A core reason that any organization has a CRM is to access specific data that will help manage and improve the company. It goes without saying that every company’s reporting requirements vary. With any CRM you have that CRM’s native internal reporting tools, and then there are third-party apps that extend the native reporting capabilities of your CRM. To fully leverage the value of their CRM information many companies take advantage of both types of reporting options.
Act! natively provides many reporting options. These include the native Reports section, Act! Insights (added in Act! v20), and Dashboards. Once you and your team are adept at using Act!, you can also simply create reports by understanding basic lookup functions, using dynamic groups, or advanced queries. However, sometimes the reporting capability in Act! doesn’t meet your needs. In that case, there are many third part apps available. This article will review several popular reporting options you may want to consider!
TopLine Dash and Topline Alerts
Topline Dash is an advanced reporting tool which allows you to create queries pulling exactly the data you want, from simple to extremely complex lookups. Topline Dash gives you the ability to view the same data in multiple formats: List View, Graphs, or KPI Summary. TopLine Dash is a live, easy interactive format. It is easy to quickly change the columns or search criteria on the fly. Do you want to know what records comprise the data in the bar chart? Easy, just double-click to get a drill-down. Want to create a look up of the records directly in Act!? Then just highlight the rows you want and right-click to create a lookup.
Once you have your TopLine Dashboards setup, use the TopLine Alerts feature to automatically email those reports to select members of your team or external contacts at set intervals such as daily, weekly, or monthly. Reports can be sent in PDF format or Excel. Customize who gets what when; each dashboard can have custom rules for both recipients and send times. TopLine Alerts has additional features such as creating database backups, tracking database syncs, and more.
TopLine Dash Topline Alerts Pricing:
- TopLine Dash: $149/user license (volume discounts may be available)
- TopLine Alerts: $149 (normally only one license is needed for the server)
- TopLine Dash and TopLine Alerts Product Upgrades: $74.50/user license
Contact us for more information about TopLine Dash & Alerts
Reporting4Act! and Knowtifier
Reporting4Act! (previously Stonefield Query) is one of the most powerful reporting products on the market for your Act! CRM data and now it's available in four different tiers to fit every budget. Over 70 report templates included. You can customize existing templates or create brand new reports based on your exact criteria and formatting. View data in lists, charts, graphs, or summaries. Reporting 4Act! provides the ability to write custom code to assist in report criteria generation or prompt other applications to run based on results. This app comes with a learning curve, but what makes this reporting tool standout is the plethora of reporting options and the sheer data processing power.
Knowtifier is a separate program which can be used independently or in conjunction with Reporting4Act!. Knowtifier is designed for automating your work flow processes. These work flows may include automated customer notifications for birthdays, anniversaries, renewal dates, maturity dates, or any type of customer notification you'd like to automatically trigger from Act!. Knowtifier can trigger custom emails based on both contact and custom fields within Act!, then have those email notifications merge the respective Act! data into the emailed notifications. Knowtifier can also automate simple report style emails to either external or internal contacts. With Knowtifier, you can set custom rules for each action, such as copy the Record Manager or include a specific email in the Reply-to Email. When bundled with Reporting4Act!, Knowtifier can also integrate and email your more advanced reports.
Knowtifier Pricing:
- Reporting4Act!: 4 Tiers of Pricing based on Product Tier ($49.95 - $799.95/per user license)
- Reporting4Act! Annual Maintenance Fee: $50 - $200 depending on Product Tier above.
- Maintenance Fees cover support calls and product updates.
- Knowtifier: $299.95/year per database ($199.95/year per database if bundled with Reporting4Act!)
Contact us for more information about Reporting4Act! or Knowtifier.
Next Steps To Your Advanced Reporting!
With all these reporting options, we know it can get confusing when you’re trying to figure out the best way to access, analyze and present Act! data. Since 1994, AspenTech CRM has successfully implemented Act! reporting capabilities that meet current and growing need of our clients. Don’t hesitate to contact our team at AspenTech CRM to discuss your unique reporting requirements, from assessment, to purchase, implementation or configuration and training.
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