Issue TOC Print full article Print this page Download as PDF E-Mail this URL Discuss this article Flame the author     In this article Introduction Integration & Customization ACCPAC CRM 5.5 Epicor Clientele 8.1 Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.0 Soffront CRM 8.0 FrontRange GoldMine 6.0 Executive Summary | How We Tested | Outsourcing CRM Report Card

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.