Change Order for Windows
McCormick’s latest product, CO Management for Windows was just barely out the door when it earned its first major recognition. Introduced at the "NECA" show in October, this new and interesting product was singled out as a simple yet powerful tool for the tracking and management of change orders.
Comments from some of the reviewers include: "Just what is needed to keep track of the many change orders on a job", "This program has a payback period measured in days", and, "The program is simple and easy to use without losing the power needed to track and manage change orders".
McCormick has just completed the development and testing of the product and is now in the process of shipping.
McCormick took the initiative to design such a product as they understood the critical need to control change orders on the construction job.
The product is fast and easy, both to load as well as to use.
The "heart" of the product is its "top sheet" with additional forms to support this sheet. The idea behind this program is that the project manager imports (or direct enters) the change order from the estimate directly into the CO program. The information includes the sell price, cost price, and man-hours to install. This change order is given an alert date as well as a status. The change order can then be worked on its alert dates as well as tracked by it status. As the CO progresses through its course, its status is updated. In addition, totals for all change orders for a given job are broken out and totaled so that you can see at a glance what the total values of each status is. (i.e. total change orders in progress, pending, approved, billed, etc)
Understanding the need for networking, the program can be used stand alone or put up on the server for all to use.
A flyer has been included with this letter containing additional information. To talk through how this product can help you and/or to order this management tool, call the Arizona office.

Conference ‘99
March 24th through the 27th are the magic dates this year for Conference ‘99. To be held at Mesa’s Holiday Inn and Suites, the program is all but put together.
To make it more interesting, this year we have added in addition to our optional pre-conference golf tournament and training class, an optional post-conference trip that will find many playing "city slickers" at one of Arizona’s finest resort & health spas, the Rex Ranch.
The conference officially opens Wednesday evening with the traditional pool-side welcoming reception followed by the opening session on Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon will find all in break-outs exploring V5.0 of the Windows product as well as looking at Change Order Management, Windows, and the Internet.
The Computer lab will be open most of the time with computers set up with all of McCormick Products as well as several on-line to the internet.
In addition, there will be "third party" people present to work with you on other management needs including CAD, pricing, accounting, and tool management.
Friday will find the workshops winding up around noon when we go back into the open session to look at the direction that McCormick is headed.
Saturday will find the computer lab open again for a period of time with some leaving for home, some leaving for other places, and some departing to the post-conference ranch.
What a hoot. Imagine working cattle all day long and then, sitting around the fire sipping coffee and singing songs as the stars pass overhead. (yea, right)
What really happens is horseback riding, golf, cookouts and socializing in the cantina prior to hitting the hot tub so you will be ready to do the same thing all over the next day.
Conference ‘99 is more than just a meeting. It is a gathering of eagles who talk, share, play, and plan together for both the future of their company as well as the future of McCormick’s software tools.
Mark you calendar for the big event of the year, Conference ‘99.

Schedule Module
Getting a lot of attention in the version 5.0 update is the built-in and interrogated schedule module. This enhancment once set up, will spread your labor out through the entire job thusly allowing for scheduling of man-power, cash flow, etc.
As there were no schedule codes in the WIN data base when shipped, the product comes out tied to the job cost codes. To make this work correctly, you need to add a specification called "Schedule Code". Then each line item, through range editing, needs to be assigned a code. Then, after the schedule module is switched over to read this new specification, you will get a true picture of your labor as spread through the job. Keep in mind that some work is involved however, once set up, it will be an automatic by-product of all future jobs.

WIN 12000
Long a requested product, McCormick has finely put together the WIN 12000 estimating program. Based on the WIN 6000 and 8000, this product carries networking up and into the future. Now, with the 12000, you have one security key that plugs into the network server as well as network software that counts "nodes" or seats. This basically allows any computer in the office that is on the network to access McCormick’s software without a "key" on the individual station.
And, for those that use the probes for counting and rolling, we have developed a special key just for that purpose.
With the 12000, you can "jump on" the program (as long as there is an open node) and takeoff, review, extend, etc. from any computer in any office that is connected to the network. Interested, give us a call and we will walk you through.

Team McCormick
Well, Team McCormick is back on its winning streak. Held on highway 318 in the middle of Nevada, this "event" attracts top cars and drivers from throughout the states. (and world)
This years event was covered by the BBP, ESPN, as well as about six newspapers.
Anyway, regarding the race, Todd McCormick, along with navigator Mike McKittrick, placed second in the 130 m.p.h. class. As this class was a timed event and was held on the open-road, speeds were as low as 100 and as high as 160 depending on road condition, curves, etc.
Not for the light hearted, Gennis World Records was there to record the fastest "open-road" land speed record however, that was not to happen. Kelly Sievers was the favorite to place this record; however, his Corvette "shell only" left the road at about 220 miles per hour and was totally destroyed. Kelly was shaken up but walked away vowing to be back next year.
As in the past, Jack McCormick had his airplane there and worked with ESPN. All of the aerial footage that was aired was shot from the back of his aircraft.
Coming in second in this race, this makes two firsts, two seconds, and one disqualification. (for going too slow and then too fast when working with the people from Hard Copy)
Looks like we might be going down to race in Mexico this year in addition to the two races in Nevada. Don’t know....

Support
Most people know our sales and management people from our marketing efforts; however, it is the support people, in conjunction with the testing and developers, that insure that you get the most out of your product.
Out on the front line, they are the ones that "save the day" or, conversely, have to give you the bad news. Most of their work is unrecognized however, when that letter or e-mail comes in thanking us for a great job done by one of our people, it all comes back into perspective.
McCormick presently has four persons who work full time in support. In addition, we also have about four others who can "jump into the queue" when necessary. We are aggressively looking for two additional people to bring this support staff up to a total of six. When Support was asked what the most frequent challenge is when on a support call, almost all indicated that the lack of proper backup caused their biggest headache. If you are unsure about backing up your program and your jobs, call the office and we will fax you a technical bulletin.

Y2K
Many of our customers have either called or requested via mail information on the Y2K or Millennium Bug.
For those that are unsure what this really means, in the ‘70s, programmers represented years with the last two digits (rather than all four) The format was MMDDYY which was really 12/31/99. Unfortunately, this format does not know what century it is and would recognize the year 2000 as the year 1900. Any program with a date involved would either crash or give invalid data.
What further complicates this issue is that it is not only software at issue but also hardware. Many older computers BIOS has built in clocks and calendars that are part of their operating systems. Again, when we roll into the year 2000, it is unsure what will happen to this hardware. When I mention old hardware, I have been lead to believe that this includes 286, 386, and some older Pentiums.
And....as computer chips with imbedded calenders are in cars, watches, appliances, programmable computers (for controls), as well as countless other electronic equipment, the year 2000 could turn out to be quite interesting.
Regarding McCormick Software, we offer the following statement.

As always, our user's input is very much appreciated and recognized as a major component in our products' continued development and satisfying the needs of the estimating community.

T-Bill for Windows
Our developers are in the process of writing our popular T-Bill into a Windows format. Most of the features that you are used to in our DOS T-Bill product will be there in addition to some nice improvements both in layout as well as report generation. Long a goal in the DOS T-Bill product, we will be giving you the ability to create unlimited reports for printing invoices, internal reports, etc.
We have people working on this full time and hope to have it out mid 1999.

Building One
And the roll-ups keep on going. Recently, Building One purchased five more electrical contracting companies. Formally called Consolidation Capital Corp., this mega corporation now owns twelve companies with a work-force that exceeds over 6,000 employees nationwide.
With these additions, Building One now includes:

Garfield Electrical, OH
Oil Capital Electric, OK
Regency Electric, FL
SKC Electric, KS
Taylor Electric, UT
Town & Country Electric, WI
Tri-City Electrical Contractors (Orlando) FL
TriM Corp., PA
Walker Engineering, TX
Wilson Electric, AZ
Riviera Electric, CO
Riviera of California, CA

Group MAC
Group Maintenance America Corp. has just acquired three more electrical contractors. With this addition, sales of both mechanical and electrical services will be at about one billion dollars.