Since forms, their layouts and, by extension, the database, must be designed, the administrator has complete control. We appreciated being able to duplicate our DB2 database schema within Soffront. Upon creating a form, the system automatically makes an associated table in the database. Likewise, each field we added to the form resulted in the appropriate column being added to the table. While ACCPAC and Microsoft offer some flexibility in positioning of fields, neither can compete with Soffront's completely configurable form design. If the system's administrator understands the company's business process, it should be easy to create forms that mirror that process. We did so and found that navigation of the browser-based client was superb. We were also pleased with the ability to access reports from specific areas. After defining areas for customer and product, we could create sub-menus for specific functions within each area, such as customized reports, screens and links to other areas.
Soffront makes integrating with ADS a no-brainer and, unlike Microsoft, is indifferent to the domain mode. Instead of tying a software-specific user to ADS, as ACCPAC requires, Soffront simply lets ADS handle user authentication and authorization.
Soffront CRM 8.0, Soffront Software, (800) 763-3766, (510) 413-9000. www.soffront.com
GoldMine's underlying architecture turned us off immediately. A hybrid client-server solution, it reminded us of legacy systems that are client-server only in the sense that they share data by mapping a network drive. That is, a networked client requires a drive to be mapped to the GoldMine server so that it can share the data on the server instead of being replicated on the workstation. When was the last time a true client-server system required you to open a document for editing on a shared drive? GoldMine does a good job of importing data and offers both CSV and XML data import. We were overwhelmed by the complexity of its interface, however, and found navigation difficult. Navigation through a CRM system is based on actions you perform on a customer/contact, such as looking up purchases, placing an order or documenting communication. Most of these functions are not linked directly to the customer/contact screen, but are accessed via a context-sensitive task bar at the top of the application window. Because GoldMine, an MDI (Multiple Document Interface) application, lets multiple customer windows be open, it is too easy to perform an action for the wrong customer.
GoldMine's customization capabilities are limited and of lower caliber than those of the other products we tested. For example, we could not customize the base screens to modify the fields a user can view. Additionally, FrontRange uses the BDE (Borland Database Engine) to manage connectivity with external databases and exhibited flaky behavior on our workstations, including cryptic error messages and instructions to increase file handles, something we haven't seen since our DOS and early Windows days. This clinched our belief that desktop management would be an issue with such a deployment--a nonissue with all the competing products.
FrontRange recently released a browser-based client, iGoldMine, but it was not available in time for our tests. We would hope that the browser-based client is as different from the fat client as Soffront's Web access is from its fat client.
