I am looking for a software that is able to manage profiles of
individuals our company is collaborating with: I like to store their
personal details, the type of collaboration, relationship the person has
with people of our company, rating the value of the collaboration |
Request for Question Clarification by
voyager-ga
on
22 Nov 2002 06:05 PST
Hi gian!
There are quiet a few products available that can do what you want.
Could you specify the price range, how many poeple have to work with
it, should it be a client<->server system, should it be web-based,
what about security, etc.
Any additional information would help to give you the answer of what
is the best software for your needs.
voyager-ga
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Clarification of Question by
gian-ga
on
22 Nov 2002 07:09 PST
thanks for the quick reaction: we don't look for a CRM system like
Siebel etc.! Preferably it would be an Intranet-based tool, for use by
a couple hundred people at our site, but a standard client-server
software could also do the job. It should have access restriction
built-in because the aspect "rating a contact" is important. It should
be easy to use.
The price should not exceed 10-20 K USD
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Clarification of Question by
gian-ga
on
27 Nov 2002 03:23 PST
Hi, it's now a few days that I posed my question, am I supposed to
receive an answer anytime soon ?
Or haven't I paid enough ? - Please let me know, I'm waiting!
thanks for your attention
Gian Gross
Nestlé Research Centre
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Request for Question Clarification by
bikerman-ga
on
27 Nov 2002 08:46 PST
Hi, gian.
I have found several projects which appear to me to meet your criteria
with one exception: none of them have a feature specifically for
rating. However, each of the software systems I've looked at do have
a feature which allows you to supply miscellaneous information about,
or notes regarding the individual. You could therefore use this
"miscellaneous" or "notes" field to enter a value for the
collaboration.
If you think that this would meet your needs, I'll post the resources
I have found.
Thanks,
bikerman-ga
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Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
27 Nov 2002 12:04 PST
gian...
Have a look at the following. The personal version
of The Brain is $79.95. The business version can't
be too expensive. Take the tour and you'll see that
this software provides a very intuitive interface,
with the opportunity to define relationships and
the value of the collaboration. Let me know what
you think.
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Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
27 Nov 2002 12:04 PST
Oops...the link to The Brain is:
http://www.thebrain.com/
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Clarification of Question by
gian-ga
on
27 Nov 2002 22:51 PST
Many thanks for your efforts! I realize it's a tricky question because
of the large scope of the term "collaboration solution". Let me add
this
- we are NOT looking for full-featured KM products (like the "BRAIN"
proposed by one of you)
- we ARE needing a dedicated tool for managing Contacts, which are NOT
exactly of the type "sales agent" contacts or "customer relationship
management" (although maybe there are scaled-down crm products which
could fit our needs, you might find out?). We like to
- store details of persons (or institutions) our company
collaborates with (that's the trivial part)
- store information on the type of relationship these persons have
with members of our company
- give persons of our company the possibility to rate the value of
the contact
- being able to track (report) the relationship profiles
The whole could be client/server database system or preferably
intranet-based, but with integrated security due to the nature of
information stored.
Let me know if I have already used up the credit - if there's a slight
chance to find something useful, I'm willing to throw in a few more
bucks.....
Many thanks again
Gian
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Request for Question Clarification by
voyager-ga
on
28 Nov 2002 02:10 PST
Hi gian,
sorry that I didn't follow up on my previous question - I got the flu
and was down for a while.
Would you be able to answer more questions for me, like if you are
looking for a "local" company (meaning somebody who can send a real
person if there is a problem (where are you located apporximately?))?
If you say client<->server is ok, would you prefer an application
service that is hosted by the company that sells this program to you
or would you rather have your data exclusively on one of your own
servers?
Do you want your employees to be able to access the data only within
your own intranet (is there more than one segment of the intranet?) or
also via secure connection while working somewhere outside your
organization (like at home or maybe in a hotel after visiting a
customer)?
I don't know yet, if I will be able to answer your question, as I am
in a bit of a conflict of interests here. The company who pays my
paychecks has a product that seems to fill your requirments so far.
However, as a researcher (which I do in my free time) I am responsible
to GA, which means I should give you an unbiased opinion. I don't know
if I will be able to do that, so I'll try to help narrow down the
candidates to see if one criteria helps to exclude the reason for my
conflict of interest.
Sorry not to be able to help more!
voyager-ga
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Clarification of Question by
gian-ga
on
28 Nov 2002 03:22 PST
to Voyager-ga:
Hosting externally: definitively not,due to the confidential nature of
information stored in the db.
Access via intranet: only from within the company - the situation is
not that of a "sales agent" who visits customers. We are a research
institution who maintains many external collaborations - and we need a
means to value and rate these long-term relationships.
Our location: Switzerland
Actually, we developed an application internally but we want to move
to a commercial product - experiencing difficulties maintaining
self-developed sw.
So, I will look at anything you're able to propose
Many thanks for your time
Gian
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Request for Question Clarification by
voyager-ga
on
28 Nov 2002 04:23 PST
Hi gian,
as I said I am biased, so I cannot really recommend. But something
that might be interesting for you to look at would be
http://www.nethype.de/documents/Mercury_english_standard_angebot.pdf
or if you can read German
http://www.nethype.de/-/www.nethype.de+submod=mercury
this would also fulfill the "local" issue (Company is located in
Karlsruhe - should be driving distance from your place).
If this kind of product is what you are looking for, please tell me,
so I can maybe recommend a few other suppliers to broaden your choice.
If not, you might be able to tell me more details about what you need
in relation to the example.
I hope this helps.
voyager-ga
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Clarification of Question by
gian-ga
on
28 Nov 2002 05:23 PST
to Voyager-ga:
Thanks a lot, the Papp!Mercury system looks indeed interesting - I
would have to explore what would be the effort to customize this for
our needs.
So, don'thesitate to cite similar references - I'm not 'that much'
bound to German software (we're already flooded by the one which
starts with "S" and ends with "AP" :-)
Last but not least - GA provides real good support & value f money -
thanks to all who contributed!
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