ASI's CRM Blog

Accessing External Data Within GoldMine

DID YOU KNOW…that GoldMine can be customized to work with other applications?

If your organization is like many companies these days, GoldMine is only one of the business applications that contains business and customer data.  Chances are, your data also sits in other applications, such as accounting, lead management and inventory management software.  How do you show all of your customer-related data in GoldMine if some of that data resides outside of GoldMine?

Good news!  You have options!  Of course, the options that work for you depend on what the purpose of the integration is.  In this post, we will cover these categories:

• Import to GoldMine
• Export from GoldMine
• Application-specific (E-mail, QuickBooks, MAS 90/200)
• “Picture-in-Picture”

Import to GoldMine

Option 1:  Using GoldMine’s Built-in Import Wizard

Pros:  Inexpensive
Cons:  Very, very limiting in functionality and configurability

Sometimes, it is sufficient to simply refresh the contact data in GoldMine once every so often, for example weekly or monthly.  A good example is refreshing Aging data in GoldMine from an accounting application.

This type of import is very easy to set-up, and the least expensive as the built-in GoldMine Import Wizard is used.

Option 2:  Using a Data Integration Tool

Pros:  Very, very flexible and powerful
Cons:  Additional software costs; Professional services costs (depending on complexity)

If your import requires one or more of the following, you may need a Data Integration Tool:

• Frequent, scheduled data imports (e.g. daily, weekly)
• Import of other data types such as Sales transactions, Detail information, etc.

Option 3:  WebImport

If capturing and tracking leads from your website is part of your process, GoldMine’s WebImport feature can integrate your website’s forms with GoldMine.  WebImport can then use GoldMine’s Automated Processes to trigger GoldMine actions based on the data, such as:

• Auto-creating contacts in GoldMine from an inquiry
• Creating a Case in GoldMine’s Service Center from a web inquiry
• Creating a scheduled call from a web inquiry

Export from GoldMine

There are a number of ways to export GoldMine information in a fomat that is accessible to external applications.  For example, if we want to send GoldMine forecasted sales data to an enterprise-class ERP application.

Option 1:  Using the GoldMine Export Wizard

Pros:  Easy-to-use
Cons:  Functionality is not as limiting as the Import Wizard, but still very limiting

Option 2:  Using Microsoft SQL Server

Pros:  Very, very powerful
Cons:  Very, very difficult to use (SQL Server knowledge required)

Option 3:  Using a Data Integration tool

Pros:  Very, very powerful
Cons:  Not as simplistic as Export Wizard, but not as difficult as SQL Server; Extra software costs;  Extra services costs depending on the complexity

Application Specific

Option 1:  QuickBooks Integration

For those numerous businesses who use QuickBooks, there is an add-on module that will integrate QuickBooks with GoldMine.  Some of the features that are available include:

• Add GoldMine contact to QuickBooks
• Identify and Update Contact Information Changes
• View QuickBooks Transaction Register
• Sync QuickBooks Transactions to GoldMine Pending/History tabs
• QuickBooks Accounts Receivable Balances to GoldMine

Option 2:  MAS 90/200 Integration

An integration does exist if you are looking to bring MAS data into GoldMine (or vice-versa).

Option 3:  E-mail Integration

Anton Systems’ own Link2It product allows GoldMine users to BCC Link2It to link an e-mail to GoldMine.  This application is perfect for firms at which some staff members frequently send e-mails from their mobile devices, instead of from GoldMine or Outlook.

For sending e-mail marketing integrations, see our recent blog post that compares the various options available to GoldMine users.

“Picture-in-Picture”

Option 1: GM+View/GM+Browser

This method of integration doesn’t actually move data.  It simply shows external data using GoldMine's GM+View and/or GM+Browser.  For example, a manufacturer we worked with requested a custom-built view of sales data per account for the company’s fiscal year. 

If your company uses Internet-based applications, GM+View/GM+Browser would be perfect!  As a simple example, another recent blog post describes how to display a contact's LinkedIn profile inside of GM+View.  A more complex example involved one of our healthcare clients requesting the ability to submit claims to the firm’s claims processor directly from GoldMine.

Option 2: GoldMine Dashboards

Surprise! GoldMine's new dashboards can be configured to report on external databases! With this functionality, it is very easy for a GoldMine administrator to set-up dashboards that, for example, cross-reference GoldMine's contact information with sales information in an accounting database. Or GoldMine's Sales information with product information in an inventory database.  The flexibility and power built into the GoldMine dashboard tool are quite remarkable.

Have Questions?  Please feel free to contact us to discuss your data integration needs!