FW Editor: What was the inspiration behind creating Lading Manager Lite?
Richard Stephens: I was setting up a network for a customer. During that time, my customer was sitting at a typewriter, cursing at a form he was trying to fill out. I asked him what the problem was and he showed me what he had to do in order to fill out a bill of lading for a load going out. I told him that I could write a program to do what he was doing and that is how Lading Manager Lite was born.

FW Editor: Which feature of Lading Manager Lite do you consider to be most useful to the users?
Richard Stephens: Simplicity. The interface may not be the sexiest in the world, by it is extremely simple to use.

FW Editor: Why does it lay so much stress on lading companies?
Richard Stephens: There isn't any such entity as a "lading company." Companies that need to produce bills of lading include factories, trucking companies, mom & pop stores, etc. Being able to produce a bill of lading in a timely fashion can be stressful without the right tools. Lading Manager Lite is the right tool to relieve this stress.

FW Editor: How much research was involved in developing Lading Manager Lite?
Richard Stephens: I looked at all of the different bills of lading available to businesses at that time. Nothing was standardized. Lading Manager Lite takes the best of all of the different layouts and creates an easy-to-read bill of lading.

FW Editor: What are your future plans regarding Lading Manager Lite?
Richard Stephens: My next major revision will be the user interface. It is easy now, but I have some ideas to make it even easier. I also listen to end-user requests.

FW Editor: Do the users of Lading Manager Lite get any other special privileges , like round-the-clock customer support, regular software updates etc.?
Richard Stephens: Absolutely! Users get free updates and free support. Where else are you going to find that for a $25.00 program??

FW Editor: Any useful tips that you would like to give to the users?
Richard Stephens: Backup your data!! My #1 support call is for hard drive crashes. Programs are easy to install; having your data backed up to a location off of the C: drive is very important. Lading Manager Lite has a built-in backup/restore feature. Please take advantage of it.