General Questions

Is Response PCI Compliant?

Yes!  Response is PA-DSS compliant, and is listed on the PCI Security Council’s List of Validated Payment Applications.

What language is Response written in?

Response is written primarily in Visual DataFlex—a very powerful, object-oriented programming language—and portions of it are written in Microsoft Visual Studio.

On what platforms does Response run? What are the minimum hardware requirements?

Response runs on the Windows, i.e. Windows XP/Vista/7. Response has no special requirements of its own.  The various versions of Windows and their minimum/suggested hardware requirements can be found on our requirements page here.

Must all workstations need to run the same version of Windows?

Not at all. Use any 32- or 64-bit version of Windows on any workstation, e.g. Windows XP SP3 / Vista SP2 / 7 SP1

Is Response both SQL and ODBC compliant?

Yes.  The Response database runs on the Microsoft SQL Server platform, and is thus ODBC compliant.

Can Response handle multiple divisions/companies?

Yes. Separate “datasets” are created for divisions that will operate independently. These may be configured to support scenarios where certain data (such as inventory or customers) is shared across multiple divisions. Multi-divisions are licensed and configured at additional charge.

Does Response require a lot of maintenance?

We are often told that Response requires far less care and feeding than other comparably-powered systems. You won’t need an IT department to operate Response. Even so, someone should be the designated “Response Manager” and be responsible for the upkeep of the hardware (network, workstations, printers, etc.), and ensure that system users are properly trained and supervised. While this doesn’t require a degree in Computer Science or any particular technical training, this individual should be very bright, hard-working and not spread too thin among other office responsibilities.

What kind of security does Response offer?

Response has one of most sophisticated security frameworks available in a direct commerce system—regardless of price or platform. The fully object-oriented security module provides access control from the screen “view” level all the way down to individual fields in the database. Every entity may be restricted in four ways: access, create, edit and delete.

The system comes pre-configured for three levels of system access: Supervisor, Manager and User. The Supervisor has unrestricted access to the entire system. Managers can access most areas, by default, but not all. Menu and program access, beyond the supplied defaults, is completely configurable. Any number of security groups may be created; each of which has it’s own unique profile. Group access can be restricted to read-only (or even to not display at all) as appropriate for a given group.

Are modifications to the standard system available?

We will customize the application for unique requirements, but always in a very generic way. Prospective clients whose requirements deviate substantially from our current capabilities and focus, however, may not be able to be readily accommodated. Every project must consequently be evaluated on its own merits before any final determination can be made.

Our goal is to provide customers with the ability to customize the application themselves by formulas using Secondary Processing Engines (SPE) and related technology that we’ve created to relocate the necessary business and workflow logic to the user-configurable runtime domain.

An SPE can be “bolted” to any part of the application, enabling it to perform an unlimited number of infinitely variable tasks to either complement or extend the application’s behavior. For example, customer e-mail acknowledgment of order receipt (and/or shipment) is provided by a 100% user-configurable SPE. Users can configure who should receive an e-mail and what it says based upon anything … literally! … that’s addressable in a database or even the external environment.

Different customer types could receive different messages, for example. Backorders can be presented differently from close-outs. Customers whose lifetime purchases exceed some threshold you define can have something added, removed or changed in the text.

Product substitutions can be suggested automatically and conditionally by the SPE based upon a real-time expression evaluation that says, in effect,

“If the product ordered won’t be available for more than two weeks; and a suggested product substitution has enough available inventory to cover demand plus 50% of the outstanding backorders for the primary SKU; then offer to ship the substitute item;” and,

“if this is the customer’s first order or if the customer has spent more than $250 lifetime with us, then offer a free gift (user-definable, of course) to accompany that shipment as well.”

This extraordinary level of control is available across the entire range of the Response application.  SPEs can even be chained together to handle especially complex scenarios that would be difficult, if not impossible, to encapsulate otherwise.

Sometimes external configuration isn’t enough. Expert in-line customization is available to address those situations [so long as the enhancement "makes sense" in the overall scheme of things and provides value-added to the application as a whole].

But instead of orphaning every custom version from the base product—which would require reprogramming for every upgrade to the standard system—we maintain a single set of source files with the custom features of all of our clients. This enables us to upgrade all customers transparently through future program revisions.

Who are your competitors and how do they compare?

We’re asked this question a lot more often than you’d think! No company wants to refer prospective customers to a competitor. On the other hand, we do try to practice what we preach—that you ought to select the solution that best suits your needs and budget. If that happens not to be Response, so be it.

To come right out and publish a list of our competitors would be .. well .. unbusiness-like, if not outright stupid and unAmerican! We will, however, clue you in on how to learn about all our competitors, on a level playing field. Industry Publications offers The Guide To Catalog Management Software (by Ernie Schell), “the most comprehensive, definitive and usable resource for evaluating and selecting software for managing order entry and fulfillment in a catalog or direct marketing environment.” A new section on eCommerce systems and modules was added. You can use this valuable reference material to identify and evaluate all of the significant players in our space. We’re not afraid of comparisons! In fact, as you can see, we welcome them.

Cleaning up duplicate customer records takes up lots of our time right now. Can Response help?

Definitely. As you enter an address, the system checks the customer and prospect files to see if a closely matching record already exists in the database. If a match is found, it will display for review and selection if appropriate. Response also includes several merge/purge options that allow you to search for, edit and remove duplicate entries from customer and prospect files

Order Processing/Returns

Does Response offer bar-coding and integrated shipment manifests including UPS On-Line?

Yes. Response offers tight integration with many manifest systems (among them UPS WorldShip, FedEx Ship Manager, Endicia, Harvey CPS, Shiptec, and many others). The shipping interface enables you to capture actual shipping data for customer service purposes as well as to “feed” the order confirmation system with actual, “across the scale” confirmation of shipment. This process is supported by bar-coding for low-cost, error-free shipping and shipment tracking. Support for UPS, USPS, and FedEx tools for real-time rating/tracking is provided by the Response directly.

How does Response handle returns? Is there a means to indicate if the return was scrapped or restocked?

Response has a separate returns module for tracking, updating and reporting returns. Rather than entering a “negative sale”—which only serves to distort sales and related reporting figures—Response treats returns as a separate entity. Items may be scrapped (or returned to stock) and credits or refunds may be issued. In addition, several valuable reports (i.e. Returns by Reason and Returns Activity reports) can be administered.

While we’re a primarily non-store operation, we do have a showroom and occasionally hold warehouse sales. Can Response handle this?

Yes. Response has Point of Sale available as an Add-On Module.  Supports traditional Point of Sale devices (card swipes, pole displays, cash drawers, barcode readers), multiple stores and multiple registers, supports product locations in the store and in the warehouse, and can print an invoice/receipt on the spot.

Customer Service

How easy is it to find an existing customer record or order? What search criteria?

Customer and prospect records can be located easily and quickly by phone number, customer #, zip code, last name, company name, credit card #, email address or even city/state. Once a customer record is found, you have access to all of that customer’s information including current credit limit, lifetime #orders, high$order, # returns, avg$ order, and sales/profit figures for this customer. What’s more, you can access all orders for this customer and can even view their summary item history (i.e. what they purchased, when, for how much, via what media code) forever.

We have a huge inventory. How easy is it to search for items in Response?

Items are trivially easy to find with our fully indexed keyword search and retrieval engine. Every word in every item description is stored in a datafile optimized to provide instantaneous item search and retrieval no matter how many items or complex item descriptions there may be. Whether you are setting up product classes, entering items in the item configurator, entering or modifying an order, performing customer service or entering inventory receipts, you can click or Hot-Key to launch the search engine to locate an item fast!

Inventory Management

Can one customer type have one set of quantity price breaks while another has a different set of quantity price breaks, while yet another has a fixed price for the same item?

Yes. You can create as many customer types (with associated pricing tables) as you like. Each customer type will then defer to the pricing established for that group (up to 16 quantity price breaks). Further discounts may be achieved by assigning an additional discount percentage rate to individual customers. More complex scenarios can be handled with pricing formulas.  Response also supports group qty pricing, alias pricing, customer contract pricing, formula pricing, qty price breaks, price code pricing, media and catalog-specific pricing, coupon/promotional pricing, as well as manually keyed pricing (optionally requiring manager approval).

Does Response support inventory “kits?” What about kits-within-kits?

Yes to both. Kit masters may contain an unlimited number of components including other kit masters. Innovative programming techniques prohibit kit definitions that would lead to infinite regression (i.e. when two or more kits contain “each other” as components, causing the never-ending expansion of the components list). Just as important, this protective mechanism operates very quickly and efficiently.

Purchasing/Accounting Reporting

What standard reports are included in Response?

There are numerous standard reports that were designed to help you effectively manage orders, inventory, customers, and prospects, etc. Extensive marketing reports help you quickly evaluate item, catalog, advertising, and promotional performance and are tracked through the normal course of order processing. Catalog square inch analysis can help you to make more intelligent changes and/or additions to your future catalogs based upon the position and performance of items and groups of items in prior editions. You can create your own reports using any or all of the data we have captured and organized for this purpose, or even export the information directly into other file formats for importing into external applications such as spreadsheet or statistical modeling packages.

To see a partial list of our stock reports visit our Crystal Reports Page.

What data can be exported and what formats are supported?

The query tool included with Response provides basic selection criteria and exports to industry standard fixed-length, line-delimited or comma-delimited files ASCII files. Another tool, called dbExplorer, provides additional selection and export options as well as edit and/or browse capability. Crystal Reports, the top-rate, best-selling Windows report writer, offers numerous export options including PDF, Excel, Notes, HTML and others. A runtime version of Crystal Reports is included free with Response and serves as the primary engine for all Response  reporting. Serious users invariably purchase a full copy of Crystal in order to create their own custom reports. And since all Response reports include Crystal .rpt files (design templates), these may be copied and used as building blocks for creating entirely new reports or just modifying what we’ve provided to better suit your particular needs.

Crystal Reports, which sells for about $400.00, is a very powerful and easy-to-use report writer. Any data in the system can be exported—bar none given sufficient security rights. The relational database in Response makes exporting a much easier and richer process than is the case with systems based on a flat file structure.

List Management

Does Response track and analyze list performance? If so, is it a complicated procedure?

Not only are media devices tracked and measured, but the lists to which these efforts are mailed are also evaluated and scored through normal order processing. In this way, you can see how individual lists perform either in concert with specific promotions or across multiple promotions (i.e., compared one against the other). This analysis helps you gauge how various lists (including segments of your own house file) are performing and ought to be represented in future mailings. The procedures are not complicated; in fact, Response does all the tabulations automatically. All you need to do is decide which metrics to use and where to apply the results.

We do frequent mailings using our house files. Does Response have some type of built-in address verification system?

Yes. Response offers on-line, real-time CASS-certification of US and Canadian addresses, which reduces chargebacks and provides lower discount rates. Response uses an always-up-to-date web service to link to the full USPS database.  With this optional module, the system automatically checks, corrects and enhances the address as soon as it’s entered into order entry or the customer/prospect files, verifies that the address is deliverable, and determines the residential or commercial nature of the address for UPS shipment purposes.