Estimate in the cloud refers to InEight's hosted estimating solution on the InEight cloud Platform.
Estimate on-premise refers to InEight's estimating solution deployed in a customer's local environment.

Estimate Archived Release Notes

VIDEO | 24.9 Release Overview

VIDEO | Estimate-Schedule Integration

General release is available starting 07-OCT-2024.

Updated 09-OCT-2024

InEight Schedule Integration

  • Estimate and InEight Schedule integration - You can now select InEight Schedule as your integrated schedule in Estimate. ClosedRead more

    In the CBS of your Estimate job, you have the option to mark items as scheduled. You can also mark those items to roll up. For example, you can select Civil and Piping Systems as shown in the image below.

    With the scheduled items selected in Estimate, in Schedule you can add a new schedule to the workspace project linked with your estimate using the Add new schedule from Estimate function.

    After the new schedule is created, you can then start to add activity relation logic to your items to schedule the job.

    In Estimate, you can sync the Schedule updates with your Estimate job using the Update Estimate from InEight Schedule function. The Estimate job is updated with Schedule’s activity relation logic changes.

    In Schedule, you can update changes made to your Estimate job, such as updating roll-up selections, using the Update Schedule From Estimate function in Schedule.

    Total cost values from Estimate also integrate with Schedule. This lets you conduct cost risk analysis based on the risk and opportunities in the estimate process.

    On the Cost Risk page, you can import cost risk items from the Schedule WBS structure created through the Estimate integration and start running cost risk simulations for management review. For more information, see the new InEight Schedule Integration topic.

Job Properties

  • Notes field for estimates - A new Notes field has been added to the Estimate job properties page to add additional estimate related information. ClosedRead more

    In addition to the Project Notes field, which is maintained in InEight Platform, the Notes field can be used to provide additional information for individual estimates. When you create multiple versions of an estimate for the same project, the estimate notes can help provide additional information as to why there are different versions of the same estimate. For example, you can enter This version is per addendum #1 or This version is per a specified design change, or This version of the estimate is incorporating last minute changes.

    The image below shows the Estimate Notes and Project Notes fields.

    Section Type Description
    Notes Freeform This section lets you add, edit, or delete job related notes.
    Project Notes Read-only This section syncs with the Notes field in Platform’s project details and is read-only in Estimate.

    For more information, see Job Properties in Project Setup.

Foundation Setup Data

  • Copy foundation setup data from a template - You can now copy updated foundation setup data such as account codes, tags, work breakdown structures, and work group tags from a template job to your estimate. The Copy data from another Job action includes jobs marked as Is Template. ClosedRead more

    After you create a job from a template and the template is updated with new data, you can copy the new foundation template data using the Copy data from another Job action. In Setup > Foundation Setup Data > Copy data from another Job, select a job template to copy its foundation data.

    This functionality already exists for non-template jobs. Previously, the Copy data from another Job function excluded the jobs marked as Is Template from the process. The Copy data from another job function also supports copying standard tables, resources, and resource assemblies from templates.

    For more information, see the Templates topic in Data Reproduction.

Add New Projects for Estimates

  • Add projects permission extended beyond root level - The Add projects permission has been extended to level 1 and level 2 role users for root and sub-organizations. Now, you can create your own projects in Platform. ClosedRead more

    When you are assigned a Level 2 – Organization Admin role or a Level 1 – Project Admin role with the Add projects permission selected, you can now create new projects within the assigned root or sub-organizations in Platform.

    For example, previously you would have to rely on Level 3- Account Admin role users to create Platform projects in root organizations, limiting you to link Estimate jobs to existing Platform projects that were not applicable to your Estimate jobs.

    Now, you can create new projects in a node of the organization dedicated to estimating, permitting estimators to create and manage projects for the opportunities they are pursuing while allowing the rest of the organization to maintain a higher level of security over active projects. For more information, see the new Project Creation topic in Project Setup.

Job Register

  • Updated Data Version and new Upgrade Required columns in the Job Register - The column labeled Version has been updated to Data Version to help identify the data version of the job, and a new Upgrade Required column has been added to identify whether an upgrade is required for the job. ClosedRead more

    The Data version column shows the current data version that might be different from the Estimate application version.

    The new Upgrade Required column identifies jobs that require an upgrade to match the current database version before they can be used in the application. The jobs that require an upgrade have the check box selected. For more infomration, see the Data Version and Upgrade Required Columns section in the Job Creation topic.

Estimate API

  • Release 24.11 Estimate API deprecated fields – In Release 24.11, location, city, state, country, latitude, longitude, forecast start, forecast finish, and duration fields will be deprecated in the Estimate API and will no longer be available to provide data. ClosedRead more

    The fields will no longer be maintained in Estimate and are instead maintained in InEight Platform. If you have integrations that read or write data to any of these fields, you will need to modify those integrations to instead use the Core Projects APIs in the InEight API Developer Portal for the corresponding InEight Platform project fields (Address1, City, RegionISOCode, CountryISOCode, Latitude, Longitude, ForecastStartDate, ForecastEndDate, ForecastDuration).

General release is available starting 05-AUG-2024.

Updated 15-JULY-2024

Performance improvements – Performance modifications have been made to the back end services to improve the performance and resiliency of the system.

VIDEO | 24.5 Release Overview

General release is available starting 03-JUN-2024.

Filter Editor improvements

  • Edit Filter button –When creating or modifying filters in registers, the Filter Editor can now be invoked by clicking the Edit Filter button located on the bottom right of the page.ClosedRead more

  • Creating complex filters using the Filter Editor –You can now use the filter editor to create more complex filters.

Previously, when opening the Filter Editor dialog box, you were limited to defining filter criteria on only the column used to open the Filter Editor, now you can define filters across any of the columns available in the register. Additionally, users can still open the Filter Editor using the button in the column filter dropdown, but regardless of how the user accesses it , the Filter Editor dialog now permits defining a filter for the entire register and not just the selected column.

  • Because all the register fields are now available, more complex filters can now be created by using Grouping and Or operators. In the following example, a filter has been defined to return all Terminal Cost Items that either have a cost source of Plug, or exceed $100,000 of Total Cost (Forecast).

Job and template registers

  • New job and template register OBS filter tree – The Job register now has an organization tree filter so you can see where estimates exist in the OBS.ClosedRead more

    When the Organization Tree Filter is enabled, you can now see the jobs that are associated with an organization tree node in the new OBS filter tree. This helps you locate and organize estimates to more quickly inside of an organization hierarchy.

    If you group by Project ID, and then select a node in the organization, you can see all the projects and their associated estimates belonging to that part of the organization. For example, there are five estimates associated with project 100656 and one associated with project 101620. This view shows you the relationship between all the project and estimate associations.

    The Template register now also has an organization tree filter. When you click on an organization tree node, it shows the templates assigned to that selected organization. Just like the job register, the list of templates is filtered based on the selected organization. The primary difference between the OBS tree filter in the job and template registers is that estimates are associated with projects in the job register, and projects belong to an organization. In the template register, templates belong to an organization.

Register Running Totals

  • New subtotal row in registers – You can now select multiple rows in a register and see the total amount of the rows at the bottom of the register.ClosedRead more

For example, when you select multiple cost items in the CBS register, you can see the sum of those rows at the bottom of the register.

It is no longer necessary to export data to Excel and run separate calculations to better understand costs of multiple items. The sigma symbol shows in the subtotaled row to indicate it is the total of the selected rows.

For more information, see Columns.

Job Register

  • Edit Job Register Data – You can now modify Job Register attributes in the Estimate Library for non-upgraded jobs. ClosedRead more

Job Register fields, such as tags, can now be modified prior to loading it to force a job upgrade. Previously, non-upgraded jobs were read-only in the Job Register, which prevented you from changing the Job Properties fields that are usually editable directly in the Job Register

Vendors and Contacts

  • Vendor and contact creation – You can now quickly create vendors and contacts on the fly via the Quote Register and Record forms.ClosedRead more

After you receive vendor quotes and you are ready to enter quote information in Estimate, it can be an optimal moment to create new vendors and contacts if they are not currently in the Address Book. Prior to this enhancement, when quotes were received, you had to create the vendor and contact in InEight Platform and then come back to Estimate. Creating vendors and contacts on the fly while the vendor quote information is in front of you, then entering the quote information in Estimate, is more expedient than leaving the quote to create the vendor and contact in Platform. This is especially useful when you have multiple new vendor quotes.

You can create vendors and contacts on the fly in both the Quote Register > Address Book Register Library and directly from the Quote record.

For example, you are in a quote record and need to quickly create a new vendor because the vendor you received a quote from does not yet exist. You can then select the Vendor Quick Add button, and then enter in the vendor details in the Vendor Record – Library form.

You can also add additional information in the License/Bond/Insurance and Minority Certifications tabs.

After the vendor is created, it is now included in the Library Address Book and can be chosen as a vendor to be used on a quote.

If you have a new contact to add, you can now select the Contact Quick Add button, and then enter the contact information.

After the contact is created, it becomes associated with the newly created vendor in the Library Address Book.

The vendor and contact information is stored in Platform where it can be easily accessed by selecting one of the vendor ID links in the Library Address Book.

For more information, see Cost Item Assembly Creation

CBS

  • Allow As-Built – The Allow As-Built field setting is now enabled in the CBS. Closed Read more

    When you are ready to initialize the Control budget and track progress, you can now determine whether you will enter costs, quantities, both or neither for any one cost item by choosing None, All, Quantities, or Cost. These values are now populated on the corresponding Cost Items created in Control when you publish the estimate to a new project .

Cost Item Assemblies

  • Cost Item Assembly Object Input Values – The object input type has been added to the Inputs section of the Cost Item Assembly (CIA) record Inputs form. This saves you the time of updating and maintaining lists of resources from job to job.ClosedRead more

The new Object input type lets you choose an object that already exists in Estimate, such as existing tags, resources, or account codes. The object list changes dynamically based on data that exists in the current estimate without requiring a manual update to the Cost Item Assembly table data, so users can choose from valid selections.

For example, when you employ a CIA in the CBS, the Type of Pipe variable shows a Resource Selection Register, so valid inputs are limited to resources available in the job.

Picking an Object that exists in the job helps ensure the formulas that use those objects return valid results, such as linking a formula result to the resource employment for the MPDIP10 Pipe 8” Ductile Iron resource as picked from the Resource Rate register.

Previously, a custom table had to be created that included allowable values, in addition to an additional custom table that included the type of input fields that included list values.

For more information, see Cost Item Assembly Creation

  • Using Object Type Inputs – In the CIA record Calculations form, Object Type inputs can be used in formulas by directly referencing either the Code or the Description as attributes of the input variable. These two new fields can be easily referenced and selected using the Formula Editor. Closed Read more

For more information, see Cost Item Assembly Creation

  • ObjectValue function –The ObjectValue function can now be selected in the Formula Editor, which lets you utilize additional object meta data for use in your calculations. Closed Read more

    The ObjectValue function accepts an object type, the key code field and the desired name of the field to be looked up and will return the value of the lookup field for use in a formula. In the following example, The ObjectValue function looks up the value stored in the User Defined 1 field of the resource whose resource code is stored in the FTGCODE_11 variable. In this case, the return value represents the material resources unit weight and is used to calculate the total weight of the material being installed.

    For more information, see Cost Item Assembly Creation

Organizational Breakdown Structure

  • Assign Templates – You can now assign templates to specific organizational nodes in the OBS. Closed Read more

Previously, granting permissions to access templates gave users access to all templates. Now, you can grant permissions and control user access for templates at different levels in the OBS.

For example, you can assign a template to a specific level in node in the OBS that is specific to Power Delivery. The new OBS node structure assignment is useful for assigning estimators access to designated templates as determined by an Estimate administrator.

For more information, see Templates

Resource Employments

  • Editable Quantity Ratio Field - The Quantity Ratio column in the Resource Employment register, which indicates the proportion between the quantity of a cost item and the quantity of the resource employment, is now an editable field. Closed Read more Watch video

    Editing the Quantity Ratio field changes the resource employment quantity, making it easier to ensure the right amount of a resource for a given cost item quantity is being used and changed to scale the resources quantity if necessary.

    For more information, see Resource Employment Register

  • Quantity Ratio Units – The new Quantity Ratio Units field shows you how the Quantity Ratio is calculated. Closed Read more

For example, for the Dirt Class B resource, there are .25 tons for every linear foot (256 / 1,024 = .25). This new field brings additional transparency to the Quantity Ratio field to better understand how it is calculated.

For more information, see Resource Employment Register

Reports

  • Access Control Report - You can now export the Access Control register as a report, so you can easily audit multiple assignments and determine the level of access that users and roles have. Closed Read more

    The Access Control report can be useful when you need to audit user permissions, command access and various restrictions without having to search through the Access Control register for this information.

    The report makes it easier to find the role names along with their associated Yes and No access permissions to each form in Estimate.

    Previously, to search for user roles permissions you had to navigate through the Access Control register and find the user role assignments . Now you can easily see the user role assignments in one place.

    For more information, see Reports Menu

Model Integration with Estimate

  • Model integration - The current Model to Estimate on-premise integration now works with Estimate in the cloud. Closed Read more

    You can use DTOs in Model to sum object quantities and sync quantities with Estimate in the cloud.

    The Model integration icons are in Estimate’s main ribbon under More Actions > Model Connection.

    Options are as follows:

    • Select in Model – Select a cost item, and its linked Model objects are then selected within Model.

    • Frame Selected – Select a cost item, and its linked Model objects are then framed within the Model viewer.

    • Sync Model Quantities – Quantities summed via DTO execution can be synced to Estimate SaaS.

    • Send Selected CBS to Model – Sync CBS structure from Estimate in the cloud to Model.

Estimate Address Book

  • Merge and Upload Contacts and Vendors into Platform – You can now manage disconnected vendors and contacts by merging them with existing InEight Platform vendors and contacts or uploading them to create new Platform vendors and contacts. This helps your company transition to leveraging a consolidated approach for managing your subcontractors and suppliers across all InEight applications while retaining all the information you built over the years in Estimate Address Book, including where those people and companies have been referenced and used in estimates, quotes and RFQs.ClosedRead more

Both the Merge Vendors with Platform and Merge Contacts with Platform buttons bind existing disconnected vendor or contact information to Platform. The Upload Contacts with Platform and Upload Vendors with Platform buttons create Platform vendors and contacts from the Estimate Address Book record. When merging or uploading, an Estimate Merge or Upload dialog box shows, letting you know of any differences between Estimate and Platform, so you can be sure the data is accurate and make any final corrections prior to submitting the changes to Platform.

For more information, see Library Address Book.

Resource Employments

  • New Quantity Ratio column – A new Quantity Ratio column has been added to the Resource Employment register, which indicates the proportion between the quantity of a cost item and the quantity of the resource employment. This new column is helpful if you want to quickly look through your resource employments to see if you have the correct ratios. Closed Read more Watch video

You can now more conveniently see and understand when a quantity ratio is accurate. For example, 50 l bs/CY for rebar for a slab might be appropriate, but for a wall it should be closer to 150 lbs/CY. The new Quantity Ratio scale factor column helps you identify any employment quantity ratios in your estimate that could be more accurate.

For more information, see Resource Employment Register.

Quotes

  • New Quote Comparison and Award Microsoft Excel file –The Microsoft Excel file generated when you export the Quote Comparison & Award form now more closely resembles the form in Estimate, so users of this output can more clearly understand what the estimators knew when they made determinations on which numbers to carry. Closed Read more

    The Quote Compare & Award form often changes frequently in the closing hours of a bid, which can prompt estimators to keep track of what the subcontractor and supplier quotes might have looked like at any point throughout the bid closing. Some rely on such bid leveling information but do not want to access live information directly in the application, making it crucial to produce an identical output file of the Quote Compare & Award form at any given time.

    For more information, see Quote Comparison and Award.

  • Estimate address book register pulls data from InEight Platform – Estimate's vendor and contact information in the address book register now integrate with InEight Platform's vendor and contact master data libraries. ClosedRead more

Vendors and contacts are now created and maintained in the master data libraries to avoid other applications from building their own repository of this type of data.

The new vendor and contact data structure shows a new hierarchy where multiple contacts can be assigned to one vendor.

Pre-existing Estimate data

Upon upgrading to version 23.6, address book records now show a combined list of both pre-existing Estimate records and Platform vendors and contacts. Pre-existing Estimate records are still editable, but Platform records are not. The pre-existing disconnected vendors and contacts show a red glyph to the left of the Vendor ID column which shows that these records are disconnected from Platform.

The existing contact records also have a vendor record associated with it. New vendors and contacts must be added via Platform, and changes to any Platform originated records must be modified in Platform. This promotes the use of Platform as the single source of creation and maintenance for vendor master data.

Estimate specific data

There can be other Estimate vendor and contact data that only exist in Estimate and not in Platform, such as License, Bond, Insurance and Minority Certifications, and Default Quotes. This information that exists only in Estimate is added to the Estimate vendor and contact list that exist in Platform when upgrading to 23.6.

Three new Address Book layouts

You can now choose between three address book page arrangements, vendors and contacts, vendors and default quotes, and contacts.

Vendors and Contacts

Vendors and Contacts are arranged where the vendor is the primary record in the register, and the contacts associated with the vendor are shown as secondary detail records.

Vendors and Default Quotes

Vendors and default quotes are arranged where the vendor is the primary record in the register, and the default quote group assignments for the vendor are shown as secondary detail records.

Contacts

Contacts are arranged where the contacts are shown in a flat list and are not secondary detail records under the Vendor. This layout can be used to search more easily for contacts regardless of their vendor assignment.

View Vendors and Contacts in InEight Platform

Select View Vendors or View Contacts to open a new InEight Platform master data vendors and contacts browser.

To view or edit a vendor, click the Vendor ID in Estimate. The Platform Edit vendor > Vendor Details page opens.

Quote records

The Quote record header section fields have been reorganized, and the header now includes a vendor field with a searchable address book library register drop-down list. You can quickly select shared vendor data to populate your quote header record with Platform’s shared master data.

In 23.6, Address Book drop-down list fields are now separate Vendors and Contacts fields, where a vendor is a company, and a contact is a person. Previously, the Contact drop-down list field was only shown on the Quote Record and was a combination of both the vendor and the associated contact.

Using Platform’s shared data also reinforces accurate Estimate quote reporting. For example, you can report on which vendors and contacts have been awarded quotes or run a report on how many RFQs have been sent to select vendors and how many RFQs were returned for certain jobs. Additionally, using Platform shared vendors makes it possible to report on all activity related to a particular vendor. Examples include seeing how many subcontract agreements have been executed in InEight Contract, or how many claims/issues a vendor has been involved with in InEight Change. The predominant value for Estimate using Platform vendors, along with other InEight applications, ensures that the same vendors are being used by all applications.

Request for Quote

In the Request for Quote form, the Seller Companies tab has been renamed to Vendor Companies. The Company Name column has been renamed to Vendor. The Vendor Name and Contact columns are new columns. You can select a contact from the Address Book register after selecting a vendor.

  • Cost Item Assembly text input values – You can now add a new third option of Input Type of text in the Inputs section of the cost item assembly record. ClosedRead more Watch video

Previously, only numeric values or table selections were accepted as inputs for a cost item assembly, which made it difficult to employ many cost item assemblies of the same type and difficult to differentiate from one another in an estimate.

If you are using the same cost item assembly multiple times, the text Input Type can be used with a distinct description to distinguish each of the cost item assemblies in the CBS.

In the CBS Cost Item Assembly Input, you can modify the input value with a descriptive specific to this one entry, in addition to changing other input values. For example, you can change the Standard Retaining Wall Assembly cost item and name it to Section A.

Using the cost item assembly text input values lets you manually enter in a text value to be used in the cost item assembly formula. Previously, if you wanted multiple sections of a Standard Retaining Wall Assembly, it would be difficult to distinguish between the various instances of the retaining wall assemblies in the CBS.

Performance improvements – Performance modifications have been made to the back end services to improve the performance and resiliency of the system.35

The release of Estimate in the cloud focuses on enhancing InEight Estimate integrations with InEight Platform. As InEight continues delivering enhancements in upcoming releases, there will be an increased spotlight on incorporating data shared among all InEight products in Platform. In this release, you can now associate your estimates with additional master data, such as project data from the Project details page in Platform.

Associating Platform projects lets you organize estimates directly from Platform’s Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS). Your location assignment in the OBS determines the access you inherit and the visibility you have to other areas of the OBS.

You can also apply role-based security and permissions already established and maintained in Platform and adopt a more efficient management of multiple estimate versions, which are all affiliated to a single platform project.

  • Platform project association – When creating jobs in Estimate, you can now associate new estimates with existing Platform projects and all the related OBS contents. ClosedRead more Watch video

Extracting Platform project master data directly into Estimate promotes data consistency and helps ensure that the data is being pulled from a single source of truth.

Platform project specific master data can now be maintained in one place, then it can flow directly into Estimate in the cloud. Certain project data such as location and forecast start and finish dates are now maintained in Platform which helps to enforce data consistency and reduce duplicate entries.

Fields in Setup > Job Properties > Overview that are now maintained in Platform and integrate into Estimate are Project ID, Organization, and Notes. The fields on the Estimate Cover Sheet tab include Location, State, City, Country, and Latitude and Longitude, Forecast Start and Finish, and Duration.

The Project ID field in Estimate is a hyperlink field that takes you directly to the project Details page in Platform.

When modifications are made to any of the integrated fields in Platform, then saved, the changes automatically show in Estimate. For example, if you need to change the name of the project in Platform to show the year 2023 instead of 2020, this change is reflected in the in the Job Properties > Project Name field form in Estimate.

  • Job Register Management – Another advantage of associating Estimate with Platform project data is the capacity to manage multiple versions of Estimates from one source project. ClosedRead more

For example, if you have multiple addendums issued for the same project, you can maintain a version of the estimate for each addendum you’ve received.

Grouping estimates together using a common project means you no longer need to structure and enforce a job coding schema in Estimate on the Job Code, or use tag fields or user defined fields to identify and manage different versions of a project in the Job register.

  • Job register grouped by Platform project

    Grouping by organization lets you see projects batched in an organizational breakdown level, and lets you see a listing of projects in an organizational breakdown format and projects derived in Platform.

  • Security roles, permissions, and user management – Platform’s role-based security lets you specify access to jobs in Estimate and can now be managed using the OBS. ClosedRead more

The OBS represents the hierarchical structure a company uses to manage its business and can be broken down in multiple ways, such as Southwest or Northwest regions. Within those regions the hierarchy can be further broken down by divisions, such as Electrical, Paving, and Masonry. The organization can continue to be more refined to the level such as states, cities, districts.

  • User management

    • User access is controlled by the role a user is assigned on a project. A user role on a project can be assigned directly on a project itself, or the role-based permissions for a project can be inherited from the OBS where the project is assigned. This lets users have different roles on different projects, meaning that what a user has access to do in any specific estimate is based on the role they have been assigned for that project.

    Assigning a user to a project is done in User management by assigning them a role on that project. In the following example, Mike has been assigned the role of Lead Estimator on PowerProject104.

    Users can also be assigned a role in a node of the OBS, giving them the permissions granted by that role for every project in that node of the OBS. In this example, the user is the Lead Estimator of the Utilities Division.

    One advantage of using role-based permissions to manage security is that it is possible for users to have different roles on different projects where the role assigned to a user determines what they have permission to do within any given project. In this example, as the Lead Estimator of the Utilities Division that gives them access to all estimates in that division, they are also the Superintendent on one of the company's Mining projects, which gives them access to that projects control budget and other applications used in project execution.

  • Assigning Estimate permissions

    • Application-level permissions for Estimate are managed in InEight Platform. In Platform > Suite Administration > Roles and permissions > Edit role, under the Estimate section, you can control which roles have permission to manage Jobs and Snapshots in Estimate.

    For example, the Lead Estimator role can have access to perform such functions as adding or deleting jobs and working with snapshots while a regular Estimator role can work with jobs and snapshots but not create or delete them.

  • Assigning Estimate master data library permissions

    • In Master data libraries, you can manage permissions for Estimate master data, such as determining which roles can edit the estimate library.

    For example, the Lead Estimator role can have access to perform such functions editing the estimate library and adding templates.

  • Merge Cost Items – You can now merge selected cost items together in the CBS, which helps to simplify the structure of an estimate. ClosedRead moreWatch video

Merging cost items in the CBS can make the arrangement of an estimate more manageable, reduce the amount of excess details, and improve efficiency when preparing to transition the estimate for project execution. The level of detail needed in the estimate phase might not be needed in the budgeting and project execution phase of the estimate. Merging cost items lets you transform the structure of the estimate for the purposes of conforming it for budgeting and tracking progress.

You can merge cost items by selecting the parent cost item to merge other cost items into it. In case of a merge conflict, such as attempting to merge two cost items with different tag values, the tag value of the parent cost item is used. The Merge Cost Items action is enabled only for superior cost items that contain terminal cost items. To merge cost items from different locations in the CBS, first move them under a single superior cost item, then click Merge Cost Items in the Actions menu.

The Cost Item Merge Dialog dialog box is designed and functions much like the Cost Item record form. When merging cost items, the superior and subordinate cost items become the source of the merge operation.

The CBS code located at the top left of the window is the new CBS code after the merge is executed.

After you merge cost items, all subordinate cost items quantities, costs, productivity rates and crew compositions are combined into a single parent cost item.

You can add details of the merge changes to the Notes section of the merged cost item. The option to add these notes can be found in the top right section of the Cost Item Merge dialog box.

  • Job Created by and Source Job fields in Job Properties – The Job Created by and Source Job fields now update with current data for copied jobs. ClosedRead more

  

    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.

    The Job Register now shows the Source Job and Job Created By columns.

     

  • Auto-include Jobs in Connected Analytics/Datawarehouse – When you create a new job, you can now choose to auto-update the job in Connected Analytics. You no longer need to manually select the Connected Analytics option to auto-update it. ClosedRead more

    The Auto-Update field check box shows selected in the Estimate Library.

     

  • Estimate Dashboard Calendar View –The Estimate Dashboard now includes a calendar view tab that shows a list of upcoming project bids by month, week, day, or list view. ClosedRead more

  • Schedule Cost Risk Export –You can now generate an InEight Schedule Cost Risk Excel file that allows you to import it into Schedule Cost Risk view and produce risk adjusted estimates. ClosedRead more

    These risk adjusted estimates let you adjust contingency in an estimate to cover risk identified in a project.

  • Print preview window is non-modal – The Reports print previews now opens in its own tab in the Report Dialog. ClosedRead more

    This lets you keep the report open while continuing to use other parts of the application. Previously, the report preview opened in its own modal window, which required you to first close the preview window before navigating to another part of Estimate.

    You can also undock and float a report on a different form, or you can tile it side by side with another register to view and compare them. Previous to this version, the modal window made it difficult to compare information contained in the report with information appearing in the application.

      

  • Print preview ribbon – The Print Preview menu is now displayed on its own ribbon. ClosedRead more

    The Print Preview menu commands are now shown in the ribbon as a contextual Print Preview menu when navigating to Reports > Print > Preview > Run.

     

  • Cover Sheet fields and Job folder tags can be used in report headers and footers – In addition to the existing job code and job description tags in Job Properties, you can now use the Cover Sheet fields and Job Folder tags for your headers and footers in all standard reports. ClosedRead more

    Additional tag values such as contract numbers, work order numbers, PO numbers, company logos, or any other tag fields can also be included. These additions help you customize headers and footers to give the recipients more transparency in the reports.

    A new Header and Footer field menu has been added to the left of the Page Header and Page Footer grid, for all standard reports. This lets you choose which fields from Job Folder Tags and the Cover sheet to include in your report.

    You can customize your header and footer layout settings, save them, and re-use them in other reports.

     

  • Apply custom Layouts and Headers/Footers to register reports –You can now apply custom Layouts and header/footers to register based reports. ClosedRead more

    Upon saving a view in any register, select the option to save it as a corporate view and include the view in the reports dialog box.

    When selecting a Saved View from the Reports register you can use the Print tab to customize the printing preferences, use the Grid Options tab to change the font type/size, use the Layout tab to modify the design style, and use the Header/Footer tab to insert a header and footer to your report.

    When you click on the Run button it will create a new register-style report. You can modify the layout or header/footer directly in this register. You can also toggle between any of the four other tabs to make modifications and see the changes on the saved view report. Previously, only predefined reports permitted header, footer, or layout changes.

     

  • Additional options available in the Standard Proposal Report –The Position Code is now an optional field to display on the Standard Proposal report, giving you additional flexibility in determining which key fields to include, such as the pay item number column. ClosedRead more

    Since this report is intended to be used as a bid form, and distributed to other clients, partners, and contractors, these new options help you determine which key fields you want included and shown.

  • Additional cost item tags and new user defined fields in the Quote Record register –The tag fields in the Quote Record registers Cost items tab increased from 10 to 25. 15 new User Defined fields are now added to help you to sort, filter, and group on selected quote records more efficiently. ClosedRead more

    For example, you can use tags and user-defined fields to isolate certain cost items, or group cost items together.

  • Resource Employment register’s additional user defined fields –The Cost Item User Defined fields in the Resource Employment register increased from 10 to 15. ClosedRead more

  • Source System Name field added to the Resource Rate register –A new column called Source System Name has been added to the Resource Rate register to better understand the source of the data when integrating with other systems. ClosedRead more

    Also, the existing Data Source field has been renamed to Source Job to help provide visibility into the jobs from which the data may have originated from.

  • Estimate is now available as a hosted solution on the InEight cloud Platform – In addition to the existing on-premise (client/server) Estimate software product, InEight now offers the Estimate in the cloud product for new customers, which focuses on a software licensing and delivery model that is subscription based and centrally hosted. ClosedRead more

    Estimate in the cloud now joins the InEight cloud platform to enhance the holistic cloud project management software offerings. Some of the many benefits of Estimate in the cloud as a hosted solution include the following.

    • It is part of the InEight cloud platform, which consists of many other InEight solutions like Control, Plan, Progress, Contract, Change, and more

    • Users do not have to deploy and maintain any additional hardware or infrastructure

    • Software updates are automatic, reducing any need to download any updates and apply to any servers or clients

    • Web-based access to the application improves the user authentication process and simplifies a user’s ability to access the application

    • It uses InEight’s Connected Data Analytics to help make real-time decisions, gain visibility into metrics, KPIs and trends, thus driving continuity in operations

  • Estimate in Project Suite - Accessing the Estimate application in the InEight cloud platform first requires authentication in InEight Platform. ClosedRead more

    • Platform’s primary function lets you connect and share data between all Eight applications involved in managing a project. This allows project management workflows to pass between jobsite, field office, and front office seamlessly in a consistent and standardized user interface.

    The InEight portfolio of products runs on the Microsoft Azure platform which has data centers throughout the world.

    Additional information for Platform authentication can be found on learn.ineight.com, which describes first-time sign in instructions for setting up preferences such as language preferences and date formats and the acceptance of a user agreement.

    After selecting a project from the home page, Estimate can be accessed by opening the Main menu in Platform and then selecting Estimate, or by clicking on the Estimate tile.

    If you are accessing Estimate for the first time from the Main menu, you must first install the Estimate launcher, which subsequently lets you launch Estimate.

    Install Estimate Launcher - First time use

    After selecting Estimate from the home page for the first time, click Download to access the Estimate Launcher file.

    The EstimateLauncher.msi file shows.

    Opening the EstimateLauncher.msi file brings up the InEight Estimate Launcher Setup window. Click the Next button to start the one-time Estimate Launcher download, then you can launch Estimate from the home page.

    Click Finish to complete the Estimate Launcher Setup installation.

    Select Estimate again to start the one-time Estimate Launcher, which extracts the required files to launch the Estimate application.

    Launch Estimate – Subsequent use

    Launch Estimate by selecting Estimate from the Main menu.

    Estimate in the cloud looks and functions much like Estimate on-premise. For example, opening a job from the landing page brings you to the Cost Breakdown Structure register, or the register designated as the start page in the application settings.

  • Automatic Updates - When you are ready to connect to the Estimate application, a detection is made to check if you have the latest version of the client application installed. ClosedRead more

    • If an older version is detected, it is automatically upgraded to the latest version. This detection of the client version and automatic updating reduces the amount of maintenance that is typically required with an on-premise installation because system administrators no longer have to coordinate and install application updates on all of their users workstations, rather the system now ensures that client machines are running the most recent update of the application and installs it automatically if needed.

    Estimate in the cloud has an environment indicator located at the bottom of the Estimate page, which can be configured in Project home > Settings. This helps users know which environment they are working in.

  • User Roles and Access Control - This functions differently but with a similar purpose in Estimate in the cloud. In Estimate in the cloud, roles are no longer created using Windows Active Directory users. ClosedRead more

    • User roles are created and maintained in Platform. A user’s role is authenticated when they log into Platform, and based on the Launch Estimate permission set to that user’s role, the system determines if the user is authorized to launch the Estimate application.

    To provide users with permission to launch the Estimate application, users must be assigned to a role where the Launch Estimate permission is checked. This permission is found in Platform on the Roles and Permissions page in the Estimate blade of the Permissions section.

    Users can then be assigned to that role on a project or in an organization. Assignment is done in Platform on the User Management page by editing a user and modifying the settings under the Roles tab..

    A single user can have different roles on different projects. For example, the same user might be an estimator on project A and a field engineer on project B, with each role granting the same user different permissions for different projects. This makes the administration of security and access control more streamlined by enabling administrators to simply change a user’s role on a project rather than modifying all the various permissions in different applications when a user’s responsibilities on any particular project change.

  • Access Control - For users authorized to launch Estimate in the cloud, permissions can be granted for application specific commands, destinations and register. ClosedRead more

    • These permissions are defined in the Access Control Register, found in the Estimate Library. Roles can be assigned to all the various Access Controllable Objects. Unlike the on-premise version of Estimate where roles are defined in the application and are based on Windows Active Directory users, Estimate in the cloud utilizes the roles defined in Platform in assigning permissions to the various commands, destinations and registers. A user’s permissions in the application are granted based on their designated role at the time they launch the Estimate application.

  • Integration with InEight Explore - Estimate in the cloud can now integrate with Explore, a connected construction data analytics solution offering construction project dashboards that provide deep, interactive analysis across the entire suite of applications with custom visualizations, metrics, and KPIs.

  • Estimate dashboard - Estimate dashboard puts critical information on bids and opportunities in one place enabling estimators to gain better visibility into the bids they have upcoming, helping them better manage their time and finish estimates when needed. ClosedRead more

    • It also gives easy visibility into the latest bid results for recently bid projects and indicates bidding trends over time. Providing an easy-to-use dashboard means lead estimators and managers no longer need to extract data out of individual job files, store it inside spreadsheets, or compile data for reports and can better monitor the effectiveness of the organizations estimating workloads in real time.

    The Estimate Dashboard can be found by navigating from the Main menu in Platform, under Connected Analytics, expanding Explore and clicking Dashboards. In the Explore dashboard navigation pane, search for the Estimate Dashboard in the list of available dashboards and select it to open the Estimate Dashboard.

  • Self-Service APIs - Explore provides a collection of self-service API’s and associated documentation for accessing your data from data compliant reporting solutions, such as Power BI or Excel. ClosedRead more

    • Unlock the power of your estimating data and create your own custom reporting solutions to provide better insight into your business. Each Self-Service API comes with comprehensive documentation explaining what data is available, where it can be found in the application and examples of how it can be accessed.

    The list of available API Documentation can be found by navigating from the Main menu in Platform, under Connected Analytics, expanding Explore and clicking on API Documentation.

This release of InEight Estimate largely focuses on improvements and more flexibility around the bid pricing functionality, which enhances an estimator's ability to effectively price out various types of bid proposals.

The new pay item hierarchy in the Pay Item and Proposal register allows for grouping of pay items. This helps estimators to more closely match pay items to the bid items provided by the owner. The new pay item price categories give better visibility into how prices are established and provide a breakdown of the prices at the level required for more detailed bid forms. In addition, visibility is provided into the man-hour at a pay Item level. These new features collectively let you more efficiently fill out an owner's bid form and accurately provide the required detailed information.

Improvements such as assigning indirect cost to pay items, including business overhead as markup and selectively marking up pay items provide estimators more flexibility in how markup is spread throughout the Bid allowing them to effectively price their work.

Estimators now have an improved way to track competitive bid information directly in the Competitors tab. In this new register, you can now keep track of submitted bids, as well as record and track bid prices on the individual bid items.

Other improvements to enhance your Estimate experience include an automatic refresh of the Pay Item & Proposal register, the ability to establish pay item prices using billing rates, support for having multiple bond or rate table based dependent items in the CBS, and a new CBS tree navigation mode letting you quickly navigate to a cost item record using the CBS tree hierarchy.

User interaction improvements include a new common navigation slide-out panel which is shared amongst all InEight products, plus, shift rate calculator and production tab window layout improvements.

  • Pay item hierarchy –Many Bid Forms are organized by grouping bid items for related scopes of work. Pay items in the Pay Item and Proposal page can now be grouped in a hierarchy by utilizing the Position Code column. ClosedRead moreWatch video

    The Row Number column has been replaced by the Position Code column to provide you with a more efficient way of organizing pay items. The layout of the Pay Item & Proposal form has also been updated to better utilize available screen space and provide more vertical space to accommodate organizing Pay Items in a hierarchy.

  • Pay item prices by category – Owners are increasingly requiring more and more information from contractors as part of their bid submissions. This often requires the further breakdown of bid prices by indicating prices by category such as labor cost, material cost or man-hours. ClosedRead more

    New columns can now be added to the Pay Item & Proposal register so you can summarize your pay item prices by up to 10 price categories.

    In addition to seeing the price by category, these additional columns also give you better visibility into how the price is established, including columns for the total cost, total distribution, total markup and markup percent. These new columns make it easier to verify that the distribution of unassigned cost and markup are calculated as intended by the estimator.

  • Assign indirect cost to pay items – The cost segment field in the CBS is used to differentiate estimated costs in the Direct Costs, Job Overhead or Business overhead categories. ClosedRead more Watch video

    This helps to classify the scope of work so you can more accurately report on direct vs indirect costs, and better control how markup is spread throughout your bid. This differentiation can be used to more effectively price work based on the risk profile of each segment of cost.

    Previously, under various business rules built into the system, the cost segment field was restricted on dependent cost items and for cost items with pay item assignments and was not editable.

    Today, it’s now possible to assign any assigned or dependent cost Item to any of the 3 cost segments and provides greater control over where costs exist in the Price Breakdown Structure (PBS).

    Additionally, indirect cost items such as the cost of the prime bond or the cost of material escalations, can now be assigned to a pay item, such as mobilization or another type of general conditions bid item. This new flexibility lets you more accurately control the cost basis of bid items and strategically price the work to maximize cost recovery and profit.

  • Categorize business overhead as markup – In previous versions of Estimate, Business overhead is considered an indirect cost and contributes to the total cost of a project. Now estimators can choose if costs with a cost segment of business overhead should be considered as indirect costs or markup. ClosedRead more Watch video

    If selecting markup, then Business Overhead is spread in the Markup category of the Price Breakdown Structure (PBS). The Total Markup is the sum of Target Profit and all Items categorized as Business Overhead.

    This lets you see the true total cost of the job, including the total markup inclusive of the business overhead. You can also create cost items and categorize them as business overhead, then possibly include itemized overhead costs such as estimating hours or home office expenses.

    This enhancement also provides you with added flexibility in marking up your job’s price. Assigned and unassigned columns have been added to the PBS to give you increased visibility and show which costs are assigned and unassigned to pay items. Unassigned costs are spread back to pay items based on the distribution logic set in Job Properties.

    When selecting Categorize Business Overhead as Markup:

    When selecting Categorize Business Overhead as Indirect Cost:

     

  • Selective pay item markup – Estimate makes it easy to estimate the cost of a project and price the work to ensure all unassigned costs and markup are included in the final price of the project. ClosedRead more

    For markup to be spread to pay items, a weighted distribution method is used as determined in the Job Properties, Pricing tab. It might be desirable for markup percentages to not be distributed, but rather directly applied to the costs assigned to any particular pay item.

    In the Job Properties, Pricing tab, the option can be set to keep markup with assigned costs for establishing a pay item price.

    Additionally, this option can be used to isolate the markup and apply it only to specific pay items. The following is an example of a dependent cost item being used to mark up the labor of select site work pay items by 25%.

  • Bid pricing using billing rates – For Cost Reimbursable or time and expense type projects it might be necessary to produce a bid proposal based on the billing rates used in the estimate. ClosedRead more Watch video

    Now you can choose to price the bid items in the job using a target price based on either charge rates or billing rates plus a distribution of unassigned costs and markup.

  • Bid tabulations – Estimators need a way to track competitive bid information for which the Competitors tab is utilized.

    ClosedRead more Watch video

    The tab was previously located in Job Properties and is now located in the Pricing tab as its own register. Here you can still add and keep track of companies that have submitted bids, as well as record and track competitor bid prices at the bid item level. This information is useful to analyze competitor pricing for each pay item at the Job level.

  • Automatic refresh of Pay Item & Proposal register – Often, you must continuously adjust certain pay items, which then rebalance to hit your target goal. The Pay Item and Proposal register now automatically refreshes when a change is made, which triggers updates to a job’s price. ClosedRead more

    Prior to this enhancement, you had to click the Refresh button for Balanced price recalculation to take place. Now, the Refresh button has been removed and any changes to the job’s price are automatically calculated.

  • Bond rate dependent cost item improvements – For certain projects, it might be desirable to calculate costs for bond or insurance premiums based upon multiple different rate tables. As such, it is now possible to add multiple bond and rate table based dependent items in the CBS. ClosedRead more

    For example, in addition to having a prime bond, the job might also require insurance coverage where the premium is calculated using a rate table-based approach. This can now be accomplished by adding another Bond/Rate-table based dependent cost item to the job.

    Additionally, bond premiums can now be adjusted by a single amount. This is common when certain requirements are imposed by the contract, such as extended warranty periods. It is common for the bond premium to be established using a standard rate table, then additional charges can be added to the total bond premium amount.

  • CBS tree navigation mode – The CBS Tree filter shows the CBS hierarchy and is used to help to quickly filter cost items, instead of scrolling the CBS to locate certain cost items. ClosedRead more

    The CBS Tree Filter now lets you choose between a filter mode or a new navigation mode.

    The Navigation mode on the left side of the page provides you with the visibility of your entire CBS structure, as well as giving you the option to navigate throughout the CBS estimate. The Cost Item record can also be tiled next to the tree to make navigating the structure of your estimate easy while viewing all the Cost Item record details at the same time.

  • Improvements to WBS quantity roll-up – The Quantity Roll-Up feature lets you roll up and derive at the parent item’s quantity from detailed level takeoff quantities, while eliminating the need to manually calculate these roll-up values. ClosedRead more

    Estimate is now capable of automatically rolling up quantities (versus a manual roll-up) directly in the WBS. A new Auto-Quantity (Roll-Up) field has been added.

    When a Quantity Roll-Up code is assigned and the Auto Quantity (Roll-Up) option is checked for the item in the WBS register, rollup of the item's quantity happens automatically. When unchecked, you can manually enter a Quantity for the WBS item. This enables you to better control if the WBS Quantities need to be calculated automatically or entered manually.

  • MS Project export – If your project’s schedule is integrated with MS Project, you can now export a copy of your MS Project file. ClosedRead more

    This can be advantageous if a preliminary schedule is needed for a starting point schedule, as the project goes into execution. Recreating the schedule from scratch can be time consuming and error prone, as the existing schedule details might not be properly captured in the beginning stages.

  • Common Navigation – Access the common navigation slide-out panel by selecting the main menu located on the top left side of the Estimate page. ClosedRead more

    This enhancement provides a common navigation user experience that is shared amongst all InEight products. The primary intent of this navigation menu is to provide a consistent InEight product experience, with similar Project Suite graphical interfaces, while working within multiple InEight products.

    Estimate's on-premise software is authenticated by your Windows login credentials, which is shown below the main menu.

    Clicking on Explore Products takes you directly to the product page on Ineight.com. This is where you can learn more about the benefits of each product, along with common challenges for owners and contractors, an FAQ, and other related content. Additionally, clicking on InEight Learning and Support link takes you to either the Knowledge Library, Online Training, and a link that takes you directly to InEight Support.

    The InEight.com link takes you to various InEight resources such as customer stories, blogs, and webinars.

  • Shift rate calculator – The Shift Rate Calculator window has been improved to show the work shift days, hours and scales in more of a spreadsheet grid-like style. ClosedRead more

    The refinement of this upgraded window makes it easier to input your work hours, easily copy paste from Excel and clearly distinguish the editable fields.

  • Production tab – The Production Rate tab in the Cost Item Details window has been improved to show the duration and quantity driven resource columns, in more of a spreadsheet grid-like style. ClosedRead more

    The refinement of this upgraded window makes it easier to read the values in the grid across all the columns.

  • Job Created by field –The Job Created by field has been moved from the Job Properties - Security tab to the Overview tab so it is more apparent who created the job when working in Job Properties. ClosedRead more