Hi Malcolm,
If your customer insists that the project starts with writing the manual, you have to tell the customer that the manual have to be rewritten when the project is done, even with a "straight forward" project. Because, when the user sees the program you have made for them, they always, and I mean always, get creative regarding new features to the program and therefore the written manual won't match the final program.
!!! Always charge all of your work.
Benn Kjaer
MS Certified Professional - Visual Foxpro
"There is something rotten in the state of Denmark"
"Why make user-friendly programs, when there aren’t any friendly users :o)"