The Cost Estimates section of the Options window contains the settings that relate to the functionality and operation of Cost Estimates within the application.
General
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Show Actual Values | The Show Actual Values option will modify the display of defines/references in the Cost Estimate reports to show the value associated with the define/reference as well as the define/reference in square brackets. |
| Display Decimals | Define the number of decimal places to be displayed in the various columns available in your Cost Estimate windows. |
| Columns | Checking or un-checking each of these boxes will enable, or disable, the corresponding column from being displayed in a Cost Estimate window.
Note: You may need to scroll to the right within a Cost Estimate window to view the added columns. |
| Cost Estimate Line Colours (Screen Only) | The Cost Estimate Line Colours option allows you to set text colour of a Cost Estimate line dependent on the type of resource consumed on the line. |
| User Highlight | Sets the default colour of Cost Estimate lines when a user highlight is applied.
Note: If changed, any highlighted Cost Estimate lines will automatically change to show the new highlight colour. |
| Default Estimating Mode | This drop-down box allows you to set the default Estimating mode to be set for:
The Modes that can be selected include Quantity, Production, Time and Unit Rate. Note: Changing of the Estimating Mode will not change any existing Cost Estimates, only new Cost Estimates created after the mode is changed. |
| Autosave | The Autosave settings allow you to configure how unsaved Cost Estimate data can be backed up to prevent accidental loss of data.
The two Autosave settings that can be set:
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| Item Details | When this option is checked, a banner is added at the top of the window that displays the information about the item/resource with which the Cost Estimate is associated |
| Allow Zero Resource Quantity | When this option is checked, a warning is displayed when a Resource is applied to a Cost Estimate line that has an effective quantity of zero.
Note: The warning is displayed when saving. |
| Warn for Redefinitions in Cost Estimates | When this option is checked, a warning will be displayed when a define has been redefined and assigned a different value.
Redefinitions may lead to confusion when reviewing a Cost Estimate. |
| Resources Dropped on an Existing Resource Inserts a New Line | When checked, this option inserts a new line into a Cost Estimate whenever a Resource is dragged from the Resource Explorer and dropped on a row that already has a Resource applied.
Note: If this option is unticked, the existing Resource will be overwritten. |
| Copy Resource Details | When this option is checked and a Resource is applied to a Cost Estimate line, the Resource’s Description will be automatically placed in the Comment column of the Cost Estimate as long as there is no data pre-existing in the Comment column. |
| Automatically Select Resource | When this option is checked, a Resource will be automatically applied to a Cost Estimate line if there is a single Resource that matches the entered partial name. |
| Case Does Not Match | When this option is checked, a Resource will be automatically applied even if the case of the entered characters does not match the case of the matched Resource.
Note: This option is only available when the Automatically Select Resource option is checked. |
| Time Estimating Mode | The Time Estimating Mode fields allow entry of acceptable resource units for the four durations available for Time Mode Cost Estimates.
Example: A Cost Estimate with a duration expressed in weeks may be configured to only accept Resources with units of week, wks, weeks. This is done by entering the Resource Units “week;wks;weeks” into the Weeks field. The purpose is to prevent the accidental application of a Resource with a unit of days, or hours, from going unnoticed in a Cost Estimate based on weeks. |