Apian updates Survey Pro

Apian Software, Menlo Park, Calif., announces Survey Pro 2.0, the next generation of its all-in-one package for the generation of complete, integrated business, government and medical surveys. Based on the concept of user-defined, reusable questionnaire and report/presentation "tiles," Survey Pro offers an integrated approach to survey production and management that supplies questionnaire design, database answer entry and management analysis and reporting in a Windows interface.

New SEM program from SPSS

SPSS Inc., Chicago, has introduced Amos 3.6 for Windows, a structural equation modeling program with a graphical interface. Amos allows users to: build models to understand the components of customer satisfaction and their effect on customer attitude; predict brand loyalty among different customer segments; model advertising, s influence on consumer behavior; and predict purchasing behavior based on demographics and attitudes. Users can create and adjust their initial model, which is basically a representation of relationships among their data, using easy-to-use drawing tools on the toolbox palette. They can draw rectangles and ovals for variables and connect them with arrows to specify relationships. They can add parameter constraints through dialog boxes and run the analysis with a click of a button. Parameter estimates are displayed right on their diagram. Amos can be run stand-alone or accessed from the SPSS menus. Amos reads and writes SPSS files, so users can access the data and file management tools in SPSS.

Software simplifies package design and pallet loading

CAPE Systems, Inc., Plano, Texas, has introduced CAPE PACK ’96, a packaging analysis software system for Windows-based PCs. The new version introduces simplicity and realism to package design and pallet loading programs, including generation of true-to-life graphical images. The navigation and file structure of the program are more user-friendly and the graphical image displays have been improved. The software includes the Bundle Wizard, Shape Wizard, Primary Pack Input and 3D Imaging programs. Bundle Wizard lets users create a detailed graphical image of a primary package and view it in bundles, shrink-wrapped packs within secondary packages such as cases, trays or pallet loads, with or without dividers. Shape Wizard lets users display almost any shape and style of package. Primary Pack Input allows users to graphically depict their primary package within a secondary package size. 3D Imaging works with the user’s actual products. It incorporates a graphics concept by placing surface graphics on packaging components to create a visual reality. The program transfers scanned images or images obtained from imported artwork files to the surface of the primary pack, bundle packaging or outer packaging.

New survey creation tool

Decision Architects, Cambridge, Mass., has introduced MarketSight, a survey creation and analysis tool. The Windows-based software enables users to collect and analyze information about customers, sales prospects, employees and other audiences. The product guides the user through the design, delivery and analysis of a survey, without requiring any external expertise in statistics or survey methodology.

No fees on NEXIS market research reports through December

The LEXIS-NEXIS service will waive the $6 to $9 search fee in the new Market Research Library through December 31. Customers can purchase report information on-line by subsection, eliminating the cost of buying an entire report. Users may browse the entire table of contents and study the methodology of most reports, as well as view actual tables, minus the data, before purchasing the information. The subsections of the market research reports on the NEXIS Market Research Product have been formatted by the market research providers as complete, stand-alone units of information. The product offers research data from such sources as A.C. Nielsen, Business Trend Analysts, Datamonitor, Euromonitor, FIND/SVP, The Freedonia Group, Leading Edge and Packaged Facts.

Update of SURVEYWin

Raosoft Inc., Seattle, has released Raosoft SURVEYWin Version 3.2 for Windows, Windows 95, NT and OS/2 for on-line data collection and statistical analysis. Beginners as well as experts can design sophisticated entry screens without using database code. Because the program uses Raosoft’ s optimized database engine, advanced analysis is immediately available, plus the collection program is small enough to allow multiple methods of electronic send-out. SURVEYWin provides many confidentiality options and collects in data format rather than text format, so that analytical reports are immediately available. New features include: a context-sensitive, unlimited skip feature, which guides a user to the next appropriate question based on one or more particular responses; the use of look-up tables; hyperlinks; and bitmapped graphics.

New release of Address Wizard

Qualitative Marketing Software (QMS), a Clearwater, Fla., maker of address standardization and geocoding technology, has released Address Wizard. Using the QMS GeoStan Library, Address Wizard eases real-time data entry. Searching the USPS database while the user is keying address information, Address Wizard can find a match using only partial address entries. In addition to CASS certifiable address correction, Address Wizard can append locational and demographic information to data, including: latitude and longitude coordinates, Census ID (block group and census tract), ZIP+4, carrier route, delivery point bar code, and block group demographics from Claritas or Equifax National Decision Systems. The program’ s Xsection option, used with the QMS Spatial Toolkit, can display and append to a database the three closest major intersections to the entered address, including the distance and direction to those intersections.

Update from Claritas

Claritas Inc., Arlington, Va., has released its 1996/2001 UPDATE, which draws on information from more than 1,600 data sources, including the latest information from the Census Bureau, to provide census tract and block group data on every neighborhood in the U.S. It also includes projections for the year 2001. UPDATE is used for analyzing customer profiles, estimating sales potential, evaluating site locations and determining market penetration. It is available in a variety of formats, including reports, maps, tape, disk, CD-ROM and on-line through Claritas Connect software. The data is ready to be combined with spreadsheet, database and mapping packages as well as other marketing Programs such as PRIZM or P$YCLE.