Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for office furniture manufacturers.
A checklist built from how office furniture 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.
- Project orders and phases
- Bill of materials by item
- Panel, steel and upholstery stages
- Hardware packs and kitting
- Finish and fabric lots
- Installation and snag lists
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- Managing director
- Estimators
- Shop supervisors
- Stores and dispatch
- Installation crews
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Items made against items ordered, by project, floor and phase
- Chipboard, PVC edge tape and fabric use against the bill
- Cam lock and grommet packs short by workstation
- Frames sent to the coater and returned by RAL colour
- Open snags by project and floor
- Quotation against actual cost per fit-out
- Retention held by the contractor and due for release
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Accounting export
- Nesting and cut optimisation file import
- Barcode or label printer
- Messaging for crew updates
- Photo capture from phones
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is it for catalogue furniture or project furniture?
- Can it work with a nesting or cut optimisation file?
- How does it stop a floor shipping from two lots?
- How are hardware packs managed?
- Can the crew log snags from site?
- Does it handle retention and stage invoices?
- Can it use our existing costing sheets?
- Who owns the project data?
- How is it priced?
- Will a shop making a few desks a month find it heavy?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Project orders hide the item detail
- Hardware packs go short
- Finish and fabric lots differ
- Powder coating is a blind spot
- Snag lists live on site
Prefer to talk it through? See the office furniture manufacturers page.