GoldMine
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| GoldMine | |
|---|---|
| Developed by | FrontRange Solutions |
| OS | Microsoft Windows |
| Genre | Customer Relationship Management |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | www.goldmine.com |
GoldMine is a Customer Relationship Management software package. It is a database-driven application made by FrontRange Solutions. It is a Microsoft Windows program that manages contact information as well as interaction with these contacts, such as calls made to and by the contact, email sent and received and sales.
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[edit] Features
- Contact Management: Maintain a list of contacts and their information, including custom data pertinent to your own business.
- Scheduling: Schedule various types of activities (calls, appointments, etc.) to occur between any combination of employee(s) and contact(s).
- Sales/Opportunity tracking: Track probabilities & close dates of simple and complex sales
- Networkable Groupware: The program can be used by a single user or simultaneously by groups of users in a windows network.
- Reporting: Analyze data with the built-in proprietary report engine or using 3rd party tools.
- Synchronize Data: Data can be synchronized with other GoldMine installations using GoldSync. Other native synchronization options include Microsoft Outlook, Palm and Windows CE/Mobile devices.
- E-mail: RFC 822 compliant e-mail client works with SMTP and POP3 e-mail servers.
- Web Integration: GM+View area in the program allows external browser-based content to be seamlessly presented as part of the contact's data. This provides rich integration possibilities with internet and intranet-based data-driven pages.
Goldmine has however been plagued with many problems throughout its lifecycle while being supported by support representatives that sometimes know less about the product than the people who are using it. Synchronization between remote users and the main installation site has always been particularly troublesome with size limitations and failures in the sync servers ability to stay running without constant monitoring. Front Range the makers of Goldmine have been quick to discontinue support for features which they have been unable or unwilling to get working properly and or maintain. Support packages are expensive and necessary in order to get the latest fixes. These fixes in the form of product updates usually create other new problems which must then be fixed. Front Range is one of those compaies that just can't seem to get it right.
[edit] Product Versions
GoldMine is available in four versions:
- Standard Edition: Utilizes dBase databases only. Suitable for small to mid-sized installations. Available through version 6.7 only. On April 2, 2007, FrontRange CEO Michael McCloskey announced GoldMine Standard Edition would no longer be offered for sale after April 30, 2007, but supported until April 30, 2008.
- Corporate Edition: Defaults to MSSQL 7/2000/2005 database. 4.0 supported Interbase, MSSQL 6.5/7 and dBase with limited support for Oracle 7 & 8, Informix and DB2. 6.7 supports MSSQL 7/2000 and dBase. 7.0 supports MSSQL 7/2000/2005 and Firebird.
- Premium Edition: Defaults to MSSQL 2005 database. Can also use Firebird. Revamped UI and a customer service module are the primary differences between the Corporate and Premium Editions.
- Enterprise Edition: Browser based with an MSSQL 2005 database.
[edit] Licensing
GoldMine Standard Edition, Corporate Edition and Premium Edition each utilizes a concurrent licensing system. With concurrent licensing, only X-number of people can log on at a given time (X being the number of licenses/seats). This means that 50 people could utilize a 25-user licensed installation of GoldMine as long as only 25 of them ever log in at the same time.
GoldMine Enterprise Edition uses Named Licensing, meaning that each user listed to use the application must have a license.
