Special Profile Manager Premium Case Study: BookingandTalent.com
Prepared by: Dayley/Lyons Marketing & Promotions, James Dayley, Dan Lyons
BACKGROUND:
Over the course of the past six months or so, we have devoted
our entire time investment to developing a series of Web Based business
operations, such as www.bookingandtalent.com. While neither of us is a
'novice' computer user, even having spent a bit of time as technical
services representatives for a major Internet Service, this venture brought
us into contact with the magical wonders of CGI Scripts and Perl Programming
for the first time. Our research into what scripts were available, who
writes them, and how they work has consumed a great deal of our time. It is
time well spent, but it was rather intense.
PROFILE MANAGER PREMIUM:
While engaged in the initial development phases for
BookingandTalent, we'd identified a series of fairly unique requirements. We
needed a 'basic' display for the member information, the ability for users
to search that database by keywords, and using that information, we wanted
the program to create a URL Page for Users.
www.bookingandtalent.com
When we found PM Premium, we thought our troubles were over. It listed all
of the features we wanted, and a couple of nice little add-ons, like the
admin features, that we hadn't considered. We bought that script with little
consideration.
From the first moment we began playing with it, about 20 minutes after we
received it, we were so greatly impressed that we had to take a day off to
consider just what we had. From among some 20 other scripts we'd used,
reviewed, or tried to use, this was one which gave us very little difficulty
in upload, configuration or follow thru. Unlike many other scripts we'd
worked with, we found PM Premium to be very straightforward in application,
relatively simple to configure, and working exactly as advertised
immediately after the first upload.
Unfortunately, being more than a little demanding in our requirements, we
began to see little things that needed 'fixing'. Since we were 'fixing'
things anyway, why not add a little here, and a little there? Of course, as
long as we're adding a little here and a little there, why not combine its
operations in some unique and wonderful ways? You can probably guess the
answers, if you've ever used a CGI Script. We rapidly got in over our heads,
and managed to quite thoroughly mess things up. That's when we encountered
the "hidden" benefits of Aytekin Tank and www.interlogy.com.
BUSINESS COMMENT:
As we mentioned, this is not the first or only script
we've gotten or purchased from the Internet. We've used scripts (and are
still using scripts) written by Matt Wright, Craig Patchett, and Jonathan
Hedley, all very well known and long time CGI/Perl creators. Matt and Craig
wrote the CGI/Perl Cookbook, which we highly recommend. But, Mr. Tank's
business operations are, by far, the most impressive we've encountered to
date.
His website makes it easy to find exactly what you're looking for, right
from the first page. There are no distracting little messages and pop-ups,
no misleading sales pitches, and everything is explained clearly and
concisely. That had a major impact on our decision to buy.
Upon purchase, his delivery of the product was immediate. It arrived before
we'd signed off from the transaction. We were able to follow his initial
instructions and get the script running, as mentioned, in about 20 minutes.
Again, an impressive accomplishment. And we cannot say enough about his
personal commitment to Customer Service and Support. Mr. Tank followed our
stumbling progress through the development of our site with almost avuncular
devotion. His responses to our requests were never delayed longer than 48
hours, and always applied directly to the problem being worked on at the
time. If you've ever had to deal with e-mail Customer Support, you can
realize exactly what we are referring to here.
PROGRAM FLEXIBILITY AND CUSTOMIZATION:
The further we delved into the PM
Premium Script's capabilities, the more and more impressed we became. Many
scripts we'd seen used 'template' files of one sort or another in portraying
HTML pages, customizing forms and form actions, etc. None were (or are) as
easy to use and follow as PM Premium. A major factor in this part of the
process is the logical and sensible naming of the files and their locations
within the script folders. You can find and "fix" whatever form you're
looking for in mere seconds.
If you visit www.BookingandTalent.com you'll get an idea of just how much
'custom' work we did. Yes, that really is PM Premium!
Using Aytekin's FAQ & On-Line Manual made most of that possible. And what
little we found that wasn't possible, became possible.
CONCLUSIONS:
Developing an On-Line Community Web-site has just become easier
than ever before. Mr. Tank's PM Premium is everything needed in its basic
form, and it's ability to be customized to unique and outr� needs makes it a
flexible and easy to apply tool. Kudos Aytekin, keep up the great work!
PS: If you get the chance, take a look at the "Netcard" program offered as a
free download. What a neat toy!
Profile Manager Premium
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