Estimating with Ver 2018.01 and up

This topic covers all the settings you use for Quotations and Estimating in QuickEasy BOS. You might also want to view Estimate Types setup.

An Estimate is essentially a combination of materials and services used to calculate the cost of a product or event or item on a Quotation, eg below.

• To add a custom Estimate, click on the EST button on the Quotation. If there are more than one Estimate Types that you wish to use for a more automated Estimating process, these can be selected from the drop down arrow next to the EST button.

• To edit the Estimate, double click on the estimate line item in the Quotation.

• There can be several Estimates listed on a Transaction.

What you'll find on this page

• Standard Estimates

  • Input

  • Costs

  • Description

  • Pricing

  • Updates

• Estimate Types

• Settings and User Access

Standard Estimates

In this model, users are only able to edit the Input tab, which in turn generates a Description, Costs, and Specification. If necessary, the Pricing and Update tabs can also be visible here. These are set in Transaction Types > Quotation > Estimating.

Input

1. Reference - This is the Reference of the Estimate. This name will appear in the Quotation Transaction.

2. Quantity - You can add a single quantity, or multiple quantities in order to see price variations on the Estimate.

3. C - Component - Click this to indicate you wish to add a Component. A Component forms part of the Item you wish to Estimate on. An Estimate will typically have several Components made up of Materials and Services, and even other sub-Components. A Component is essentially a place holder, so there is no cost intrinsically linked to a Component. You can also next Components. Right click > Copy - All the items in the component will be copied.

4. M - Material - Click this to indicate you wish to add a Material Item. The Search results available will only show Material Item options.

5. S - Services - Click this to indicate you wish to add a Service Item. The Search results available will only show Service Item options.

6. Search - You can search in this text field for the Item you wish to add.

7. Adjust - This allows you to set an Estimate-wide update on the following:

   • Adj % - Markup - This allows me to set the markup percentage to a specified amount for all values.

   • W % - Waste - This allows me to set Waste percentage to a specified amount.

   • RU - Round up - This allows me to round up every value to the nearest unit listed.

   • Qty Type - This allows me to update every Quantity Type to be either

     • Fixed - This means that, regardless of other quantities, this will remain the quantity of the Component.

     • x - This means that quantities are multiplied instead of added. So Estimate Qty (8) x Component Qty x Item Qty for a Total.

     • x size

     • x Qty up, and

     • x Qty out.

   • Status - This allows me to update every entry's status according to the selection made. The Status determines how the Item will be adjusted on the Estimate.

     • Active + - This is the cost and can be adjusted.

     • Active not adjusted - The total will be added to the Estimate without any adjustment.

     • Budget + - This shows a budgeted amount based on the customer's budget, when we are not sure of an absolute price but have a ballpark figure (eg, for a customer's flooring). This can still be marked up.

     • Budget not adjusted - This is the budgeted amount of the job without any markup.

     • In-Active - This can be used when there are several options that need to show prices, but will only be a record of the price and will not show in the total price.

8. Qty - This allows you to select how many units of the Material or Service you wish to add to the Estimate when you click Add.

9. Custom - Check this box if you wish to add a custom Item that is not pre-loaded.

10. Root - Check this box if you wish to add a new Root, or Parent Component.

11. Show Preview - This allows you to view a preview of the Notes.

12. Refresh Lookups - This refreshes any lookup fields you might have updated recently.

13. Description - This shows the name of the Components, Materials, and Services.

14. D - This check box determines whether or not this entry will be displayed on the Quotation. If you want all the Materials and Services and Sub Components to be listed, the D should be ticked for each of them too.

15. N - This allows you to add a Note to the entry. This is for internal purposes only.

16. Provider - If this Material or Service is outsourced or purchased, the Supplier name will be listed here. If it is produced inhouse, then a cost centre will be here.

    • If Service, then Cost Centre can be selected here, the hourly rate, setup, and speed of the job can be added. The production hours and rate listed does not affect the price of the Estimate. It is for Production purposes only.

    • If Supplier is selected, then a Supplier reference can be added.

17. Qty - This allows shows the quantity of each entry. When multiple quantities exist on an Estimate, the active Quantity can be changed on the Transaction item using a drop-down list of quantities.

    • Component Qty - This shows the quantity at a Component level.

    • Material / Services Qty - This shows the Item quantity needed as part of the Component as

      • Rpt - This allows you to calculate repeat quantities according to the following calculations:

        • Fixed - This means that, regardless of other quantities, this will remain the quantity of the Component.

        • x - This means that quantities are multiplied instead of added. So Estimate Qty (8) x Component Qty x Item Qty for a Total.

        • x size

        • x Qty up, and

        • x Qty out.

      • Waste % - This adds a portion or percentage to compensate for wastage.

      • RU - Round Up values are used if you want the total qty to round up to a whole number.

      • Min Qty - This shows the minimum quantity that may be used and will override any lower number with this quantity.

18. Fixed Price - This sets the price, regardless of other variables.

    • Unit Price - This calculates against the quantity and the unit price.

19. Hr/s - This is the production hours needed to produce or work on this item.

20. Total Qty - This is the calculated as Estimate Qty (8) x Component Qty (17) x Item Qty equals Total Qty. It can also be set as a fixed Quantity.

21. Unit - This shows the unit of measurement this item is listed as. This will only show if an Item has been added.

22. Subtotal - This shows the subtotal before markup.

23. Adj % - This shows the markup % for this item.

24. Adjustment - This shows the monetary value of this markup.

25. Total - This shows the Total price of the Material or Service.

26. /Unit - This shows the total price per unit.

27. Summary - All the Materials and Services and Outwork are totaled in this Summary.

    • Direct Costs (red) - This shows the total costs of what needs to be physically paid out for this job.This shows the potential risk of the job, should the job have to be done over again at your own cost.

    • Value Added - This shows the profit on this Estimate.

Right-click menu

• When you right click on any field in the grid, this menu provides additional functionality, such as Convert Prices to Fixed / Unit Prices. Once you enter prices per quantity, the Setup Cost, Unit Cost, and Cost/1000 will be calculated. Click Accept to update Unit Costs.

• Convert to Material - A Component can be converted to a Material if you need to outsource the work and not produce it internally. Then a Supplier can be linked to the Material Item.

• Right-click on an Item Category and select Set User Access to assign access to the applicable users.

Costs

This flat gird of costs only shows the Materials and Services and their related costing details. The Component information is removed for better clarity of actual costs.

• Standard grid functionality applies. - Grouping on any field, in order to analyse costs more efficiently.

• Stock values are also visible for inventory items.

Enhancements

• The Stock Qty and Unit (ie. the Item’s base Qty) has been added to the Estimating > Costs tab.

• The Available column is highlighted in red when the Available Qty is less than the Stock Qty - see image below:

Description

This shows the description of the Estimate. If D is not ticked on the Input tab for a Component, Material, or Service, then this tab will be blank.

Pricing

This is useful for adding multiple quantities and seeing what the unit cost of different quantities are.

It is also possible to generate a price list from this tab (see (4)).

1. /Unit - Unit costs might go down as quantity increases due to setup costs are divided into larger quantities.Prices can be manually changed / fixed and will appear red.

2. MU% - Markup can also be changed on this tab.

3. Profit - Costs and profit can be seen at a glance.

4. Range - This allows you to input a From and To range of prices, and Step (group) by a value. Eg, From 10 to 100 in Steps of 10. This will calculate the costs and pricing that can be Output to a price list.

5. Add MU % - This allows you to add an overall markup percentage to all the prices.

6. Menu - Additional functionality is included.

   • Revert to default Adjustments - This will bring the prices back to the default adjustments.

   • Remove all Price Fixes - This will remove all fixes done to any prices on this price list.

   • Don't Round Off - Set all Prices - This will remove all price rounding off.

   • Round Totals - Set all Prices - This will apply rounding off to all totals.

   • Round Unit Totals - Set all Prices - This will round off unit totals.

   • Delete all Prices - This will clear the price list.

Updates

This is to notify you if the Prices, Production Hours, and / or the Description in the Input differ from the Item Setup. Variance will show the difference from the original.

You can update the Item to be the same as this Estimate's changes by clicking the Item button. You can update the Estimate to be the same as the changes by clicking Estimate button.

Estimate Types

With Estimating Types, the user only uses the Form to generate an Estimate. Simply by completing the customised form, the Input, Costs, Description, and Specification are automatically generated. Estimate Types need to be linked to Transaction Types.

The tabs in the Estimate window are as follows:

• Form - This is the input form which is visible only when an Estimate Type is used. This layout and content has been created in the Estimate Types setup (more here) and serves as the place where the user captures the details of the Estimate.

• Input - The user only needs to input the predefined fields for the specific Estimate Type in order to generate a complete Estimate. The remaining Group Headers (in this case Calculations, Materials, Services) are populated and calculated by BOS, ensuring fast Estimating, and minimal capture / calculation error.

• Costs - This is a grid view of the items that have been added into the Input screen and can be used to summarize and analyse the costs on the Estimate. This view also displays the Inventory Quantities.

• Description - This tab displays the Description which is generated by the Estimate

• Specification - This tab displays the Specification which is generated by the Estimate - only visible when an Estimate Type is used.

• Pricing - This tab is used to add Estimate Quantities and overall markups.

• Update - This tab displays all the variances in Description, Price and Production parameters between Items on the Estimate and Items in the Setups. Users can multi-select items and update either the Estimate to match the Setups or the Setups to match the Estimate.

1. Parameter Inputs - This is where you input the Estimate spec. This layout is set in the Estimate Types setup, and in Parameter Types.

2. Quantity - This is where you input the quantity. This needs to be input in order for calculations to be automatically made.

3. Automated fields - Functionality exists to display the fields that are automatically calculated based on the Parameter Inputs. In the image above these have been shown on the Estimate in a collapsed Group Header that can be expanded to view the results, or to manually adjust as needed.

4. Additional Input - Functionality exists to add other input that is not specifically linked to the Estimate Type to the Estimate. In this example, Finishing options can be added using a Repeat Header.

Settings and User Access

Estimating can be enabled at a Transaction Type level. Select a Quotation Transaction Type > Transaction Types Edit Panel > Estimating - Visible Tabs - If one or more tabs are made visible, then Estimating is enabled.

Access to Estimates is set under User Access > Role Settings and User Settings.