CDecision
CDecision is CD ROM product, used primarily to adjudicate
high volumes of low dollar credit transactions. It
also has features that can be handy to a marketing or sales
person. Here are some features that could be of interest to
both credit and marketing departments:
- CDecision lists all active and inactive files in D&B
database (over 2 million records, which includes inactive
and failed companies); this is handy in tracking previous
businesses, as in "did these people cause me grief in the
past?"
- It can do lookups by:
- Company name and tradestyle
- Address and City
- Postal Codes, including ranges
- Phone number, including ranges
- Primary contact names (handy if you want to know if
principal has other businesses or has been involved
in failed businesses in the past, (although software
does not differentiate between people with same first
and last names)
- It can perform Canada-wide searches--not limited to specific
provinces
- It is useful for looking up DUNS number for Electronic
Fund Transfers and Quality management (ISO 9000, QM 9000,)
CDecision also provides the following data elements, where available:
- SIC4 and Line of Business
- D&B rating
- Employee Range
- Paydex Quartile and Paydex trend
- Number of trade experiences in the D&B Payment Database,
- Indicators ('yes' or 'no') to show if the following are
present on the company's full Business Information Report:
- Legal, Court House or Public Record Activity
- Financial Statement
- Branch or Subsidiary indicator for the record listed
- Legal Name or 'Tradestyle' indicator for name shown
For marketing:
Since CDecision is primarily a Credit tool, it does not perform
SIC lookups or produce marketing lists. Some sales representatives
and marketing executives use it as a low cost reference tool.
Here are some possible Marketing related uses:
- CDecision can augment data from phone books, the web or
other sources of marketing data for a very low cost. Using
the information on CDecision, they can pre-qualify prospects
and focus their efforts where they are most likely to close
a sale.
- As a research tool to obtain basic demographic information
before a sales call.
- As a low cost credit pre-screening tool for sales reps
(i.e. to check credit worthiness before calling on prospects).
- To find the contact names of firms in an existing sales
territory (to call on your existing client's neighbours).
- Sales people with laptops use it to do 'while in the area'
prospecting cold calls. They can quickly get the names and
basic details of their client's neighbours to make prospecting
and cold calling more efficient.
CDecison FAQ
- Question: What print options are
available from the CDecision?
Answer: CDecision can print a one-page summary
on any of the records in the database
- Question: Is there a printed manual
for CDecision?
Answer: There is no printed manual for CDecision.
Detailed help screens are available within the software
by clicking on the [?] icon.
- Question: Can I take the CD ROM
out of the drive when I use CDecision?
Answer: You can
now copy the CDecison data to your local or network hard
drive when installing CDecision. This means the CD ROM
no longer needs to remain in the CD Drive to use the Software.
If you chose the minimal install or if you are using
a version of CDecision earlier than Q2-2001, The CD
ROM houses the data. The only part of the CD installed
on your hard drive is the program to read and decode
the information on the CD. To install the data files
to your hard drive, please install the most current
version or contact D&B Technical support.
- Question: Will CDecision work over
a Network?
Answer: Yes, you can purchase networked versions
of our CD ROM publications. They will work in most network
environments where users can share CD ROM or hard drives.
Please contact your D&B Representative for pricing
and volume discount information.
Canadian Reference publications on
CD
- Question: Is there a printed manual
for the Canadian Reference publications on CD?
Answer: There is no printed manual for the Canadian
Reference publications on CD. Detailed help screens are
available within the software by clicking on the [Help]
or [?] icons.
- Question: Can I export records
from my Canadian Reference Publication CD to a marketing
database, contact management software or Excel® Spreadsheet?
Answer: You can export
records from the new 2001 Canadian Business Directory.
Before 2001, CD Reference Publications were essentially
BOOKS provided on a CD. Other than the low relative cost,
the main advantage the CD ROMs have over books is that
you can create your own indices. As a value-added feature,
you can print unlimited sales leads (paper tickets) from
the data contained on the CD at no additional cost.
The 2001 CD's ship with 100 free record export credits.
To purchase additional export credits contact your D&B
Sales Representative, or phone D&B Direct
Marketing Services (DMS) at 1.888.816.9793.
- Question: Will the reference publications
work over a Network?
Answer: Yes, you can purchase networked versions
of our CD ROM publications. They will work in many popular
network environments where users can share a CD ROM drive.
Please contact your D&B Representative for pricing
and volume discount information.
- Question: Can I take the CD ROM
out of the drive when I use the CD ROM Canadian Reference
Publications?
Answer: The new 2001 edition of the Canadian
Business Directories includes an option to copy all the
data to your computer's hard drive. You can also continue
to read the data from the CD ROM to save on hard drive
usage.
If you choose to leave the data on the CD ROM, the
only part of the CD installed on your hard drive is
the program to read and decode the information on the
CD. With this option, the CD must be in the CD ROM Drive
when you use the program.
- Question: What print options are
available from the Business Reference Publications?
Answer: Business Reference Publications can print either
one or four records to a page.
- Question: How do I move the 2001
Canadian Directories from one computer to another?
Answer: If an installed Canadian Business Directories
application (Multidir) has not yet been activated
you can uninstall it by deleting the install folder, and
re-installing it elsewhere. 'Activation' only occurs after
you insert the activation key (alpha-numeric ID) into
the software. You receive this activation key by contacting
Customer Service at 1.800.463.6362.
Moving and re-installing an activated Multidir application
is more complicated. In this case, you must move Softkey
from the old location to the new in order to preserve
any remaining export record credits. Please
contact D&B Technical Support at 1.800.894.9888
if you wish to move Multidir. If you do not follow the
following steps as required, you will lose whatever
Export Credits you still have. With
Technical Support's assistance, you will perform the
following steps:
- Install Multidir to the new location and run it.
The activation screen will appear. Write down the
serial number shown on the screen. Cancel the activation.
- Go to the folder containing the old Multidir. Run
DBKEY.EXE. The Softkey screen will appear. Select
the [De-Install Softkey] button. This will display
the De-Install Softkey dialog box. The edit box labeled
[Softkey Path to De-Install from] should contain the
folder name of the old Multidir. In the edit box labeled
[New Installation Serial Number] enter the serial
number from step 1. Click the [De-Install] button.
Reply 'yes' to the next 2 messages (continuation and
de-install).
- The memo box labeled [New De-Install Key] will
contain several lines of hexadecimal (Numbers 0 to
9 and letters a to f only) code. This is the activation
key for the new Multidir install. Click the [Save
to File] button. The Save De-Install Key dialog box
will appear.
- Save the file as OLDMULTI.CCK and click Ok. Click
Ok to the confirmation message. Do not delete the
old Multidir folder at this time.
- Run the newly installed Multidir. The activation
screen will appear. Click the [Activate from a previously
De-Installed Softkey] checkbox. A new button, labeled
[Load from File], and an edit box will appear below
the checkbox. Click the [Load from File] button. The
Locate File dialog will appear.
- Locate the folder containing the old Multidir.
Select the OLDMULTI.CCK file and click Ok. The [Enter
the Activation code here :-] memo box on the activation
screen will now contain the new activation code. Click
the [Activate] button. Click Ok on the Confirmation
Code dialog. The application main screen will appear.
- Once you enter the software from your new location
successfully, you can safely delete the old installation
folder.
- Question: What criteria is used
to select the records in each of the Reference Publications?
Answer: Please consult this table. For more
details, please contact D&B Customer Service at 1.800.INFO.DNB.
You can also contact us by E-Mail.
| |
Canadian Key Business
Directory |
Guide to Canadian
Manufactures |
National Service
Directory |
Regional Directories |
| Number of Businesses Listed |
Top 20,000 |
Total 50,000 (Combined>
Vol. 1 Western Canada, Top 15,000
Vol. 2 Central Canada, Top 20,000
Vol. 3 Eastern Canada, Top 15,000 |
Top 20,000 |
Total 60,000 (Combined)
Vol.1 Vancouver: Top 20,000
Vol.2 Toronto: Top 20,000
Vol.3 Montreal: Top 20,000 |
| Criteria for Inclusion |
$5 Million + Sales or
50 + HQ Employees or
250 + Total Employees |
Top Canadian Businesses in the Manufacturing Industry,
where this is their primary line of business |
$1 million + Sales or
20 + Employees and
Primary SIC is one of 07, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47, 60
through 67, 70 through 89. |
Top Businesses in each Metropolitan Area |
| Industry Coverage |
All except Schools |
All Manufacturers |
All Service Providers |
All lines except Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries,
Education and Government. |
| Geographical Coverage |
All Canada |
All Canada (in three volumes) |
All Canada |
Greater Metropolitan Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal |
- Is it possible to export my data
to a folder other than c:\multidir (or the folder where
the program is installed)?
Answer: By default, the Canadian Business Directories
should export to any folder. In certain installations
of Windows 9x, NT or 2000 releases with certain service
packs, the operating system only allows export to the
installation folder. You can download and install this
modified program to restore export capabilities to any
folder. Click (or Right-click)
here and save this (727kb) file on your computer.
You can then double-click this WinZip Self-Extractor to
extract the modified multidir.exe program. If you installed
the CD ROM software in the default location (c:\multidir),
just click [Unzip]. If you installed the software anywhere
else, you will need to point the extractor to the correct
folder using the [Browse] button.
Please contact D&B Technical Support at 1.800.894.9888
if you have any questions about this process. Thank
you for your patience.
- Question: Why do I sometimes not
see the company names in the detail screen?
Answer: On certain combinations of video cards
and Windows settings, the text size in some detail fields
increases marginally. This causes fields to 'scroll up'
outside of the viewable areas. To see if your video card
and Windows settings are causing this problem, click where
the company name should appear and hit the [up arrow]
key (cursor up). If the name appears, you can use a modified
version of the program file to resolve the issue. To install
this patch, Click (or
Right-click) here and save this (727kb) file on your computer.
You can then double-click this WinZip Self-Extractor to
extract the modified multidir.exe program. If you installed
the CD ROM software in the default location (c:\multidir),
just click [Unzip]. If you installed the software anywhere
else, you will need to point the extractor to the correct
folder using the [Browse] button.
Please contact D&B Technical Support at 1.800.894.9888
if you have any questions about this process. Thank
you for your patience.
- Question: Why do I sometimes get
an error using the Guide to Canadian Manufacturers - Central
Answer: Two text files on the Guide to Canadian
Manufacturers: Central CD contain an error. If you try
to select the Cities index under Location, the program
fails. We have created a self-extracting zip archive which
contains the two corrected files. To install this patch,
Click (or Right-click) here
and save this (31kb) file on your computer. You can
then double-click the patch to extract the two files.
This will re-inflate the two files. If you installed the
CD ROM software in the default location (c:\multidir),
just click [Unzip]. If you installed the software anywhere
else, you will need to point the extractor to the correct
folder with the [Browse] button.
Please contact D&B Technical Support at 1.800.894.9888
if you have any questions about this process. Thank
you for your patience.
|
