ou began operating a small general electric contracting company two years ago. Originally, it was just you and your cousin, but it has grown to five licensed electricians, plus one office manager who takes calls from customers, schedules the work, and orders parts and supplies. Your company handles a wide range of work, including installing new circuit breaker panels, rewiring existing electrical systems for renovations and additions, and installing residential light fixtures, security lighting systems, swimming pool lighting, and ceiling fans.

Business has really taken off, and your current manual systems and procedures can no longer keep pace. The office manager has been exploring several options and has identified three different software packages designed for small contractors. Each one of the packages includes features for managing parts and supplies inventory, scheduling jobs, and invoicing customers.

Two of the software packages are from large, well$-$known companies. One of these must be installed on your local network and has an initial licensing cost of roughly $$750$ plus $$100$ per year for software support. The second package is a SaaS solution accessed through a browser from any computer connected to the Internet. It has no initial fee but requires an annual subscription of $$150$ for the first user plus $$50$ annually for each additional user. The third software package is open$-$source software, with no initial cost and no support cost.