Clears the estimate form to enable the user to create a new estimate.  Is the same as clicking the Add button.

Saves the current estimate.

Deletes the current estimate.

Closes the estimate module.

Once the Estimate has been created and saved an estimate number will be generated.  You can then create a Sales Order from this Estimate by choosing ‘Generate Sales Order’ from the ‘Tools’ menu.  You will then be prompted on screen with the Sales Order number. 

By choosing ‘Copy Estimate’ from the ‘Tools’ menu, the system will automatically create a new estimate, (with the exact same information, but a new estimate number).  Generally this is used when a company has multiple orders, which are the same, for different companies.  You then need to create one estimate, use the copy estimate function, and then select a new customer in the bill to field.

In Estimating under tools menu you can create an "Estimate Revision". This copies the existing estimate ex: Q100 to Q100-1.

If the entire quote is based on the same color you set the defaults at the header level so as you enter each line item the desired Configurator choices are already selected. The example shown below illustrates this functionality.

1) Choose the Product Line you wish to set defaults for.

2) Using the INSERT button select the Properties and Default Values you wish to set.

3) When you are finished press SAVE and CLOSE.

4) Then go back to the Estimate form and in the Details section with the right click menu choose Configure. 

5) Doing that will bring up the Item Configurator form where you will see the Property and Default Value you previously entered already included in the form.

If you have a 25 line estimate and your customer changes their color preference from White to Sandstone, you can make universal changes to the entire order and the AutoConfig will reprocess all the line items. A color choice takes just seconds.

Replace Property Mode

By default the form loads in Replace Property mode. If you were replacing product lines in the first section then it will automatically switch for you after you Process.  Please note that you cannot switch to Replace Property mode when you are in the middle of replacing product lines.

Select the line you want to change:

Select the property you want in the “For Option” combo.  Please note that only options that apply to the selected product lines will show up here.

Now select what you are searching for within the selected option.  Notice that only the values that pertain to the selected option are available.  The <ALL VALUES> option means that instead of replacing only the value from the search, all lines selected will be replaced with that value.

The “Replace With” field will either be a combo or a text box based on the property setup for that product line. 

To select that change press the >> key. This will move the change over to the update list.  You may then select more lines and replace options and keep sending them over to the update list.

If you want to change or remove a change process, highlight the change in the list to the right, then press the << key. That will move it back so you can make changes.  Press >> again to send it back.

Once you are done, click the process button.  This will load another form that will reprocess the lines.

Replace Product Line Mode

Go to the Tools menu and select Replace Mode => Replace ProductLines.

You will notice that after you select Replace ProductLines, the “For Option” in the Replace Choices area is now removed.

Now select which line items that you want to affect (to select ALL click Toolsà Include ALL).

Select the product line you wish to search for in the list of selected product lines. Only product lines that are selected in the grid appear in the list.

Now select the product line that you want to use as a replacement by using the “Replace With” combo.

To select that change press the >> key. This will move the selected change over to the list.  You may then select more product lines and replace options and keep sending them over to the update list.

If you want to change or remove a change process, highlight the change in the list to the right, then press the << key. That will move it back so you can make any further changes.  Press >> again to send it back.

When you are done with the product lines, click the Process button to see the following message. 

This above message will display to ask if you want to continue on with search and replace on the properties.

Selection will allow you to choose from all estimates.

When this is checked, both approved and unapproved estimates will be displayed, otherwise only unapproved estimates will be displayed.

Makes the Excel price list workbook (PriceList.xls / .xlsm / .xlsb) visible.

Saves the current column widths for the details section of the Estimate module.

Will print a copy of the current estimate (you can also do this from the reports module).  The report that is printed will be a copy of the Seradex standard Quote report.  If Seradex has created a customized quote/estimate report for your company, then your custom report will be the one that will be printed.

Allows you to view and/or print a range of estimates.  You will be prompted with a reports menu that will enable you to choose the range of estimates you desire.

Any custom estimate reports can appear within the Tools menu along with the standard Seradex reports.  See your Seradex Administrator for more information.

This option will take the user directly to the Estimate Module section of the OrderStream Online Help system.

This will allow you to check the version of the estimating.dll that you are using.  By selecting about, a menu will appear informing you of the exact version # you are using (see screen shot #2).  This will be quite helpful when you require technical assistance.

Always inform Seradex which DLL version you are using and this will enable us to properly test or investigate any issues you may have.  It will also enable Seradex to quickly identify if you have the latest version (or upgrade) of the estimating module.

When this option is selected the Bill of Material for the item will appear on the screen.  If any changes are made to this Bill of Material they will only be reflected on that Estimate.  The original Bill of Material, nor any other Quote, Sales Orders, etc, that contain that item will be affected.

To illustrate how the Configurator works it is easier to show the end result and then discuss the setup required to achieve the end result.

1) From within the Estimate screen select a line item.

2) Right Mouse Click and select the Configure selection as shown in the following image. This will display the Product Configurator screen.

3) Then select the desired Product Line from the drop down combo.

4) When the Product Line is chosen the relevant properties will be automatically displayed as shown below. This figure shows the Product Line Flag and the properties that must be entered for a flag:

5) Select the proper choices by selecting from the drop down boxes from each property.  If desired you can click on the View menu and select Sheet. This will then display the Excel Rules Spreadsheet.

6) After all the choices have been selected click Save Line and this will return the configured line item back to the sales order.

NOTE:

It is possible to assign the cell an item it is used in by entering the Cell Code into column AH of the BOM worksheet on the row occupied by the item you wish to make this assignment for. This setup is not reflected in the Item Editor tree view however you can see it by right clicking on the item and selecting the Edit component.  Click on the Additional tab, you will see the Cell Code selected in the Cell Code field.

Force New Spec

You Force New Spec (checked) when you want to force the configurator to create new spec data based on the config sheet regardless of any pre-existing spec based on the PropText.

The PropText used when the Use System PropText? setting is set to (-1) is the System PropText which is a combination of the selected options and Product Line Revision Version from Input C11.

The PropText used when the Use System PropText? setting is set to (0) is the description from Output C5. If this description does not identify a unique configured item based on the options chosen then the system is likely to pull a previously configured item which does not match the options you have picked.

To eliminate this problem you will have to Force New Spec to prevent it from looking for an existing item in the system.

Alerts on Save Line

When you click Save Line on the configurator, the configurator goes into "Save Mode".  When the configurator is in save mode a 1 is written to cell J26 of the Input sheet.  When the configurator exits save mode the 1 is cleared.  If you wish to create an alert which checks to see if a property has a value prior to saving the configuration, you can include Input!26 into the alert formula.

EXAMPLE: If you use something like IF(AND(Input!26=1, Input!C52-""), TRUE, FALSE).  If the user clicks save line and Input!C52 is empty, the alert will be displayed.

Also depending on the alert level specified your user will be either prevented from continuing to save (level 2) OR the alert will serve just as a warning (level 1) which they can either dismiss and continue or stop the save process to edit configuration.

If any alert has been specified as critical you will not be able to save the configuration until changes are made to prevent the alerts from being displayed.  To specify an alert as critical enter 2 into the level column (B) of the Alerts worksheet onto the row occupied by the appropriate alert.

Mastering New Items

Open the Configurator form and enter property values as you would normally.

NOTE: that the newly created item number is displayed in the window title bar.

If you click CANCEL, this tells the system that you do not wish to create the new part number, thus the product line item number is assigned to the transaction line.

If you are configuring over an unrelated item (different item number) which you have loaded onto the transaction line prior to opening the configurator, this unrelated item will not be updated to possess the attributes of the configuration.  Instead the item will be replaced with either the new item number (if you click OK when prompted to create the new item) or the product line item number (if you click Cancel when prompted to create the new item).

The item on the sales order line will now be the newly mastered item.

This form provides additional detail on quotes to calculate pricing and can be used where the customer requests multiple quantity options.

The form shown below is displayed when you right mouse click on any line item in the estimating module.

After you have entered in the data for the desired line items click on the SAVE and CLOSE buttons to return to the Estimate form.

To copy an existing line item to the next available line item, click on the line you wish to copy, right click and select Copy Line.

Selecting this option brings up the UOM conversion form to allow the user to see the different units of measure available to that item.  It is also possible to setup new units of measure from this form.  These additional units of measure will be saved into the Bill of Material for that item, and will therefore be available next time that item is chosen on a Purchase Order.

When this option is selected by right clicking on the desired estimate detail, a form appears which simply displays a list of all the Tax Authorities, and their values, applied to that particular line item.  From this form it is possible to apply a different Tax Group to the particular line item by selecting the new group from the drop-down menu labeled Tax Group: and then clicking on the APPLY button.

Choosing this option brings up the Estimate Order Search form, filled with information on previous Estimates that have been created for the line item that this option was chosen from.  For further information on the use of the Search form refer to the Search Forms section.

This option will display the Item Running Balance form when selected, which gives an inventory balance by date of the item selected, taking into account future Sales Orders, Purchase Orders and Work Orders.  For more information on this feature refer to the section dedicated to Item Running Balance.

The Inventory Lookup form is brought up when this option is selected.  The Inventory Lookup form tells the user what is in inventory, (by location), at that exact moment.  For further information on the Inventory Lookup form refer to the Inventory Lookup section.

Enables the user to save the appearance (column widths, etc) of the estimate form.  For more information please refer to the Saving Spread Settings section.

Enables the user to look up item by item number, description, old item number or vendor.

There are 2 key areas that will influence the projected ship date for an item:

Materials

The Material tab will display the status of all items required for the line item. Items in red are insufficient to meet the requirement for the line item. In this case, the system calculates the availability date based on the Primary Vendor lead time.

Labour

The availability of labour is based on the following calculation for hours required:

Hours required for line item = (Operation Runtime Hrs x Line Item Qty) + Setup Time

The Open Hrs are calculated as the current open hours for a specific operation based on Seradex Scheduling data.  The user can modify the Priority of the Estimate line Item to view the potential ship dates based on priority and shop loading. 

Start Date and Finish Date

Operation number 10 or the first operation for the Work Order should have an Estimate Start Date of: “Earliest Start Date” (materials) + Hours Pre-scheduled for that operation (for that priority). The Estimated Finish Date would be the Estimated Start Date + Setup Time + run time for that specific SO or Estimate qty.

Operation number 20 or the next operation would then have an Estimated Start Date of: Estimate Finish Date of the previous operation + Hours Pre-scheduled on open WOs for that operation (for that priority).

So on, until an estimated Ship Date is achieved.

NOTE: Pre-scheduled hours for each operation will vary based on the Priority of the open work orders. Example: Someone doing an estimate for customer should be able to use the “Estimated Shipping Date” function and change the Priority which would then change the Hrs Pre-Scheduled.

The priority cannot be selected in the Estimate or Sales Order module which means that when the Work Order is generated someone needs to notify production personnel to change it.

With this option, you can attach any file from any application to a specific line item.

Restores the default settings of the screen display.