Project Estimation
Project Estimation is the plan and the budget of a project. You list the activities, put them in a tree, give each a start and an end, and on each lowest activity list what it needs (items, workers, machines, expenses, fees) with a cost price and a sale price. The screen totals cost, sale and profit up the tree, and draws a Gantt chart and the weekly resource load.
What it is for
The estimation is the budget the project is measured against. The Project Profitability list takes its total cost and sale as the estimate, and the Project Estimation vs Actual list compares each requirement with the cost actually booked to the project.
The rule people get wrong: requirements go on the lowest activities only. An activity with activities under it is a group; it shows the totals of what is under it and has no Requirement link of its own.
Every field in plain words
Header
| Field | What it means | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Project Estimation | The number | Required |
| Name | What the estimate is | Required |
| Date | The date of the estimate | Required |
| Controller | Who owns the estimate | Pick from the responsible list |
| Project | The project | Pick from Project. Chosen at Create |
The summary strip shows the project, the name, the number of activities, the duration in days, the cost, the sale and the profit. The summary popup splits cost and sale into item, worker, machine, expense and fee.
General tab: the activities
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Activity Number | The outline number, 1, 1.1, 1.1.2, written by the screen |
| Activity | What is done |
| Date From, Date To | When. A group shows the earliest start and latest end under it |
| Requirement | On a lowest activity, the link to its requirement lines, with their count |
| Total Cost Price, Total Sale Price | The sum of the requirements; a group shows the sum under it |
| Profit, Profit (%) | Sale less cost, and that as a share of cost |
Grid buttons:
- Indent puts the selected line one level under the line above; Outdent brings it back. Its sub-activities go with it.
- Up and Down swap the line, with everything under it, with the one before or after at the same level. Dragging by the grip does the same with the mouse, within the same parent.
- Activity view shows the dates; Cost view shows the money columns. The screen opens in Activity view.
- Deleting a line closes up the numbers; its sub-activities move up a level.
Requirement lines
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Category, Name | What is needed. The category's kind (item, worker, machine, expense, fee) decides where it is counted in the summary |
| Line Property | A line property |
| Unit, Quantity | How much |
| Cost Price, Total Cost Price | Cost per unit, and Quantity x Cost Price |
| Sale Price, Total Sale Price | Sale per unit, and Quantity x Sale Price |
| Profit | Total Sale Price - Total Cost Price |
| Line Text | A note |
On closing the requirement lines, the activity's cost, sale, profit and profit % are filled from them. The activity keeps a whole percent.
Gantt tab
Read-only, drawn from the open document. Each lowest activity is a bar from Date From to Date To, with the part of its days already gone by shaded darker; a group is a bracket over what is under it. Fit, Week and Month change the zoom; a red line marks today.
Resources tab
Read-only. One row per category, under its kind. Planned is the requirement quantity spread evenly over its activity's dates, week by week. Booked hours are the hours time sheets hold for this project and category, with a bar against the plan that turns red past it.
How to configure it
Make the categories the requirements use, with their category group and kind. Field rules per company are set on Project Accounting Setting.
Scenarios
- A fit-out job in three phases. Activities Demolition, Build, Finish, each with sub-activities. Requirements on the sub-activities: labour days, materials, a crane. The top lines show each phase's budget.
- The customer wants the schedule. Open the Gantt tab, Fit, and print.
- Is the site crew overbooked? The Resources tab shows the planned load per week against the hours booked.
What it is connected to
- Project - its Timeline lists the estimation.
- Time Sheet - the booked hours on the Resources tab.
- Project lists and reports - Project Estimate, Project Estimation vs Actual, Project Profitability, and the estimate print.
If something looks wrong
- "Requirement - Unit Cannot be empty". A requirement line with an item has no unit.
- The Requirement link does nothing on a line. The line is a group. Put requirements on the lines under it.
- Booked hours stay at zero. No time sheet line names this project. See Time Sheet.
- Indent, Up or dragging does nothing. The document is only displayed. Edit it first.