Is there a way to set or reset the follow up flag for a group of accounts?

--

Guy

Guy,

Eventhough the follow up flag reminder feature appears on the form of an
Account record, this is not supported and does not work for any BCM item.
These reminder flags will only work with native Outlook records that have
them and not an add-in like BCM. This resulting confusion can be a real
crazy maker because one would logically wonder why in the world the feature
appears on the form and yet does not function? The likeliest answer is that
all of the BCM record items were derived from original Outlook form templates.
Some of this cobbling together during BCM's initial design may have resulted
in some oversights that left some details like the flags in place without
supportive function. Outlook and BCM share common appearances in their
linked records within the same UI but not everything works the same among
these similar looking items. Lack of more attention to detail has been one
of my main design critiques of BCM as it seems to have been hastily
constructed and released as "good enough" for now. (Still beta anyone?) Your
type of question has been posted many times.

Enough speculation about why this situation exists and onto a possible
solution:

My best recommendation for setting a reminder follow up flag for either an
individual or an entire group of Account Records would be to create an
Outlook Task record with an appropriate Subject designation and then just
link each Account record in the lower left Contacts field of the task record.
You can then set the Task reminder field accordingly to fire off a follow-up
prompt as needed. Additonally, by using linked tasks you can sort and group
your views of these a million different ways in order to see what is coming
ahead and plan for it as needed. Again, to summarize, I would recommend
creating a reverse-link "FROM" the native Outlook Task Record "TO" the BCM
Account Record.

-THP

Guy wrote:
>Is there a way to set or reset the follow up flag for a group of accounts?
>

--
Message posted via OfficeKB.com
http://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forums.a...k-bcm/200602/1

I understand your response but I actually use the flags on the account now
and they function quite well for me. Let me explain.

I set and reset the flag on an individual basis on each account. I send out
direct mail pieces to accounts on a regular basis and I switch the flag to
let me know that they have been sent. I use the flag because I can sort by it
while displaying a custom list of accounts for direct mail. Once I have
reached the end of the list, I can reverse the sort order and begin the
process again setting the flag to the opposite setting.

I thought of using categories for this but you can't sort by them. Unless
you can think of a field I can modify for a group of highlighted accounts at
once? The fact that you can't customize the forms in BCM doesn't help either
or else I would just create field specifically for this purpose.
--
Guy Lapierre
Forefront Business Solutions
www.forefrontbusinesssolutions.com
www.forefrontbusiness.com


"Tim P via OfficeKB.com" wrote:

> Guy,
>
> Eventhough the follow up flag reminder feature appears on the form of an
> Account record, this is not supported and does not work for any BCM item.
> These reminder flags will only work with native Outlook records that have
> them and not an add-in like BCM. This resulting confusion can be a real
> crazy maker because one would logically wonder why in the world the feature
> appears on the form and yet does not function? The likeliest answer is that
> all of the BCM record items were derived from original Outlook form templates.
> Some of this cobbling together during BCM's initial design may have resulted
> in some oversights that left some details like the flags in place without
> supportive function. Outlook and BCM share common appearances in their
> linked records within the same UI but not everything works the same among
> these similar looking items. Lack of more attention to detail has been one
> of my main design critiques of BCM as it seems to have been hastily
> constructed and released as "good enough" for now. (Still beta anyone?) Your
> type of question has been posted many times.
>
> Enough speculation about why this situation exists and onto a possible
> solution:
>
> My best recommendation for setting a reminder follow up flag for either an
> individual or an entire group of Account Records would be to create an
> Outlook Task record with an appropriate Subject designation and then just
> link each Account record in the lower left Contacts field of the task record.
> You can then set the Task reminder field accordingly to fire off a follow-up
> prompt as needed. Additonally, by using linked tasks you can sort and group
> your views of these a million different ways in order to see what is coming
> ahead and plan for it as needed. Again, to summarize, I would recommend
> creating a reverse-link "FROM" the native Outlook Task Record "TO" the BCM
> Account Record.
>
> -THP
>
> Guy wrote:
> >Is there a way to set or reset the follow up flag for a group of accounts?
> >
>
> --
> Message posted via OfficeKB.com
> http://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forums.a...k-bcm/200602/1
>

Guy,

I guess I didn't understand exactly how you were using the flags. My
reference was with the flagged reminder feature popping up and alerting you
to the flagged item. This is supported only in the native Outlook records.
Using the flags simply as markers for your individual Account Records and
sorting them as you are sounds like it works well for you. I still can't
think of a group way of doing this outside of what I have already recommended.
Perhaps that will change in the near future.

-THP

Guy Lapierre wrote:
>I understand your response but I actually use the flags on the account now
>and they function quite well for me. Let me explain.
>
>I set and reset the flag on an individual basis on each account. I send out
>direct mail pieces to accounts on a regular basis and I switch the flag to
>let me know that they have been sent. I use the flag because I can sort by it
>while displaying a custom list of accounts for direct mail. Once I have
>reached the end of the list, I can reverse the sort order and begin the
>process again setting the flag to the opposite setting.
>
>I thought of using categories for this but you can't sort by them. Unless
>you can think of a field I can modify for a group of highlighted accounts at
>once? The fact that you can't customize the forms in BCM doesn't help either
>or else I would just create field specifically for this purpose.
>> Guy,
>>
>[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
>>
>> >Is there a way to set or reset the follow up flag for a group of accounts?

--
Message posted via OfficeKB.com
http://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forums.a...k-bcm/200602/1