The ACT! architecture is founded on a feature-rich and customizable contact management platform, with a focus on   scalability, reliability, and extensibility. The ACT! product family supports a disconnected client–server model supporting concurrent user scalability, and emphasizes predictive data fetching for optimum record scalability and a smooth and rich familiar Windows-based user experience. The ACT! product family leverages the Microsoft .NET Framework runtime as a stable and reliable base foundation and execution environment. ACT! Premium for Web supports easily accessible, rich Web contact management functionality, scalability, and ease of client deployment.  ACT! Premium for Web leverages the ASP.NET runtime and AJAX for both rich and responsive Web capabilities, including asynchronous data fetching and latency reduction via partial content retrieval. 

The ACT! product family uses the ACT! Framework, the core contact management platform component for the ACT! product line. ACT! Framework delivers access to all of the ACT! entities, surrounding data, and business logic capabilities, while supporting data exchange, ACT! user authentication and security, database management, and synchronization operations.  The ACT! Framework is not just the heart of the ACT! contact management platform, it is also largely exposed as part of the ACT! SDK, available for consumption by third-party applications and Web services, and enabling integration with existing infrastructure or legacy systems.  The ACT! Framework SDK is the primary engine for all of the ACT! product family applications, so the SDK is assured to be comprehensive, reliable, and viable. Plus, it remains compatible and continues to evolve as part of new ACT! feature releases.  The ACT! SDK is freely available as part of ACT! product family.

The ACT! product family relies on the Microsoft SQL Server™ platform, an industry-leading RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) at the back-end which further supports its scalability and stability.  Microsoft SQL Server also supports the ACT! recovery and backup model, low database maintenance and auto tuning management.  It is also a complimentary technology with .NET, providing ACT! platform synergy.  ACT! data can also be accessed and integrated with third-party applications and reporting (such as Crystal Reports® and Excel integration) via the ACT! OLEDB provider, which includes ACT! integrated security.

ACT! and ACT! Premium for Workgroups go beyond core contact management platform proficiency to provide integration dexterity, including Microsoft Office and accounting integration.  ACT! uses standard methods of integration for ACT! and Microsoft Office integration, such as ACT!-specific Office Add-ins and Office Primary Interop Assemblies for .NET to COM Office object model integration by ACT!.  ACT! supports a growing accounting integration platform, the Accounting Framework, a proven solution enabling integration with over a dozen Sage Software accounting product offerings as well as third-party accounting applications, by enabling linking of ACT! data with external data.

The ACT! product family presentation layer itself is extensible to provide external application integration, as well as new embedded functionality extending ACT! functionality, behavior, or User Interface (UI).  The ACT! product family supports a plug-in model, allowing development of ACT! Add-ons via the ACT! SDK.  A Plug-in model is a relatively standard model for applications to discover and host new functionality at run time, much like Office Add-ons and other similar application extensibility models.  The ACT! plug-in model follows a simple file deployment model to allow ease of deployment by third parties or IT administration.  ACT and ACT! Premium for Workgroups also support custom controls, which enable third parties to provide custom tools and UI extensions to ACT! designable views, and can provide rich design-time behavior in the layout designer.  Both ACT! Add-ons and custom controls can be used to provide new general ACT! functionality, or can be tailored to a specific vertical market,  or be targeted at application or system integration.  Much like the ACT! Framework SDK, ACT! functionality, products, and Sage Software integration solutions leverage the plug-in capabilities of the SDK, so the same first-class traits are upheld here as well.

ACT! remains a truly world-class contact management platform, built upon a scalable and reliable foundation, and enabling powerful and rich customization and extensibility, as well as extended integration support.

Xavier Musy, Architecture, ACT!  | Sage Software, Small Business Division