We have just released the latest upgrade to SharpeSoft estimator (version 2017B), which includes client requested improvements to the Proposal, Scope, and Cost Code reports, along with other helpful improvements and needed corrections. Look in your company email inbox to download the upgrade, or keep an eye on your snail-mail box for the installation CD.
PROPOSAL REPORT IMPROVEMENTS
UNIT PRICES NOW DISPLAYED TO THE WHOLE PENNY
In response to numerous requests, we have changed the Proposal report defaults so that it now displays all bid item unit prices to the penny - cutting off any zeroes past the 2nd decimal. However, if you prefer to include those zeroes, just uncheck the new Print Unit Prices to 2 Decimals selection in the options panel. Of course, any unit prices that intentionally include fractions of a penny in their rounded unit prices will not be rounded down, whether the selection has been checked or not.
SHOW OR HIDE OFFICE FAX & EMAIL OPTIONS IN REPORT HEADERS
In both the Proposal and Scope reports, you now have the option to include the office fax number and/or email address on the phone number line in the report header by selecting the new Print Office Fax Number and/or Print Office Email Address report processing options. Previously, both the phone and fax numbers would always appear on that line in the header – even though faxes have pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur.
COST CODE DETAIL REPORT IMPROVEMENTS
SHOW OR HIDE QUANTITIES, UMS, TOTALS AND MORE
Also by request, we have added new processing options for the Cost Code Detail report that allow you to include or exclude item quantities, units of measure, cost totals, man hours, and items that contain export errors, from the printed report.
In the report processing options panel, selecting Print Quantities and Ums allows you to show or hide the quantity and unit of measure for each code’s corresponding bid items. However, when a cost code has multiple bid items with different units of measure, the system will print “various” in the UM column. If you want to print the total costs for each cost code, then select the new Print Total Costs option. To print the total man-hours for each cost code, select Print Man Hours.
When any of these options is used in conjunction with the Print Bid Item Detail selection, the item detail will also include the Quantity, UM, Total Cost, and Man Hours for each item.
We have also added a processing option that allows you to Print Items with cost code errors. This option is different from the existing Print UM mismatch errors selection in that it displays any errors that may affect exporting job information to other applications.
CHANGES TO EXISTING PROCESSING OPTIONS
For clarity, the Print Detail processing option has been changed to, Print Bid Item Detail. Note that when this option is NOT selected, the report will no longer include details for items that have not been assigned a cost code. Previously, the report included bid item detail for unassigned items, even when Print Detail was not selected. In other changes, the column header for Item Code was shortened to Code, and the detail section header was changed from Detail to Bid Items.
OTHER CHANGES…
Above we discussed some of the more significant changes and improvements for Estimator 2017B. For a complete list of all program changes included in this release, you can click the “Estimator Release Notes” attachment in the upgrade announcement email you received. Alternatively, from the upgrade installation disk, click View Estimator Documentation in the main setup menu and in the window that opens, click Release Notes.
Once you have finished upgrading your system, these same Release Notes will be available in the Estimator’s on-screen Help, under the What’s New section.