ENEWS > SPRING 2007 > QUESTIONS ABOUT ACT!

QUESTIONS ABOUT ACT!
ACT! CERTIFIED CONSULTANT FIELDS YOUR QUESTIONS

Q: We just upgraded from ACT! 6.0 to ACT! 2007.  In ACT! 6.0, we regularly compressed and re-indexed our database to prevent data corruption.  I can’t find a compress and re-index feature in ACT! 2007.  Is this something that we need to worry about?
           
A:  There are two features in ACT! 2007 that will help you protect your data from corruption. The first is a maintenance feature in ACT! 2007, and it’s a good idea to run it regularly on all of your databases – including remote databases in a synchronization environment.  To perform routine maintenance on the database, click Tools | Database Maintenance | Check and Repair.  You should do this at least monthly.  Ideally, you should try to do it weekly.

Also in ACT! 2007, you can automate the process of running a Check & Repair with the ACT! Scheduler.  Configure the ACT! Scheduler to run on your server, and then you won’t ever have to think about whether or not your database is being properly maintained. 

To access the ACT! Scheduler, click Start | All Programs | ACT! Premium | ACT! Scheduler.  If the Scheduler does not immediately appear, it may have launched minimized in the System Tray.  (If this happens, check the icons in the System Tray and double-click the icon for ACT! Scheduler.)  The currently logged-in user needs to have local administrator access to the server to run the ACT! Scheduler.

Q:  We keep customer credit card information in our database.  Obviously, this data is highly sensitive.  It worries me that anyone with access to our ACT! database could walk away with the names, addresses, credit card numbers, and credit card expiration dates for each of our customers.  We only have one database system, so there really isn’t anywhere else we could keep this data.  Some employees need to have access to the numbers, but as it stands right now, even the receptionist can see a customer’s sensitive information.

A:  ACT! 2007 supports field-level security, so you could pretty easily restrict access to this data on a user-by-user basis.  You’ll need to be logged into ACT! as a manager or administrator-level user.  Click Tools | Define Fields.  Highlight the field that you’d like to secure.  Click the Field Security option on the left.  Click the Edit button.  In this interface, you can specify the access level that each user or team of users will have to the field.  (Note: With Field Level Security only certain fields can be designated as read-only or no access.)

Let’s say that you specify that a user has “No Access” to a field.  When that user logs into the database, it will appear to the user that the field doesn’t exist.  For the users that shouldn’t be able to view credit card information, just make sure they have this “No Access” security level set for the credit card field.  You can also restrict access so users can see the data but cannot modify it.

Q: Is there any way to make ACT! faster to load?

A:  If you’ve used previous versions of ACT!, you probably noticed that ACT! 2007 loads significantly faster than the last couple of versions. 

Even with the improved startup speed in ACT! 2007, you can shave a few extra seconds off the load time by setting the program to load the Contact List view by default.  Click Tools | Preferences.  In the Startup tab, choose Contact list view from the Startup view drop-down.  Then, close ACT!.  Wait a few seconds, and start the program up again.  You should see a few seconds shaved off your program loading time.  You’ll have to do this once at each workstation.

Q: One of my ACT! users is farsighted and tells me that the fonts on the Contact List view are too small to be useful for him.  Is there a setting for font size in this view?

A:  Yes.  Click Tools | Preferences.  In the Colors & Fonts tab, make sure the Contact List option is highlighted on the left.  Click the Font button to change the font size for the Contact List view.  You may also want to click the Show gridlines option.  That might also help the readability of the view for your user.  Keep in mind that you can set the font preferences for other views as well, including the tabs in the Contacts view, the Task List, Company List, and Opportunities List.

This setting is user-specific for each computer.  In other words, making the fonts larger on one computer isn’t going to affect any of your other users.

Timothy Kachinske
Innovative Solutions
ACT! Certified Consultant

Do you have questions about ACT!? Ask us at act-guru@howdoyouact.net