On another subject, I am ready to give my reps access to the admin section, 
so they can get the latest downloads, and to have them start doing contact 
management on the site.

Regarding contact management, I want them to be able to enter their 
prospects into our database, thereby registering them to the rep.  This 
registration should be automatic, based on their login, so I can look at all 
the contacts, or sort them by rep.  If possible, I would like to give the 
reps the ability to upload a database (comma delimited exported from ACT 
would be typical).  There should be a notes field, for sure.  If you want to 
sit down and do some planning on this, I am available.


ACT versions all do it differently.

History, notes, attached emails will not be generated in the CSV.

"To export the contacts to a text delimited file, please follow these steps:

NOTE: A text delimited file contains contact data only. It does not contain notes/history, activities, or sales opportunities."

 manually map the field names from the Outlook file to the database file

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

I have been working on several aspects of the contact management system already. I have set up a working data base, and set up fields based on the contact list you forwarded from Ines and notes from a past meeting. I have also set up fields for Notes, History, and Rep information. The DB fields can be modified or added as we build the system.

The Contacts will be viewable to individuals, based on their designation in the Password Admin section. "Own" will make it possible for Reps to only view, add and update their own contacts. "All" will make it possible to view and update all contacts. Contacts will be searchable by most of the fields. An "All" designation will also provide a personal (Own) contact list. 

There is not a problem setting it up to do what you have requested, with one exception. 

There are several real problems with the "Export as CSV then upload" scenario. According to my research, different versions of ACT export differently. In order for this to work, all representatives would have to have the same version of ACT and all fields would have to mirror the fields in the data base exactly. There would be rules that would need to be followed when entering data. (eg, no commas, no quotes in data.) If these rules are not followed, the results could be disasterous.

Even with all this, there would still be a problem. That is that ACT only exports contact information. According to the documentation, ACT "does not export history, notes, or attached emails".

Another option would be Act Premium for the Web.  http://www.act.com/products/web/index.cfm

It is made to work with ACT Group Software. I must confess I don't fully understand what it does. The website seems to push you in the direction of live sales. There is no mention of price and you are required to call a Sales Person to arrange a purchase.

All that being said, we can set up a central online location for your representatives to add and update the Contact DB. We can set it up so Administration can monitor, update and communicate about all contacts. I will try to make it smooth and easy to enter data, so it is not a time consuming chore. But it doesn't seem feasible to syncronize with personal ACT without more ACT software.

This is going to be a major project, and I would expect to be into January before it is complete. But I already have a jump on it and will have some things to show you soon. I will set it up so you can monitor progress from the admin area of the website.