If any of the applications requires an initial configuration wizard this is it. There is a really nifty wizard accessed by pressing CTRL-W however this is limited to normal user operations such as adding appointments, tasks, or strategies.
Let's just say the interface is a bit complex: adding a user puts up 26 individual fields and four radio buttons just on the adduser general tab! All the information fields that we saw during the review, however, made sense and we could see how some enterprises would be able to use that information. So essentially it is worthwhile ensuring that the administrator is fully trained in the configuration of this package -- with so many features in this application it would be a prerequisite to get the most out of it.
There are over 16 database formats supported for import by Maximizer, this is just one of the many reasons this package is so featured and capable of handling just about anything a company could want from it. We quickly and easily imported our *.csv files and were up and running in no time.
Exporting from Maximizer includes comma delimited, comma separated, tab delimited and XML. The user is then presented with a list of fields that they can export (unfortunately one must manually).
Maximizer has its own word processor bundled and can also launch Microsoft Word from the tools menu. E-mail integrates automatically with Outlook. Fax integration is also supported.
Maximizer is definitely a power application designed to have as many features as most users could want, however due to this we were left feeling that this program is trying to do everything for everyone and therefore becomes too top heavy and difficult to use. We are sure with a bit of time spent configuring and setting up the interfaces it could be customised to suit most organisations, however it certainly isn't an out-of-the-box solution.
| Product | Maximizer Enterprise 7.5 Pervasive |
| Price | AU$764.50 per user |
| Vendor | Maximizer |
| Phone | 02 9957 2011 |
| Web | www.maximizer.com.au |
| Interoperability |  ½ |
| Good support for office applications, accounting packages, and databases. | |
| Futureproofing |  ½ |
| With the scalability and feature set this application should last longer than some others. | |
| ROI |  ½ |
| A well priced package considering the features; definitely aiming at the medium-sized business. | |
| Service |  |
| Maintenance is 20 percent of RRP per annum; fair for this type of application. | |
| Rating |  ½ |
It seems like now ACT! 6.0 also includes the PocketPC sync tool in the package (which is available for $229,- with a $20 discount for the download version at their website in the US store).
"With ACT! Link for Pocket PC and ACT! for Palm OS now included, you can access your data in the office or on the go."
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