Besides MasterMine, no option including StoneField Query or Crystal Reports, really allows you to do data analysis or data management, which are huge additional benefits of MasterMine. But even considering only reporting, you have these choices:
GoldMine Report Writer
Built into GoldMine, the capabilities of this tool are quite limited. GoldMine pros generally steer
end users away because it requires a great deal of database knowledge and patience.
SQL Reporting Services
A highly technical, "programmer" tool. Users must know the GoldMine CRM Data schema
and be quite familiar with Transact-SQL, field expressions, and GoldMine back-end
conventions. Average users cannot be expected to create reports, and typically
hiring professionals to do this is not cost- or time-effective.
Crystal Reports
The industry standard for generic (non-GoldMine-specific) reporting, but not user-friendly and requires users to have much more technical information and
know-how. Reports take MUCH longer to create, don't integrate with GoldMine, are
inflexible for end-users.
MS Access or Excel
Same limitations as above. Also, these are not built to be report-writing solutions and
therefore don't even have the usual report-related conveniences built in.
MasterMine
Puts information into user's "hands" up front, for easy, WYSIWYG-style drag-and-drop to get final
results. Branch off any report to create new reports immediately. So integrated with GoldMine you
can drill through to "pop" GoldMine records, build GoldMine CRM Groups from any segment in the report,
re-shuffle fields, convert tables to graphs, filter on anything graphically (no need for SQL expression
builders) -- all with immediate results. MasterMine is simply easier, faster, better.
Use MasterMine to meet your reporting needs, easily and efficiently -- but don't stop there!
MasterMine gives you SO MUCH MORE than basic reports, you deny yourself a key management tool,
and your staff an easy time-saver, every day you do without its management capabilities!
- Amanda Thomas, Puritan Financial Group, Inc.