One-Track Mind Tracking data and providing feedback helps this software-maker solve problems.

Ananda Roberts' given name, the Sanskrit term for"bliss," fits her: The 47-year-old entrepreneur gets realjoy from knowing her software products are having a positive impactin government, educational and nonprofit accounts--from the U.S.Army, where they help in tracking the training and career paths ofsoldiers, to Jefferson County Public Schools in Kentucky, wherethey track after-hours programs.

In college, while raising funds for charitable projects, Robertsrealized many events were planned with little regard to whatworked--or didn't--in the past. "People gave you money andnever asked what was being done with it," says Roberts."But today, accountability is a big factor." Providingfeedback is the basis for her life's work at nFocusSoftware.

Roberts' 35-person, multimillion-dollar Phoenix business isperhaps best known for its KidTrax Membership Management System,which allows publicly funded programs and clients like the Boys andGirls Clubs of America to track attendance and other basicdemographics with electronic ID cards and scanners. More important,the software gives them feedback on the effectiveness of theirprograms.