Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for door and window manufacturers.
A checklist built from how door and window 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.
- Opening schedule from the survey
- Profile cutting lists
- Glass unit orders
- Hardware kit per opening
- Fabrication and glazing tracking
- Installation crews and snags
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the owner
- For surveyors and estimators
- For the saw and assembly teams
- For stores
- For installation crews
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Openings by stage, with orders late for glass or hardware
- Profile bars used, offcuts returned and rack stock by section and colour
- Glass units ordered, received and broken, by processor
- Hardware kits issued against openings fitted
- Installation snags open, by crew and site
- Customer dues with oldest bill first
- Quotations won and lost, by opening type
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Accounting export
- Cutting optimiser file export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Does one order cover aluminium, uPVC and timber?
- How are cutting lengths decided?
- Can we reuse offcuts?
- What happens when the customer changes an opening after the glass is ordered?
- Can the coating subcontractor’s work be tracked?
- Do installers need a laptop?
- Can it print labels for frames?
- Will it feed the optimiser we already use?
- Who owns the order history?
- How is it priced and shown?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Site sizes are retyped at the factory
- Profile offcuts have no owner
- Glass is ordered against stale sizes
- Hardware sets get mixed between jobs
- Installed work has no snag trail
Prefer to talk it through? See the door and window manufacturers page.