The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
Goldmine 4.0
Bernadette Houghton
 bernieh@iaccess.com.au

GoldMine (GM) is a workgroup contact manager that goes far beyond simple addressing and scheduling functions. I last reviewed it in PC Update, June 1997, and found it extremely robust and customisable. This time around I'll concentrate on the most noteworthy new features in v4.0.

But first, an introduction

GoldMine is a scalable, workgroup contact manager. You can install it on stand-alone PCs, wide-area networks, corporate systems, and all shades between. Organisational structure and the physical location of individual users are irrelevant; GM doesn't care whether users work out of branch offices, corporate headquarters, or in the field. Each GM user retains the flexibility of having his own personal information manager, while at the same time sharing data with other GM users.

GM revolves around its contact records. Whenever you perform an activity, whether in or out of GM--create an e-mail, send a fax, write a report, schedule an appointment or whatever--you link it to a contact record. This way, you and other GM users build up a complete history of all past and pending activities relating to each contact. Another of GM's strengths is that it helps to tie together the mix of applications that most organisations use--word processor, calendar, fax and e-mail software and so on. This it does by offering built-in functionality, e.g. e-mail, DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) links and third-party support utilities. With the right mix of applications and utilities, it's possible to effectively integrate a mishmash of different applications.

Enterprise Edition

While GM Standard Edition installs with industry-standard dBASE IV files, the new client/server Enterprise Edition supports a broad range of other database environments as well, including Oracle, Microsoft SQL and Sybase SQL. This means that you can scale GM to suit each user or set of users. Notebook users, for instance, or those with stand-alone computers, can run off a dBASE database without the heavy resource overhead of client/server databases. Network users can run off a client/server database; even multiple, heterogenous databases. The Enterprise Edition also offers all the generic advantages of client/server databases, such as increased security, larger databases and multiple access methods. In addition, you can purchase the Enterprise Edition embedded with a run-time version of Microsoft SQL Server 6.5.


Figure 1. Contact records are the heart of Goldmine


Figure 2. The Activities List displays pending or completed activities for each year


Figure 3. The Opportunity Manager


Figure 4. Scanning a workgroup's schedule for available meeting time.

Database synchronisation

You can synchronise any GM database with any other, regardless of their underlying database software. GM remembers the steps involved in synchronising each database, so once you've established one successful synchronisation session, you can perform subsequent sessions with the click of a single button. You can also perform concurrent synchronisations, and there are several connection methods, ranging from realtime modem or Internet connections through to indirect, e-mail connections. GM now synchronises not just contact records and calendar changes, but any additions, changes and deletions in any field, including lookups, field definitions and user lists.

Opportunity Manager

Complex sales can involve multiple people working as a team, with multiple contacts, activities and issues. The new Opportunity Manager helps to co-ordinate these efforts and promote a team approach. By allocating actions, strategies, products and so on to specific projects or sales opportunities, you can track and profile accounts much better. The Opportunity Manager also makes it easier to analyse the sales process. For instance, you can gather information on the average life cycle of a sale or the amount of time a sale stays in a particular stage of the sales cycle.

Industry-specific templates

GM now ships with industry-specific templates which help users get up and running more quickly. Containing customised screens, lookups, Automated processes and document templates, the first release of templates covers the residential real estate and insurance professions.

E-mail

Enhanced e-mail support includes a one-stop E-mail Center. A major improvement over the last release, it handles multiple e-mail accounts, filters incoming messages, and automatically files mail by month within each folder. At the same time, it links each message to the appropriate contact record. You can also attach contact records to e-mail messages, and send them to Outlook 98 users for merging with the Outlook address book. Outlook users can similarly send Outlook contact records to GM users.

Automated Processes

Automated Processes are processes triggered by pre-defined events. For instance, when a customer makes a purchase, an Automated Process may schedule a follow-up letter automatically. With GM 4.0, Automated Processes support conditional logic and can launch external applications or generate sub-processes.

Multi-processing and multi-threading

Background activities run in their own protected "thread", so you can perform multiple background activities simultaneously and faster; for instance, check your mail while compiling a report and executing a mail merge.

Network security

System Administrators have greater control over access rights; they can not only remove access to certain commands for specific users, they can also remove the display of those menu options from the user's desktop. As well, they can distribute access rights and other security settings to remote sites and users via synchronisation.


Figure 5. Displaying a workgroup's schedule


Figure 6. Scheduling a forecasted sale.


Figure 7. A telemarketing script.


Figure 8. A GoldMine report.

Assessment

GM is a powerful workgroup contact manager, capable of tracking contacts, analysing activities and profiling accounts to almost infinite depths. It is a very full-featured program that takes some time to learn; however, it is also highly customisable, and there is an established training network. The extensive range of third party support products cover areas as varied as job estimators, accounting links, telephony and mapping solutions.

The main difference between GM and other contact managers lies in GM's strong workgroup support and automation of the sales process. Most of the enhancements with version 4.0 have strengthened these advantages. Used properly, GoldMine will improve communication and co-ordination within your organisation, and help to ensure that users make decisions based upon the most complete and up-to-date information.

Reprinted from the October 1998 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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