Evaluate how information moves from sales to operations, field, finance, and the client.
Start with your operating path
List the moments where responsibility changes: lead to estimate, approved scope to project, field issue to change decision, completed work to invoice, and punch to closeout. Those handoffs reveal what the system must preserve.
Test the record, not the feature list
Ask a vendor to move one realistic job through the workflow. Watch whether names, amounts, approvals, photos, ownership, and permissions stay connected or require copying and interpretation.
- Can every amount be traced to scope and approval?
- Can field evidence be found by project and location?
- Can a client see a curated view without internal notes?
- Can an administrator prove who changed a sensitive record?
- Can the business export its data and attachments?
Prefer reversible automation
Automate reminders, routing, and repeated setup only when the underlying event and owner remain visible. Teams trust automation when they can understand why it ran and correct the result safely.