General Estimate

Overview

• A General Estimate is created by adding Materials and Services to an Input window. 

• Groups can be used to create a cascading level of Assemblies.

• Items where Type = Other cannot be added to an Estimate.

• If an Outwork or Material item is added only once to an Estimate, their notes are copied to the Materials and Outwork lists and cascading transactions.

• When an Assembly is added to an Estimate, the captions are copied from the linked costing (not the item).

• The captions on an estimate are not changed when a linked material or service's captions are edited.

Table of Contents

How to Create a General Estimate

ℹ️ This is a brief explanation of how General Estimates can be used. See the screenshots below.

1. Create a new transaction (e.g. Quotation).

2. Complete the header information (e.g. select a Customer, Contact Person and so forth).

3. Click Estimate (button) > General Estimate. 

   1. • Note: (If there are no other Estimate Types, a General Estimate is automatically created when Estimate (button) is clicked.

4. Reference = Type a reference for the estimate. This reference becomes the description on the line item of the quotation and is for internal use only. See Description below for the information that appears on the quotation that is given to a customer.

5. Click Input (tab) which should be open by default.

   1. Search for an item to add and enter the quantity in the field next to the item description.

   2. Click Add (button).

   3. Add all the materials and assembly items you need to create the product. Right-click an entry to add a sub-item.

      • • Note: Items can be filtered by type or category.

   4. The fields listed below can be edited. The Update feature can be used to update all the selected records.

      • Provider = Select a different provider (e.g. supplier or cost centre) from the dropdown list.

      • Qty = Overtype the quantity to change it.

      • Qty Type = Select a different quantity type from the dropdown list and click Save (button) to update the calculations. The options are:

        • Fixed = The quantity is fixed and applies regardless of the quantity produced (Qty x Unit Price = Total Cost).

        • x = The quantity (Qty) is multiplied by the number of units produced (Qty x Unit Price x Number of Items Produced = Total Cost). If the item is nested X represents the quantity of the parent item.

        • x Size = The quantity (Qty) that is needed per square metre. The columns to view the size can be displayed using the Field Chooser (*). (Total size / x Size x Unit Cost).

        • / = The quantity that is included in the unit cost. (Unit Price / Qty x Number of Items Produced = Total Cost).

        • x Hr/s = The amount of time needed to create one unit. (Unit Price x Hr/s = Total Cost) Hr/s is calculated based on the quantity produced in an hour. Click the Provider column for more information.

      • /Qty = Type the number of items that are produced (i.e. how many items the customer wants).

      • Hr/s = This field is calculated but can be edited. Only relevant if x Hr/s was selected as the Quantity Type.

      • Adj % = Type the adjustment percentage. This percentage can be an additional mark-up (positive) or a discount (negative) (e.g. where a client qualifies for an override commission and you want to show it on the quotation.) The adjustment only applies to general estimates that are based on the Cost Price. (Sell Price adjustments must be set per customer on the Customer record).

   5. Click Costs (tab) to see the calculations. There may be columns that are not displayed that affect the calculations (e.g. fixed costs).

   6. Click Pricing (tab) to add quantities so customers can see the effect of choosing a different quantity (this can also be done on the summary).

   7. Click Updates (tab) to apply any changes that were made to the items on the estimate since the estimate was created. Once an estimate is created, the pricing information is stored inside the estimate and no longer linked to the individual items (so that a quotation, once created, will not be changed). This tab refreshes the information from the items and is mostly needed if a transaction was copied or if the quotation has lapsed and a new quotation is going to be issued.

Description

ℹ️ The description is generated from item's Estimating or Costing tabs.

The Estimate Description, which is used on the quotation letter, is generated using the following fields (which can also be updated using Batch Updates):

• Desc: The options are:

  • D: Add Description

  • 1xD: Add Quantity and Description.

  • If this field is blank, the Item's description is not added to the quote Description.

• Caption: All the Items with a matching Caption are grouped into one Description record. If the Caption is blank, the Item's description is not added to the Description.

Data Pipelines

• Est_CompSum: SPECIFICATION

• Items_Cost: NOTE, SPECIFICATION

• Est_Mat / Est_Service: SPECIFICATION

Related Topics

• Reference: Item Creation and Editing 

• Tutorials: Item Creation