                             Catalog-On-A-Disk
                             Review by Tim Cook

       Catalog-On-A-Disk is a maturing marketing product. The authors tout
it as "The selling tool of the '90's". They may be right! I had the pleasure
of using version 4 for this review.
        The installation was simple and straight forward. The install
program recommends a default directory but allows the user to assign a
substitute and will create it if it doesn't exist. Program setup is very
simple but be careful. The first time you run setup you are required to
brand your original diskette. This can be any string up to 72 characters in
length such as a company name or catchy slogan. This brand is used to help
protect your catalog from tampering. There is also a very important note in
the manual about order number field size. Be sure to read this before
creating your catalogs.
        Beyond the setup section, the manual contains a short tutorial on
creating your own catalogs. I emphasize the word short. I also found it a
bit confusing because there are errors in this section that appear to be
where the tutorial had changed probably between versions. I'm sure the
manuals will come with an erratum sheet for these in the future.
        Chapter 2 is titled, "All About Catalogs" in my opinion this should
be "Design Tips".  It does cover some useful information about how and why
to use COAD.
        Chapter 3 is "Parts of a Catalog." This section is a must read and
understand chapter. Here you'll find information on which files do what and
what file extensions are mandatory.
        The rest of the 150+ page manual covers the various features and how
to use the utility programs included.
        COAD is a feature rich application.  As I went through the list I
couldn't find anything that might be missing.  From the customers point of
view the delivered system is very easy to use. If your customer has a
computer I'll bet they can review the catalog and complete the order
process. The customer only needs to know that the ENTER key advances a
screen or pops up a data entry box, the ESCAPE key will abort an entry or go
back one screen and number keys enter quantity of items or select from a
list of options such as color or size of the item ordered. A completed order
can be printed locally and sent via normal snail mail or saved as an ASCII
file for faxing or Email.  There is a utility included for sending files via
modem to a BBS and EmmaSoft has a demo of the process on their support
board. A complete well-planned menu driven catalog should yield many new
customers, or at least make many of your current ones happy.
        How easy it is for customers to use is one issue. The other is the
amount of work involved in creating a catalog. The demonstration catalog
that ships with COAD shows-off it's capabilities very well, but putting all
those features into your catalog will require a lot of planning and some
study. If you've done any programming it will be a little easier.  READ the
manual first! If you want to save time and avoid frustration you must
understand how catalogs are stored and created. The COAD  user interface is
basically CUA compliant, but some of the terminology used in the menus I
didn't find intuitive. Reading the manual corrected most of this. This is
not a slam on the product, but a fact that must be faced when you have an
application with this level of flexibility. COAD allows you to customize
everything from the entry screen to the order forms. Various discount, sales
tax, shipping methods and pricing options are available.  Custom forms,
information screens, command files to run external  programs and surveys can
be added to your catalog.
        I found their technical support prompt, courteous and knowledgeable.
        The version reviewed here was the COAD-Plus version 4. I located the
shareware flavor of version 4 on several BBS's and a couple of shareware
CD's.  While the shareware version doesn't allow you to create a catalog
with all these features nor does it include the extra utilities, it will
give you an idea of the quality product this company markets. If you sell
anything mail order, you should try out this marketing tool.

                      EmmaSoft Software Company, Inc.
                                 PO Box 238
                           Lansing, NY 14882-0238
                            Voice: 607-533-4685
                             BBS:  607-533-3685
                     EMail:  71333.1577@compuserve.com

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