Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for commercial refrigeration companies.
A checklist built from how commercial refrigeration companies work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Customer sites and unit register
- Fault calls and dispatch
- Planned maintenance and contracts
- Refrigerant and gas log
- Van and store stock
- Installation jobs and commissioning
- Service reports and invoices
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For dispatchers
- For engineers
- For stores and purchasing
- For accounts
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Fault calls broken down by unit, type and engineer
- Recurring faults, by make and model
- Planned visits completed against missed
- Contracts approaching renewal
- Gas charged and recovered, unit by unit
- Leak test results by unit and date
- Parts used, and lines that have fallen below reorder level
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- SMS
- Temperature monitoring alerts
- Online payment gateway
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can it hold a record for every unit at a customer site?
- How does the refrigerant log work?
- Can planned visits be generated from a contract?
- Does a temperature alarm create a call by itself?
- Can engineers use it without signal in a cellar or cold store?
- Can it track the parts on each van?
- Does it help us quote new installations?
- What happens to our current customer list?
- How is the first demonstration run?
- Who supports it after launch?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Unit history lives in memory
- Refrigerant is not traced to a unit
- Urgent calls compete for the same engineer
- Contract renewals are missed
- Parts on the van are unknown
Prefer to talk it through? See the commercial refrigeration companies page.