ACT! vs. Access

[Guest]

I've been using Outlook for years for my clients and now I have come up
against a limitation in Outlook. Can I configure Access to do most of the
fuctions that ACT! does? I've tried ACT! and I'm not impressed. I'd like to
stay with a Microsoft product.

 

[Larry Linson]

You can create a Contact Management application in Access. To create one
comparable to ACT would not be a trivial project. Even if I had your detail
specifications, I would not venture to estimate how long it would take you
to implement them.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[Nick Coe \(UK\)]

Yes but you're biting off a big chunk of work to get
functionality and error checking similar to Outlook et al.
Have a browse round MS site looking specifically for Access
database templates, there might be some for contact managers
(which I assume is what you're after) which you could then
adapt to your needs. This would save you a fair bit of
work.

--
Nick Coe (UK)
Available - Will work for money
http://www.alphacos.co.uk/ AccHelp + pAnimal
http://www.pjandcoe.co.uk/ Online Store

In Al typed:

 

[Albert D.Kallal]

I've been using Outlook for years for my clients and now I have come up
against a limitation in Outlook.

You don't mention what the limitation of outlook is. Do remember, that
outlook allows you to create custom forms, and also allows you to write
code. In many ways, you can very much extened outlook.

Can I configure Access to do most of the
fuctions that ACT! does?

Would you not be beter off asking how to extend Outlook to have the missing
features of ACT!?

Not knowing what feature(s) you are missing, it is difficult to make a
recommendation.

 

[Guest]

What exactly are you trying to do?

 

[Cindy Hereth]

Please forgive me for tagging on. I can't firgure out how to post a
question myself.

I am very comfortable and familiar with ACT from my former company. Now I
am starting up a new database for my new company and I only have Access on
my computer. I'm not sure if I should just go out and purchase ACT.

I will need a database that will track people, classes times and counts,
when they log on and off for payroll purposes - - and be able to pull
reports.

Will this be hard to create with Access?

Thank You
Cindy

 

[Jim Mac Millan]

Cindy,

Perhaps on one of these templates along with a little finagling will do
what you want?

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT011366681033.aspx

Jim Mac Millan

 

[Larry Linson]

I don't know what language Act was developed in -- probably some flavor of
C. I would guess there are many, many person-years of development in that
product. If you want to completely replicate its functionality, it would
likely take a lot of development time using Access, too.

This doesn't have to do specifically with Act vs Access, but generally, if
there is a mass-market commercial product that will do what you need done,
there's no way in the world you can beat the price by developing your own.

Where "developing your own" or "hiring your own developed" is worthwhile, is
if you have an unusual business model to which the commercial software does
not easily adapt, or if you need a very small subset of the functionality,
or if you have got the "great idea" that will give you some "competitive
edge" and there's no commercial software in that area.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[Homer J Simpson]

I don't know what language Act was developed in -- probably some flavor of
C. I would guess there are many, many person-years of development in that
product. If you want to completely replicate its functionality, it would
likely take a lot of development time using Access, too.

This doesn't have to do specifically with Act vs Access, but generally, if
there is a mass-market commercial product that will do what you need done,
there's no way in the world you can beat the price by developing your own.

Where "developing your own" or "hiring your own developed" is worthwhile,
is if you have an unusual business model to which the commercial software
does not easily adapt, or if you need a very small subset of the
functionality, or if you have got the "great idea" that will give you some
"competitive edge" and there's no commercial software in that area.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

My rule of thumb is, if you can buy it for less than $50K, buy it. One
customer found a vendor who had a product that exactly matched their needs
for $5,000. I told them to run there with pockets bulging with cash before
the price went up.

 

[Ò»´ú·çɧ]

My rule of thumb is, if you can buy it for less than $50K, buy it. One
customer found a vendor who had a product that exactly matched their needs
for $5,000. I told them to run there with pockets bulging with cash before
the price went up.