General Navigation

From the Start page you have the option to create, open or save a project, or close all jobs that are open.

You access the Library or open the Jobs page to go to the Job Register, Compare Jobs, delete a job, or do a Primavera Batch Sync.

• Templates allows you to create Job templates.

• You can create job snapshots or access previously created snapshots in the Snapshot Register.

• You can also archive or back up and restore job folders.

Settings allows you to customize options such as General settings, Account Code settings, Timesheet Warehouse settings, Licenses and Currency settings.

From the Open a recent Job section of the Start page, you can open the Training job or click More to open your list of jobs.

From the initialize section, you can access the following registers. Job Properties is where you enter the basic project details. Foundation Setup Data is where you populate all account codes and validated fields. The Pay item & Proposal Register provides an alternate structure to distribute estimated values. Bid Wizard helps automate the process of setting up estimates by copying information that already exists in other jobs.

In the Resources section, Resource Rates opens the Resource Rate Register, where detail costs for labor, equipment and material is stored. The Resource Assemblies opens the Resource Assembly Register, where you create a combination of resources as an assembly and reuse it as needed in multiple cost items.

You can create a Cost Item Assembly to automatically estimate different scopes of work based on input values. Standard tables – allow you to create tables of reference data that can be accessed in any cost item assembly.

The Reports section is available from any tab. Depending on the tab you access it from will bring you to reports specific to that tabs data. Here you will find reports on resources such as Resources Changes, Resource Utilization, and Resource Cost Details.

From the Breakdown Structures section in the Estimate tab you can access the Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS) Register, Account Code Utilization Register, and Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) Register.

Resource Rate Register is where you create or modify the rate charged for labor, material and equipment resources. Different views of the Resource Rate register such as Resource Utilization and Resource Cost Details are available from the Resources section.

InEight Estimate's integration with Microsoft Excel is a two-way integration that allows you to update register fields in Estimate with data contained in an Excel workbook, and update Excel cells with data contained in a register field in Estimate. This is where you open the embed excel workbook which is maintained as part of the estimate job folder and where you preform the sync functions to send values back and forth.

From the Schedule icon, you can access bi-directional integration with Microsoft Project and Oracle Primavera. The Cash Flow graph displays the projected cash flow of your project, along with the job financing expense, individual cost category costs and resource utilization.

Indirect Cost Items filters the CBS register to display cost items that contain overhead costs that are not directly associated with any particular deliverable items. Clicking on % Price Add on or Prime Bond opens up these individual records.

Price Breakdown Structure (PBS) Register is a visual run-down of the costs and profit that make up your Target Price. You can access the Direct and Indirect Markup records or see totals of direct costs, indirect costs, profit and overall bid price summarized in a Data Map.

Alternates are used to define alternate scenarios in order to assess the impact of those scenarios.

Quotes are organized using Address book, Quote Group Tags, Minority Setup and attachments in the Setup section. Address book stores and maintains all information pertaining to subcontractors, vendors, architects/engineers, etc. that you work with regularly. The Minority Setup tab within Job Properties stores information about the agency that authorizes the status of Minority Enterprises along with their different types. You can use Quote Group Tags to group together multiple resources or cost items that will be sent in a single request for quote package to solicited contractors or vendors..

Quote Management allows you to access the Requests for Quote (RFQs) register and Quotes. Request for Quotes (RFQs) are invitations to sellers, requesting that they submit pricing to provide services, equipment or material based on the line items and resources included in your estimate. The Quote Register stores all of the quote responses you receive for that job.

The Quote Comparison & Award section allows you to perform comparative analysis across all the quotes you’ve received. You can view a comparison of submitted pricing by resources or cost items.

From the Pay Items section you can lock Cost items to Pay items and access the Pay item & Proposal register. Under Pricing in Job Properties, you can set up how the tool calculates profit and spreads pricing to your pay items. In the Competitors section, you can keep track of companies that have submitted bids as well as record and track competitor bid prices.

The Price Breakdown Structure (PBS) Register is a visual run-down of the costs and profit that make up your Target Price. You can access the Direct and Indirect Markup records or see totals of direct costs, indirect costs, profit and overall bid price summarized in a Data Map.

You can access the PBS Changes register (which logs any changes that effect the Target Price) and turn on/off logging PBS changes..

The Job Tracking button takes you to the Job Tracking register that shows you the planned cost and production, as-built cost and production, and forecast cost and production of the job as a whole or for any individual cost item or account. The Job Tracking Register is used to document how much work and cost represented by a cost item or account has been finished and how much remains. The Job Tracking Register is also used to Set Forecast Method for all items in the job.

You also have the option to enable the creation of the job tracking records for the job by selecting Publish Job for Job Tracking.

The Unpublish Job for Job tracking button disables the creation of the job tracking records for the job.

Budget/Contract Changes is the only way to change current budget or add a pay item after the project has been released for execution and the Original Budget locked. Create Original & Current Budget sets the original and current budget for the project. These should be equal when you initially create it (at the beginning of project execution). Current budget is the only thing that can change after execution. Remove Original & Current Budget removes original and current budget values.

You can customize the titles and colors for different fields. You can export and import saved Views, Titles, Colors and Output Settings. You can customize reports generated by Estimate using External reports. External References allows you to open external programs with Estimate.