1981, Las Vegas
For providing a flexible estimating program on a personal computer in      an affordable price range.
Judges indicated that prior to the McCormick product, the only      estimating products available were via teletype or expensive computers with little or no flexibility
    1990: Washington DC
For providing estimating software on a PC based network.
Judges indicated that prior to this, almost all estimating computers were "stand-alone" and on a large job, estimates had to be combined by hand.
    1994: Chicago
For providing integration into and out of estimating software
Judges were impressed at the ability for McCormick to import pricing data as well as output data to different files for scheduling and accounting purposes. 
    1998: Las Vegas
For providing a new and initiative software program for the management of change orders. 
    1999: New Orleans
For providing a CAD interface that allows direct takeoff from a CAD drawing directly into McCormick’s Windows Estimating products.
Judges indicated that prior to the McCormick product, CAD takeoff required the use of third party software.
McCormick is proud of these awards as well as its relationships with the electrical contracting industry.
Input from the industry is what drives McCormick product and which allows McCormick to have some of the best estimating software available on the market today.

Number 30 at NECA
Well, this is not about a race but about the recent NECA show that was held in New Orleans.
Many people have read or commented about Number 30, Todd McCormick’s ZR1 Corvette.
So many have asked that we made the decision for bring the car to New Orleans for the NECA Show where it did generate attention. What is so unique about this car is that it is not only an American made high performance "race car", it is really "raced" once or twice a year, something that most people talk about but never have the opportunity to do.
In addition to Sunday afternoon drives, Todd drives this car in a "timed" 90 mile cross country road course event that is held in northwest Nevada.
A veteran of five races, Todd now chooses the 135-mph class which means that his goal is to maintain 135-mph for the entire 90 miles. As there is a standing start and the road has turns, hills, and open stretches, on an average race, he will find himself going as slow as 115-mph and as fast as 155-mph.
There is almost as much strategy as there is driving skills used in this race. Using about 20 way-points and two stop watches, each "leg" of the race is checked and speed is raised or lowered to come across the finish line at the right time. In recent races, Todd, has one first, several seconds, and was disqualified for exceeding his top speed bracket (Kind of neat to be caught in a speed trap going 165-miles an hour by a sheriff’s deputy and not getting a ticket)
This event, which last year saw over 200 cars enter, is sanctioned by the State of Nevada and draws people and cars from all over the nation.

Set Up Your Windows
We find that most people that purchase McCormick Windows software open up the box, install the software, and then use it as it is delivered.
Now.... there is nothing wrong with this however, there is so much more you can do if you spend some time exploring the possibilities.
The program is written in Windows and because of this, you can open up more than one window at a time allowing you to do and see more.
For example, let’s look at a Data Base Window. When you open it up, it gives you a list of items (or assemblies) to review. As delivered, you will notice that at the top of this window, there are buttons to count and measure "things". In addition, you can open up additional "buttons" to adjust for difficulty of labor as well as a "takeoff multiplier". To open these, just put your mouse on top of a count or length button and do a "right click".
Another thing that you can do is review an item (or assembly) while taking off.    Most don’t review as they take off; however, if you want to know what the price, labor, etc. of an item is or, what an assembly is made up of as you take off, you can count and measure with the item (assembly) opened up for review.
Some take off with just one database window open and that is OK. However, most takeoff with three windows open and some power users will open six, seven, or eight windows. To see what this is all about, just click on "takeoff" from the windows menu, chose "items" or "assemblies" and the number of windows you want to open up.
Then, in normal Windows procedures, just move, size, place, adjust them to where you want them and then save this setup to a toolbar or workspace. (As discussed in the last Newsletter, toolbars and workspaces allow you to save and retrieve almost any screen setup that you can think of)
Multiple windows into a database are good for many reasons. Let’s say that you are rolling branch. Just set up one window for 2#12’s, another for 3#12’s, the third for 4#12’s, etc. It is now possible to roll off your entire branch circuit without changing your screen. If you are using multiple windows, don’t forget to use your keyboard instead of your mouse for entering.
The same goes for devices. Just set up one window for receptacles, one for telephone, and another for switches. Now, using your keyboard "count keys", you can move across your plan taking off all as you go.
The Windows program comes set for both single and three-window takeoff. To see more, go to the workspace button and review what has been built.

The Building
As reported in the last letter, we have completed the interior demolition of our new office building and are in the process of drawing up the plans to submit to the city of Chandler.
We have had several pleasant surprises and several not so pleasant. The good news is that all the open areas are free span or, there are no bearing walls. The bad news is that the roof on the second floor is sagging and will either have to be replaced or jacked back up. They are going to give us several proposals, both of which will be expensive.
The other questionable news is that according to a newspaper clipping from 1928 that we just found, the building is two stories high and has a complete basement. Now, we know nothing about a basement nor can we find anything that looks like an entry to a basement. It has been suggested that we bring in a psychic to determine if there is one or, it might be just as easy to drill a few holes in the floor and see if the bit falls through.
As the building served as an armory for about ten years, if we find that there really is a basement, we might bring in Geraldo Rivera for the opening. Are they still looking for Jimmy Hoffa?

CAD Interface
McCormick’s latest product is now in it’s final Beta testing stages and, unless we find something really ugly, plan to start shipping the first quarter of 2000.
It has been out to about 20 contractors that use CAD for about three months and all reports are positive. We have had several suggestions from these testers that will be major improvements.

WIN T-Bill
McCormick has been developing this product for the past six months and we are looking at delivery in the early part of 2000. Many enhancements have been made to this product that was first introduced in DOS almost 10 years ago.
Although you will still find data entry from standard work-order forms the main part of the program, we have come up with better file and job management for the program. The WIN T-Bill can be used as a stand-alone product or can drive off the WIN estimating product database.

Advanced Training
Since the start of McCormick’s advanced training for it’s Windows products, we have had to expand our classes. With the extreme power of the WIN product, many are finding the need to setup or change security, keyboard mapping, item and assembly specifications as well as change and/or add reports.
In addition, most are making changes to fit their unique needs in the CPM module as well as the graph modules. 
For further information regarding classes, contact the Arizona office.