argostrax™ software for dog training businesses is focused on helping dog trainers manage their business. It’s about time somebody did this!
The argostrax main functions are the scheduling and maintenance of classes, the creation and maintenance of client (dogs and people) information and appointments, and the ability to record simple bookkeeping entries. I tested argostrax and I really like it. I believe it has an outstanding, intuitive user interface and navigation, while packing functionality that is really pretty powerful. On our website you can see screen shots of argostrax and read more about the functionality it includes.
The company that developed argostrax, EZ DoesIt Software, LLC, employs seasoned software developers. They got started on this product after observing the sorry state of business support software for dog trainers, specifically the trainer one of the members of the company was using. They did their homework on the holes pretty well!
argostrax is smartly designed either for a single trainer or a single office manager scheduling for others—a one user, one machine program. It’s perfect if you are doing the scheduling (or if one person is in charge of scheduling, even if it’s for multiple people). You can train in one or multiple locations, at clients’ homes, or in your own place. It’s not designed for multiple trainers to keep their schedules on one platform. But, in a neat bit of cross-device integration, argostrax says that if you are using Microsoft’s Outlook, that program’s scheduling and contacts functions will synch with argostrax, and with any hand-held PDA that is also using Outlook.
This version of argostrax offers very simple single-entry bookkeeping and does not tie into QuickBooks. But what it offers is thoughtfully done. It’s easy to record and see if a client has prepaid, whether clients have balances due, and whether you’ve collected your money. Pretty basic, but many trainers struggle with a system for this. The company says their next version will include integration with QuickBooks (they are QuickBooks certified developers).
The company offers three months of free support from date of purchase; an annual unlimited support plan after that is $100. I felt that $100 was expensive, mainly because it’s likely you won’t need support after three months! Still, it’s nice that it’s there, like a warm blanket, and you don't have to purchase the support plan when you order the software.
argostrax offers a great trial before you buy, a full-featured, free download. Be warned—argostrax takes a while to download. (update 4/01/09: argostrax reports that download times are now much quicker.) One reason is that the free trial is a full-featured version; another reason is that everything needed to unlock the software when you purchase it downloads with the trial. So while there’s a little investment of time at the front end, the good news is that after purchase the unlocking process is almost instantaneous and you don’t have any more delays. If you have any glitches installing the software, you can be sure the argostrax team will check up on you and help. They’ll even call you!
Read the system requirements carefully, make sure your computer is up to the task, and then be prepared to spend 45 minutes having the software download onto your computer.
Finally, argostrax was not created with the modular curriculum in mind. It was designed for linear class schedules. As a consequence, it isn’t designed for my personal wish list—a web-based interface with a scheduling module that is student-facing—but I’m working on the development team to include that in an upcoming version! On the other hand, linear or modular, scheduling is easy, and I found that it was easy enough to schedule and manage classes and teachers using a modular approach.
Ultimately, the best way to figure out if argostrax is right for you is to download the free trial. That’s worth the time investment.
*This software is recommended for trainers in the US and Canada, only.
