Using business contact mgr for conference registration Nick D. 3/20/2007 4:57:05 PM I am evaluating Outlook 2007 with BCM for a client. I'm assessing its capabilities against what they need to track in their customer relations. They are primarily a service organization. Looking for advice/suggestions/insights: I want to gather a list of business contacts who have registered for a conference. Then I need to track and consolidate specific information like: what workshops are they attending? special dietary requirements? have they paid? that sort of thing. I'll want to be able to do things like produce a list of attendees by workshop, to give to workshop facilitators. I've had a look at the project management and marketing campaign features in BCM, and I can see it should be fairly straightforward to flag people who are registered (perhaps with a user-defined field), but I can't see a good way to track detailed information for each attendee. It would be workable to create the list of attendees in BCM, then export it to an Excel spreadsheet which can be annotated with additional info; but then how do I update the spreadsheet as new registrations come in? Any ideas on the best way to use BCM (perhaps in conjunction with other Office apps) to make this work?

Re: Using business contact mgr for conference registration "Mukesh Agarwal [MSFT]" <mukeshag[ at ]online.microsoft.com> 3/20/2007 5:16:32 PM Nick, BCM 2007 allows you to add new fields and edit the drop down lists. You can create new fields for your specific requirements. These fileds can be added to Outlook views and will show up in BCM reports. You can also customize BCM reports. I would recommend reading a recent post on our blog that explains customization with BCM. -- Mukesh Agarwal [MSFT] Visit team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights "Nick D." <NickD[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:AE4FF5D9-67D5-4F88-9558-71A1BC67D1BF[ at ]microsoft.com... [Quoted Text] >I am evaluating Outlook 2007 with BCM for a client. I'm assessing its > capabilities against what they need to track in their customer relations. > They are primarily a service organization. > > Looking for advice/suggestions/insights: > > I want to gather a list of business contacts who have registered for a > conference. Then I need to track and consolidate specific information > like: > what workshops are they attending? special dietary requirements? have they > paid? that sort of thing. I'll want to be able to do things like produce a > list of attendees by workshop, to give to workshop facilitators. > > I've had a look at the project management and marketing campaign features > in > BCM, and I can see it should be fairly straightforward to flag people who > are > registered (perhaps with a user-defined field), but I can't see a good way > to > track detailed information for each attendee. It would be workable to > create > the list of attendees in BCM, then export it to an Excel spreadsheet which > can be annotated with additional info; but then how do I update the > spreadsheet as new registrations come in? > > Any ideas on the best way to use BCM (perhaps in conjunction with other > Office apps) to make this work?

Re: Using business contact mgr for conference registration Nick D. 3/20/2007 5:43:53 PM Hi Mukesh, thanks for responding so quickly. I know I can create my own fields. However, I'm looking for general advice on how best to use BCM. I don't want to put transitory information about an event in the contact records themselves--so what's the best way to record and manage data about people who are coming to a conference I saw an earlier post that recommended using Opportunities as a way to track detailed business transactions with a customer, so I had a look at that and I think it might work. The ideal would be to have a "conference registration form" designed specifically to collect the information I need about people attending a conference--but I assume I would need to step up to Microsoft Dynamics to get that kind of functionality. Any other advice? "Mukesh Agarwal [MSFT]" wrote: [Quoted Text] > Nick, > > BCM 2007 allows you to add new fields and edit the drop down lists. You can > create new fields for your specific requirements. These fileds can be added > to Outlook views and will show up in BCM reports. You can also customize BCM > reports. I would recommend reading a recent post on our blog that explains > customization with BCM. > > > -- > Mukesh Agarwal [MSFT] > Visit team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm > > This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights > "Nick D." <NickD[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:AE4FF5D9-67D5-4F88-9558-71A1BC67D1BF[ at ]microsoft.com... > >I am evaluating Outlook 2007 with BCM for a client. I'm assessing its > > capabilities against what they need to track in their customer relations. > > They are primarily a service organization. > > > > Looking for advice/suggestions/insights: > > > > I want to gather a list of business contacts who have registered for a > > conference. Then I need to track and consolidate specific information > > like: > > what workshops are they attending? special dietary requirements? have they > > paid? that sort of thing. I'll want to be able to do things like produce a > > list of attendees by workshop, to give to workshop facilitators. > > > > I've had a look at the project management and marketing campaign features > > in > > BCM, and I can see it should be fairly straightforward to flag people who > > are > > registered (perhaps with a user-defined field), but I can't see a good way > > to > > track detailed information for each attendee. It would be workable to > > create > > the list of attendees in BCM, then export it to an Excel spreadsheet which > > can be annotated with additional info; but then how do I update the > > spreadsheet as new registrations come in? > > > > Any ideas on the best way to use BCM (perhaps in conjunction with other > > Office apps) to make this work? > >

Re: Using business contact mgr for conference registration "Mukesh Agarwal [MSFT]" <mukeshag[ at ]online.microsoft.com> 3/23/2007 1:47:09 AM Current version of BCM doesn't allow creating new entities or renaming existing entities. You will need to repurpose existing entity for your purpose. Based upon what you want, Opportunity is probably the best fit. -- Mukesh Agarwal [MSFT] Visit team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights "Nick D." <NickD[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:7377D8BD-B903-4B8B-8E44-EAF900F218A9[ at ]microsoft.com... [Quoted Text] > Hi Mukesh, thanks for responding so quickly. I know I can create my own > fields. However, I'm looking for general advice on how best to use BCM. I > don't want to put transitory information about an event in the contact > records themselves--so what's the best way to record and manage data about > people who are coming to a conference > > I saw an earlier post that recommended using Opportunities as a way to > track > detailed business transactions with a customer, so I had a look at that > and I > think it might work. > > The ideal would be to have a "conference registration form" designed > specifically to collect the information I need about people attending a > conference--but I assume I would need to step up to Microsoft Dynamics to > get > that kind of functionality. > > Any other advice? > > "Mukesh Agarwal [MSFT]" wrote: > >> Nick, >> >> BCM 2007 allows you to add new fields and edit the drop down lists. You >> can >> create new fields for your specific requirements. These fileds can be >> added >> to Outlook views and will show up in BCM reports. You can also customize >> BCM >> reports. I would recommend reading a recent post on our blog that >> explains >> customization with BCM. >> >> >> -- >> Mukesh Agarwal [MSFT] >> Visit team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm >> >> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no >> rights >> "Nick D." <NickD[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message >> news:AE4FF5D9-67D5-4F88-9558-71A1BC67D1BF[ at ]microsoft.com... >> >I am evaluating Outlook 2007 with BCM for a client. I'm assessing its >> > capabilities against what they need to track in their customer >> > relations. >> > They are primarily a service organization. >> > >> > Looking for advice/suggestions/insights: >> > >> > I want to gather a list of business contacts who have registered for a >> > conference. Then I need to track and consolidate specific information >> > like: >> > what workshops are they attending? special dietary requirements? have >> > they >> > paid? that sort of thing. I'll want to be able to do things like >> > produce a >> > list of attendees by workshop, to give to workshop facilitators. >> > >> > I've had a look at the project management and marketing campaign >> > features >> > in >> > BCM, and I can see it should be fairly straightforward to flag people >> > who >> > are >> > registered (perhaps with a user-defined field), but I can't see a good >> > way >> > to >> > track detailed information for each attendee. It would be workable to >> > create >> > the list of attendees in BCM, then export it to an Excel spreadsheet >> > which >> > can be annotated with additional info; but then how do I update the >> > spreadsheet as new registrations come in? >> > >> > Any ideas on the best way to use BCM (perhaps in conjunction with other >> > Office apps) to make this work? >> >>