When you install your ACT! software, a demo database is also installed so that you can play with your new software and learn more about using it before you create your own customer and prospect database. Ever wonder who creates and updates the database? Yeah I know... probably not. But as a piece of trivia, it is me.

Each year when I write and update the ACT! QuickStudy Guide, I also update the demo database as well. The demo is used for practice exercises in the QuickStudy Guide, so it helps if I can design the database in a way that encourages users to better understand the functionality of the new version of ACT!.

In addition to making it work better with the QuickStudy guide, the inside sales team often asks me to include certain things so that they can better demo the product to prospects. This year I added customized templates and reports to the demo database, along with several other features. For example, the demo database is designed so that for the next 12 months, no matter when you open the database, you will see open and closed activities and opportunities for 3 users in the database (Chris Huffman, Allison Mikola, and Ernst Anderson). So there are opportunities that closed in July 2009 (even though July 2008 isn't even over yet).

Another piece of trivia. Chris Huffman has been the primary logon user for the ACTDemo database since the beginning. The company that Chris runs has changed over the years from CH Imports... to CH Gourmet... to the current CH TechONE. When ACT! included the ability to maintain photos with each contact record (several versions ago), I needed to select a photo for Chris Huffman. It was at that time that it occurred to me that no one really knew much about Chris. So, I made her a woman. You can see her photo on the Home Address tab on her record. Be sure that the ACTDemo layout is displayed.

You can see more obscure facts about the demo database in ACT! 2009. There is an attached file on the Notes tab that fills you in.