Sharing Business Contacts in my Group on Blackberries

[Guest]

My group already uses Outlook 2003 and their Blackberries to automatically
update information, but I'm trying to set up a Contact List database that can
be public - shared among the members of the group - on our network, and also
on the Blackberries. I want to be able to maintain this database publicly.
Any time anyone in the group gets a new contact, or new information on an
existing contact in the public list, I want that new information to be
updated automatically on all of our Blackberries. Can I do this with the
updated Business Contact Manager?

Additionally, I'd like to know if I can have both my Outlook Contacts and my
Business Contacts on my Blackberry. I don't want my Outlook Contacts to be
public within my group, but I do want to share the Business contacts, like I
said. I'm wondering if it's possible to keep my Outlook Contacts on my
Blackberry, with friends and family, and then also have an automatically
updated public Contact list at the same time.

Sorry to have babbled - I'm really feeling clueless about how to make this
work!

 

[Leonid S. Knyshov]

My group already uses Outlook 2003 and their Blackberries to automatically
update information, but I'm trying to set up a Contact List database that
can
be public - shared among the members of the group - on our network, and
also
on the Blackberries. I want to be able to maintain this database publicly.
Any time anyone in the group gets a new contact, or new information on an
existing contact in the public list, I want that new information to be
updated automatically on all of our Blackberries. Can I do this with the
updated Business Contact Manager?

Additionally, I'd like to know if I can have both my Outlook Contacts and
my
Business Contacts on my Blackberry. I don't want my Outlook Contacts to be
public within my group, but I do want to share the Business contacts, like
I
said. I'm wondering if it's possible to keep my Outlook Contacts on my
Blackberry, with friends and family, and then also have an automatically
updated public Contact list at the same time.

Sorry to have babbled - I'm really feeling clueless about how to make this
work!

BCM doesn't talk to Exchange.

Blackberries do talk to Exchange if you have a Blackberry Enterprise Server.
I can explain how they do it, but very briefly they do so by creating
special messages that get picked up by BES and deleted from Exchange
databases before you can see them. Short of exporting BCM data to a public
folder on a scheduled basis and then updating its associated address list it
may be challenging to achieve what you require although it is not as hard as
it sounds since BCM data is stored in a friendly SQL database. You may want
to consider something like MS CRM as well. There may also be additional
enterprise information syncronization software available that I am not aware
of as well.

In summary, it sounds like you want to use public folders as a contacts list
and you are wondering whether BCM will integrate into that. While BCM does
have shared capabilities, there is no mobile version for Blackberry. I am
still waiting for BCM Mobile for my Windows Mobile 5.0 devices. Making BCM
data fully web-enabled, and thus accessible from blackberries is also
possible for any .NET programmer familiar with SQL.

It simply becomes a question on what the budget has to be to achieve all
that extra functionality. The low budget way would be to have your assistant
empty your public folder and then copy your BCM contacts to a public folder.
The high tech way is to create the missing applications.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov, CEO
Crashproof Solutions, LLC - http://www.crashproofsolutions.com
MCP Exchange 2003/Small Business Server 2003
Microsoft Small Business Specialist Partner
See the tips and tricks section on my website for video tutorials on BCM