Welcome to the October 2007 issue of GoldMine FYI, the monthly newsletter created especially for GoldMine users. In this issue, you’ll find information to help you use GoldMine more effectively, details about tools to extend GoldMine software's functionality, stories about how others are using GoldMine, and announcements.

For your convenience, GoldMine FYI is organized according to topic areas. Just click on a headline to be taken to that section.

By David J. Buggy, Vice President/Partner, Beringer Associates

One of the most powerful uses of a CRM system is to implement and automate business processes. By automating best-practice business processes, you ensure things are handled consistently by all users.

First, it’s important to review and document your processes thoroughly – automating a bad process only makes it happen faster and more consistently! In our 12 years of consulting with GoldMine users, we have found this to be the most under-utilized capability of the system.

When we perform a business process review, we use simple flowcharting to visually map out the process. Below is an example of a business process:

Once you define your processes, consider the ways GoldMine automates business processes. There are two main tools to perform automation:

• Automated Processes (also known as APs)
• Macros

Each of these methods has pros and cons. Automated Processes are “programs” that run inside GoldMine. They can be simple step-by-step processes or very complex, taking into account data, the lack of data or other events to determine the actions performed.

Macros are sequences of recorded keystrokes, and therefore more limited in what they can do. One other significant distinction is that Automated Processes are “hard coded” to some degree where Macros can be more flexible.

For example, let’s say that your business process dictates that when a new lead is entered into the system a follow-up phone call is scheduled for the assigned sales rep. If you designed an automated process to perform the call scheduling, you pre-define all parameters of the call such as how many days in the future to schedule the call, the codes used on the scheduled call, etc. The user does not interact with the scheduling of the call. A Macro can pause at any time, allowing the user to change the parameters of the activity. Another difference is that an Automated Process can run with no user input, while a Macro needs to be run by a user clicking on an icon.

Below is an example of a sales process for a customer. The customer wanted to enforce consistency in its sales process and give sales people a very simple way to progress through the steps of the sales process. We determined that they needed some flexibility, giving the sales people the ability to change certain elements of each step in the process such as the particular wording in an e-mail or the date that a follow-up call is scheduled for. We recommended that both Automated Processes and Macros be used for this because they offer this flexibility.

When a new sales lead is entered into the GoldMine system, an Automated Process automatically assigns the lead to the correct sales rep by geography (zip code). The Automated Process then schedules a phone call for the assigned sales rep to contact the customer (the call is scheduled to be due immediately and set as a high priority). Finally, the system automatically emails the sales rep. to inform him or her of the lead, and includes the contact information. Because the sales staff uses wireless PDAs for email in the field, they are instantly informed when a new lead is entered.

After the initial contact with the lead, the process has 8 main steps consisting of e-mail, phone calls and appointments. We built a custom toolbar in GoldMine to display this process and the individual steps:

Clicking on the first icon generates an e-mail based on a pre-defined template. The second icon creates a follow-up e-mail, while the third brings up a pre-populated scheduled call activity, etc. Macros were used for these steps to give the user flexibility in choosing the correct action and allows them to tailor each action to the unique situation. An Automated Process would not give this flexibility; it would simply perform the action without the user’s input.

Learn More
Beringer is offering a free Web session on GoldMine Automation. To register, visit http://wwww.beringer.net/GoldminePremium.aspx. All attendees will receive documentation on developing both Automated Processes and Macros.

A certified GoldMine Solutions Partner can be extremely valuable to help define your business processes, review the available ways to implement them in the system, train your users and provide on-going support.

You can reach David by e-mail at dbuggy@beringer.net or 800.796.4854 Ext. 104. Beringer Associates is based in New Jersey and has been a GoldMine Solutions Partner for 12 years. The firm consults with businesses all over the country on the GoldMine application. To reach Beringer Associates, call 800.796.4854 or visit http://www.beringer.net.

Missing Help Topics in GoldMine

Have Help Topics gone missing in GoldMine? When opening the GoldMine Help files by clicking on the Help option, the user will see "Page cannot be displayed.”

The error is due to Windows critical update KB896358 for Windows XP, 2000, and 2003 operating systems.

Here’s how to fix the problem:

• Locate the goldmine.chm file under the root folder of GoldMine
• Right-click on the file and select Copy
• Go to your desktop, right click and choose Paste
• Open GoldMine
• Right click on the gray space in the right hand taskbar (if you do not see the taskbar on the right hand side of the contact record, go to the Window tab on the toolbar at the top and choose Taskbar)
• After right-clicking on the grey part of the taskbar, choose Add New Item
• In the "Item Type" box, click on the drop down and choose Document Link
• In the Caption box, type: Help Topics
• In the Document box, choose the dropdown and browse to your desktop (be sure to show "All Files")
• Highlight the goldmine.chm file and choose OK
• On the taskbar in GoldMine you will see a yellow question mark. Click on it the Help files will open.

Live Events

GoldMine Summit - Pittsburgh, PA

Learn more about CRM at a no-cost, educational GoldMine Summit presented by Datamation Dynamics, Inc. The event takes place twice a year in Ohio and Pennsylvania to help organizations learn more about CRM, and how to implement and use CRM solutions to more fully support sales, marketing, customer service and customer relationship activities and business processes.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern
Radisson Hotel Pittsburgh Green Tree

For more information, visit www.datdyn.com/index.php/114.

See the New GoldMine in Person – Cities Nationwide

Discover the next generation of CRM - GoldMine Enterprise Edition 6.0 and GoldMine Premium Edition – in a city near you! Connect with existing GoldMine users, as well as prospective users considering GoldMine, for insight into how the new GoldMine is revolutionizing sales and marketing automation challenges.

Denver, CO
Thursday, October 16, 2007

Sacramento, CA
Thursday, October 18, 2007

For more information about times and locations, visit http://www.frontrange.com/Company/ListEvent.aspx?ccid=129.

Webinars

Why Upgrade to GoldMine Premium Edition

Discover how upgrading to GoldMine Premium Edition can help you grow your business.

Thursday, October 18, 2007
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific

Ten Things Hosted CRM Vendors Don’t Want You to Know

With all the recent attention on on-demand, or software-as-a-service (SaaS) CRM solutions, it might seem like this is the future of software. Learn the ten things hosted CRM vendors don’t want you to know.

Thursday, October 25, 2007
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific

The following training courses are available for customers.

Instructor-Led Training

FrontRange Foundation - (5-Day)
This 5-day course covers the basic Foundations structural concepts that can be used for the ITSM and GMEE applications, or any future products built on the Foundations platform. This course covers day-to-day system administrator tasks and introduces architecture, concepts and terminology.
October 22 – 26, Colorado Springs, CO
November 5 - 9, Houston, TX
November 12 - 16, Dublin, CA

FrontRange Foundation BPM/BPD - (5-Day)
By the end of this 5-day course, attendees will be able to plan and diagram a workflow and build packages in the designer and troubleshoot packages using log files.
October 22 – 26, Dublin, CA
November 27 – 30, Dublin, CA

GoldMine Premium Edition (5-Day)
This 5-day course covers the designing, configuring and implementation of GoldMine. The topics include customization and configuration of Goldmine, an overview of GoldSync and iGoldMine, as well as reporting and configuring your workflow.
December 10 – 14, Dublin, CA
January 28 – February 1, Dublin, CA

GoldMine Corporate Edition (5-Day)
This course covers all aspects of the GoldMine system. Topics include installation, customization of the work area, feature and functionality, automation of business processes, security, and maintenance.
October 22 – 26, Colorado Springs, CO

FrontRange Foundation Advanced – GMEE (4-Day)
This 4-day ILT course covers day-to-day system administrator tasks within the GMEE Foundation. This course introduces the general concepts of the GMEE administrator application module.
January 21 – 24, Colorado Springs, CO

For course descriptions and registration, visit http://frontrange.learn.com.

While most companies consider explosive business growth a blessing, it’s not without its challenges. But service provider Connecticut Basement Systems and its wholesale sister company, Basement Systems, have managed to increase revenues several-fold in the past few years by leveraging their GoldMine® system to automate a wide range of business processes and eliminate unnecessary ones – all while holding headcount steady at about 60 employees.

Read the complete case study.

FrontRange welcomes new GoldMine or IPCC success stories – share yours today! For details about the quick and easy process, e-mail us at suggestion@frontrange.com.

Press coverage

eCommerce Times Highlights GoldMine Premium Edition

A recent article in eCommerce Times features GoldMine Premium Edition 8.0.1 for its enhanced functionality and greater ease of use.

"We have done things like enhance the navigation flow to make it easier for users to find a certain feature or piece of data," said Greg Anderson, the company's senior product director.

Read the complete article.

What would YOU like to see in future issues of GoldMine FYI? We'd love your feedback. Please take a moment to drop us a line at suggestion@frontrange.com. Each issue, we will select the most frequently-requested topics and provide step-by-step answers to your questions.