Access On The Go...

RPortinga

Ok, a recently closed thread talked about Customer Management, so I thought I would start a new topic with some recommendations of my own.

I've used ACT in the past, and loved it.. used it for about six year. I forget what version it was tho... 2004 or so I think... I hated it. They changed a lot of stuff, and it "broke" things for me.

I was working for a local home builder at the time, I had two developments I ran and a couple others I helped on. One of my main concerns was data access for my job supes on the field... so I started looking at different web based options. Some folks call this stuff SAS (software as a service). Long and short of it, I ended up using an open-source piece of software called eGroupWare.

It's like a web-based outlook, and then some. Calendar, Addressbook, Email, To-Do, and much more... been using it for about the last 2-3 years now. There are other hosted options out there that I think have been netioned around here... but if you are even just a lil tech-savy, or have someone that is... this self-hosted option is a great way to go. And the software is FREE! you just pay for your web hosting.

Ok, yea... it can be a bit slow if your net connection is acting up, but it has just about all the features in ACT! that I was using, and then some... with the bonus I can access it from anywhere I can get online.

If anyone wants more info, let me know... or check out egroupware.org - but if you are dealing with having to access your data from multiple locations, or sharing data with folks in multiple locations... I recommend checking this out.

__________________
Rob Portinga - Bauer Bros. Construction, Inc.
Design/Build - General Contractor - Construction Management

Vince_B

Thanks for the info Rob.

I took a look at it and played around with it for a bit and am very impressed. In a lot of ways it does seem better than the last good version of ACT.

I've been looking around for several years for a suitable replacement. Right now I am using Outlook, Virtual Boss and Excel. Kind of clunky and I feel like I spend more time monkeying around than actually getting any work done.

eGroupWare is very intuitive and the more I played around with it the more I really think this is the answer.

Do you host it on your PC/server or do you use a web hosting company?

Do you know if it syncs with Windows Media 2003 or WM 5 or 6?

Is it buggy or anything important to know before diving in?



Thanks again!

Vince

RPortinga

I host it on my personal web hosting account with DreamHost. There may get to be some point I will move all the company stuff either to their own account, or to a dedicated virtual server... but that's a ways down the road.

I have not jumped in and tried the sync'ing yet, but there is supposed to be some good stuff written to allow for that.

as for bugs... mmm.. not really any that I've come across. There's some issues with the English translating, I've gone in and changed some stuff in the database.

Oh wait, the scheduled database backup doesn't seem to work, but it will work manually. Haven't taken the time to see if there's a fix for that yet.

__________________
Rob Portinga - Bauer Bros. Construction, Inc.
Design/Build - General Contractor - Construction Management

72chevy4x4

what does egroupware offer that Outlook doesn't? I didn't see any webshots on the egroupware website, so it's a little hard to figure it out. When you guys say 'outlook', are you using it with the Exchange server? You can open up other members calendars, Tasks lists, contact folders and mail. for data sharing the MS Sharepoint website is pretty darn handy and can be accessed via a vpn if hosted locally or pay a host company.