Targeting Your Customer | Database Design and Maintenance
Software and Platforms

Software and Platforms

TLPM's list and database management department operates on a secure, stand-alone IBM-PC platform that is capable of converting virtually any form of data into usable mailing information. Our system is not networked, increasing reliability and security for your data and mailing lists. We use a wide variety of commercially available software and proprietary mailing software to handle all your database marketing needs. Here is a brief list of the software and data formats most compatible with our systems.

PREFERRED SOFTWARE/DATA FORMATS
Software

- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Access
- dBASE

Data Formats
- ASCII
o Comma delimited (.csv; .txt, .dat files)
o Tab delimited
o Fixed length (.sdf; .txt; .dat files)
o DOS text files (.txt; .dat files)

- One-up label formats


SOFTWARE AND DATA FORMATS THAT AREA USABLE AFTER SOME CONVERSION
Microsoft Word files
Microsoft Works files
WordPerfect 5.1/6.0 merge files
Multiple-up label images
Data Interchange Format (.dif) files


PROBLEM SOFTWARE/DATA FORMATS LESS COMPATIBLE WITH TLPM
Q & A
MyMailList
Paradox
FileMaker Pro
Other cross-platform data
EBCDIC
AS 400
Various canned accounting software packages


We normally convert just about anything, but occasionally run into something we can't handle in-house. If you have any questions about your data, please call us. We offer consulting to businesses experiencing problems with their data. We also will assist in converting data from one operating system to another, and design custom databases to meet your needs. Click on Database Design and Maintenance to see the full range of data management options available to you.

HARDWARE/DATA STORAGE AND TRANSFER COMPATIBILE WITH TLPM
E-MAIL (can accept up to 35 Mb files at a time)
Send all data to lists@thomasleeprinting.com
CD
DVD
3.5" floppy
100 Mb Zip disk
250 Mb Zip disk

TLPM… Technology at work for you

BRIEF GLOSSARY OF COMMON DATA TERMS
ASCII (ass'-key) – American Standard Code for Information Interchange, the most common format to transfer data, can either be delimited or fixed. See examples:
ASCII delimited – "Mr.","Scott","T.","Lee","3721 W 12th St","Erie","PA","16505"
"Ms.","Jane","","Doe","12 Main St","Anytown","NY","12345"
ASCII fixed - Mr. Scott T Lee 3721 W 12th St Erie
Ms. Jane Doe 12 Main St Anytown

.CSV - Comma Separated Values – a common format of data, similar to ASCII without the double quotes, i.e. Scott,T.,Lee,3721 W 12th St,Erie,PA,16505

.SDF - System Data Format – a common file extension normally used with fixed length data files.


The prepress department at TLPM offers a variety of hardware platforms and software to design and produce the highest quality printing in the marketplace.

We offer the following software for design and layout:

IBM-PC PLATFORM
Adobe PageMaker 7.0.1
Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1
Adobe Illustrator 10.0
Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0
Adobe Acrobat Distiller 5.0
Conversions Plus 6.0

We also have Microsoft Word 2003 and Publisher 2003. These programs, while not the best programs to use as design platforms, can usually be converted to a more user-friendly format compatible with our system. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call us. We'll be happy to help you.

MACINTOSH G-4
Adobe PageMaker 7.0
Adobe Photoshop 6.0
Adobe Illustrator 9.0
Adobe Acrobat 5.0
Adobe In-Design 1.5
Quark Express 6.0

Unfortunately, some programs are not supported by our prepress RIP system. We cannot print out of CorelDraw, Power Point, Claris Works, Freehand or Excel. We can, however, scan hard copy to reproduce documents in these formats. Once again, please call us with questions and we'll be happy to help you.