Did you know. Customising reports Part Two

Making use of “Long Descriptions” on your reports.

There are two types of long descriptions that can be used. Formula long descriptions and Material long descriptions.

When measuring your item in the Estimator, click on the Long Description tab. Here you can enter information regarding

the method or process of estimation as shown below. This information will then be displayed on the Summary of Input report.

Just make sure you have the setting enabled on the settings for the Summary of Input report.

When measuring your item in the Estimator, click on the Material Selection tab. Then double click on the material item in question. Then click on Long Description.

Here you can enter information regarding the material product as shown below. This information will then be displayed on the Detail Activity Report, Rates List Report and Rates List By Supplier report.

Just make sure you have the setting enabled on the settings for the Detail Activity Report and Rates Lists reports.

Did you know. Customising reports Part One

Have a look at the Report Options window below, taken from the Project Manager

By now you should know that in Billcost you have two sets of reports. One set contains the estimated or budget values, the other set contains the profit values, meaning that this is the values that includes your profit.

You are most likely also aware that you can switch off certain report by removing the tick boxes and moving between the budget value and profit value reports by selecting  the specific tabs situated bottom left and bottom right on the tags portion of the reports setup screen. These options marked by Red blocks in the image below.

This is however not the end of the filtering options for reports. You can customise reports on two more levels, the first of these being a general level meaning that settings on this level will apply to all reports.  Select the Rate Filters tab as illustrated in the image below for options on the general level.

Rate filters refer to the six different rate types into which the Billcost system divides a project cost estimate. On the rate filters tab you can deselect certain items from the reports, like all equipment items as shown below. Keep in mind that selectiona made here will be applied to all the reports in the project.

You may also activate  filtering on selected report. As the reports are selected you will notice the individual tabs change from grey to black as the are activated. Select the tab for the relevant report for more filtering options like illustrated below.

This can be done for most of the reports by viewing each tab. This comes in handy when you need to provide certain information without want to show specific quantities or prices.

Did you know? Adding long descriptions

You can add additional descriptions and notes using the long description tab on the formula and material screens in your estimate, and have these descriptions displayed on your reports.

Adding additional notes to a formula:

1. Click the “Long Description” tab indicated on the image above and add the required description. When activated, this description will display on reports listing formulas only like the summary of input report.

Adding additional notes to a material item:

1. From the formula screen, open  then “Material Selection” tab to view the materials for that formula.
2. Double-click the material item that you wish to ad more information to, this will open the material window.
3. Click the “Long Description” tab indicated on the image above and add the required description. When activated, this description will display on reports listing materials only like the Rates list and Detailed activity report.

Activate/Display these long descriptions by opening the report setup screen, selecting the relevant reports from the Report name Tabs at the top of the screen, and selecting the long description option as shown below.

Did you know? The “What If” function.

Have you ever been asked: What if I use a different brick? What if I add a garage to the project? What if I change the profit margins? Billcost can answer these questions without you losing your original work.

This is how:

In the Project Manager, right click on your project and select “What If”.

At the bottom of the screen, click on the ”What if”  tab as shown below.

Billcost made a copy of the project and now you can use all the normal functions of Billcost while still keeping your original project and information.

When you have made changes to the project and would like to keep it with you other projects, do the following:

Right click on the project under the What if tab, and click “rename”. Rename the project.

Then right click on the project and click on “move project to”.

At the bottom of the window that appears, erase the word “What if” and click ok.

Then click on the “Normal” tab again. The project will now appear with all your other projects.

This a good function if you would like to make change or play around with figures to simulate different scenarios without having to do the costing all over again.