So I had a client who was using close to 700 spreadsheets to track their crews and customer relations, I had heard of this CRM thing and started looking into it. First thing I found out is this is not like an Office Suite add-on, getting it installed is just the tip of the iceberg, but I partnered with an expert (Anne Stanton) and we are well on our to way to a single digit number of spreadsheets and a functional CRM environment. So it is not cheap, and not quick, but the results are well worth the cost and time involved. Instead of little pockets of disconnected information, we have one place everyone can go and see the same unified data, what a pleasure!

 

If you are rolling out CRM SBE on SBS, see my how to article to get started on the right foot so to speak. And find a CRM Specialist to partner with, as Monk says, you will thank me later.

 

Like to ask them how it is going, here is just one of their divisions (Preferred Builders of the Triad) running on the same CRM install, ask for Amanda.

 

Gotta run and start packing for SMB Nation!

C Ya,

HA

So a client running Office 2003 Pro has gotten very used to using the Microsoft Office Document Image Writer and loves it. He calls and says it has vanished and he really misses it. In case you don't know what it is, it is Microsoft's answer to the pdf file. It installs as a printer and you can print to it and it creates a file with an mdi extension. Once you have this file you can annotate it, e-mail it, print it, ect. Anyway he wants it back. I tried everything I could think of, I did the repair for Office, I did the reinstall for Office, I even completely removed Office and installed it clean, but no joy. I finally broke down and called pss, gave them a credit card and said help! Jason was a trooper. He even killed it on his own system to try to figure out how to get it back. After a couple of hours and after conferring with a few of the other pss folks they got his back, but could not get mine to show up. While sitting on hold again with nothing else to do but poke around, I stared looking at a number of other systems where Microsoft Office Document Image Writer was working fine. I finally noticed one thing in common; none of the working systems had a printer called MS Doc Image that was present on the mystery system. I looked at it properties and it claimed to be from MS Publisher for Typesetting, I went back to the working systems and they had Publisher and no MS Doc Image printer. So I deleted it, ran maintenance setup for Office 2003 Pro and removed the Microsoft Office Document Image Writer and then reinstalled and what do you know, it can back. So if you are having issues with Microsoft Office Document Image Writer, look for a rouge printer icon and try deleting it, it may just save you a few hours. When Jason came back to the phone I told him of my success and he graciously waived the pss fee.