On the business side, Clients & Profits keeps the company's finances accurate, timely, and accessible. The system's Accounts Receivable and Account Payable reports have helped the accounting department keep better track unpaid client and vendor invoices, which has improved the shop's cash flow. Financial reports can now be printed on demand any time during the month, providing an up-to-the-minute look into agency's bottom line. "Clients & Profits is extremely helpful when we close the fiscal year," Erin says. "The procedures are very clear and the data is easily accessible."

One-on-one training reduces errors

Thanks to one-on-one training sessions with the traffic manager Jim Morris, new production staff members get up to speed with Clients & Profits quickly. It's simply part of their company orientation, Jim says, which shows the staffer how to use the parts of Clients & Profits that will be useful to them. For example, new creatives immediately learn how to enter their time using the Clients & Profits time card, which has been the key to reducing the number of the time-related errors.

The IT director created custom quick reference cards and cheat sheets that show step-by-step instructions for the most commonly-used functions in Clients & Profits. Employees keep these cards attached to their computers, so the help is available at a glance.

It's all about clients

To Horton Lantz Marocco, clients are what it's all about. With clients such as Vail Resorts, Sage Flyfishing, Voice Stream, Eddie Bauer, and Flight Safety Boeing, Horton Lantz Marocco's work has made a lasting impression on both their clients and the ad industry. The agency recently won a gold and two bronze medals out of 50,000 entries from the P-O-P Show/New York Design of the Times 2000 competition.

As the businss grows, Horton Lantz Marocco is constantly expanding its services. Web design was added to the agency's portfolio in mid-1998, and incorporating the new work into Clients & Profits was a snap. From production to billing, "adding a new service is a very smooth transition," Erin says. The bottom line is that Clients & Profits has made the shop more responsive to their clients. "Clients & Profits makes a big difference in helping us maintain a good rapport with our clients," Erin says, "because it provides checks and balances to make sure all of our clients' work is completed" accurately and on time.