Avoid Headaches, Manage Your Shop Effectively

• Determine exactly what you want to be able to do with a system.

• Develop specifications and prepare a request for proposal.

• Ask specific questions. Avoid asking "can you" questions; instead, ask "how do you" questions.

• Review proposals and select vendors to invite for a demonstration.

• Demand a thorough demo that shows how the system handles your applications. Is the system flexible enough to complement your methods or are you forced to use the vendor's? Can you customize the system and develop your own formulas for costing and estimating?