About a year ago, while doing an Internet search, Barron came across PDF-eXPLODE, software that takes a master PDF file and splits it into individual attachments based on hidden tags in the original document. The software then distributes each PDF either via e-mail or fax to the recipients, while preserving the original appearance of the documents.

After conducting a trial, Barron purchased PDF-eXPLODE, from United Data Strategies, Inc., for $395; the process of configuring it for the Access database took about 30 days, he says.

Barron now saves between four and five hours a week just on the report delivery process and says that translates into a savings of two weeks of his time per year. In addition, "When I was electronically faxing these reports ... I know it was huge expenditure of paper."

He says it was very easy to set up the electronic tags in a report database and then generate the reports by using the print function. "I just go in and click 'print,' and the PDF acts just like a printer in Windows. It dumps the reports into a print spool and I set up e-mail addresses where the reports have to go and it sends them."

Barron generates a report with each store's individual sales figures, and the software sends the appropriate information to the appropriate store based on the e-mail addresses he inputs. "It takes one 64-page PDF file and knows which store to send which report to, all done automatically; all I have to do is print one report,'' he says.