Job properties

When you create a new job, the Job Properties form automatically opens. This is where you enter and maintain core job information. You can also open Job Properties from the Setup tab by selecting Job Properties.

Overview tab

The Job Properties form opens to the Overview tab. The image and table below show the Overview options:

Overview Tab

Name		Description
1	Code	The unique code for the Estimate job.
2	Status	Current state of the job, such as Bidding, Awarded, or Completed. When searching for jobs in the Job Folders list, you can filter and sort jobs by their status. You can set statuses for jobs to fit your company requirements in the Job Register > Actions > Tools > Job Status.
3	Project ID	Information in this field originates from the Platform project the estimate is associated with and cannot be changed. You can click the Project ID link to navigate to the project in Platform.
4	Organization	Information in this field originates from Platform.
5	Description	You can enter an estimate-specific description for the job. You can edit the description at any time.
6	Project name	Information in this field originates from the Platform project the estimate is associated with and cannot be changed.
7	Notes	Add estimate-specific notes, such as when you are creating multiple estimate versions for the same Platform project. For example, you can enter This version is per addendum #1, This version is per a specified design change, or This version incorporates last-minute scope changes.
8	Project Notes	Information in this field originates from the Platform project the estimate is associated with. The notes can be added and edited at any time in Platform to document specific project-level details.
9	Job created by	Indicates the user or entity that initially created the job.
10	Source job	The name of the original job that the job was copied from.

When you copy a job, the new job shows the name of the person who created the copied job, and the name of the source job the job was copied from.

Cover Sheet tab

The Cover Sheet tab is where you define much of the general project information used to classify and report on the job. It includes fields for location, contacts, bid details, and schedule-related dates.

The following fields are available:

• Job Location

• City, County, Country, Province/State

• Job Type

• Engineer

• Owner

• Architect

• Forecast Start and Forecast Finish

• Bid Date and Bid Time

• Bid Location

• Estimator

• Opening Type and Proposal Type

• Liquidated Damages (if applicable)

  

The fields on this tab can be helpful for historical reference and job classification. It is good practice to complete as many of these fields as possible, so you can reference and find the project later. These fields can be updated as needed at any time.

Cost Basis tab

The Cost Basis tab contains core settings that affect how costs are calculated in your estimate. The numbered areas shown below are the settings you typically review first.

Name		Description
1	Standard Shift Arrangements	The default standard shift arrangements are set up as 8 hours per shift, 1 shift per day, and 5 days per week; this can be changed if a project requires a different standard shift arrangement.
2	Standard Wage Rate Composite:	Allows you to indicate what percentage of your labor hours will be regular time (Scale 1), overtime (Scale 2) or double time (Scale 3). You can enter these percentages manually, or you can use the Shift Rate Calculator to obtain a more accurate figure.
3	Lock Cost Items to Pay Items:	When Cost Items are locked to Pay Items, your level 1 estimate structure is controlled by your list of pay items.
4	Default Currency:	The default will be set to U.S. Dollar, but this can be changed if needed.
5	Sales Tax Rate:	This field is not required but may be used to automatically apply a sales tax to all your material and rental items. The default is set to zero.

Cost Basis tab overview

Shift Rate calculator

Use the Shift / Rate Calculator when you need to calculate a labor composite based on the actual shift pattern for the project instead of entering percentages manually.

Shift rate calculator

Import filtered resources

You may have noticed the bottom portion of your Cost Basis tab called the Resource Filter.

The Resource Filter portion of the Cost Basis tab is the most important part of Job Properties. You use it to import your labor, equipment, and materials from the Library. Until you import filtered resources, you have no resources (labor, equipment, materials) in your project.

Updated resource rates can be imported into the Library on a regular basis. It is important to update and have the “Latest & Greatest” rates available to import into your estimates.

You will import the rates you need using a set of Resource / Assembly filters. Especially for labor rates, filtering by these attributes allows you to pare down the master list to only the resources you need.

Each of the resource filter categories are open for use as determined best by your business. The following are examples of common uses:

Resource Attribute Filters
Name	Description
Resource File Description	This attribute can be used to designate the rate type or the year to which the rates pertain.
Geographic Area	This attribute is used to designate regions, cities, or provinces based on geographical location of a project.
Wage Zone	This attribute is typically used specifically for labor resources. For example, it may designate the trade and union agreements your labor resources belong to.
Organizational Category	This attribute can be used to designate what trade or work type your resources pertain to.

Resource filters become more specific from left to right, so start with the broader filters on the left and then move to the more specific filters on the right. The geographic area, wage zone, and organizational category attribute titles can be changed to meet your business needs for filtering resources.

When filtering resources, work from left to right through the filter lists to narrow the available options efficiently.

You can sort the filter lists by clicking the filter category titles.

The following steps walk through using the Resource Filter to import resources.

Import filtered resources

 

You must select “Import Filtered Resources” to import your resources. Clicking OK on the Job Properties form will not import your resources.

Fuel Cost tab

On this tab, you can enter the cost for fuel or other energy sources. These unit costs are multiplied by the consumption rates entered on each equipment record to define the operating fuel cost of each piece of equipment. The Cost per UM fields default to $0.00 until you enter values.

Enter fuel costs

1. In your job, open the Job Properties > Fuel Cost tab.

2. In Cost Per UM column, enter a dollar amount into the following:

   • Diesel

   • Gas & Gasoline

   • Off Road Diesel

     

3. Currency should read U.S. Dollar and UM should read Gallon.

Job Folder Tags tab

On this tab, you can enter tag fields to label your project, so you can reference it later.

Many of these fields are validated fields, meaning you can choose from options in a drop-down list. The names of these tags and the drop-down values are defined at a master level within the Library Foundation Setup Data. Some job folder tags are setup to be date fields or numerical fields. These tags are used to sort and filter the job register as well as for selecting which past estimates to utilize for benchmarking.

Schedule tab

The Schedule tab is used to define scheduling options for integrating Estimate with InEight Schedule, Microsoft Project, or Primavera. The settings you define determine what information is sent to your scheduling tool and how it is structured.

• Integrated Schedule – Select your integrated schedule from InEight Schedule, Microsoft Project, Primavera, or Manual.

• Schedule Currency – When you use Microsoft Project or Primavera, you can select the currency type used for the integration. The InEight Schedule and Manual option is set to U.S. Dollar by default.

• Plug Days - You can select Always use Plug Days when updating Estimate from schedule.

• Cost Item Roll Up – You can select to automatically calculate plug days when rolling up cost items for scheduling purposes.

Other Job Properties tabs

There are several additional tabs on the Job Properties form. The other tabs will not be discussed here because they are either used for project controls, or they will be covered at another time.

Other Job Properties Tabs
Name	Function
Minority Setup	Used to set up minority participation goals (for example, DBE or MBE) and you want to track minority participation goal attainment status during the bid process,
Job Tracking	Used to select the code that will be used when tracking job progress, define the planned production calculation, define the percent complete calculation, define the forecast methods, and define markup rates for calculating earned revenue on Time and Expense pay items.
Pricing	Used to define how you want the Balanced Unit Price for each of the job's pay items to be calculated when using the AutoPrice feature. You can also choose form several options in determining how markup is defined.
Cash Flow	Defines the cash flow rules (payment terms) that are used in the calculation of Job Financing and cost/revenue realization to generate the curves that display on the Cash Flow form.
Equipment Maintenance	Used to define the calculation of maintenance labor man-hours based on equipment utilization, to capture the impact on total man-hours when changes are made that affect the job's total value.
Benchmarking	Used to establish the historical data to be used for benchmarking the current job, and to define the default benchmark graph display and calculations.
Alternates	Used to define Alternate Scenarios, to assess the impact of those scenarios.