Review: Account Manager Pro

Account Manager Professional 1.034
http://cgi.elitehost.com/acctman/index2.html

CGI Script Center
Diran Alemshah, Programmer and Owner
25422 Trabuco Rd. #105-439
Lake Forest, CA 92630
Phone: 949-859-0343
Fax: 949-859-0566
Pro version $199; Lite version is free

Account Manager Pro is a CGI program written in Perl that enables a site to set up and manage a member's only area for a very modest investment. For sites needing to move from an advertising to a subscription model, this provides a good place to start. You'll need a merchant account and payment gateway in addition.

Password Protection

Account Manager uses the native Unix and NT access control and authorization systems to provide password-protection to all the files contained in members-only directories. It does a good job of managing the setting up and expiring of passwords in .htpasswd or .nsconfig files. If you've ever tried to add usernames and passwords manually to one of these systems, you'll appreciate how well Account Manager performs this function. Once the system is set up, any directories (plus the subdirectories under them) that contain an appropriate .htaccess file are protected.

Membership/Service Request Form

The membership/service sign-up form allows you to sign up for one of several account choices (such as 30 days, 90 days, one year); you can easily add more choices. Each choice allows you to charge both a monthly fee and a set-up fee, if you like. The form takes contact information, allows your new subscriber to select a username and password, and takes payment information -- either credit card payment or payment by check.

If real-time payment processing is enabled using Authorize.net, E-Commerce Exchange, or iBill, the approval process will work automatically and the applicant is able to receive nearly instant access. Otherwise the administrator can approve the application when payment is received by check or when the credit card is authorized manually. Upon approval, an e-mail is sent to the applicant notifying that the application is approved.

Administration Panel

The administrator enters the Administration Panel by means of a password. The panel displays the number of active users and the number awaiting approval.

Awaiting Approval Accounts. The administrator can approve, deny, or see details for each applicant.

The User Edit feature lists the active users by name and username. The administrator can send an e-mail to any user, delete a user, or update any of a user's information, including payment history.

A Search feature allows the administrator to search for the user by username, password, first name, or last name. This would be useful for services with a large number of users that couldn't be located by browsing with the User Edit interface.

The Mail Bills feature allows the administrator to mail out bills to all active members. If the user doesn't owe anything, then the bill has a $0.00 balance. This is system is obviously set up for a monthly membership type of subscription. After receiving twelve zero-balance bills, annual subscribers would probably delete them without even looking, so when the real bill arrived in month twelve, it wouldn't be read.

The Mass Mail feature allows the administrator to send out a message to all active users. You can specify the subject line and the body of the message, but the system doesn't allow for any personalization of the message. There aren't any log features to verify mailings, for example, if the feature were used for a members-only paid newsletter.

Unfortunately, there is no way to add a new user directly from the administration panel, though this is promised in the next version.

Expiration

The system is designed to automatically expire users who don't pay the monthly fee each month. If the siteowner is signed up with iBill, recurring billing can be set up to automatically bill the user's card each month.

Users are automatically sent a courtesy e-mail reminding them that their account will be expiring within an administrator-defined number of days, and the administrator is notified by e-mail of all delinquent accounts. Expired accounts are moved to a separate database to keep the main database uncluttered. This keeps the account information available for members who rejoin in the future, though the rejoining utility is not available in current release version. Of course, usernames and passwords of expired subscribers are deleted from the password file when their accounts expire.

It seems to me that the administrator should be able to send renewal reminders to lapsed accounts, since that will often encourage a number of users to renew and result in a whole crop of late renewals. But Account Manager doesn't provide for this kind of renewal marketing to lapsed members. Of course, the expired account file could be downloaded, imported into a database or spreadsheet program, and used for renewal reminder mailings.

Another weakness is the inability of members to access their own account information to make changes in their e-mail addresses, passwords, etc. This means that the administrator has to make these changes manually in response to member e-mails.

Monitoring

The program allows the administrator to monitor private area logins and automatically delete username and password combinations that are being abused. The administrator can set the maximum number of IP addresses by which any one account may log into the member's only area within any 24-hour period. This helps prevent sharing of the username and password with friends, since these users would be logging in from differing IP addresses. This is a great feature!

System requirements

Account Manager Professional requires Perl and .htaccess or .nsconfig capabilities. The system won't work on some NT systems that use NT IIS or O'Reilly Website web servers, but it will work on Apache web servers. The program uses sendmail (Unix) or BLAT (NT). Some daily features require access to crontab (Unix) or schedule (NT). If this isn't available, the administrator will need to remember to run a utility program daily. Paid and registered users receive 90-day e-mail support and access to bulletin boards that discuss technical issues. Optional installation costs $90 per hour, and is estimated at about an hour.

Set-up and Documentation

Once I gained access to the Registered Users area of the CGI Script Center I found full installation instructions. In my installation I had made a couple of errors, but the troubleshooting guide had anticipated my mistakes and reminded me to check for them. This installation is probably best left to intermediate Perl installers, since the full installation requires setting up crontab commands and setting up server side includes. I found the documentation straightforward and well done.

One of my readers, a website developer, commented about the Pro version: "I've been using it for the past three years -- very easy to install. The last company I implemented it for had a 14,000-subscriber list. It automatically generates e-mail notices to advise subscribers of expirations coming up, gives you AR reports etc... It's loaded with features and the price is fairer than fair can be... I can't say enough about the company; the support is terrific. The only drawback is that all support is done through e-mail." -- Raoul Deragon, MainE-Services.com

Another reader told me, "I have been using Account Manager for a few months to control access to a private Intranet open only to enrolled agents of my home business. The only problem we have had with the system is caused by dynamic dialup IP addresses, so accounts get locked out if there is multiple access from several different IPs in a single day. However, this is an important security feature to prevent passwords being shared, and once we warned our users about it, the problems ceased. I'm not a 'techiebod' so I paid CGI Script Center to install it for me, which they did swiftly and helpfully. A couple of small bugs remained after the installation, but when I e-mailed the staff member who did the install, he cheerfully worked extra (uncharged) time on sorting it out to my satisfaction. Response to support queries and questions is very quick, and they are most patient and helpful. I would highly recommend them to you." -- Rhiannon Davies, Caledonian Express

Free Version

Account Manger Lite (www.cgiscriptcenter.com/acctlite/) is a free version of the program. It includes all the password administration features but omits the subscription sales and other advanced features built into the Pro version. I found it pretty easy to install and will probably use it when I need to employ my server's native authentication and protection system. It was very highly rated at the CGI Resource Center by more than 4,000 users. This program will allow you to protect your site and manage passwords if you have another way to collect payments from your subscribers. But when you can afford it, you'll want to upgrade to the Pro version.

My Evaluation

Account Manager Pro seems to be a great program for the $199 you pay. You certainly get your money's worth. The program still needs to allow the administrator better access to the user and expired user databases for marketing. For many annual publication subscriptions, the accounting system's assumption of a monthly rather than annual subscription limits its use. However, a programmer should be able to alter the Perl script relatively easily so that no invoices are sent to subscribers who have a zero balance. All in all, however, this $199 program provides great value and will allow a siteowner to begin a protection and payment system for members-only areas of a website.