Introduction to the Estimate Portfolio Dashboard
This video demonstrates how to use the Estimate Portfolio dashboard in InEight Explore.
You will learn how to navigate the dashboard, adjust your views, and use benchmarking tools to guide your decisions.
This dashboard provides a clear, interactive view of your estimate data. Innate Estimate Cloud and Explorer are both needed to access the dashboard.
To access the dashboards in the Innate Suite, open the main menu, under Connected Analytics, click Explore, and choose Dashboards.
In the left column, alternatively, you can either choose from the drop down menu or type in the dashboard name in the search field above.
Scroll down and select estimate portfolio dashboard.
The dashboard will then appear on the right.
Start by opening the Price and PBS analysis tab. Here you'll see the price breakdown structure grid which closely aligns to what you use in the estimate tool.
A key visual you'll use is the price breakdown pyramid, which shows how different values and percentages contribute to your target price.
If you want to view this information using billing rates instead of the default values, simply toggle the switch.
All visuals will update instantly based on your selection.
Next, go to the Pay Item and Proposal tab.
This page provides a simplified view of pricing from the Pay Item and Proposal screen in the Estimate module.
It reflects the register's structure, including total price, cost distribution, markup, margin, and current versus target values.
To select a job, click the Estimate Job drop down menu in the top right.
When a job is selected, the pay item hierarchy appears automatically.
If a specific pay item is highlighted, all connected visuals update to reflect that choice.
In addition, the page provides a detailed breakdown by cost category, such as labor, equipment, materials, and other cost types, allowing you to analyze how each category contributes to the overall price and margin performance.
Now heading to Cost and CBS Analysis.
This page provides an overview of the cost breakdown structure, focusing on CBS items within the estimate. Key metrics at the top summarize total cost, total billing, markup, and margin percentage, offering a clear view of financial performance.
The employed resources visual on the right shows the resources assigned to the selected cost item and their contributions to total cost, billing, and margin.
To view the resources employed for a specific cost item, select that item in the CBS register.
Cost items with employed resources are indicated by value in the Resources column.Once selected, the Employed Resources visual will display the associated resources along with their costs and billing details.
The top middle visual summarizes costs by level one category, helping you quickly identify areas with high cost concentrations.
Using the toggle, you can switch to a view organized by cost source, which aligns with the price breakdown structure in the estimate tool under the price tab. To see how cost item types affect the overall estimate, use the toggle in the employed resources panel to sort by cost item type.
Use the eraser tool anytime to clear your selections and return to a summary view.
To build your own view set in the CBS Register, click the icon here.
Then click the select columns dropdown here and choose the necessary fields.
And the grid updates to display your personalized view.
Next, open the Portfolio Overview section.
This area provides a high level summary of all active work in the portfolio. It organizes the total values of jobs based on several key categories, such as job status, bid status, vendor involvement, and job ownership.
By grouping data this way, the portfolio overview helps you quickly understand where projects stand, which bids are in progress, who owns each job, and how vendors are contributing across the portfolio.
Next, go to the Job Comparison section.
This view is especially useful for owners, as it provides a comprehensive overview of estimate data across the organization.
It allows for quick comparisons of pricing, cost breakdowns, markups, and margins across multiple jobs, side by side.
Use the Job Comparison to switch between default and transposed views.
In the transpose view, each metric is displayed in its own column. By sorting the total cost column in descending order indicated by the arrow, you can rank jobs by overall scale.
Note that this is estimate cloud data and estimate jobs can also be linked to project suite projects, which are set under specific nodes in the organization's breakdown structure.
This allows us to visualize estimate data by organization clearly see where everything fits across the business.
On the job comparison page, there are over sixty metrics for comparing jobs. If you're looking for specific types of metrics like metrics relating to cost, simply type a keyword into the search bar to filter the available fields.
Now moving on to the benchmarking tabs.
In this estimate portfolio dashboard, it is organized into three pages, each designed to support different benchmarking needs.
Tooltips on every page provide quick guidance as you navigate.
Scatter plots are used consistently across all benchmarking pages to ensure clear and effective comparison of key unit rate metrics. Page one presents the key averages, allowing you to compare your current jobs rates with the estimated and as built averages. Page two is all about operational benchmarking.
Here, you compare your current job's estimated rates against the as built rates of individual jobs. This gives you insight into real operational performance across your portfolio.
Page three, provides the average rate build up.
It shows both estimated and as built rates for each job, based on the selected account code. When an account code is filtered, it is also highlighted in the CBS register, which mirrors the layout used in the dashboard's benchmark view.
Once you choose an account code, the scatter plots will show how your estimated rate compares to the estimated and as built averages. And the same data can be seen in the grid.
Starting at benchmarking one, go to the current job drop down menu at the top.
Below it, an animated icon prompts you to select your current job before comparing account code unit rates.
Next, choose your current job, and then select additional jobs for comparison from the Select Jobs for Benchmarking drop down menu.
The account code structure will be automatically populated.
Remember to unselect your current job so its rates aren't included in the averages.
You'll now see five different rate types and you can view the current rate for your selected job.
In the top left corner, you'll see an animated tooltip. When you hover over it, a pop up guide will display to help you navigate the page.
This tooltip appears on the other pages as well. When you hover over, step two instructs you to select the jobs you want to benchmark against.
Step three reminds you to leave out the current job. Ensuring your current job remains excluded.
Notice that the scatter plots appear empty because no account code has been selected.
Navigate to the account code panel and select an account code.
Once selected, the scatter plots will populate. You can compare the current jobs estimated rate with the estimated averages and the as built averages.
These rates are also shown in the grid below.
Next, go to the benchmarking page too, and navigate to the job comparison by account code panel below. Select an account code to compare your job's estimated rate with the as built rates of other jobs. The comparison is presented using updated scatter plots.
In this comparison grid, the blue diamond represents your current job's estimated rates. Also visible right below are the low, high, and average values for the selected account code. This grid allows comparison of metrics based on the selected values in the metric slicer panel below, either as built or estimated.
Using the metric slicer allows for easier data visualization across jobs. For example, let's select several cost over quantity items from the estimated section.
At the top, select the desired jobs from the select jobs for benchmarking dropdown.
Be sure to include the current job, so its rates are visible for comparison within the grid.
When done, navigate to the Job Comparison by Account Code panel and select an account code.
After selecting the account code, you can now compare the estimated rate of the current job with the as built rates of other jobs.
Now let's move on to benchmarking page three. The screen shows the CBS register grid for a current job.
Notice that the account code panel is currently showing no data. An account code must be selected for any data to display.
Navigate to the account code drop down menu at the top, and choose for example, the Embankment account code.
After selection, the screen updates to display five rate types, each with its individual rate, along with the current job indicated by blue diamonds in the grid. Notice that three jobs contain both estimated and as built rates. The dashboard highlights the lowest values in green and the highest in red for each dataset.
To focus on one of the as built data rates and make job comparisons, select the Cost Per Quantity metric from the as built metrics slicer below.
This changes the as built rates to blue color, allowing you to hover over them to view the scatter plots.
Next, select the jobs with unit cost per quantity as built rates, including the current job with estimated rates.
From the select jobs for benchmarking dropdown menu.
For the cost item values, you can view the average rates, as well as the minimum and maximum rates, at both the job level in the account code grid, and at the cost item level in the as built benchmark panel.
In the as built benchmark panel, hovering over the unit cost item rate allows you to easily compare that cost item against the unit rates of other jobs using scatter plots. This comparison displays the average cost at the item level along with the related as built values for each cost item.
When you hover over the cost item as built average rate from the account code grid, this comparison displays the average cost at the job level. To exclude a job from the comparison, for example, if it's an outlier, you can remove it from the dataset by navigating to the select jobs for benchmarking, drop down menu.
Once that job is removed, the maximum for the cost per quantity, as built automatically updates, and the new maximum is highlighted accordingly in the grid. The average, minimum and maximum rates are updated.
For navigation guidance, refer to the step by step instructions for using the page, by hovering over the tooltip from the top left while navigating the dashboard.
The remaining pages in the dashboard are easy to navigate. In the account code utilization section, you will find the account code and the CBS registers.
This view corresponds to the account code utilization tab in Innate Estimate, where you can examine account codes and the associated cost items in detail.
Click the eraser icon above the account code dropdown to clear any filters.
On the right, ensure the current job is selected.
And select an account code to see all cost items linked to it in the CBS Register panel below.
The key metrics for these items are like those in the Estimate tool.
Next, you'll also find the Resource Utilization Register with dropdown menus, such as Resource Type to filter through related resources.
In the Employed Resources page, use the interactive toggle to easily view key resource data, switching between KPI metrics and assigned cost items. In the KPI metrics page, the resource employment register above lists relevant job resources.
Selecting any items in the register automatically updates the data below with related information.
The resource utilization like the estimate price breakdown structure tab in the estimate tool offers deeper insights into costs.
Next to it, the resource types scatter plots feature a toggle to switch between cost and markup, billing and margin percentage views.
And to the right is the resource ranking.
Which includes fields such as cost, billing, and markup, and margin percentages.
You can adjust the number of items displayed by entering the desired amount.
To view cost items for resources, click the main toggle at the top of the page.
Select the appropriate estimate job or resource items.
Both the resource and CBS summary registers will update automatically.
Other pages, including quote summary, quote comparison, WBS summary, and competitors also maintain the same simple navigation and layout.
For instance, when you hover your mouse over a line item in the WBS summary, you can easily see the breakdown of its cost components and the number of cost items associated with that work breakdown structure.
That wraps up the high level walkthrough of the Estimate Portfolio dashboard in InEight Explorer.
Thanks for watching.
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