Question

[ACT6] Creating a Lookup based on Group Membership

Asked by: CE101

Application:    ACT version 6
O/S:              Windows 2000 Professional, SPK 4  

I would like to create a lookup based on group membership, but I do not know how.

For example, let's say I have three groups, each containing two or three contacts.
    Group Name:                           ABC Inc
        Company/Contact Name:     ABC Inc     Bill Smith
        Company/Contact Name:     ABC Inc     Mary Jones  
    Group Name:                           KLM Inc      
        Company/Contact Name:     KLM Inc     Marlene Baker
        Company/Contact Name:     KLM Inc     Rick Johnson
        Company/Contact Name:     KLM Inc     Robert Martins
    Group Name:                           XYZ Inc      
        Company/Contact Name:     XYZ Inc      Barb Taylor
        Company/Contact Name:     XYZ Inc      Terry Jackson      

How do I create a lookup that includes the 7 contacts above?
I don't know if this has any relavence, but..... our group-record structure is the default one provided by ACT and the only field that we use is the Group Name.  

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,      

Gary

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Asked On
2009-09-03 at 10:23:05ID24705328
Topic

ACT

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
9

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  1. question for robert
    Please post comment, Robert.
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    This is for points for Gary, just post here Gary and I will accept. wD
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Answers

 

by: GLComputingPosted on 2009-09-03 at 10:32:48ID: 25252918

Try this add-on - Advanced Lookup by Groups
http://www.exponenciel.com/actaddons.aspx?Ver=6&ID=15#A15

 

by: CE101Posted on 2009-09-03 at 16:56:40ID: 25256048

Hi GLComputing:

I appreciate the link to the addon you provided.
However I'm not inclined to spend $60 for this special single-time need of mine.
So I'm wondering if there's a way to accomplish the same thing, perhaps through some multi-step procedure.

Perhaps there's a global way to either
(1) insert a note for all the contacts belonging to certain groups
(2) task all the contacts belonging to certain groups
Then I can do search for these notes or tasks

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Gary

 

by: GLComputingPosted on 2009-09-03 at 18:37:39ID: 25256370

1. Create a separate field for each Group
2. Lookup each Group
3. Edit Replace - add some text to the field for that group
4. Repreat from 2 for each Group
5. Do an Advanced Lookup for the data in each field

 

by: CE101Posted on 2009-09-03 at 18:55:56ID: 25256440

Hi GLComputing:

Unless I misunderstand you, this is exactly what I initially thought must be done. However I was not satisfied with this approach as I have 150 groups. That would mean 150 repetitions of Lookup & Edit/Replace, with each repetition consisting of approx 6 or 7 clicks.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Gary

 

by: GLComputingPosted on 2009-09-03 at 19:27:51ID: 25256526

They are the only 2 options...

 

by: CE101Posted on 2009-09-03 at 22:12:43ID: 25256989

Hi GLComputing:

> They are the only 2 options...

Not satisfied with the options, I've figured out a way to accomplish my objective (necessity is the mother of invention).
It's a five-step procedure that takes less than 2 minutes to go through
(1) Create group-lookup
(2) Create group-membership report
(3) Move data from report to excel
(4) Create excel formula for lookup
(5) Create lookup

---------------------------------------------
Step 1:  Create Group-Lookup
---------------------------------------------
In this example we are looking for all contacts in groups where the Groupname starts with the letter "A"

Choose    GroupMode
Choose    Lookup
Choose    ByExample
Enter "A" in Groupname

---------------------------------------------
Step 2:  Create Group-Membership Report
---------------------------------------------
Choose    Reports
Choose    GroupsReports
Choose    GroupMembership    
Select       Create Report For:    current group lookup                        
Select       Send Output To:        file editable text

---------------------------------------------
Step 3:  Move Data from Report to Excel
---------------------------------------------
Open the resulting RTF file
Edit/SelectAll
Copy to pasteboard

Open Excel file
Paste from pasteboard
Remove row 1  (which contains the following words:   "Number of Groups")
Sort by column B
Remove all rows that have the following words in column B
      Group Name:
      Sub-Group Name:
      Contact
 
---------------------------------------------
Step 4:  Create Excel Formula for Lookup
---------------------------------------------
Assuming that the standard Group-Membership Report layout was used, the columns in the Excel file (from Step 3) will be arranged as follows...
     B - ContactName
     C - CompanyName
     D- Phone#
     E - Owner

Add the following formula to cell  F1

=CHAR(34) & "Contact" & CHAR(34) & " = " & CHAR(34) & B1  & CHAR(34)  & " AND " & CHAR(34) & "Company" & CHAR(34) & " = " & CHAR(34) & C1  &  CHAR(34)   &  " OR"    

The result will look something like this...  
    "Contact" = "John Doe" AND "Company" = "ABC Inc." OR


Replicate the formula from F1 throughout the rest of column F

Select column F
Copy to pasteboard

---------------------------------------------
Step 5:  Create Lookup
---------------------------------------------
Goback to ACT

Choose    GroupMode
Choose    Lookup
Choose    ByExample
Choose    Query
Choose    Convert to Advanced Query
Paste from pasteboard   (ie the lookup criteria from Excel)

The result will look something like this...
    "Contact" = "John Doe" AND "Company" = "ABC Inc." OR
    "Contact" = "Mary Smith" AND "Company" = "KLM Inc." OR
    "Contact" = "Bill Jones" AND "Company" = "XYZ Inc." OR

Goto the last line of the query and remove the final word "OR"

Execute the query

END OF PROCEDURE

 

by: CE101Posted on 2009-09-03 at 22:24:36ID: 25257011

Hi GLComputing:  

I think the formula needs parenthesis.
Here's the revised formula...

="(" & CHAR(34) & "Contact" & CHAR(34) & " = " & CHAR(34) & B1  & CHAR(34)  & " AND " & CHAR(34) & "Company" & CHAR(34) & " = " & CHAR(34) & C1  &  CHAR(34)  &  ")"    &  " OR"  

The result will look something like this...
    ("Contact" = "John Doe" AND "Company" = "ABC Inc.") OR
    ("Contact" = "Mary Smith" AND "Company" = "KLM Inc.") OR
    ("Contact" = "Bill Jones" AND "Company" = "XYZ Inc.") OR


Gary

 

by: GLComputingPosted on 2009-09-04 at 00:32:44ID: 25257417

Sorry, I thought you wanted to Lookup in ACT!

 

by: CE101Posted on 2009-09-07 at 10:59:13ID: 25276467

Hi GLComputing:  

> Sorry, I thought you wanted to Lookup in ACT!

Yes, I do want to do a Lookup in ACT.
However I have had to build the Lookup command with an Excel formula.

Gary

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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