I was with a new client today who did a self-implementation of GoldMine and now needs some support... I noticed they were making heavy use of the Notes tab to record call conversations, meeting notes, etc, instead of using the History tab.
I explained the 4 reasons why not, in my opinion, to use the Notes tab, and I thought I'd share.
1) Storage Limitation. After about 65,000 characters (8 pages) information will simply start to disappear.
2) Doesn't Sync well. A new note inserted via Contact | Insert a Note will sync, but changes to that note, or notes not added via that method will not sync.
3) No Security. Anyone with access to the tab can go in and delete everything there.
4) No Analysis. If you want to find out how many calls, appointments, or actions were taken by date or GoldMine user then you are out of luck with the Notes tab.
Of course, the solution is to use Pending and/or History rather than notes... and some simple GoldMine macros and shortcuts on the Tool-bar make this process no more time consuming than using the Notes tab. Also, if you're currently using notes GoldBox has a greate feature built-in that will convert them to history entries!
Of course, if you need help with the GoldBox operation or customizations drop me a line at csmith@plain-english.com.
Happy GoldMining!
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Comments (2)
Hi I use GM 6.00.21021 - Is there any way to prevent information from disappearing? And is there a limit to the space in the Pending and/or History note entries?
What is a good way to retrieve lost information w/o having to lose a day's work from restoring?
Posted by pmlongoria | April 9, 2007 12:07 PM
Posted on April 9, 2007 12:07
You can use the BR7 utility to do an un-delete, no charge for it. Available at www.redstonesoftbase.com
Usually disappearing information is from someone deleting stuff. It's a good opportunity to re-examine your security settings and policies.
Lastly, each pending/history note (One per record) has the limitation of the notes tab. However, I have yet to see anyone need to type in 8 pages of text for a single call or appointment. Very rare!
Posted by Chad Smith | April 9, 2007 12:58 PM
Posted on April 9, 2007 12:58