FEATURES EVALUATED: RATING

INSTALLATION & BASIC SETUP/TAX RATES: 5 Setting up your company and tax rates couldn't be simpler than in Grip. The program accepts multiple tax rates, letting you select a default. And it prompts you every step of the way, greeting you with 'Congratulations!' when done. Forms can be edited, and cover the gamut from terms & condi-tions to releases. Grip 32 lets you set up several photog-raphers under one studio, as well as multiple businesses, with scheduling for each individual. The somewhat cryp-tic nature of several of the button icons is more than off-set by the balloon-type pop-ups that define each function.

CONTACT MANAGEMENT: 5 Treatment is comprehen-sive, including keywords. A Rolodex facilitates finding the people/companies you're looking for. This contact mod-ule is a rich and multifaceted database, and the central location from which to access various reports about a client/contact. You can also start a job from here. This database is, however, a little inconsistent: Some screens don't have a Save button, but, on the plus side, you are prompted to save or not when exiting a screen.

SCHEDULING: 5 Full-featured, beginning with a calen-dar, which comes up at program launch-in a choice of three views: daily, weekly or monthly. Double-click on a date and you enter the daily view, complete with all that day's scheduled events. To set up a range of shoot days, a left mouse-click on a date gives you the starting day, a right click establishes the final day of the shoot. From this module you choose where to go via menu com-mands and buttons, and can begin the paper trail. The problem here, and this is a petty complaint, is that what's scheduled can be an 'assignment' or 'event' but the choices for each are identical, leading to some confu-sion-they should be labeled so as to be readily distinct from each other. Reminders can be one-time or recur-ring. Scheduling conflicts are caught, and you're prompt-ed to approve or disallow this schedule.

ASSIGNMENT PAPER TRAIL: 7 Starting the actual pa-per trail for an assignment can originate in the calen-dar or from other modules. When it comes to creating an estimate or invoice, I would much prefer a form similar to the one I'd be sending the client, with full and summary views, over what Grip offers, which left me a bit confused at first. Still, once I got past that, I found it easy to convert from estimate to a job in-progress to an outstanding invoice to paid status-all at the click of a button. In setup, you have the option to start the paper trail as estimate, in-process or out-standing. Portfolio submissions are tracked, but there's no portfolio delivery form.

FEES & COSTS SCHEDULING: 5 The charges (fees/ex-penses/misc.) form is comprehensive and fairly straightforward-everything is pretty much entered via mouse clicks, unless you add items to the list. The charges screen also tracks actual/billed fees/expenses and delivers an immediate profit/loss picture as the job is being billed.

REPORTS & ACCOUNTING: 5 Grip is no slouch when it comes to reporting your financial assets and the state of your business. It comes complete with accounts re-ceivable, accounts payable, 1099 reporting, cash-flow analysis, client sales reports, general ledger and more. One minor complaint: You may find the same reports under different buttons-the developers need to make it simple on the user and assign them to one button or the other, not both.

EQUIPMENT DATABASE: I This database is minimal: It should hold more data, such as a repair history-and not simply in the notes field.

SOFTWARE PUBLISHER'S COMMENTS: none.