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Who is the target market for Executive Pulse?
The target market is companies that are purchasing their first executive
dashboard software product. The typical customer executive is tired of
having his senior staff spend their valuable and expensive time compiling
flash reports and daily sales/financial data that is obsolete even before it
is compiled.
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Who is your competition?
Executive Pulse is a first-to-market product for the Macola Progression
and ES product line. Since it Excel-based, it requires little
training. It literally can be purchased in the morning and
operational later that day.
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How does Executive Pulse compare to the Exact EBA software?
Executive Pulse is a much different product and has a different target
market. Executive Pulse is a $5,000 turn-key product customized to
meet your company’s specific needs. It can be quickly installed
and requires minimal training. EBA requires you to attend training
and purchase the dashboard add-on modules. You must then design
and develop your dashboard from scratch. If you purchase EBA, you
may spend $30,000 and take several months to develop a dashboard that
will not match Executive Pulse. EBA is a reporting tool, not an
executive dashboard showing key performance indicators.
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What is Sales Pulse and who will use
it?
Sales Pulse
is identical to Executive Pulse, but eliminates the confidential
financial data. It is designed for the sales manager and each
sales representative. The sales rep’s copy, for example, will show
their overall sales and sales for each of their top customers. If
they operate outside of the office, they can dial-in to refresh their
copy or it can be e-mailed to them. Sales Pulse is included along
Executive Pulse at no extra cost.
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Where does Executive Pulse obtain its data?
Executive Pulse directly reads your Macola database on a real-time basis.
It uses your Macola data files of customer orders, purchase orders,
budgets, general ledger, accounts receivable and accounts payable files
every time you refresh the data. It does not use any intermediate files
to pre-store the data.
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How does it operate?
The program
is Excel-based with powerful Visual Basic custom programming running in
the background. We chose Excel because most top executives already
use Excel, are comfortable with it, and would not need training.
Executive Pulse has a one-time set-up tab which is used to specify your
key general ledger and budget accounts as well as your top customers,
customer types, product categories, sales reps, etc. to be displayed on
the subsidiary tabs. Each morning, you change the ‘as-of’ date on
the main screen and press the ‘refresh’ button to display your current
results. During the day, you can press the ‘refresh’ button at any
time to display up-to-the-minute results.
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Do you know the details of the Macola software?
Yes,
we are Macola experts. We have been a Macola dealer for over 15
years and are part of the Esta Group, a leading
Macola dealer. We have written over 5,000 custom Crystal reports.
One of our core competencies is knowing where and how to extract date
from your Macola database to help you make better and timelier
decisions.
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Can Executive Pulse show me sales and booking for prior years?
Yes. One
of the powerful features of the software is the ability to backdate the ‘as
of’ date to any prior month, day and year to show open orders, sales and
booking data for the prior date.
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How long does it take to refresh the data?
Depending on the speed of
your computer network, the refresh time will be from 15 seconds to five
minutes.
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Can Executive Pulse update itself automatically?
We choose to not
offer this feature as we wanted the user to be able to change the ‘as of’
date or review the current results without it refreshing itself.
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Where does it store budget data?
We use the Macola general ledger budget file.
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Is this new software? How many customers are using the software?
This software
was developed in 2005. Our initial focus was on our Cincinnati
customers. We now sell it nationally and even have a Spanish version.
We have many customers who you can call as a reference.
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What is the cost?
Executive Pulse is available for $4,995 (US).
Customization and tailoring is available. The 5 user System Manager includes
Executive Pulse and Sales Pulse (additional users can be purchased for $200
each). Unlimited phone support
and software updates are available for an annual 10% fee.
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How is it customized to meet my individual needs?
Executive Pulse
includes a set of customization tools which accommodate most needs. If you
want more features than can be created using the built-in
customization tools, we will provide you with a quote for the changes.
We will discuss your individual needs and develop written specifications for
your approval. During the time needed to complete your particular
enhancements, you can start using the off-the–shelf version.
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Can I download a demo copy of the software?
We have a ‘view
copy’ that we can e-mail to you or you can download it from our web site.
It is a real copy of the software, but it cannot be refreshed.
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Can I use it for 30 days before purchasing?
Our experience is that top managers decide within the
first 15 minutes of the demonstration if they will purchase it or not.
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Can I display unit sales rather than dollar sales on the graphs?
Yes, not only can you
choose to display unit sales rather than dollar sales, but you can also
display unit budgets.
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How many users can use this software?
The base software includes a 5 user system manager, additional user
licenses can be purchased ($200 per additional user). Each user can make an unlimited number of copies for
individual use.
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- How can I obtain a demonstration of the software?
Please call Terry Lanham at (513) 723-8091 to ask
questions and schedule a demonstration with Mike Leahy.
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Do you have other add-on software utilities that will help my business?
Yes, we have
developed several additional software utilities that may help your company.
Please call Terry Lanham at (513) 723-8091 for more information or click on
this link to the Esta Group
Products web page.
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If I have problems or questions, who do I call?
o At any time, you can call
our support desk with unlimited questions or issues. Most of the calls
we receive have to do with making further enhancements.
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