Act! v16 New Features: Field Calculations

Act! v16 has added a new feature which allows you to build calculations. 

 

First, what is a calculated field?  This is a field you create which relies on two or more fields and a formula to display data.  The supported calculations you can add for this version are currency, date, decimal and number.  

 

Next question, how can this be useful?  There are a number of instances where you may want to see a calculation in your database such as:

 

·         What is the age of my contact?

·         How long before a contract expires?

·         What is the commission on an opportunity? 

 

In the example below, we will review how to add a calculated field to show age.  Always begin by mapping out the details of your calculation.  We want to view the age of our contact so we will need to create the age field, this will be our calculated field. The data relates to the contact so the field will be placed on the contact form.  The related field that will help build the calculation will be the birthday field, which is an existing field in Act!.  The formula we will need to create will check the system date of the computer and then subtract the birth date.  Ok now we are ready to create the calculated field.  Important note:  You must have administrator access to create fields.

 

Under the Tools menu, create your Age field and assign the Calculated field attribute.

Next, select the type as Date and select the related field to be Birth Date.  Select ‘Years since’ which will perform the calculation.

After you add the fields to the layout, you will see that the Age field will be populated based on the Birth Date field.

For more information, check out our additional blog posts for the new features in Act! v16 or contact us for a free demonstration at info@toplineresults.com.