looking for the best Reporting software and mobile software for iPhone.

[singkcheng]

Hi, I am looking for the best reporting add-on for ACT! Premium 2011. I want something that;s simple and easy to use for our sales.Does anyone has any recommandation?

Also, since there is no offcial mobile software for iPhone yet. Any third party software for iPhone is recommanded, which help user to easy to access to the database via iPhone or update thier  ACT! contacts. thanks!

[Roy_Laudenslager]

Reporting has two parts: creating the template and running the report. Running the report is easy. Template design is the dard part. If you want something that you can use to create really comprehensive report template it's going to have a significant learning curve. The ACT! reports arevery good but they do have some built in limitations. Crystal reports has a very significant learning curve. If you're willing to pay the price StoneField Query does have a good wizard that is good for creating many of the report templats you might need. Other options would be a plug in like Topline Dash or the Durkin products.

[GLComputing]

For reporting, a lot will depend on the actual types of reports you need.

Handheld Contact is the best for iPhone

[rosevear]

I would agree HHC for the iPhone is the best mobile solution (www.handheldcontact.com)

I would suggest Topline Dashboard (www.toplineresults.com) or Stonefield Query (www.stonefield.com) as descent easy to use solutions for reporting on ACT! data.

[singkcheng]

Thanks for everyone's answer.

I tried TopLine Dash and Stonefield Query.

Topline has more graphic and it works like a add-on to ACT!, but for ACT already has a built-in Tap "Dashboard"

Stonefield is like a external reporting tools to read ACT's database. The reports like a list of data.

I am a IT person and I am not the person who will use the reporting a lot. It's mainly for the sales or the marketing manager.

is there more real-life user expericence on this two software. Thanks!

[aluedeman]

We have the Stonefield Query for Act Reporting and I am not a fan. I find the software to be buggy. As a user it's very clunky (technical term) and cumbersome. I am not a computer genius but consider myself more adept at learning software than most and this one frustrates me on a daily basis. What I was looking for in these forums was a different reporting solution.

[Roy_Laudenslager]

I've been working with reports for over 20 years going back to ACTWIN2. The present ACT! report editor could be very good but it has built in limitations that, especially in opportunities, That limit it's usefulness. A well designed report can be easy to run. The problem is creating a well designed report template. Any report editor that can create comprehensive report templates is going to have a heavy learning curve. It is effectively a programming language and the report template is really an application program.

I still work with the ACT! reports but most of my work lately has been with the Durkin Impact reports. 

[benhamilton]

Hi aluedeman,

I've found Durkin and Stonefield to fit most requirements. I know you've tried these, so not trying to tell you how to suck eggs.

That said I've found that once I've got the report I want in Stonefield, we schedule it to auto send as PDF to those that need it (or drop other formats into a network folder). Both these are WAY better than the built in Act! report writer, which is years overdue for an overhaul.

Ben.

[aluedeman]

Thank you for the note Ben and Roy. I am currently using Stonefield but we haven't tried Durkin. I'm going to have to look into that one. The impression I got from the EVP was it was not a problem to try something new we were just at a loss as to what to try.