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Just a Personal Point of View
On the Road to Customer Tracking Software
16-Jan-2006      by Susan Pichotta

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Part 7
Product: CP TRACKER

The installation went easily enough, although it started by displaying a window about previous versions and backing up your data. Too many words, can't you figure out this was my first install? It gave me the option of running the software at the end of the install, which was good.

Then I get a message with notes about what folder the data is stored in for the trial version, and what function keys I'll need to press to move my demo data to a permanent folder. (Like I'm going to remember what to do!) Why don't you just put it in the permanent folder to begin with?

Next I have to fill in a window all about my name, company name, my address, emails, etc. I filled in half of it, then decided the trial version didn't need all that, and ignored the rest.

Then I see a pretty window with mostly beautiful icons, but one old, non-matching icon gets used in the primary locations on the window. Why? Why not a matching icon? I see a menu with contacts - lots of possible contacts. Finally, Customer Products/Services.

At this point, I'm not at all sure that this will do anything close to what I need. My life isn't about contacts, it's about customers. And I don't even know what I would do with Projects in my customer tracking software. But we're looking, so let's see.

I select "Contacts" from the top menu, and get a big list box, with three sample contacts entered (thank you!). There are a bunch of icons on flat buttons across the bottom, and the icons are in about 4 different styles. Minus points there on consistency. I don't see a button for Products or Sales. I double click on one of the contacts listed, and get a window full of data, with lots of tabs. "Products/Services (Sold)" is on tab #6. That's pretty far in there. At this point, I'm seriously concerned that this software is written for quite different usage than what I need, but I know the author, so I'll keep looking.

I select "Customer Products/Services" from the left menu, and get a window titled "Saved Queries". So, it looks like I'd need to create a query just to see how much and what products I've sold. Not so good.

I'd rather use a piece of software that understood this: my customers and sales are the most important things in my professional life, so don't make me hunt for them. (RegKeeper shows you this right up front.) CP Tracker looks like a good piece of software, with lots of capabilities, but it is not what I need. It looks like a contact manager, not a customer tracker. Onward.