Methods for managing the distribution of samples in support of activities of field representatives which differentiate on-hand and in-storage inventories of samples that have been previously allocated from a master inventory, for example, from the inventory of a pharmaceutical company. Field representatives are assisted in managing an inventory of samples known to a database through an interface including one or more charts or tables that distinguish an on-hand quantity from an in-storage quantity, and a mechanism to identify a quantity of a particular product in the chart or table for distribution, with the database being updated to track changes at least in the on-hand quantity information. The interface can be further configured to capture the signature of a sample recipient over that person's name, presented in a signature block as a watermark in a cursive-font to deter unauthorized sample acceptance.