Baseview Products — which provides software tools for publishing, including editorial, advertising, circulation management, production, and Internet solutions — has rewritten its Mac compatible AdManagerPro, a professional advertising application, from the ground up as a series of client/server applications connecting to SQL databases via TCP/IP.
The new version 4.0 has been designed to be “database-neutral.” Currently, it works effortlessly with FrontBase, but other databases will be added later, according to Baseview spokesperson Jodee Taylor.
Numerous reports have also been built in. And since it’s SQL based, it’s compatible with third-party report generators such as Crystal Reports. Basic transient ad entry has been streamlined, though all the tools needed for more complicated commercial accounts are easily accessible, Taylor said.
With AdManagerPro 4.0, customers, such as ad agencies and real estate offices, can be assigned multiple accounts and multiple contacts. Comments can be assigned to each account and contact. Speaking of contracts, they now support rate-based and adjustment-based benefits with exclusions based on ad types and adjustments. Color contracts are now supported, as well.
The update has less restrictive file locking so users can have multiple customers and ads open at the same time. In fact, multiple users can have the same customer open at the same time, letting you distribute ads at deadline.
All ads are stored to the insertion level, giving you the ability to vary rates, adjustments, etc., on a day-by-day basis. Adjustments can be assigned at the ad, publication and insertion level with pricing that varies on a publication basis.
Pricing routines have been expanded to include tiered rates, cumulative rates and user-defined pricing at the ad level. As of version 4.0, there’s no limit on the number of day of week surcharges, and group buys. AdManager Pro now supports unit-based advertising for items like preprints and inserts.
Zones have been beefed up and now support on-the-fly zones and user-defined zone pricing. Edit history and password override audits are now supported. Predefined fiscal years and accounting periods simplify end-of-month procedures. In fact, closing periods is as simple as selecting a checkbox, Taylor said.
Payment terms have been expanded yet simplified in AdManagerPro 4.0, resulting in fewer chances for posting errors, Taylor said. And closing editions for all ad families is done on the same screen, yet AdManagerPro won’t let you close editions out of order.
For details and pricing structure go to the Baseview Web site.