Hi Ricardo,

There is a multitude of Collections Management Software packages out
there.  If the folks who are going to be using the software don't know what
they want, I would suggest you don't buy anything.  Buying collections
management software can be very expensive and very stressful.  So I would
advise that you wait until you have time to assess your needs and future
plans.

In the meantime, I've found homegrown databases to be a fine solution.  It
is important to make sure that the data you're collecting is fairly
standard (look at fields used in some of the canned collections management
packages to see how they are structuring the data).  This will make any
eventual conversion smoother and cheaper.  For the same reasons, it is
helpful to keep the amount of VB programming you do to a minimum (unless,
of course, you are planning on keeping your homegrown application as a long-
term solution).

This is a favorite topic of mine, so feel free to contact me.

Ted Stearns
History San Jose

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