This weekend we added a significant new feature to the Webmail application: Receiving emails from external email accounts.

Each user can configure up to five external email accounts. These external accounts must accept POP3 connections in standard or secure mode (SSL/TLS). Once the parameters of an account have been saved, the user can check the connection. We provide some examples of settings for the most popular email services.

Receiving emails is triggered by the user when he clicks the sub menu Check Mailboxes. Only new emails are retrieved and uploaded.

Management of external emails is quite a complex process. Our extended preliminary tests have been positive but there is a wide variety of cases to validate. We will run a real life test period for few weeks. Please do not hesitate to report technical issues, visual glitches in the display of the incoming emails or request of improvements in this new feature.

During the beta test period, we do not allow the deletion of emails on the external email account while they are retrieved. In all cases, this is a feature that is not recommended to activate so one can continue to check and manage his emails from his default email client.

A new small feature made its way to your AppShore CRM account: dynamic panel.

Two weeks ago, we revamped the Dashboard application to make it nicer and more user friendly. Today we have updated the left panel (or right if you are using AppShore in Arabic) that is visible on most of the layouts with some similar behaviors and dynamic objects.

Users can customize their own panel by adding, removing or moving dashlets (we called them simply boxes here).

Each modification is transparently stored in your user's profile so you'll find them back at your next AppShore session.

Send us some feedback about this new dynamic panel and let us know what kind of boxes you would like to have.

You know the adage "A picture is worth a thousand words".

So we've added some charts in the Forecasts applications. They are dynamics and will react to the filter set in the search form.

The first chart displays the Sales people performance according the following parameters:

• Sales quota
• Expected amount
• Forecasted amount
• Won amount

Expected amount is the amount as set in an opportunity. Forecasted amount is the same amount but pondered by the probability to win the deal. It is a more realistic (lower) amount. Won amount is related to the opportunities won, invoiced, paid.

The second set of chart displays the opportunities according 3 variables:

• Their respective weight in amount in the pipeline
• Their stage
• The Sales people

Here yet we distinguished between Expected and Forecasted amounts.