by Rich Spitz
August, 1997
While many ACT! users created groups in ACT! 2, ACT!3 brings a new look and
functionality to groups. In ACT! 2, groups were simply used as a collection of
records. In ACT! 3, there are group fields and you can use groups to a much
greater degree because they are more flexible.
One of the major ways in which groups have changed is that groups now have
many more characteristics than just a group name and a description. Groups now
have Notes/History, Activities, Contacts (or members), Address and User fields.
All this information can be used for a variety of purposes.
Penny Tree Foods Deal
Let’s go through an example and you’ll see what I mean. In the ACT! 3
demo database, the example that I think is the best use of groups is the Penny
Tree Foods Deal.
Using groups for several people at the same company is helpful when you need
to see the notes and history for all your contacts at that company. But, the
point becomes clearer when you are working with several people at several
companies.
Working On Deals
When you are working on a "deal," the deal itself might not have an
address but it would certainly have different people working on it.
When you are working on many different deals, then you may want to record
information about each deal. Here’s how you do it in ACT! 3:
1. Open the Group window by selecting View, Groups, or clicking the Group
icon.
2. Select the desired group.
3. Click on the User Fields tab in the group record.
4. Place your cursor in the User 1 field and select Edit, Define Fields.
The Define Fields box appears.
5. Change the Field Name of User 1 to Size of Deal.
6. Change the Field Name of User 2 to Date of Close.
7. Change the Field Name of User 3 to Type of Deal. (This is shown in
Figure 3.)
Of course, the beauty of ACT! 3 is that you can define the User Fields in
whatever way makes most sense to you. By setting up the group fields, you only
have to input the information on this screen. You can then run reports to get
the totals of the deals you are working as well as an analysis of the types of
deals.
Group Notes/History Items
Each ACT! group can have Notes/History items associated with it. There are
several ways to get information into the groups Notes/History tab.
- If you are already in the Group window, just click the Insert note button,
and the note will apply to the entire group (in this case the Penny Tree
Foods deal).
- If you want to make notes in an individual contact’s record, and want
them to appear in the Group’s Notes tab, then you have to follow these
steps.
- Go to any contact in that group, and select the Notes/History tab.
ACT!Tip: If the Group column heading is not displayed in
the Notes/History tab, select Add Groups from the Right Mouse Button menu.
Then select Group from the Add Columns box.
- Insert your note.
- Select the group you would like to associate the note with from the list
of groups that’s displayed in the drop-down menu.
- Return to the Group window, and the contacts name will appear next to the
note.
I hope this little explanation of groups helps to open your eyes about the
power of ACT! 3.
While no one uses every feature in ACT!, I think its important to understand
its capabilities and functions so that if one day you ever need more power, you
can say, hey I can do that with ACT!.
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