Estimate

• Built-in Calculators
  Built-in Calculators provide the estimator with a method and procedure to calculate area, volume and length. Each calculator is Unit of Measure specific and often provides several ways to enter measurements, based on the way that the measurements were provided. Additionally, the calculators will accept either or both; decimal or fractions so there is no need to convert. Enter measurements as they are provided. By clicking the relevant (green) Enter command, each calculation will be tabulated in the Calculation Log. Each set of measurements can be labeled with a description that best defines the respective measurements. And at any time any of the measurements can be edited to reflect a change. Additionally, the estimator can enter measurements into the Calculation Log “on-the-fly” if they want to by-pass the calculator entry procedures.

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  The Square Foot calculator will calculate, tabulate and allow for waste.

  Once the calculations are complete the estimator can choose any one of three Total option to send to the Estimate form.

  Other convenient features associated with the Calculators include:

  • The ability to print the calculator log,
  • Keep notes regarding anything that has to do with the entries for this specific calculator relative to this specific calculation.
  • Immediate access to the Windows standard calculator
  • A place to store Conversion Charts, Help, Instructions or any manner of information that can be helpful to the user. (The contents of this feature will appear on all future calculators consistent with the calculator type)
• Specialty Calculators
  • Costing Method Calculator-This calculator is designed to allow the estimator to arrive at a selling price from the actual (COG) Cost of Goods. This calculator is designed to work in concert with other software and quotes from vendors that may require additional calculations which are needed to arrive at the actual costs which can include freight, fuel surcharges and tax burdens. The calculator is filtered by Brand which establishes the various discounts, and multipliers, and rates which are applied to the List or Net price. The estimator can enter either a List Price and have the program enter relevant multipliers or discounts and even mark-ups, or they can enter a Net Price. This calculator accommodates “special” discounts that may be negotiated from time to time with your vendor which are considered to be over and above the standard discounts.

    
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    The Costing Method calculator (filtered by Brand) employs the List Price and will account for multipliers, special discounts, freight, fuel surcharges, tax and your mark-up.

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    The Costing Method calculator (filtered by Brand) employs the Net Price. The filters will account for special discounts, freight, fuel surcharges, tax and your mark-up.

  • Discount Method Calculator- This calculator provides an alternative to calculating your selling price from the (COG) Cost of Goods. The Discount Method Calculator is designed to allow the user to arrive at their selling price from a List Price by applying a discount or multiplier. The use of the Discount Method Calculator assumes that the selling price has been arrived at by someone in authority and that the discount or multiplier has considered all of the relevant costs associated with the items being quoted. The calculator is filtered by Brand which establishes the various discounts, and multipliers, and rates which are applied to the List or Net price. The estimator can choose from any of three types of discounts which include; the ability to enter a discount or multiplier on the fly, a discount or multiplier which includes Item and Item accessories only, or a discount or multiplier that includes Items, item accessories and any associated labor charges.

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    The Discount Method calculator employing the List Price will allow the estimator to apply a discount (percentage or multiplier) to arrive at the selling price.

  • Itemizer- The Itemizer is like having an estimate form within an estimate form. This feature is unique to Estam8 and provides the estimator with the ability to incorporate components that are related to the associated item on the main estimate form. What makes this feature even more unique is that it can effectively combine data from two distinct product tables. This feature is intended to be used in conjunction with the Costing Calculator or the Discount Calculator. The itemizer is ideal for performing a quick quote in which the estimator would prefer not to itemize each item on the main estimate form. It is also ideal to arrive at the selling price for custom built or fabricated items whose component parts relative to profile, size, color and finish make up the finish product.

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    The Itemizer (a feature in the Costing Calculators), provides the estimator with the ability to perform an estimate within the main estimate.

• Assembly – The Assembly feature provides a method to enter multiple line items into a quote with a single mouse click. Assemblies can be a powerful tool to populate the estimate quickly, regardless of whether you choose to use them to add a few support products, or even if you choose to populate the estimate with a complete array of “standard” products, accessories and/or services.

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Step 1 – Name the Assembly.

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Step 2 – Create the Assembly.

Calendar Based Scheduling

• A major component of Project Management is scheduling. The two things that every business has in common are; every business produces some sort of estimate, and everyone schedules. Those businesses who rely on scheduling, will understand the value that a fully integrated scheduling component can offer. Estam8 has integrated a scheduling component which is simple to use. This calendar format includes all of the programming necessary to support adding and editing appointments, adjusting start and end times, assigning activities as well as identifying who is assigned to facilitate an activity. The calendar supports features to drag-drop, or to re-size appointments, which makes editing your schedule a breeze. Where Estam8’s scheduling component excels is; it employs a calendar, whose appointments, when scheduled are data-bound; meaning that every appointment links with its respective job record. As the schedule changes, job records are updated simultaneously. More exceptional is the fact that in a network the schedule is shared among everyone who is connected, providing immediate and up-to-date access to schedule in real time.
  
  The schedule can be viewed by day, week, month and/or various combinations of all three. It will be easy to view your schedule in the ideal view for your immediate need. Appointments can be associated with activities which the program administrator will determine. Activities can be color-coded which will provide a visual queue as to what each appointment represents. In addition, the program user will be able to schedule non-job related appointments providing the perfect may to schedule meetings from a single source that everyone in your organization can access. If all that were not enough, Estam8 has provided special programming that will permit the program user to filter the calendar by Activity, providing a way to view only that which is important at the time. And last, but not least and by no means all that there is, Estam8 has provided for Printing schedules filtered by date-range, which can be further filtered by Activity, by Assignee and of course by Job. There is simply no better or more efficient way to schedule activities and/or appointments in your business and have the schedule available to anyone who needs to know what is scheduled and when it is scheduled to take place. The number of features and benefits are too numerous to mention in the space allotted, so if you have additional questions, or wish to participate in a demonstration, please feel free to contact a representative at Estam8 Inc.

Other Features

• Documents
  All of your documents can be edited to suit with text or graphic images to enhance the understanding of that which you are trying to convey. Estimates, Contracts and Invoices can be viewed and printed using multiple formats depending on the amount of information you wish to provide your customer. Supporting text can be added to any document manually, or from a library of pre-defined text entries. Regardless of its origin, text can be entered anywhere on the document the user chooses. While the font type and size is fixed, certain attributes of any text that is entered onto documents can be edited for emphasis including color, bold, italics, and underlining. Depending on your printer utility and available features, documents can sent to any printer to be printed, printed to a PDF, emailed or faxed directly from the program. Documents are not “saved” as a file, however, you can print them as a PDF and save the PDF in the project files for retrieval when required.
• Image Management
  Estam8 can store images of any item, attribute (color), accessory and accessory attribute. These images can be retrieved for reference and can be pasted onto any document at any time as the user would find beneficial. In addition to storing images of all of your products, Estam8 provides for storing photos, PDFs, scanned images and any other supportive image data that can be useful at anytime.
• Special Programming
  Special programing allows for applying special discounts, as well as applying chargeable fees and premiums. For the times your customer is unable to make up their mind, Estam8 provides a special utility to quote alternative pricing simultaneously. For those times when you need to sell or quote an item that is not in the database, you will be able to populate the estimate with any item in any unit of measure on the fly. Note pads are available throughout the estimate form, allowing the user to record anything that they feel is important or germane to the issue. Every item row can have a note associated with it, but only those rows with notes are evidenced with an icon indicating the presence of a note.
• Sales Tax Management
  It is important to charge for sales tax when required. It is not only important it is your legal obligation. Estam8 makes managing sales tax easy. Estam8 will store an unlimited number of sales tax conditions as well as their respective rates. Any condition can be defaulted to an individual customer or the user can change tax conditions and rates at any time as is necessary to meet any taxing authorities regulations.
  • Any item can be identified as taxable or not.
  • Any customer can be identified as taxable or not.
  • Any job can be identified as taxable or not.
  • Any tax condition can be reassigned at any time.
  • Where multiple municipalities charge separately, you can combine rates.
• Purchasing & Receiving
  Estam8 provides a simple, effective and efficient purchasing and receiving utility. Regardless of whether you purchase by brand, vendor or project, Estam8 will allow you to generate your purchase orders, by grouping the products from many projects on one single order or, items from one project on a purchase order. Estam8 employs a color coded system to quickly identify the status of every item on every purchase order as well as the receiving status of every item for each project.
• Prospect Management
  There is an old adage that says, if you are not prospecting for new work and generating leads, you are destined for extinction. Estam8 has provided a utility for you to develop and store your targeted prospects in a conveniently placed list which is readily available at all times. The prospect manager uses a color coded system to alert the user to any events that may have been scheduled with or relative to the prospect. Because Estam8 utilizes a standard form, all sorts of data can be collected over a period of time as it becomes available. In the event that a prospect turns into a customer, the transition is as simple as reassigning its status.
• Contact Management
  Estam8 collects and stores all of your customers, vendors and project related contacts in readily available records, accessible from virtually everywhere throughout the program. Estam8 links with your e-mail program as well as Google maps to make sales calls, mailings and deliveries as simple as clicking on an icon.
• Project Management
  Collect and store all relevant project/job related data in one place, including all relevant contact data, as well as an historical record of events. The data entered and stored in the project/job file will be used to create valuable reports for analyzing every aspect of your business. If your worksheets, estimates, invoices, purchase orders, job related notes, photos and electronic data files are scattered throughout the workplace or are difficult to find, you’ll appreciate finally being able to access every piece of job and project related documentation from one convenient place. With our project file management system, you can access any electronic data file from any program, you can store and retrieve spreadsheet files, word documents, PDF’s, photos, scanned images, and connect directly to files in other applications without leaving the program, or the job you are working on. Estam8 has provided a utility for you to develop and store a call back schedule. The schedule, is a conveniently placed list which is readily available at all times. The MPS Notifier uses a color coded system to alert the user to any events that may have been scheduled with or relative to the project.

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  The Customer form stores contact information for each  “Business” client, whose data will be distributed throughout the program as needed.  All jobs will be linked to their respective Customers.

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  The Customer form includes two sub-screens (pictured above). One which serves as the link toward pricing and the other,  to store additional customer contacts.
  
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  The Customer form also serves as a protocol which provides a method to identify, store and link  “Retail” clients , whose data will be distributed throughout the program as needed.  All Retail related job records will be linked to this customer.

• Project Analysis
  A Transaction Log by project is available for the purpose of generating a job costing and profitability report. You will be able to track every revenue entry as well as every expense that can be “charged” to the job. The transaction report will provide for labor related expenses for those individuals whose jobs are a direct expense to the job, as well as account for overhead regardless of how it is arrived.
• Reports
  Estam8 has provided for a number of reports which can be used to analyze any aspect of your business as it is related to data entered in Estam8. The user can determine the format of the reports as well as the amount and order of data that populates those reports.