Uncategorized

Did you know that you can use an xBase expression as a picklist item?
You simply need to add the expression to the picklist, prefixed by a tilde (~), like this:

~contact1->contact

Try it yourself; let us imagine we have a value in KEY1 that we’d like to easily copy to the Activity Code of a new history item.

1. Select Complete | Unscheduled Call | Outgoing Call.
2. Bring up the Picklist for the “Code” box by clicking into it and hitting F2.
3. Click “New”
4. Paste in the following text as the new picklist item : ~contact1->key1

Now when an end user selects that item from the picklist, it will copy in the value from the KEY1 field. Any Contact1 or Contact2 field is allowable. Have fun!

Did you know that you can configure any one particular Pick List to make it easy (and consistent) for users to enter data?

(Requires MASTER rights)

1. Bring up the Pick List for any field you like by clicking into the field and hitting F2.
2. Click on the “Setup” button.
3. Here are a few of the most popular options:
a. Unchecking “Allow Blank Input” will force the end user to enter in a value.
b. Checking “Force Valid Input” will force the end user to enter in a value that matches a Pick List item.
c. Pop-up when selected does what it says; pops up automatically when the end user moves to the field.

I have a lot of clients that protect the integrity of the data model with just a few modifications to existing picklists. My advice is to start slow with this process; try configuring a few fields at first, then expand as you get a feel for how the changes affect the end users.

 

One of the most powerful yet under-leveraged functions in GoldMine is the LOOKUP.INI, which has been available since the good old days of GoldMine for Windows. Think of it as a script file that GoldMine uses to update fields automatically. A “poor-mans” SQL trigger, if you will. It can also be used to “default” values on new contact records.

Let us suppose we want to make every newly entered record a “Prospect” by putting that value in our Key1 field.

If you have no LOOKUP.INI, then we must create one. Open Notepad and paste in the following text:

[AutoUpdate] NewRecord=Key1

[Key1] Otherwise=Prospect

The NewRecord entry under the [AutoUpdate] header specifies what fields should be evaluated when a new record is created.

Then the process skips to [Key1], the first item in our list.

When evaluating Key1, GoldMine then uses the Otherwise value, as no other instructions exist under [Key1].

As Otherwise=Prospect, the value of “Prospect” is autofilled into the Key1 field upon record creation.

You can add more default fields/values to your Lookup.Ini thusly;

[AutoUpdate] NewRecord=Key1, Key2

[Key1] Otherwise=Prospect

[Key2] Otherwise=House Account

When you are finished creating your Lookup.Ini, save it into your GoldMine folder with the specific name “Lookup.Ini”, then restart GoldMine to affect the changes.

ProTip: Lookup.INI instructions are also processed when importing contact records.

This is something I wish was turned on by default; the ability to see the “count” of records in virtually any window.

For example, within the Search Center, right click and select “Summary”. This will provide a simple count at the bottom left hand corner of the Search Center.

You can also right-click and select “Summary” from;

– The History Tab
– The Pending Tab
– The Activity List
– The Details Tab

…and almost any window in GoldMine that displays “rows” of data. Try it!

This is one of the most under-used parts of GoldMine. That is, the ability to preview a Filter directly from the Search Center.

To do this;

1. Open up your Search Center by clicking on “Search” from the top Toolbar.

2. Click on the Filters/Groups button on the top “strip” of the Search Center.

3. This will open up a Filters and Groups pane along the left hand side, in a tree format.

4. To Preview any Filter or Group, simply double-click on it.

5. GoldMine will prompt you whether or not to apply a “limit” on the Previewed Filter or Group. This is not required. If you’d like to see the entire contents of the Filter / Group, simply click “No”.

Your Search Center should now be showing you all the Contacts within the Filter / Group.

Keep in mind that your Previewed Filter is “activated” within the Search Center at this point, and to Release it, you must eventually right-click within the Filters and Groups pane on the left hand side and select “Release Preview”.

You can easily setup and create email templates in Salesforce, used for email blasts, simple emails, etc.  I like to use my templates for both, which can be a real time saver when you find yourself writing the same (or similar) emails many times a day.  To start click Setup and search for “Email templates”.  Click to select that area of the setup menu.

You’ll see a list of your templates:

Here’s we’re going to click “New Template”.

Choose whether you want simple text, HTML, etc.  I prefer simple text sometimes, makes the email feel a bit less boiler plate and individual when there isn’t as much marketing stuff in there.  However, depending on the needs, maybe the marketing “stuff” is what’s needed.  Select and Click Next.

Here we provide the template information including folder (if you want to organize your templates), the name/API name, description, the subject and the body.  Here I’ve copied the sample template into the body to display the merge fields used.

Couple of key points here and what we’ll demonstrate in the webinar for this tip (see our events section) is the creation of new merge fields.  Using the top part of the form, you choose your field, then simply copy and paste in those merge fields into the body of the email.  Here we’ve got the Account.Product field displayed.

Save it and done.

Now that we’ve got our template created, let’s make the blast happen.  For this, we need to go to our Contacts area as I always say, “we do business with accounts; we communicate with contacts”.

Once there at the bottom of the contact home page (one with the “recently viewed”) and scroll to the bottom – select “Mass Email Contacts”.

On this first page, you can use a view that you already created, or you can create a new view for the contacts.  Here I’m using an existing view.  Once you click “GO”, it will show you all the contacts you’re going to mail to (to which you can uncheck some if you’d rather not email them).

Now you choose your email template.  You can choose a folder and even preview them as well if you forgot what they look like.

Click Next to get to the final screen (this is point of no return here if you click SEND).  Here you just have to decide what to do with the history of the email.  For instance, I prefer to NOT bcc myself, I do add history for each and then just put in a topic for the mass email (the body of the email will NOT store in history, only the subject and date it was sent to save on space).  You can schedule it which I always recommend as well.

Now, keep in mind that there are some limits to how many emails you can send so check with your administrator before doing any of this, making sure you won’t use up your quota or you don’t have too many contacts to send to.  Also, there’s a simple change that has to be done or your emails will say something like “no-reply@salesforce.com on behalf of Corey Babka” which no one likes.  See this post on this setting:  https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?id=emailadmin_deliverability.htm