiver to decide whether or not to open the email, therefore the email title should get their attention. The email should be short and to the point. If an email is too long the receipt will just gloss over it, so for additional information create a link to a landing page.  If you have a high open rate and a low click through rate then this may be evidence of a long email.

Think Creatively
The human eye is naturally drawn to human images, for that reason add relevant stock imagery. Creatively place the offer in the vicinity of the image, were the receiver will not miss it. Also make sure to maintain brand consistency with all your email templates. This way the receipt is able to recognize the brand and respond quickly.

Call to Action
The goal of the email must be immediately clear, it should be the first thing the receipt  sees when they open the email. It should be placed above and below the fold if scrolling is necessary. Use a combination of buttons and text based links for the call to action. Test the buttons and text based links to see which gives  you the best results.

Give these strategies a try and let us know how it worked for you.

A few weeks ago my family and I relocated from Houston, Texas to Nairobi, Kenya were both my husband and I were born. We returned to our home country to raise our children close to family and work on the family business.

For most people moving away from the city or country where you work means  leaving your job, fortunately that was not the case for me. I am able to work in my home office in Nairobi just like I like I worked while in Houston, apart from a few exceptions. Thanks to revolutionary technology I am able to  work  approximately 8346 miles / 13431.59 km from the company head office.

The tools that make this possible – a laptop, wireless internet connection, a citrix (thin client) account and a Syke account for chat and video conferencing.

With Citrix I have access to ACT!, MS office, QuoteWerks, QuickBooks, Evernote just to name a few. I am also able to access my citrix account on my mobile phone.

With a working computer and reliable internet connection you can work from any where in the country or the world. Some of our customer using this service include traveling sales people, physicians liaisons, and mortgage professionals who work from home or branch offices.

You too can work from anywhere, just contact our office and we can get you setup.

They sound like a lot of similar terms but as America is continuingly leaving the cubicle and hitting the road, we have seen new categories of road warriors.

The Mobile Worker or Road Warrior – This person spends 10 or more hours on the road, in the car, on a plane.  It is essential that whatever device they use be small, light, power up immediately.

Remote Worker or Teleworker – typically we think of this person as those of us who have home offices.  Mine has a desktop computer with two screens, speaker phone.  The tools of the remote worker

Remote Office – This is a group of folks away from the mother ship.  An outpost office.  Many times a manufacturer will set up a remote sales office away from the IT resources of the company headquarters.  Because of the physical distance and also the fact that technical decisions are being made by some one not in the same geographic proximity, there are challenges with maintaining a technical infrastructure.

Hodgepodge – a mix of all of the above scenarios

A general rule of thumb is the more geographically dispersed a team is the more IT resources are necessary to sustain them.   Just like an army going into battle requires a supply chain to keep them equipped, so do remote and mobile workers.  The most skilled remote workforce can be brought to it’s knees by the wrong or ineffective equipment.

You have just created an ACT! database and everything has been going great!  

But now you’ve added a second user and this popped up:

Don’t worry, it just means that you have to share the supplemental files (layouts, reports, etc.)

with the other users.  All you have to do is click the “Yes” button.

For more in-depth information, check out the following tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8jeK6voUaE&feature=youtube_gdata

Deciding if hosting  is the best choice for your company is a critical task.  The checklist below is designed to assist companies like yours to make the best choice by highlighting some of the key factors involved.
Depending on your requirements or resources, this checklist will help determine if hosting makes sense.

Check the appropriate box
Yes__      No__      IT Staff (Availability/ ACT! Expertise)
Yes__      No__     Geographically Dispersed Users
Yes__      No__     Capital Availability
Yes__      No__     Customization Requirements
Yes__      No__     Large number of users
Yes__      No__     Access to the Internet
Yes__      No__     Integration with other Applications ( MS Office, QuickBooks, QuoteWerks)
Yes__      No__    Need for a Predictable IT Budget

Our Strengths:

• If you are already outsourcing your IT related needs or if your IT staff does not possess the necessary skills, our team has the expertise needed to support your ACT! environment.
• Geographically  dispersed teams  are able to access data from a central location which increases efficiency and reduces costs.
• Capital availability hosting has  low start up costs, with little or no  long term commitment.
• Our team can met your database customization needs to enable to work efficiently.
• Large number of users,  benefit  from having central administration, which is critical in managing large groups.
• Our thin client model provides access to all of your applications from nearly any device via an internet connection.  For those needing off line access, synchronization is available for several applications.
• The thin client solutions allows for  Integration with other applications such as MS Office,  QuickBooks, QuoteWerks and more.
• Our hosting packages are a fixed monthly fee allowing you to plan your  IT budget.

Something that ACT! does better than almost any other program I’ve seen is allow you to send out preformatted letters to your contacts. These can be a response to an inquiry for information, a corporate resume or a status update on a project. What ever your use, the are simple to use and very powerful. To get started, there are a couple of things that you should consider.

1) the My Record – each user of a database has a record, called a "My Record" this record contains what will become the "sent from" information in your letters and templates. You will want to make sure it’s accurate. Just Open ACT, go to Lookup, My record. The info here is you.

2) Fields you will populate your letter with. You will want to make sure you have filled these out for everyone you will be sending your letter to. Also make sure you are aware of the field name as this will help you customize your letter templates. To learn the field name of one of your fields, right click on a field you want in your letter and after the word Lookup in the pop up menu will be the field name of the field you have right clicked in.

3) doing Lookups; In ACT, the filtering of your data occurs BEFORE you send our a letter, report or print your labels.

For customizing the letter templates themselves, check our this page

If you currently own ACT 2012, we are expecting a service pack soon which will contain a new HTML 5 web client. This will make your ACT accessible from all sorts of mobile devices.  Many power users will still need the full aCT client, but this and other upcoming features have been quite exciting to hear about.

Stay tuned to this location for more details.

Hardly a week goes by where we don’t get a call with a really sad story.

How to Use the ACT! Scheduler to Automatically Back Up Your Sage ACT! Database