Other Shareware
Programs:
AnyCard.
 (For processing credit
 cards)
AnyBook.
(Business software for 
 small publishers)
RaceAid.
(Freeware for athletic 
 racing events)

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AnyOrder Basic

AnyOrder Basic forms the foundation of the AnyOrder Classic family. Carefully crafted and well tested, it is the winner of a number of shareware awards and it is highly regarded in both the publishing and software worlds.  It is particularly useful for self-publishers and small publishers.  It generates invoices and billing statements, keeps track of inventory, handles book returns, produces sales reports, records customer payments, tracks consignment items, and creates customer mailing lists.  The program is efficiently designed and uses compact files. 

Features found in AnyOrder Basic--and common to all three editions--include:

• Invoicing.AnyOrder!Software will produce neatly printed invoices and packing slips. It has a feature which automatically enters products and customer addresses, saving you typing time.  It handles returns and adjusts your inventory accordingly.

• Billing.  The program has a sophisticated billing engine which generates monthly billing statements and allows you keep track of customer payments.  It is also includes a Payment Analysis feature which provides you with an alternative way of reviewing a customer's account.

• Inventory.  At any time, you can obtain up-to-date information on how many books are left in inventory. 

• Consigned Books.  If you consign books to stores, or work with a distributor or wholesaler on a consignment basis, AnyOrder!Software will help you keep track of consignment inventories, sales and returns.

• Sales Information. AnyOrder! will produce weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly sales reports.

• Sales Tax. If you make sales which are subject to local or state sales taxes, AnyOrder will add the appropriate amount of tax to invoices and supply you with the necessary information to fill out state sales tax reports.

• Mailing Lists.  The program will create mailing lists which can be imported into nearly all word processing and labeling programs for generating mailing labels or producing mail-merged letters.

The Classic Standard Edition of AnyOrder is for the small or self-publisher who needs greater functionality and versatility.  It includes all the features of AnyOrder Basic with many additional features.  Here's a partial listing: 

It has larger field sizes for customer names and addresses.  It includes a Customer Contact Manager which can be used to write notes and keep track of customer names--or the names of individuals and departments within a corporate business--along with phone numbers, email addresses, etc.  It will automatically start your email program or Internet browser should you need to write a customer a note or visit their website. 

The Classic Standard version includes additional fields on the Main Invoice Screen including the customer's phone number, email address, and an invoice code which can be used to provide a more refined breakdown of sales data.  A third screen size setting allows the screen to be expanded lengthwise and widthwise providing a roomier working area. 

If desired you can add logos or other graphics to printed invoices and statements.  In addition to printing invoices, packing slips, and statements, it will also print receipts.

This edition includes more space for catalog numbers and product names.  You can assign different discounts to different products.  An extra identifier can be added to product information printed on invoices.  The identifier can be a part number, ISBN for books, or color, size, etc. depending on the product.  Products can also be placed in different categories by using prefix in the catalog number.  This allows you to obtain inventory information for each category and simplifies product entry on invoices. 

The invoice screen includes buttons to activate a pop-up list of products and prices.  The products can be inserted into the item area at the cursor or they can be appended at the end of the list depending on which button is selected.  For multi-product choices, the pop-up list will stay visible until the desired number of products have been inserted. 

An alternative product entry dialog box can be accessed from the Main Invoice Screen.  This feature provides an alternative way of entering products.  All the same pop-up buttons are available for pasting or appending products to the item list.  The alternative product entry box also shows other identifiers such as the ISBN or Part Number and it includes a speed button to access S-codes. 

A variety of sort options are available for customer and product lists, inventory reports, and billing statements. It also includes a feature which calculates the total weight of an order.  In addition to the various print routines in the Basic version, the Classic Standard version also gives you the ability to print a copy of the payment analysis report or a summary report of your inventory levels.  It will also prepare and print a bank deposit report.

For billing reports, you have the added option of choosing between "Date of Invoice" or "End of Month" billing cycles.  A new counting feature enables you to count invoices. Dozens of counting options are available. For example, you can determine how many invoices have been issued to a specified customer, how many invoices are unpaid, or how many invoices have been issued for a particular product.

The Classic Standard Version includes an Advanced Search feature which allows you to search certain fields or select various conditions to narrow down the search.  A Search and Replace feature is also available when catalog number other field changes are necessary.  The Filter feature has the added ability to display only those invoices with certain products.  You can also filter for a sales code, displaying only those invoices with promotional items, or only those invoices with returns, etc.  Filtering is also available in the mailing list portion of the program. With this feature you can produce a mailing list for customers from a certain state, or who have purchased a particular product, among many others. 

It will keep track of shipping expenses including those which are charged and those which are not charged to the customer. A new pop-up list (which can be customized to your liking) makes it easy to enter shipping methods on invoices.  It has an export 
feature which allows you to export invoice and sales data to other programs.  The export feature also allows you to export credit card information to a third party credit card processing program. 

The cost to register the Standard Edition is $59.00.  Registered users can upgrade from the most recent Basic Edition to the Standard Edition for $20.00.  (The cost of upgrading to the Standard Edition from older versions of the Basic Edition is $35.00)

AnyOrder Classic Advanced is the top of the line of a series of three programs which make up the award winning AnyOrder family of shareware for small and self-publishers. 

Its foundation rests on AnyOrder's Basic and Classic Standard editions.  Like its two siblings, it generates invoices and billing statements, keeps track of inventory, handles book returns, produces sales reports, records customer payments, tracks consignment items, and creates customer mailing lists. It has an integrated customer contact manager, email and browser capabilities, a weight calculator for orders, and export feature for exporting invoice, sales and credit card data

The Classic Advanced edition inludes all of the features of AnyOrder Basic and the Classic Standard Edition.  In addition, it includes credit card processing, batch printing, ability to attach invoices and statements to email messages, telephony features including two separate phone dialers (a basic and advanced version), invoice to HTML conversion, extensive export and import functions, currency conversation, extra emailing functions, and one of the easiest-to-use royalty accounting systems in the industry.

The Advanced Edition also includes an email export feature which allows you to attach a copy of the invoice to an email message.  Attachments can be text, Microsoft Word, or an HTML web document.  You can also place the entire invoice into the clipboard and move it into an email or word processing program. 

Among the Advanced Edition's telephony features, you can click on a button on the Main Invoice Screen or within the Customer Contact Manager and your computer will dial the phone number.  You can have the phone dialer key-in the individual's extension or menu choice numbers automatically for you.  If you need to call FedEx (or another shipper) to pick up a package, the phone dialer will even input your account number. 

It includes batch printing routines for invoices and statements.  Instead of printing each invoice (or billing statement) individually, you can select from a list and the 
program will print all selected invoices or statements at once, freeing you to do other things.

The Advanced Version includes new and versatile import and export functions.  The two functions allow you to move information to and from databases, spreadsheets, accounting programs, and word processing programs.  One of the nice features of the functions is that you can select which fields you want exported or imported and where the information should be placed. For more information, see: Import and Export.

Other advanced features include a currency conversion function.  The conversion dialog box allows you to establish exchange rates for those countries with which you do business.  Once the rates are established, you can choose a currency from the list, and the invoice will be converted into the appropriate values of the new currency.  When printed, the invoice will also include the appropriate ISO country code of the currency.  Moreover, AnyOrder will internally remember the original values of the invoice, and when desired you can convert the invoice back to your base currency.

Other integrated email functions include the ability to start youremail program and insert the billing name or shipping name into the "to" blank.  You can also pick from a series of form letters that you've prepared in advance, and via the clipboard, insert the desired letter in your email message.

The royalty accounting feature is an entire software program in itself, fully integrated so it works seamlessly with AnyOrder and AnyOrder's data files.  This portion of the program provides a wide range of options.  Royalties can be based on cash or accrual accounting.  They can be calculated on a percentage of the retail price, net sales, or a flat amount.  Royalties can also be set up to change depending on the quantity of books sold and/or depending on the discount at which books are sold.  Over 235 different royalty combinations are available for nearly any royalty arrangement. 

A special and innovative royalty statement function is available to record and track advances, royalties owed, subsidiary rights, and payments.  The neatly printed reports generated by the program provide you and your authors and photographers with all the important accounting details.  When you are ready to mail printed royalty reports, they are designed so that they can be folded and inserted in a windowed business envelope. 

The Advanced version also includes credit card processing features.  The credit card processing portion of the program can be used if you have a small volume of cards--two to five cards a day--and you have signed up for voice or touch tone processing with your bank.  Note that if you don't use voice or touch tone processing or if you have a higher card volume, you'll want to use third party credit card processing software. To do so, AnyBook has a credit card export feature which allows you to export card information to third party software such as PCAuthorize and others.  For more information, see Credit Card processing in the Classic Advanced Edition. 

The cost to register the Classic Advanced Edition is $89.00.  Registered users can upgrade from the most recent Basic Edition to Advanced for $60, or from the Standard to Advanced for $40. (Add $15 to upgrade to the Advanced Edition from older versions of Basic or Standard.)

Among other features, the Advanced Classic Edition of AnyOrder includes a credit card processing feature. 

The credit card processing portion of the Advanced Edition can be used if you have a small volume of cards--two to five cards a day--and you have signed up for voice or touch tone processing with your bank.  Note that if you don't use voice or touch tone processing or if you have a higher card volume, you'll want to use third party credit card processing software. To do so, AnyOrder has a credit card export feature which allows you to export card information to third party software such as PCAuthorize and others.

AnyOrder doesn't communicate with the processing center's computer.  It only inputs the information as requested during a voice or touch-tone processing call. 

Voice and touch-tone processing are two of several methods in which you can process credit cards.  (You sign up for the type of card processing you want and a merchant's credit card account through a bank.  You'll need to have a merchant's account set up with your bank in order to use AnyOrder's card processing feature.) 

Voice or touch-tone processing is the type of processing that you would choose if you have a low volume of cards and you want to keep things simple.  When you use either system, you call the processing center, and then the processing center's computer will ask you to key-in your merchant number, the customer's card number, the expiration date and amount. 

It isn't easy keying in all those numbers. AnyOrder, however, gathers all appropriate information from the invoice.  When you're ready, you click on a button and AnyOrder calls the processing center for you.  When the processing center comes on the line and asks for the merchant number, you click on the merchant number button and AnyOrder keys in the number for you.  When the processing center asks for the credit card number, you do the same thing, and AnyOrder keys it in for you.  And so on. 
Then when everything is keyed in, the processing center's computer will come back with the authorization number which you write down or type into a dialog box provided by AnyOrder. 

Basically what AnyOrder does is to take the place of a person trying to punch all the buttons on the phone.  You simply get everything set up in advance, and when prompted by the processing center, you click with your mouse to enter the numbers. It takes away all the hassles of authorizing cards using voice or touch tone processing.

It's the system that we use with our small publishing company.  We only process a couple of cards a day, and we couldn't justify investing in expensive card readers or complex software.  We just wanted something simple and inexpensive, and since I'm a programmer, I developed the card processor to fill our needs and those of other folks who find themselves in the same situation.

This way of processing cards, of course, isn't for every business.  Businesses with other systems in place will want to keep using those.  Some businesses may find AnyOrder's processing features handy as a supplemental system when there's only a card or two to verify.  Other businesses with a low card volume may find that it's just what the doctor ordered.

The Advanced Version includes two new and highly sophisticated import and export functions.  At the same time, we've tried to maintain AnyOrder's easy-to-understand user interface.  Both functions provide a high degree of flexibility, allowing data exchange with databases, spreadsheets, accounting, email, and word processing programs. 

Importing. For importing, you can select which fields from the import file you want to use and where the data should be placed on AnyOrder's main Invoice Screen.  The placement information is saved in a "profile." The profile automates the process and when you're ready to import again, you can call up the profile which does the work for you. 

As an example, let's say you have contracted a third party to sell some of your products over the Internet.  They will provide you with reports of their sales activity.  If the reports are in a spreadsheet or database format, you can move the numbers and names of the products to AnyOrder's Main Invoice Screen.  That allows you to track your inventory and sales.  Moreover, you'll have the necessary information for end of year reports.  There are a number of helpful features built into this part of the program.  For instance, if the third party uses different catalog numbers, you can utilize import tables to convert the catalog numbers so they match those in AnyOrder. 

Exporting. The same extensive system is available for exporting from AnyOrder.  You can decide which fields should be exported and in what order. You can add currency symbols to the numbers or leave them off.  You can send your catalog numbers as is, or you use tables to convert them.  You can even make up new fields and send constant data, like the name and address of your business.  The Export feature is particularly useful if you use a fulfillment service.  You can tailor the export file to their requirements and quickly and efficiently get information to them about which products you want shipped and to whom.

Like importing, the export routine uses "profiles."  A profile allows you to save the steps you follow during an export procedure.  Next time you're ready to do a similar export, you can use a profile to have it done automatically for you.

Clipboard. Sometimes it's convenient to export or import through the clipboard.  For instance, you can export data from selected invoices to the clipboard and then paste them directly into a spreadsheet program.  Or you may receive data on sales through email.  If the data is in a comma or tab delimited format (very common ways of transfering database information via email), you can copy it directly from the email message and paste it into AnyBook using the clipboard option.
 
 

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