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tracker-maximizer-97-overview

Note: Information on previous versions provided for the benefit of existing uses considering upgrading to the latest version - Maximizer CRM 10.

TRACKER MAXIMIZER 97


POWERFUL CONTACT MANAGEMENT MADE EASY

Tracker Maximizer 97 is the latest release in our popular contact management product line. Users send and receive E-mail which is automatically added to the contact history; create their own Web site for free; visit our online server to register, view tips, get help, and download add-ons. Tracker Maximizer 97– simply the best in contact management.

Listed below are just a few of the over 200 enhancements made to Tracker Maximizer 97:

1. DirectAccess
Embedded in Tracker Maximizer 97 is the ability to link directly to the server located at our headquarters (provided one has Internet access). DirectAccess will be an area on our server where Tracker Maximizer 97 users – and only Tracker Maximizer 97 users – will be able to register their software; download new add-ons; select new Wizards to include on their software; view FAQs and tips; purchase Tracker Maximizer products; and even sneak-preview new software. It only takes one mouse-click to directly access the very latest news about Tracker Maximizer 97!

2. E-mail Inbox
Tracker Maximizer 97 has an internal inbox that allows users to view their mail in any VIM- or MAPI-compliant mail client (MS Exchange, Outlook, cc:Mail, Eudora, etc.). If Tracker Maximizer 97 recognises the sender’s E-mail address, it will automatically attach the mail message to the sender’s entry in the Tracker MaximizerAddress Book. If the mail is from someone not in the Address Book, a new entry can be created for them immediately. As an added bonus, the Tracker Maximizer 97 Inbox will automatically decode any Base64, BinHex, or uuencoded portions of the message. These attachments can also be saved to the sender’s entry.

3. E-mail Merge
Users of Tracker Maximizer 97 can send mass E-mails to their contacts, with each message personalised for the recipient. Tracker Maximizer 97 is even smart enough to choose the most expedient communications route for each message – E-mail the people who have E-mail addresses; fax the ones who don’t; and print the letter for people who have neither, so they can be snail-mailed.

4. Launch an Application or Web site
Tracker Maximizer 97’s User Defined Fields are set up so that their content can be "launched" by a toolbar button. This means that you could jump instantly to a contact’s Web site — or open a document or spreadsheet whose path is stored in the User Defined Field — just by highlighting the contact and clicking a button you’ve put on the toolbar.

TRACKER MAXIMIZER 97- UNIQUE AMONG CONTACT MANAGERS

Tracker Maximizer 97 is the most effective contact management tool on the market because information is now presented in lists, rather than forms. Most contact managers force users to view their information as a form, much like a giant Rolodex card filling the screen. Tracker Maximizer 97 presents contact information in ten customisable windows, so the user can choose to view as much or as little of their contact information as they please. The Address Book window, by default, displays information about the companies you do business with. The Contacts window shows the people (contacts) you know at each company. The Notes window automatically records all interaction you’ve had with each person and each company. As users move through the Address Book, the content of all the other windows changes to reflect only information about the currently highlighted entry. In the following illustration, you can see that the Contacts window and the Notes window are displaying information about the highlighted Address Book entry, PC World.

TRACKER MAXIMIZER 97 - CUSTOMISABLE ON ANY LEVEL

Tracker Maximizer 97 recognises that there are as many different sets of requirements for a good contact management system as there are users. That is why we provide within the program the ability to tailor the way Tracker Maximizer 97 works with your data, at many different levels. At the simplest level, the user can customise the windows that are open; the columns that are displayed; the fields that are in the Address Book or Contacts window; the height and width of the rows and columns; the colors and fonts in each window; and the buttons that are displayed in the toolbar and ribbon bar. The following image is a customised Tracker Maximizer 97 screen:

The customisability is carried all the way up to the code level. Tracker Maximizer 97 is, and has always been, designed to be very open. We publish the Tracker Maximizer 97 Integrator’s Toolkit, which includes an ODBC driver and a DDE manual to aid developers and integrators in designing solutions that incorporate Tracker Maximizer 97 data. In addition, OLE automation makes Tracker Maximizer 97 easy to integrate with other applications.

TRACKER MAXIMIZER 97 DATABASE

Tracker Maximizer 97 utilises the Btrieve database engine as its data manager. This gives it unparalleled integrity, speed and storage efficiency. Btrieve is a "navigational" DBMS, which means that information is retrieved by means of a series of pointers to its location. This method is much faster than flat file data structures, and consumes much less overhead than a fully relational database would. The trust in Btrieve is so great, that every major accounting software package uses it for a backend. Following is a quote explaining why:

"Btrieve has a reputation for being bullet-proof. As ‘mission-critical’ jobs -- computer applications on which the company depends for basic business operation -- moved to microcomputers, a high level of integrity and reduced risk of data corruption was necessary. Btrieve met this requirement."
Btrieve Based Accounting by Eric E. Cohen, CPA, October 1994

As well as offering exceptional safety for data, Btrieve provides Tracker Maximizer 97 with unbeatable speed of data storing, searching and sorting. Below are some tests that were done, all on the same P90 with 24 MB of RAM. The test database was 10,000 contact records, each with a name, address, 2 phone numbers, and two User-Defined Fields.

MULTIACTIVE SOFTWARE USER BASE

Multiactive Software has traditionally found most of its users to be sales professionals. As a matter of fact, we have a high-end Sales Force Automation (SFA) product called Maximizer Enterprise, which is designed exclusively for sales groups. Lately, Multiactive Software is finding a much greater acceptance among all classes of users; including anyone who deals with people and must have contact information available at the click of a mouse. We are experiencing a rapid rise in users from the Small Office / Home Office (SOHO) end of the market, as well as increased popularity in large corporate installations.

One of the reasons our corporate user base is growing, aside from the performance and integrity issues discussed on the previous page, is our networkability. Unlike most of our competitors, who have struggled to add network back-ends to their stand-alone products, Tracker Maximizer 97 was designed from day one to be networkable right out of the box. Our relationship with Btrieve, who were owned by, and continue to be closely associated with, Novell, helped a great deal. Tracker Maximizer 97’s attractive workgroup functionality includes:

  • unlimited users accessing the same data concurrently;
  • field-level locking, so the same record can be accessed by two different users concurrently;
  • unequaled data access speed over the network using Btrieve’s NLM (Network Load module);
  • group scheduling with RSVP’s available through the Calendar window;
  • multiple user access to the same documents attached to the contact record - no need store the same document is many different places; and
  • automatic logging of date/time-stamped notes which are tagged with a user ID, so everyone knows who said or wrote or faxed what to whom, when.

MAJOR FEATURES AND BENEFITS

Internet Savvy
The instant contact Web site access and Internet E-mail capability combine to let Tracker Maximizer 97 users put the power of the Internet to work for them. As well, the Internet is the mechanism for using DirectAccess to download add-ons and new features.

Hotlist
Keeps a list of all the users’ personal and client related commitments with programmable alarms to remind them of those important time-sensitive activities.

OLE 2.0 Support
Attaches spreadsheets, word processing documents, multimedia files, scanned photos and other "objects" from other applications to Address Book entry records. These objects remain linked to the Address Book entry and are listed in the document window. Users can search text contained in objects created by other applications.

E-mail support
Tracker Maximizer 97 supports VIM- and MAPI-compliant E-mail systems, such as MS Mail and cc:Mail, so the user can exchange Tracker Maximizer 97 information, OLE-linked documents, spreadsheets, or other "objects" with customers and co-workers. E-mail addresses are stored as part of the Address Book entry record.

Action Menu
Allows users quick access to common commands like "Schedule a To-Do," "Make a Call," "Write a Letter," and "Print an Envelope."

Calendar, Group Scheduling
Views appointments and Hotlist tasks by day, week, or month views. Hotlist tasks are also displayed for the day in a special column in the Calendar. Holidays are shown in red in the Calendar. Schedule meetings and view Calendars for people on a LAN. "Find Free Time" instantly finds a time when users can squeeze a meeting in. You can even request RSVP’s.

Address Book
Stores an unlimited number of contacts per company, and unlimited addresses per Address Book entry and contact.

Calendar and Address Book Printing
Users can print Tracker Maximizer 97 information to many standard organisers, such as DaytTimer, Dayrunner, Franklin, FiloFax, and others. Users can also print in Rolodex format.

Customisable Toolbar
Add toolbar buttons to launch Tracker Maximizer 97 macros or other applications from Tracker Maximizer 97. The toolbar can be moved to any point on the screen.

Network Ready
Fully networkable out of the box, Tracker Maximizer 97 shares databases and information between users.

Graph your Data
Tracker Maximizer 97 has built-in graphing capability. You can select from over 200 styles of chart to analyse where your customers are, what they’re buying, anything!

Built-In Backups with Security
Backs up the database safely, quickly and efficiently from within Tracker Maximizer 97.

Fonts and Colors per Window
Changes fonts and colors in a selected window. Makes frequently accessed windows stand out from the others.

Multiple Databases
Creates an unlimited number of databases and runs multiple databases simultaneously, taking less than ten percent system resources per database, regardless of size.

Tracker Maximizer 97 Editor
Integrated word processor creates correspondence that can be attached to an Address Book entry or contact, or can be used in a template for mail or fax merges. Enjoy "zoom" views, headers and footers, print preview, graphics support, window splitting and more. MaxEdit also provides templates for faxes, memos and letters. Other templates of form letters and User-Defined Fields are provided for many industries, including sales, high-tech sales, insurance, real estate, finance/stock broker.

Integration with Word Processors
When Tracker Maximizer 97 is installed, it finds the word processor you are using (Word or WordPerfect), and adds five buttons to its toolbar, to enable mail merging within your favourite word processor. All the integration of the Tracker Maximizer 97 Editor is now available with your existing word processor.

Notes
Logs history of all interaction with your contacts -- phone calls, letters, faxes, data transfers and more.

Performance
Uses Btrieve Technologies’ Btrieve database engine for fast reliable database performance.

Unlimited User-Defined Fields
Any field you can think of can be added to your Tracker Maximizer 97 database quickly and easily. Retrieving the data is just as quick and easy -- User-Defined Fields are completely searchable.

Searching
Tracker Maximizer 97 gives the user the ability to search on any piece of data in a database, including Text, Notes, User-Defined Fields, First Name, Last Name, Last Change Date, City, State and many more.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

The following features clearly distinguish Tracker Maximizer 97 among contact managers:

  • Performance of database (client/server)
  • List-based GUI
  • Internet functionality
  • Free Web site on BusinessNet
  • Group scheduling
  • Unlimited User-Defined Fields
  • Unlimited Address Book entries
  • Unlimited contacts per Address Book entry
  • Built-in word processor
  • Links to Word, WordPerfect
  • Data graphing
  • Expense manager built-in
  • Customisable column display of contact information
  • OLE 2.0 support
  • E-mail inbox
  • Unlimited Notes, Documents
  • Industry Templates for Real Estate, Sales, High-Tech Sales, Insurance, Finance/Stockbroker


TRACKER MAXIMIZER 97 OVERVIEW

Entering Address Book Entries and Contacts
Tracker Maximizer 97 is the only contact manager that allows users to enter either a company or individual and then add contacts to those entries:

  • Companies are organisations that one deals with, including any contacts associated with that company.
  • An Individual is a person who is self-employed, for example, a doctor, lawyer, realtor, consultant, or personal friend.

To add a new entry with the Address Book window active, the user can choose "Add" from the Edit menu or press the "Insert" key on the keyboard or select "Add" from the right-mouse button pop-up menu. A dialog box will open for the user to enter the information. The type of information added will determine whether the user has entered a Company, Contact, or Individual. When complete, hit OK. If personal and company information have been entered, a dialogue box will ask if the information should be saved as a contact for a company or an individual. Choose Contact -- for New Company and hit OK.

Add additional Contacts for the same Company Address Book entry by clicking on the Contacts icon. Hit "Insert" or "Add" from the Edit menu. Add the name of a contact and click or press enter.

With both windows open, if the user scrolls through the Address Book entries window, they will see the corresponding contacts appear in the contacts window. By default, Tracker Maximizer 97 opens in "Framed Workspace" mode. This is meant to make navigating easier for first-time users. It will probably be easier to understand the different features of the program if you turn it off. Go to the Windows menu, and deselect Framed Workspace.

User-Defined Fields
User-Defined Fields are an important part of a Tracker Maximizer 97 database. User-Defined Fields can be assigned to any contact or company in the database. They keep information that categorises contacts and companies by criteria that can be used to perform searches. User-Defined Fields are unlimited in Tracker Maximizer 97. They can be viewed and modified in the second tab of the Add/Modify Address Book entry dialogue, or directly in the User-Defined Fields window. To open the User-Defined Fields window, click the icon on the toolbar.

There are four types of User-Defined Fields in Tracker Maximizer 97.

  • Table -- create User-Defined Fields in a table with a picklist of choices you define
  • Alphanumeric -- create User-Defined Fields data as alphanumeric characters
  • Date -- create User-Defined Fields as date fields (these can be included in your Hotlist)
  • Numeric -- create a User-Defined Field as a numeric field

Each type is used for a different tag or classification. Table User-Defined Fields are used for pop-up list boxes, so users can click to choose a user-defined entry without having to type it in.

The most useful thing about User-Defined Fields is that after they have been set up, users can search for Address Book entries or contacts by any of the above criteria.

Also, when creating a custom toolbar button, users can choose to "launch" a User-Defined Field. For instance, someone who had different shipping charges for customers in different regions, could create a User-Defined Field called, "Shipping Region," and populate it with the path of a spreadsheet that held the appropriate data. A toolbar button called "Shipping Charges" set to launch that field always take the user to the correct information every time.

Notes
The Notes feature in Tracker Maximizer 97 is an important part of tracking people and relationships. Tracker Maximizer 97 keeps a history of phone calls, meetings, and activities, as well as any other notations the user may have entered in the Notes window. The Notes window is accessed by clicking on, or clicking and dragging an Address Book entry to the Notes icon.

The advantage that Tracker Maximizer 97’s Notes has over those of other contact managers is each Note is stored separately. Notes are tagged with the name of the user who created it and are time and date stamped and viewed in a list so the user can easily see an abstract of each Note in sorted order with the most recent Note at the top.

The user can specify what activities are logged to the Notes when they are completed. Up to 9,000 characters per note, and an unlimited number of Notes, are available.

Searching on key words in your notes is easy. You can search through all your notes and find those that match a particular string of text, or that match a specified time period. To try it out, select Notes from the Search menu.

Hotlist
The Hotlist is a list of "to-dos" and "reminders." These items may or may not be tied to a specific Address Book entry or contact. They are date sensitive, and do not necessarily have to be time sensitive. Within Tracker Maximizer 97, users can view Hotlist tasks for any particular day, week, or other period of time.

The Hotlist window is a controlling window when open. If Hotlist tasks are attached to a Address Book entry or Contact, users will see the corresponding information in other windows that are open as they scroll through these tasks (Notes, User-Defined Fields, etc.).

The easiest way to schedule a Hotlist task for a Contact is to click and drag them from the Address Book window and drop it on the icon.

Most common tasks such as entering notes, making phone calls, and scheduling appointments can be done by dragging and dropping. This can be done by clicking or holding down the button, then pulling an Address Book entry or Contact to a specific icon or open window and letting go of the button on the desired spot.

The Find Free Time option, which is found in the Hotlist and Appointment dialog boxes, provides a "picture" of your Hotlist and Calendar appointments for the week. Appointments are indicated by a gray bar. You can schedule a new appointment by clicking on an appropriate hour.
Another important feature of the Hotlist are alarms. Alarms can be set for all Hotlist tasks. These can have lead times in minutes, hours, days, or even weeks. When the alarm goes off you have a few options. You can "snooze" all alarms for a selected period of time. After a specified interval, such as ten minutes, the alarm sounds again. You can also access the record of the Address Book entry associated with the appointment alarm, which allows you to review their history or find their address.

When a Hotlist task is completed, users are immediately asked if they wish to schedule a follow-up to the Hotlist task.

Documents
Open the Documents window and it will display a list of all documents relating to either the Contact or the Company. These documents have been created in MaxEdit or are OLE objects from other applications. Users are able to track and access these documents from this window and perform changes, additions and deletions. Here we see a number of different file-types in a Document window, with a video file and bitmap open:

The Calendar
The Calendar is an electronic appointment book which can be used to set up meetings or other activities. The Alarm can be set to remind the user of activities in advance. The Calendar differs from the Hotlist in one way. The Calendar is designed for items that are dated and time sensitive, whereas the Hotlist can contain items that may be personal or not specifically attached to an individual.

The Calendar can be viewed in four ways: day, week, month, and two months. These views can all be printed. Also, Tracker Maximizer 97’s drag-and-drop capabilities allow the user to schedule in the Calendar. Calendars run on a LAN, allowing users to easily perform group scheduling.

The Journal
The Journal in Tracker can be used in a number of ways. It can be used as a place to keep a log of personal notes or Journal entries. It can also be specified as a place to log completed activities. Users can have an unlimited number of Journal entries and quickly see Journal entries by any date range.

Expenses
Tracker Maximizer 97 includes a set of income and expense accounts to help users track their work-related expenses. These accounts are organised on a month-by-month and year-to-date basis, and are automatically totaled.

Phone Dialler
The Phone Dialler allows the user to dial or record details of outgoing and incoming calls for current entries.

Phone Log
The Phone Log is a special window which lists all phone calls made and received. Using Tracker Maximizer 97 to keep track of phone calls, users may at any time click on the icon to review calls for any day.

A company column is listed and the user can sort log information by any column. When printing a Phone Log report, Tracker Maximizer 97 lets the user add more details, such as the address and telephone number of the contact associated with each call. Statistics (i.e., longest, shortest, and an average duration of phone calls) can be added to the log report.

Tracker Maximizer 97 is designed to work with CTI technology, which recognises Caller ID and associated features.

E-mail Inbox
Click this button and Tracker Maximizer 97 will open your VIM- or MAPI-compliant E-mail client and attempt to link each message to an entry in your Address Book. If a match is found, the E-mail message will have the appropriate contact’s name in the "Save to Entry" column. If the appropriate entry is not in your Address Book, or does not have the E-mail address of the sender, you may search for the entry and/or add this information automatically.

Activity Log
The Activity Log shows all Hotlist activities and appointments for the current selected entry. If an entry is not selected, the log displays a list of personal activities. From the Activity Log, you can add, modify, delete, and print tasks.

Tracker Maximizer 97 Editor
Tracker Maximizer 97 has a built-in word processor that lets users create correspondence such as faxes, letters, proposals, and other documents that can be attached to a contact. Features include zoom views, headers and footers, print preview, graphics support, and window splitting. Tracker Maximizer 97 also provides OLE 2.0 and DDE links to many third party applications such as WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, and AmiPro. OLE allows you to add graphics to Editor documents. Or, instead of embedding a graphic, the user may add the object to the graphic source file. When making changes in the source file, the graphic image is also updated in the Tracker Maximizer 97 document. Files can be imported in Rich Text Format (RTF) or Text (TXT) format.

Other Important Buttons on the Toolbar

  • Macro Recorder and Player
  • Information Transfer
  • Launch the Web site of an Address Book Entry
  • Graph Your Data
  • Tracker Maximizer 97 Wizards
  • Send E-mail
  • Write a Letter
  • Send a Fax
  • Write a Note
  • Print Envelopes
  • Print Labels

CONCLUSION

This Guide has shown the basics of Tracker Maximizer 97. Keep in mind that Tracker performs all contact management tasks intuitively and efficiently.

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