magazine
Track Your
Actual
Costs in
the Field
BUILD2WIN Field Tracking
is living up to the hype on job
sites at R & R Contracting. p. 04
USER CONFERENCE 2009
FIND OUT WHERE YOU’RE
GOING NEXT YEAR. VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 2 | 2008
www.bid2win.com
COVER: R & R Contracting, a railroad
contractor with locations in North
Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi and
Minnesota, uses BUILD2WIN to
better control labor, equipment,
materials, overhead, and most
importantly, productivity.
WHAT’S INSIDE...
01 TO OUR READERS
Expect more new product features SUPPORT & TECHNOLOGY
02 PEOPLE BEHIND THE PRODUCTS
Russell Wheeler, Technical Support Engineer 08 NEWS FROM DEVELOPMENT
Upcoming releases
03 MICROSOFT CERTIFIED PARTNER RELATIONSHIP
BID2WIN So ware Inc. renews its certi cation 09 Q&A FROM TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Assigning a unique pro t percentage to subcontractors
04 COVER: R & R CONTRACTING & BUILD2WIN
R & R Contracting nds success with BUILD2WIN 10 TUTORIAL
Calculated Indirect Items & Adv. Distribution Strategies
06 CLIENT PROFILE & SUCCESS
P. Flanigan & Sons Inc. 12 QUICK TIPS
BID2WIN’s Open Estimate Dialog
PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER
EXPECT MORE NEW
PRODUCT FEATURES
AS WE APPROACH the midpoint of 2008, most technologically advanced database
I am proud to say that BID2WIN So ware available for the Windows environment.
Inc. is well on its way to another record year. As always, we appreciate your feedback
I am particularly excited about the success and will continue to incorporate your sug-
of our newest solution, BUILD2WIN Field gestions into all future product releases.
Tracking. e support and enthusiasm we e spring was a busy time for the mar-
have experienced for BUILD2WIN has been keting team as well, who spent the past few
tremendous—companies across the country months searching for the ideal location for
have discarded their ine ective paper time our next annual User Conference. I am
sheets and eld logs, and gained a revolu- pleased to announce that User Conference
tionary level of insight into job performance; 2009 will be held in Florida. You won’t want
calling BUILD2WIN the ‘missing link’ to miss this conference—a er an extensive
between estimating and accounting. For the evaluation of attendee feedback from the
rst time, the details of every job are available past three conferences, we have made some
in real time, giving you better control of your signi cant enhancements to the program.
company’s productivity and pro tability. User Conference 2009 will feature even
Since the release of BUILD2WIN, the more of what you want—look for your reg-
development teams have been busier than istration materials at the end of the summer
ever, designing innovative new features for to nd out what changes we’ve made and
both BID2WIN and BUILD2WIN. Service why you must attend.
Pack 1 for BID2WIN 2007, to be released As the leading provider of enterprise-
later this summer, will include many of these class construction management solutions,
user requested features; including le attach- we pride ourselves on creating innovative
ments, the ability to copy item templates and visionary solutions which help com-
between databases and the ability to replace panies who build the world’s infrastructure
a rate class for a portion of your estimate. get more jobs and make more money. In the
In addition, due to overwhelming coming months, I hope you will take the
demand, we will be releasing a version of opportunity to nd out how BID2WIN and
BID2WIN Estimating and Bidding speci - BUILD2WIN can increase your company’s
cally tailored to smaller and medium sized, pro tability. I wish you all the best during
growing businesses. e Basic Edition the busy summer season, and as always, I
includes hundreds of key features such as am available to address any questions or
item databases and centralized resource thoughts you may have. You can reach me
databases, and just like BID2WIN Profes- directly at (800) 336-3808 ext. 2501, or at
sional and Enterprise, it is driven by Micro- pmckeon@bid2win.com.
so SQL Server technology, the fastest,
Paul McKeon,
President of BID2WIN So ware Inc.
www.bid2win.com 01
RUSSELL WHEELER
TECHNICAL SUPPORT ENGINEER
4.8 OUT OF A POSSIBLE 5.0 IN OUR ANNUAL CLIENT SATISFACTION SURVEY
WITH THE OFFICIAL title of Technical Support Engineer, While Russ Wheeler’s client satisfaction score (4.8 out of a
Russ Wheeler considers his main role at BID2WIN So ware Inc. possible 5.0 in our Annual Client Satisfaction Survey) speaks for
to be much more; it’s doing whatever is necessary to make our itself, we thought you would enjoy hearing rsthand what some
clients happy. “I enjoy being able to help clients who call with a of our clients have to say about the service Russ provides:
problem” says Russ, “I get a lot of satisfaction from a challenging
call that gets resolved. I go home at the end of the day with a “I have recently worked with Russ to help resolve a problem that
sense of accomplishment.” developed. Russ spent over 1 ½ hours this morning updating our
Microso SQL via WEBEX when it was found that Service Pack
Russ standing proudly
4 from Microso wasn’t loading on the old SQL properly. While
beside his son, Russell
Wheeler III, at Colum- this was a ecting BID2WIN, I don’t know that the typical so -
bia University, where ware support team would work so hard to resolve this problem.
he is in his second of a anks for going the extra mile (or two).”
three year accelerated
program to earn a “Russ was very helpful and cheerful even though it was late and
doctorate in sports
medicine.
a er hours when I called. He xed the problem immediately.”
“Russ went above and beyond with his professionalism.”
Prior to joining the BID2WIN So ware team Russ worked for
other so ware companies for more than 11 years; but the highlight “Russ did an excellent job, and called me when he said he would this
of his career, Russ states, is the time he has worked for BID2WIN morning. Service like that is a refreshing change of pace from what
So ware. “ e management group are real people, they know how all of us have come to expect/dread when we call a support line.”
to treat their employees and they know how to have fun.”
When Russ is not having fun at the o ce he enjoys spending Russ and the entire client service and support team are always
time with his wife of 25 years and their three children. available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
02 PEOPLE BEHIND THE PRODUCTS
BID2WIN
SOFTWARE
CONTINUES
MICROSOFT
CERTIFIED
PARTNER
RELATIONSHIP
AN ONGOING COMMITMENT TO LEADING AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
AT BID2WIN SOFTWARE Inc., we pride ourselves on provid- Requirements to become a Microso Certi ed Partner include
ing the highest quality construction so ware and services. A key the use of Microso technology in the so ware development
aspect of this is keeping up to date with the latest technological process, as well as having a minimum of two Microso Certi ed
advances, and as the rst company in our industry to become a Professionals on sta that have proven their knowledge in the
Microso Certi ed Partner in 2001, we have ensured that our latest technology through rigorous certi cation exams. Plus, the
solutions are built on the most sophisticated and robust tech- product itself must undergo testing—consisting of two founda-
nology available. Demonstrating our ongoing commitment to tion test components and four elective test components.
leading and emerging technology, BID2WIN So ware is proud Microso Certi ed Partners are well established in their
to announce that we have renewed our Microso Certi cation. particular elds, and, on average, have been in business for
Our partnership with Microso grants us access to the indus- more than ve years. BID2WIN So ware has been in business
try giant’s most sophisticated development resources, support for more than een years. at means that when you choose
personnel and testing facilities. BID2WIN So ware is able BID2WIN Estimating and Bidding or BUILD2WIN Field
to contact Microso directly with questions or problems—a Tracking, you can be sure you’re choosing a solution provider
great resource for the development team, who use Microso with the experience and know-how that will bring the greatest
design standards in our application development process; and value to you and your business.
the technical support team, who support both BID2WIN and
BUILD2WIN on Microso networks and operating systems.
www.bid2win.com 03
R & R CONTRACTING
FINDS SUCCESS
WITH BUILD2WIN
WITH BUILD2WIN REPORTS,
ANYONE IN THE OFFICE CAN
QUICKLY TRACK A JOB’S
EMPLOYEE AND EQUIPMENT
HOURS PLUS MATERIAL AND
PRODUCTIVITY SUMMARIES. BUILD2WIN ALLOWS
EXPORTING OF REPORTS
TO A NUMBER OF POPULAR
FORMATS SUCH AS WORD,
EXCEL AND PDF.
TRACK ACTUAL COSTS
AGAINST ESTIMATED
VALUES FROM BID2WIN.
SET UP REPORT
SUBSCRIPTIONS TO HAVE A
REPORT LIKE THIS—OR EVEN
A DASHBOARD—DELIVERED
Figure 1 – Example of a Job Production Account Productivity Summary Report in BUILD2WIN. TO ANY USER ON A
SPECIFIED SCHEDULE.
R & R Contracting, a railroad contractor with locations in North needed a better way to track the progress being made at their
Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi and Minnesota, completes over job sites, they turned to BID2WIN So ware. As a long time
200 jobs per year—which include railroad construction, design, BID2WIN Estimating and Bidding user, the team at R & R Con-
maintenance and repair, as well as rail removal, re-railing and tracting was certain that BID2WIN So ware’s new eld track-
other emergency jobs. When the company realized that they ing solution would allow them to better track productivity, and
04 R & R CONTRACTING FINDS SUCCESS WITH BUILD2WIN
the company became one of the rst to purchase and imple- BID2WIN to BUILD2WIN works awlessly. Vice President of
ment BUILD2WIN Field Tracking. Client Services Manager Je Pankratz explains the process;
Before purchasing BUILD2WIN, foremen at R & R Contract-
ing would ll out their daily paperwork by hand, including time “THE ENTIRE COST STRUCTURE FROM AN
sheets and equipment reports, and then fax that information
back to the o ce on a weekly basis. Material usage and daily AWARDED BID2WIN ESTIMATE IS SENT
productivity reports were handled separately—which was not DIRECTLY INTO BUILD2WIN, WITHOUT BOGGING
only time consuming, but inaccurate. In order for the company
to grow, they needed a more e cient and more accurate system YOU DOWN IN A CUMBERSOME EXPORT/
to track labor, equipment, materials, overhead and most impor- IMPORT PROCESS.”
tantly, productivity.
One of the biggest advantages that R & R Contracting has “Leveraging estimate data in this fashion eliminates redun-
enjoyed since implementing BUILD2WIN is that anyone in the dant data entry, saving you time, money and frustration.”
o ce can see what is going on at a job site, without having to Plus, this powerful level of integration between BID2WIN
physically go to that site—a big advantage for a company that has
seen tremendous recent growth. Kristin Sharp at R & R explains,
“WE ARE ABLE TO SEE OUR CREW’S DAILY
PRODUCTION, AND ARE FINDING IT MUCH
EASIER TO TRACK OUR EQUIPMENT.“
Bruce Kopp with R & R states, “BUILD2WIN allows us to
American Crystal Sugar Company Project in Hillsboro, ND
monitor key performance measures throughout the entire job.”
Currently, R & R Contracting has eight foremen using
BUILD2WIN, and the transition from paperwork to computer and BUILD2WIN allows management to track actual costs
work has been very well received. Sharp relays, “Our foremen against estimated values, providing an opportunity to nd
enjoy the fact that each day’s information is right at their nger- and address problems before the pro tability of a project is
tips, instead of in a pile of papers.” Plus, BUILD2WIN’s straight- jeopardized (see Figure 1).
forward, browser-based interface makes the program very easy As R & R Contracting continues to grow as a company, the
to use—the company actually only needed one day of training size of their contracts is increasing too—but they know that no
to get their foremen up and running. job detail will go untracked, thanks to BUILD2WIN.
R & R Contracting has also taken advantage of BUILD2WIN’s
export tools, reporting that the estimate detail export from
www.bid2win.com 05
FROM HANDWRITTEN FIELD LOGS IN 1928 TO BROWSER-BASED FIELD LOGS IN 2008
P. FLANIGAN & SONS is one of Baltimore’s oldest and best tion to standardize their estimating and bidding.
known contracting companies. is $90-100 million business has “We actually purchased and installed one of the competitor’s
been providing road construction and other heavy general con- products” recalls Kevin Mullen, vice president of estimating. “I
tractor services since 1885, including surfacing roads, air elds, went to a training class and tried to develop a couple of cost esti-
manufacturing facilities, malls—even local landmarks such as the mates, and I really didn’t like it. It was an old DOS-based applica-
Baltimore Raven’s practice eld and Oriole Park at Camden Yards. tion where you had to use your keyboard to drill in to the infor-
Recently, P. Flanigan & Sons was recognized for the level of mation, then use the escape key to back out—it just wasn’t mouse
quality associated with their work as the winner of the 2007 Shel- friendly. We had a 30 day money-back guarantee, and on the 29th
don G. Hayes award. is prestigious national award, determined day I told them, ‘Come in here and take this out, I can’t use it.’”
through a two year process by the National Asphalt Pavement
circa 1912
Association (NAPA), honors high quality construction practices
which result in smooth, safe and durable pavements. P. Flanigan &
Sons received the award in recognition of their work on a 16.8 mile
stretch of 1-97 between Baltimore and Annapolis (see Figure 1).
ere are few rms in the construction industry with the same
level of experience and longevity as P. Flanigan & Sons, and there
is good reason for their success. e company combines a back-
ground of strong project management with an aggressive pursuit is 6 ton Packard Dump Truck was the rst one in the state of Maryland.
of cutting edge construction methods—which includes keeping
up to date with the latest technological advances. Continuing his search for a user friendly solution, Mullen
In pursuit of the latest and greatest technology, P. Flanigan decided to evaluate BID2WIN Estimating and Bidding—a brand
& Sons decided to abandon their spreadsheets—and the high new product at the time, built from the ground up with the latest
potential for errors that came with them—and invest in a solu- Microso technology and development standards.
06 CLIENT PROFILE & SUCCESS
“We did an online demonstration with BID2WIN So ware and they showed us
screen shots and mock-ups of what the product was going to look like” says Mullen.
“BID2WIN ful lled our vision, and then some. One of the best features of BID2WIN
is the ease of use, and you’ve probably heard that over and over again. e way that
the interface is laid out makes it so easy to navigate from one place in a bid to an
entirely di erent place with just a few mouse clicks. at is a big part of what sold us,
and we invested in BID2WIN before it was even really a marketable product.”
e investment turned out to be a good decision, because today—over ten years
later—P. Flanigan & Sons continues to reap the rewards of an easy to use, stan-
dardized estimating and bidding solution. “BID2WIN has allowed us to expand the
number of jobs we bid, while still basically working with the same number of people
that we had 20 years ago when I started with the company. We’re coming o a series
of record-setting years as far as sales, and of course a lot of that is owed to BID2WIN
and our ability to have intelligent estimates and well thought out bids.”
“BID2WIN has made P. Flanigan & Sons a better business” Mullen continues.
“We have a better handle on the costs that it takes to run our business because we
can do a lot of cross-reporting. It’s easy enough to bid a job, but then you also have
to try to run the business and recover all the other costs that are associated with it,
beyond the direct costs of construction. With BID2WIN and the detail that we can
extract from the estimates, we always know where we are.”
A er a decade of success with BID2WIN So ware’s products and services, it’s not
surprising that P. Flanigan & Sons was one of the rst companies to purchase BID2WIN
So ware’s latest construction management solution—BUILD2WIN Field Tracking.
“AS A WEB-BASED APPLICATION, BUILD2WIN TAKES
ADVANTAGE OF THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY, AND THE YOUNGER Liquid asphalt storage tank at P. Flanigan’s
WORKFORCE IS EXPECTING THIS KIND OF TOOL TO REPORT hot mix asphalt production facility in
Westport, MD.
THEIR DAILY WORK AND KEEP TRACK OF THEIR PRODUCTION.”
“We need to deliver that to the people who are the future of our company, so that CLIENT PROFILE
they don’t get frustrated in having to do things the same way that things were done
30 years ago” explains Mullen. “ e other advantage is that we will have real-time COMPANY
results, rather than waiting four to six weeks a er the work has taken place in the P. FLANIGAN & SONS INC.
eld. We will have analysis available immediately—we can address problems faster
LOCATION
and that will translate into better pro ts.”
BALTIMORE, MD
Mullen continues, “It never ceases
to amaze me that I can sit in the lobby TYPE OF WORK
of a hotel in San Diego, California, HEAVY HIGHWAY
wirelessly log in on my laptop to our
servers in Baltimore, review a bid in YEARS WITH BID2WIN SOFTWARE
real time, and be on the cell phone TEN
with a person who is sitting at their
desk—and they can see the changes CURRENT PRODUCTS
that I’m making from 3,000 miles BID2WIN – ENTERPRISE EDITION
Figure 1 – I-97 away. It’s just incredible.” BUILD2WIN
In fact, Mullen likes BID2WIN
USER CONFERENCES
So ware so much that he wouldn’t mind joining the company!
2008 – SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
“If I wasn’t in the construction business, BID2WIN So ware would be a place I
2007 – BOCA RATON, FLORIDA
would want to work. e people who work there are visionaries—they stay on the
2006 – ORLANDO, FLORIDA
edge of technology, out ahead of the curve and their competition. I mean, I’m not
2004 – PORTSMOUTH, NH
a computer person” admits Mullen, “But it seems to me that they’re always push-
2003 – PORTSMOUTH, NH
ing the envelope in their eld, leveraging the latest programming language or new
2001 – BOCA RATON, FLORIDA
environment to make everything work better. e support team is by and large the
2000 – ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
best we’ve ever dealt with. BID2WIN So ware is on the ball, and they are a pleasure
to partner with. at’s why we’ve been with them for over ten years now.”
www.bid2win.com 07
SUPPORT & TECHNOLOGY
NEWS FROM DEVELOPMENT
UPCOMING RELEASES
THIS SPRING WAS a busy time for the devel-
opment teams. We hired quite a few new team
members, rolled out BUILD2WIN to many cli-
ents and completed a lot of new enhancements
for both BID2WIN and BUILD2WIN.
e following are a few highlights of new
features we’ve been adding to BID2WIN and
BUILD2WIN over the past several months. As
always, we have based these features on user
requests and the feedback we received at our
annual User Conference. ese features—along
with many others we’ve been working on—will
be included in upcoming releases of both prod-
Figure 1 – Example of le attachments in RFQs.
ucts that we’ll be beta testing and wrapping up
this summer.
In addition to our next release, we’re also working on the design of some exciting and extremely powerful enhancements
to both BID2WIN and BUILD2WIN. We’ll be showing o the design of these new enhancements at User Conference 2009
in Florida. For more information about either release, please contact our vice president of client services, Je Pankratz, at
jpankratz@bid2win.com or (800) 336-3808 x2522.
FILE ATTACHMENTS. This feature will allow you to attach SHOW JOB MATERIALS WHEN ADDING. Filter the Add
files to your estimate, including photos, PDF files, Excel or Materials dialog on a field log to show only those materials in
Word files, etc. In addition, you’ll be able to attach files to be the selected jobs or tracking accounts. This will make it much
sent along with RFQs and the private bid form. Files are stored easier to add the materials you need to track.
inside the BID2WIN database, so you don’t have to try to keep
track of them on the corporate server (see Figure 1). TREAT FIELD LOG WARNINGS AS ERRORS. Configure the
checks that are performed when a field log is saved to ensure
COPY ITEM TEMPLATES BETWEEN DATABASES. the data is valid. You’ll be able to turn checks off that don’t ap-
Have a great item template structure you’ve created, and you ply to your company, and decide which checks should prevent
want to use it in another item database? Now simply drag the save of the field log if they fail. These settings may be
and drop item templates to the other database and BID2WIN configured on a business unit basis, allowing you to customize
will make a copy for you. You can even drag and drop multiple the behavior of the system for each division in your company.
items at once!
FLEXIBLE MATERIAL COSTING. In addition to the current
REPLACE A RATE CLASS FOR A PORTION OF THE option for tracking material cost, which uses a weighted aver-
ESTIMATE. With this feature, you’ll be able to selectively age in BUILD2WIN’s resources database, this feature will give
replace a labor or equipment rate class for a portion of an you the ability to maintain a material unit cost for each job,
estimate, for example a phase, work type, individual item, etc. giving you more accurate cost reporting inside BUILD2WIN.
This will provide much more flexibility to adjust labor and These costs will be set automatically from BID2WIN when the
equipment rates on specific portions of the estimate. job is transferred to BUILD2WIN.
08 NEWS FROM DEVELOPMENT
SUPPORT & TECHNOLOGY
Q&A FROM TECHNICAL SUPPORT
QUESTION-HOW DO I ASSIGN A UNIQUE PROFIT PERCENTAGE
TO EACH SUBCONTRACTOR?
ANSWER- ere are many ways to calculate pro t within
a BID2WIN estimate. Some BID2WIN users simply enter a
dollar amount, while others calculate pro t as a percentage of
cost. Still other users prefer more detail and assign unique pro t
percentages based on individual cost categories. When specifying
SCOTT this option, BID2WIN also allows you to assign unique pro t
percents on a per-subcontractor basis.
1: Click the Estimate menu and then click Estimate Options.
2: Select Estimate Properties | Bid Pricing | Pro t Settings.
3: Select the option labeled As a percentage of direct cost,
indirect cost, bond and overhead.
4: Place a checkmark next to Break down direct cost by cat-
egory, then click Edit Category Breakdown.
5: Place a checkmark next to Enter percentages for each
subcontractor, click OK, then Close.
Now, when entering pro t percentages on the Bid Pricing
Strategy tab, you may enter percentages for each subcontractor
used within your estimate. Note that you may also choose to con gure the settings in Tools | Options to have every
new estimate you create allow per-subcontractor pro t percents.
QUESTION-HOW CAN I VIEW QUESTION-HOW DO I
THE TOTAL MAN HOURS IN CHANGE THE ITEM ORDER
MY ESTIMATE? ON MY BID FORM?
ANSWER-In any estimate, knowing details ANSWER-For some estimates, listing pay
like total man hours can be vital for resource items in ascending order by item number is the
planning and allocation. Fortunately, viewing to- perfect way to present your bid. But what if you
tal man hours in BID2WIN is a snap, not only at want to customize the order of pay items on
the estimate level, but also at the work type, item, your bid form without altering the item number?
SKIP or task level. One of several areas in BID2WIN MIKE BID2WIN makes it easy to make the changes
where man hours are visible is on the Summary you need to produce the bid form you want.
tab, where you’ll nd a Total Man Hours eld. Start by opening your estimate and navigating to
By default, this value represents the man hours the Estimate Detail tab. Next, click the Estimate
in your entire estimate. You may also view your menu, select Item Order, then select Manual.
man hours per work type by selecting a work You may now simply drag and drop your pay
type in the Summarize area. Alternately, if you items so they appear in the order you would like
wish to view man hours for a particular item or them to print. When you print your bid form,
task, navigate to the Estimate Detail tab, select or any other BID2WIN report, your custom item
an item or task, and hover your mouse over the order will be maintained.
Total Labor Cost eld to view a tooltip which
displays man hours for that speci c item or task.
www.bid2win.com 09
SUPPORT & TECHNOLOGY
THE AUTODISTRIBUTE BUTTON
APPLIES YOUR DISTRIBUTION
WITH A SINGLE CLICK.
CHOOSE FROM A VARIETY OF
DISTRIBUTION METHODS.
DISTRIBUTE INDIRECT
COSTS TO ALL PAY ITEMS,
OR A SELECT FEW.
SPECIFY A CUSTOM
DISTRIBUTION SCHEME FOR
INDIVIDUAL INDIRECT ITEMS. SELECT THE PAY ITEMS THAT
WILL ABSORB INDIRECT COSTS.
TUTORIAL: CALCULATED INDIRECT ITEMS
& ADVANCED DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES
THIS ISSUE’S TUTORIAL introduces you to two BID2WIN fea- that allows you to specify unique distribution schemes on a per-
tures o en used together for a powerful one-two punch. First, we’ll indirect-item basis. For example, you may wish to distribute your
explore a special type of indirect item called a Calculated Indirect Small Tools costs solely to your Mobilization pay item, while
Item. Using a special cost method, we’ll create an indirect item your other indirect costs are distributed proportionally to all pay
whose cost is based on percentages of another value within our items in your estimate.
estimate. For example, you may want a Small Tools indirect item Whether used individually, or in conjunction, we’re sure you’ll
to calculate as 1% of your direct labor costs, or a Mechanic’s Time agree that these two complimentary features not only increase
indirect item to calculate as 3% of your direct equipment costs. estimate accuracy, but also shave countless minutes o your esti-
We’ll also introduce you to an advanced distribution strategy mating process.
FIRST- For this example, our rst three steps lead you through the process of creating a calculated indirect item template within
BID2WIN’s Item Databases area. Note that calculated indirect items can also be created on-the- y in the Estimate area.
1-Navigate to your Indirect Items item data- 2-Enter an item number and descrip- 3-Click the Indirect Items Detail tab, and
base, and click New Record on the toolbar. tion, select a unit of measure, and choose enter a Percentage, a Percentage of, and a
Calculated for your cost method. Categorize as. ese values specify how your
calculated indirect item generates its cost.
10 TUTORIAL
SECOND-Now that you’ve created a calculated indirect item within the Item Databases area, it may be added to any estimate. Our
next three steps lead you through the process of adding your calculated item to an existing estimate, and demonstrate how the indirect
item’s cost is automatically and dynamically generated based on other values within your bid.
4-Open an estimate whose cost struc- 5-Use the Add Items dialog to select 6-Select your indirect item on the Estimate
ture has been developed and click Add and add your calculated indirect item. Detail tree view, and notice how the values
Items on the toolbar. for the indirect item automatically calculate.
THIRD-BID2WIN allows you to con gure a distribution method which identi es the pay items you wish to absorb your indirect costs.
e next three steps lead you through the process of establishing a default indirect distribution scheme within your current estimate:
7-Navigate to the Distribution Strategy 8-Choose Proportional by Item Direct 9-In the Items to distribute into area,
tab, and click the Indirect Cost node on Cost for your Distribution Method. select All Items.
the tree view.
FOURTH-Now that you have con gured a default distribution scheme for your estimate’s indirect costs, we’ll explore the ability to
create additional distribution schemes that apply to speci c indirect items, allowing you to send certain indirect costs to speci c pay
items, and other indirect costs to other pay items. e following steps lead you through the process of con guring a unique distribution
strategy for your calculated indirect item:
10-On the Distribution Strategy tab, click 11-Select a new distribution method. 12-Place a check mark next to the pay
the plus sign next to the Indirect Cost node en, in the Items to distribute into area, items where this indirect item should be
on the tree view and select the indirect item select Selected Items. distributed.
you added to your estimate in step 5.
AND THAT’S IT! Remember, the cost associated with a calculated indirect item is automatically updated as other values in your
estimate change. Be sure to distribute your indirect costs in the manner speci ed by your distribution strategy by clicking the auto-distribute
button. We hope this brief tutorial has given you a helpful “head start” into exploring these two powerful and time saving features!
www.bid2win.com 11
SUPPORT & TECHNOLOGY
QUICK TIPS
BID2WIN’S OPEN ESTIMATE DIALOG
BID2WIN’S OPEN ESTIMATE DIALOG is designed to help you main- PROTECT YOUR HARD WORK
tain a secure and well organized estimate list, helping you to quickly locate WITH ESTIMATE SECURITY
estimates you wish to view or edit. (ENTERPRISE EDITION).
CHOOSE FROM MORE
THAN 25 COLUMNS
RIGHT-CLICK CREATE UNLIMITED TO DISPLAY.
TO DUPLICATE FOLDERS FOR BETTER
AN ESTIMATE, ORGANIZATION.
OR MOVE IT TO
A FOLDER.
ENTER SEARCH
CRITERIA TO FILTER
YOUR ESTIMATE LIST.
SORT YOUR
ESTIMATE
LIST BY ANY
COLUMN.
SPECIAL ICONS
INDICATE THAT AN RIGHT CLICK TO ASSIGN OR ALTER
ESTIMATE HAS BEEN AN ESTIMATE’S STATUS(DEBUTING IN SP1).
CHECKED OUT OR IS
READ-ONLY. FILTER YOUR ESTIMATE
LIST TO STREAMLINE
THE LOOKUP PROCESS.
A PERFECTLY BALANCED BID PROTECT YOUR ESTIMATES
AFTER PERFORMING AN AUTO DISTRIBUTION, IT’S NO SECRET that complex estimates are major
there is o en a small dollar value in the Di erence eld investments of time and e ort. Fortunately, it’s very
on the Item Pricing tab. Although this value typically easy to protect that investment through the robust
represents negligible rounding discrepancies, you can still estimate security features found in BID2WIN
choose to “tuck it away” to achieve a perfectly balanced Enterprise Edition. In the Open Estimate dialog,
estimate. Simply navigate to the Distribution Strategy tab simply right-click a folder or estimate, then select
and click Di erence. Choose Selected Items and select a Security and con gure your permission settings to
lump sum item, such as Mobilization. Return to the Item allow users to modify or delete only the estimates
Pricing tab and click the Distribute Di erence icon to that they created. Or, to ensure that no estimate is
the right of the Di erence box. e di erence will be mistakenly deleted, simply reserve that privilege for
distributed into the item you selected, leaving you with a a power-user group.
perfectly balanced bid.
12 QUICK TIPS
EARLY REGISTRATION OPENS: AUGUST 11, 2008
USER CONFERENCE 2009
F L O R I D A
MAXIMIZE YOUR PROFITABILITY WITH &
SEE THE VALUE PACKED ENHANCEMENTS WE’VE MADE TO THE
PROGRAM AND FIND OUT WHY YOU MUST ATTEND. LOOK FOR THE
USER CONFERENCE 2009 BROCHURE BEING MAILED TO YOUR DESK.
LOOK WHO’S TURNED...
INDUSTRY LEADING CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES CONTINUE TO CHOOSE
BID2WIN SOFTWARE TO STREAMLINE THEIR ESTIMATING, BIDDING AND FIELD TRACKING.
Name and Location of Company Type of Work Programs Purchased
Aggregate Industries - Golden, CO Concrete, Asphalt BUILD2WIN
American Athletic Courts - Vincentown, NJ Surfacing Outdoor Sports Facilities BUILD2WIN
Coquitlam Ridge Construction Ltd. - Coquitlam, BC Bridges BID2WIN
Des Moines Asphalt and Paving - Des Moines, IA Asphalt & Paving, Grading, Milling BUILD2WIN
Devcon Ltd. - Deerfield Beach, FL Dredging BUILD2WIN
Dol Turf - Bond Head, ON Golf Course Construction BID2WIN
El Cajon Grading & Engineering - Lakeside, CA Grading & Excavation, Utilities BUILD2WIN
Furfari Paving - Toronto, ON Asphalt & Paving BID2WIN
G.L. Pruett Inc. - Ashland, VA Sitework, Utilities BID2WIN
Hall Construction - Parry Sound, ON Landscaping, Sitework, Street & Driveways BUILD2WIN
Hubbell Inc. - Margaretville, NY Excavation, Forestry Management, Sitework BID2WIN / BUILD2WIN
Kodiak Pacific Construction - Tualatin, OR Heavy Highway BID2WIN
MidMountain Contractors - Kirkland, WA Environmental, Heavy Highway, Utilities BUILD2WIN
R & L Excavating - Kelowna, BC Grading & Excavation, Utilities BID2WIN
Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction Co. - Draper, UT Bridges BUILD2WIN
RedStone Construction Group - Little Rock, AR Asphalt, Concrete, Earthwork, Utilities BUILD2WIN
Regency Excavation - Ogden, UT Grading & Excavation BID2WIN
Sloan Construction - Duncan, SC Bridge, Heavy Highway, Utilities BID2WIN
Southcentral Construction Inc. - Soldotna, AK Heavy Highway, Utilities BID2WIN
Transportation Structures Inc. - Tampa, FL Bridge, Tunnels & Elevated Highways BID2WIN
W.C. Spratt - Fredricksburg, VA Demolition, Earthwork, Water & Sewer BUILD2WIN
West-Tech Contracting - Escondido, CA Demolition, Environmental BUILD2WIN