How to Buy Estimating Software?

Answer 1

Estimating your software costs and using estimating software are not the same thing, although they can be related. The primary purpose of Estimator software is to determine how much a project costs and what the returns will be before a company or an individual devotes financial resources to it. The question a business owner should ask himself is, what should he look for before buying such a package?

The first thing to look for before a person considers buying estimating software is if he can use some application he already has to do the same goal. Many applications have features people do not use. A person can either go through technical manuals on his own or have his tech support staff do it. Avoiding unnecessary expenditures on any software package is always a good idea.

Determine how and what you need to estimate costs for. Is it something that a person can build a model for on their own quite simply? If so, a company that hires programmers can spend money they already have allocated to meet their estimator software needs. Sometimes the code can be included as a script in a popular program such as Excel.

If neither or the previous two steps work, it may be time to take stock of your computer systems and see how much computing power your company has. He should also know what operating systems he has available and how many computers he will need to run the package on. Estimator software can be bought for Windows, Linux, Unix and the Macintosh operating systems. A business owner can reduce his licensing costs by putting it on a network server or by limiting the licenses to people who use the estimating software.

Even if you find estimator software in your price range, do not stop yet. Estimating software is a catch all category. Transportation estimator software does not work for a business that specializes in manufacturing. Make sure that the package you are looking at meets the needs of your business before money changes hands.