EstimatorVJ

The Vetting System

Generally

The Vetting System in EstimatorVJ allows you to code the Client Schedule of items in the estimate with a coding system such that a Subcontract Bill of Quantities can be produced for each Subcontract. Vetting at the RESOURCE level can also be done.

These Bills/Resource Lists can then be priced by the various Subcontractors, then entered into the Vetting System, either as a lump sum or individually priced items, then a Subcontract Comparison made to ascertain the best Subcontract quote.

The accepted Subcontractors are then registered in the System. Tender reports can be flagged to use the Accepted Subcontractors quotations in lieu of or in addition to your prices when printing the Tender price. 

The PROCEDURE

Listed below in point form are the general steps involved in managing a Project requiring Subcontract quotations for all or part of the project.

The method of carrying out each step is detailed under 'The METHOD' later.

1.    Create the Project

The project must be created using the  Default Template 'Vetting'..

This Project ensures you have the KEY columns, in particular BQREF asnd SCDE, necessary in each of the worksheets for the Vetting to work.

2.    Enter the Client Schedule/ Bill of Quantities

This can be done by either typing in the Client Schedule or importing electronically.

3.    Uniquely Identify Each Item with a BQREF.

Every item in the Client Schedule must have a unique BQREF. This is the key link between the items in your Client Schedule and the Vetting system items.

There is a facility to 'Autonumber' all items in the Project under the 'Section->Autonumber' option in the Project Window.

4. Enter the list of Subcontracts (Register)

Select the option 'Vetting->S/C List' and enter the list of Subcontracts.

Additional Subcontracts can be added later as needed.

This list comprises two columns of information; the  ‘Subcontract code' (SCDE column), and the 'Subcontract Name’.

e.g DEM Demolisher

COSU Concrete Supply

COPL Concrete Place

5.    Price and Code the Client Schedule

Each Bill item in each Section that is required to be quoted on, must be coded with a valid Subcontract code, as defined in the SCDE column of the 'List of Subcontracts' as mentioned in 4. above.

This code is entered in the SCDE column on the same line as the BQREF.

6.    Generate the Vetting Sheets

Once the SCDE codes have been entered for the desired Client Bill items, the Vetting sheets can be generated.

7.    Print a Subcontract Bill of Quantities

Open the Vetting Sheet for the Subcontract in question, print the Bill of Quantities, and send off to the appropriate Tenderers for pricing.

8.    Enter the Subcontract Quotations Received

As the quotations from the Subcontractors are received, enter these into the appropriate Vetting Sheet by either entering their rate or cost for each item, or entering their quotation as a Lump Sum. 

The Vetting Sheet by default has facility initially for four Subcontract quotes, however these can be expanded to up to 10 per sheet.

Facilities are available for:

• Spreading the Lump Sum quotation over a selected group of items
• Setting the Cost of selected items equal to the your Estimated Cost
• Setting the Cost of selected items to equal another Subcontractors quote

Select the items which you want to 'Accept' for each Subcontractor. You can accept all or some of a Subcontractor's quoted items, and you can accept items from more than 1 Subcontractor.

10. Finalize Each Subcontract

Before you can Transfer the Accepted Quotations back into the Estimate, each Subcontract Vetting Sheet has to be 'Finalized'.

This simply informs VJ that each Subcontract is FINAL and can be used to adjust the Estimated Costs.

NOTE: Whenever a change is made to the Estimate, ALL vetting sheets will be reset as 'Not Updated' and 'Not Finalized'.

11. Transfer the Subcontractor(s) 'Accepted' Quotes back into the Estimate

Once you have completed entering and accepting the appropriate quotations in all of the Vetting sheets and marked them as Finalized, you TRANSFER these accepted quotations back into the base Estimate.

Essentially, this process involves the program:

for Bill Items:

creating a 'VETADJ' column in each Estimate Section if it doesn't already exist, and then setting the 'adjustment value' against each vetted item such that the estimated 'COST' plus the 'VETADJ' equals the ACCEPTED value in the vetting sheet.

for Resource Items:

copying the EstRate (if present) to the Purch/P or Rate columns

creating the following columns in the Local Library if they don't already exist

EstRate

Subby

then

copying the Purch/P or Rate to the EstRate column

entering the Accepted Rate into the Purch/P or Rate columns

Recalculating the Project

12.    Print the Reports

There are two sets of Reports:

1. Reports generated from the 'Vetting' TAB in the Project Print Options dialog
   These reports are specific Vetting type reports
2. Reports from the 'General' TAB in the Project Print Options dialog
   These reports are the normal Reports which include an option to 'Include Vetted Costs'. This option then simply causes the program to replace your Estimate Cost for each item with the Accepted Subcontract quotations for that item

The METHOD

1.    Create the Project

Create the Project in the normal manner except choose the Template 'Vetting'.

It contains the necessary structure of the Section Worksheet, and Rate/Cost Workup sheets for Subcontract coding, and the Vetting sheet for collecting and maintaining the Items requiring quotations from the SUBCONTRACTORS.

2.    Enter the Client Schedule/ Bill of Quantities

This can be done by either typing in the Client Schedule or importing electronically.

3.    Uniquely Identify Each Item with a BQREF.

Every item in the Client Schedule must have a unique BQREF. This is the key link between the Bill Items in your Client Schedule and the Vetting system Bill Items.

There is a facility to 'Autonumber' all items in the Project under the 'Section->Autonumber' option in the Project Window.

4.    Enter the list of Subcontracts

Select the option 'Vetting->S/C List' and enter the list of Subcontracts.

This list comprises two columns of information; the  ‘Subcontract code' (SCDE column), and the 'Subcontract Name’.

e.g DEM Demolisher

COSU Concrete Supply

COPL Concrete Place

A vetting sheet for each of these codes will be created and named using this code, so once you have created a Vetting sheet, DO NOT DISASSOCIATE IT by changing the Subcontract Code (SCDE).

You can however change the 'Subcontract name' at any time.

5.    Price and Code the Client Schedule

Each Bill Item in each Section that is required to be quoted on, must be coded with a valid Subcontract code. These codes are those as defined in the SCDE column of the 'List of Subcontracts' as mentioned in 3. above.

These codes are entered in the SCDE column on the same line as the BQREF, 

If an item involves more than 1 Subcontract, then you can either:

• Create a Rate or Cost workup sheet
• do not code SCDE the line containing the workup sheet as if you do it will ignore the workup sheet details and use that code instead
• enter an item for each Subcontract required, specifying a valid SCDE code in the SCDE column. A BQREF is not required at this level, as this is specified at the Estimate Section worksheet level
• you can, but it is not mandatory, enter your estimate of cost for that Subcontract for this item
• an entry will be added to the corresponding Vetting Sheet for each item 
• Enter the multiple SCDE codes, one for each Subcontract and separated by the SPACE character 
• e.g. 'COSU COPL REFR'
• an entry will be added to each Vetting Sheet for each SCDE code
• the COST amount in the Vetting Sheet will be the COST of this client item divided by the number of codes

NOTE: The validity of the SCDE codes entered at this stage will not be validated. This occurs when the Vetting Sheets are being 'generated' or 'updated'. 

6.    Generate the Vetting Sheets

Once the SCDE or Resource codes have been entered for the targetted Client Bill items, the Vetting sheets can be generated.

Generate the Vetting sheets manually by editing the Subcontract Vetting sheets of interest.

• Click the 'Vetting->Edit VS' option while in the Estimate Section
  OR
  Click the 'Vetting->Edit' options while at the Project Window
• Select the Sheet to edit from the list
  Initially this sheet will be blank, and will default to Vetting Bill Items as depicted below
  
  
  
  If this sheet is for Vetting Bill Items then move to the next step : "Update"
  If this sheet is for Vetting Resources:
• click the 'RC' radio button just under the "VS Type" label and the sheet will adjust accordingly as depicted below:
  
  
  
• NOTE the different column headings
• Now open the Left Panel and select the "RCList" TAB exposing all the Resources for this project
  
  
  
• Select the first Resource to be included in this Subcontract and press ENTER
  The Resource will be added to the Vetting Sheet
• Move to the next Resource required and press ENTER and it will also be added
• Repeat this process until all resources required have been added
  
  
  
• Now click the 'Update' button
  If this is a Resource Vetting Sheet
  
  • a list of all resources used in the project together with their aggregated quantities is generated
  • the quantity for each resource in this sheet is then updated from this list
  
  If this is a Bill Item vetting sheet:
  
• The program creates a list of all items in the Estimate with this sheets matching SCDE code, and imports this list into this worksheet
  e.g.
  
• Done
  

You edit a Vetting Sheet (you must have edited the 'Subcontract List' first as described in 4. above) by clicking the option 'Vetting->Edit', then double clicking the desired Subcontract from the list presented.

8.    Updating a Vetting Sheet

Edit the Vetting Sheet to be updated, and click the option 'Vetting->Update'.

VJ will now:

If a Bill Items vetting sheet:

• Set the flag in the 'Status' column for each line 'O' (Original)
• browse each Estimate Section , collect a List of Subcontract items belonging to this Vetting Sheet, and, based on the BQREF,  either:
• add the items that don't aready exist, and give them a status of 'A' (Added)
• check the current details in the List with any item already existing in this Vetting sheet, and either:
• update the details if not the same, and give it a status of 'U' (Updated)
• leave the details of matching items intact, and give them a status of 'C' (current)
• modify the 'status' of this Vetting Sheet as 'updated', 'altered', and 'not Finalized'. The significance of these flags will be explained further as we progress through these instructions.

If a Resource vetting sheet:

• a list of all resources used in the project together with their aggregated quantities is generated
  
• the quantity for each resource in this sheet is then updated from this list
  

If we make changes to the Estimate Sections or their workup sheets at any time, all existing Vetting Sheets will have their 'status' changed to 'not updated', 'altered', and 'not Finalized'. The significance of this will be explained later.

9.    Print the Subcontract Bills of Quotations

When you are satisfied that a Subcontract's Vetting Sheet contains the appropriate items to be quoted, you can now 'print the Subcontract Bills of Quotations'.

1. Click the 'Print' option in the Vetting TAB
2. Click the 'Subcontract BQ's' option
3. Select the Subcontracts to Print using the FROM and TO combo box lists
4. Click 'Preview' or 'Print'

NOTE:

If the 'status' of any Subcontract is 'not updated', then it will not be printed and a warning given. You will then be required to edit the Subcontract(s) in question and execute the 'Update' option, review the results, and then execute the Print option again.

Remember, every time you alter any data in the base estimate the status for every Vetting Sheet is reset to 'not updated', 'altered', and 'not finalized'. 

10.    Enter the Subcontract Quotations Received

Generally

The Vetting Sheet by default has facility initially for four Subcontract quotes, however these can be expanded to up to 10 per sheet.

Initially these 10 Subcontractors are given the name 'Subby #n', where n=1 to 10. As subcontractors are invited to Tender, their details are registered to this sheet.

As the quotations from the Subcontractors are received, these are entered into the Vetting Sheet by either entering their rate or cost for each item, or entering their quotation as a Lump Sum and spreading it over the items they have quoted on.

Registering a Subcontractor

You register a Subcontractor to a Vetting Sheet by:

• Opening the Subcontract Vetting Sheet you require him to quote on
• Click the 'Vetting->Edit S/C' button
• Click the left or right arrows at the top to choose his position 
• Enter his details
  The Email field will be used in the future for automatically Emailing him the Bills of Quotations
  The Address field will be used in the future for automatically mailing him the Bills of Quotations
• Enter his Quotation 
• Enter the '%Discount'
  This is not mandatory, but may be useful if you from experience, are normally able to negotiate a negative discount on his quotation if accepted, or it may be a positive discount for Subcontractors who from experience are difficult with variation claims

Entering a Subcontractor's Quotation - if supplied as Item Costs or Lump Sum Quotation

If the Subcontractor has supplied his quotation as Rates and/or Costs for each item, then

• choose his designated set of columns (RATEn, COSTn, TAGn)
• against each of the items he has quoted on enter his Rate or Cost

If the Subcontractor has provided a Lump Sum quotation only, then

• choose his designated set of columns (RATEn, COSTn, TAGn)
• in the COSTn column, select the cell against each of the items he has quoted on
• click the 'Quoted Cost' button (this is located just below the Options Panel) and then the appropriate basis of pro-rata from the following popup menu:
  
• the Program will
• 'TAG' each selected item with 'Q0' if you selected 'prorata Bill Costs' or 'Qn' if you selected 'prorata Selected S/C',
• Pro-rata his quotation against the reference values in the column you selected above,
• and place this in the COSTn column

If the Subcontractor has not priced all the items, then you will need to add in a price for these items using either

• your Estimated Cost
• another Subcontractor's price
• or a manual entry
  These are detailed in the following notes

NOTE: The '%Discount' field entered in the Subcontractor's details (register) is only used in the case of a Lump Sum Quotation being used.

Entering a Subcontractor's Quotation as 'Estimated Costs'

In most circumstances, a Subcontractor's quotation will exclude certain items. As a fair and meaningful comparison between the various Subcontractor's quotes, all items need to be priced.

A formal way of achieving this is to 'TAG' the unpriced items with your Estimated Cost.

This is achieved by:

• in the COSTn column, select the cell against each of the items he hasn't included
• click the 'Est'd Cost' button
• the Program will 'TAG' each selected item with 'E', and using your Estimated Cost from the COST column as the reference value, place this in the COSTn column

These 'TAG'ging processes provide a way for the program to automatically modify the quoted values when subsequent adjustments are made

e.g. Altering the Quotation for a Subby as a Lump Sum

Entering a Subcontractor's Quotation with another Subcontractors Quote

In most circumstances, a Subcontractor's quotation will exclude certain items. As a fair and meaningful comparison between the various Subcontractor's quotes, all items need to be priced.

Another formal way of achieving this is to 'TAG' the unpriced items with another Subcontractor's price.

This is achieved by:

• in the COSTn column, select the cell against each of the items he hasn't included
• click the 'Subby Quote' button
• choose which subby NUMBER you want to use as the source of the item costs
• the Program will 'TAG' each selected item with 'Sn', and using the Cost from the COST column of the designated Subby as the reference value, place this in the COSTn column

These 'TAG'ging processes provide a way for the program to automatically modify the quoted values when subsequent adjustments are made

e.g. Altering the Quotation for a Subby as a Lump Sum

Selecting the Items to be TAGGED

As mentioned earlier, before you can REGISTER TAGS to an item, you must select the items to be TAGGED. This means selecting (ranging/highlighting) the cells IN THE COST column of the items to be TAGGED.

This can be done by either:

• moving to the first cell in the COSTn column, then while holding down the SHIFT key, pressing the down/up arrow key
  This will provide a contiguous selection of items
• clicking in  the first cell in the COSTn column, then while holding the mouse button down, dragging up/down until the desired items have been selected, then releasing the mouse button
  This will provide a contiguous selection of items
• While holding down the CTRL key (Windows) or the COMMAND key (Macintosh), click in the COSTn column on the cell for the item to be selected, then while still holding down the CTRL/COMMAND key, clicking in the COSTn column on the next cell of the next item to be selected, then repeating this process until all desired items have been selected
  This will provide a non-contiguous selection of items

Select the items which you want to 'Accept' from the desired Subcontractor - you can accept all or some of a Subcontractor's quoted items, and you can accept items from more than 1 Subcontractor.

Once the items have been selected, click the 'Mark as Accepted' button.

The program will then add the 'A' TAG to the end of any existing TAGs for the selected items, and update the values in the 'ACCEPTED' column. It is the value in the 'ACCEPTED' which will be used in the various TENDER reports in lieu of your Estimated cost.

10.    Transfer the 'Accepted' Quotations back to the Estimate

When you have finalized ALL Vetting Sheets with the ACCEPTED values, you MUST TRANSFER THE ACCEPTED VALUES BACK INTO THE ESTIMATE.

Click the 'Vetting->Transfer' button in the Project Window, and the program will:

• Create a collection of BQREF's and their aggregated ACCEPTED cost from all the Vetting Sheets
• Open each Estimate Worksheet in turn and 
• Add a VETADJ column into the worksheet if not already there
• Initialize the value in this column 0
• Extract from the collection the value of any matching BQREF's in this worksheet and place this in the VETADJ column
• Mark the matching BQREF's in the collection as used
• register an error in the report list (shown at the end of this process) if a matching BQREF exists, but it has already been used
• Register an error in the report list of any BQREF's existing in the collection but NOT used
• Display the error report if errors were encountered

10.    Print the Reports

There are two sets of Reports:

1. Reports generated from the 'Vetting' TAB in the Project Print Options dialog
   These reports are specific Vetting type reports
2. Reports from the 'General' TAB in the Project Print Options dialog
   These reports are the normal Reports which include an option to 'Include Vetted Costs'. This option then simply causes the program to use the VETAMT for that item in lieu of your estimated COST.

Do's and Dont's

1. Don't
   Add columns to the Vetting Sheets (other than with the 'Add S/C button)
   Delete columns from the Vetting Sheets
   Rename or modify the Formula for any 'COSTn', 'RATEn', 'TAGn' columns.
   These columns are reserved for the proper functioning and maintenance of each Subcontract.
2. Do
   Add additional Subcontractors using the 'Vetting->Add S/C' button. This guarantees the proper maintenance of the critical Subcontract columns and their functionality.