Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for control panel manufacturers.
A checklist built from how control panel manufacturers 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.
- Enquiry pricing from load lists
- Drawing revision control
- Panel component lists
- Procurement against lead times
- Build, wiring and test records
- Dispatch and as-built set
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For panel designers
- For the purchase desk
- For store staff
- For wiring supervisors
- For test engineers
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Panels by build stage and customer
- Schematic revisions awaiting approval by age
- Late VFDs and breakers by the panel they hold
- Megger and functional failures by type and cabinet
- Quoted against actual enclosure, busbar and component cost
- Open site calls by cabinet serial
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Accounting export
- Label printer
- Drawing file storage
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can a revision be locked once the customer approves it?
- How are substitutions handled?
- Does it show which late drive holds which cabinet?
- Can it price enclosure and busbar by size?
- Where are insulation readings stored?
- Can nameplates be printed from the record?
- How does it handle outside sheet-metal work?
- Can service calls be linked to a cabinet?
- Do we lose our earlier panel jobs?
- What does a first conversation involve?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Drawing revisions drift from the shop floor
- Component lists are rebuilt for every panel
- Lead times are known to one buyer
- Test results live on loose sheets
- Panel serials and nameplates are not linked
Prefer to talk it through? See the control panel manufacturers page.