Through an e-mail gateway they may immediately send a comment by typing in the name of any of the individuals who are mentioned. The comment is then sent to that person or to the writer of the story. It then applies the data to articles and stories and determines the value and impressions of the print and broadcast coverage. At the next level a user may purchase companion software which produces reports that show both quantitative and qualitative details. At the top level this all this may be combined with a tracking and clipping service so that both stories and analyses may be obtained together.
Pricing is based on a subscription plus a per-item fee.
One of the representatives in this category is Control G Software, a customized accounting package for advertising and public relations firms. As with other integrated software, this package segments the accounting functions into modules. Most are designed to coordinate the information among the related modules. For example, Time Keeping feeds information directly into Billing, while Trafficking and Estimating share relevant data. When compared with plain accounting software Control G's advertising-specific features are easily appreciated.