Stonefield Query

Stonefield Query - The Next Generation of Reporting

Stonefield Query has many advantages over the report writer built into GoldMine.

Ease of Use

Stonefield Query was designed to be easy to use. You don't have to tell Stonefield Query how to get the data from GoldMine; you simply tell it what you want, and it'll figure out how to get it. For example, to include the Reference field from the Details tab in the GoldMine report writer, you have to specify CONTSUPP->CONTSUPREF. In Stonefield Query, you simply select Reference from the list of fields for Details.

Productivity

You're responsible for laying out fields in the GoldMine report writer, adjusting sizes and headings manually. Stonefield Query automatically creates fields and headings, places them in the right spot, and sizes them appropriately. You can create a report in Stonefield Query in just seconds with only a few mouse clicks! Grouping, sorting, and totaling fields is a simple as selecting the desired option from a list.

Performance

GoldMine's report writer retrieves every record from the database and examines it to see if it fits with the current filter. As you can expect, this causes the report writer to be extremely slow, especially on large databases.

Stonefield Query uses SQL SELECT statements to retrieve records from the database, so only those records that match the filter are accessed. This can have an enormous impact on the performance of the query. For example, one Stonefield Query user told us that a report they created in GoldMine takes over 25 minutes to run but the same report in Stonefield Query takes just 15 seconds! That's 100 times faster!

Easier and More Flexible Filtering

To create a filter in GoldMine, you have to know dBase expressions or the SQL SELECT language, neither of which are easy to learn, even for advanced users. With Stonefield Query, you simply select the field to filter on, choose how to compare it to a value from a list of English operators (“equals”, “does not equal”, “contains”, “is greater than”, etc.), and enter a value or choose it from a list of the distinct values for that field (you can even choose dates from a pop-down calendar).

In addition to being easier to create a filter, you can also create much more flexible filters. For example, you can choose to be prompted every time the report is run for the value to compare a field against (such as the desired date range for an activity report).

Stonefield Query allows you to filter in ways that are either impossible or extremely difficult in GoldMine, such as filtering on customized fields in detail types. For example, an insurance company may have a detail type called “Policy Information” and customized headings such as “Policy Type”, “Policy Number”, and “Policy Expiry”. Creating a list of all contacts whose insurance policy expires next month is as simple as choose Policy Expiry from the list of fields for Policy Information, choosing “is between”, and entering the starting and ending dates for next month. In GoldMine, this would involve creating a complex filter involving CONTSUPP->RECTYPE, CONTSUPP->CONTACT, and CONTSUPP->ZIP (or whatever field the Policy Expiry date is stored in).

Links With Other Add-On Products

Unlike the GoldMine report writer, which can only report on GoldMine data, Stonefield Query can integrate with other GoldMine add-on products. For example, if you use Details Plus from Solica Consulting, Stonefield Query will automatically display the proper headings and data you've entered for extended detail types. If you use QuoteWerks from Aspire Technologies, you can create reports in Stonefield Query that include information from both GoldMine contacts and QuoteWerks quotes.

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