Framework has the ability to link the Variation Price Book (VPB) items to database assemblies to easily maintain cost and retail pricing of VPB items and also to create Estimates through exporting of those assemblies.
Benefits of Creating VPB Items with BOQ Links
Using the Variation Price Book (VPB) beyond a simple reference tool for displaying retail pricing with links to database assemblies can become a powerful business tool that requires less maintenance than a traditional options book.
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- The ability to measure anticipated margins at any document stage.
- Increase profitability by using known current cost prices.
- Increase productivity by exporting the BOQ’s used within the Framework documents to create Estimates.
- Retail prices can be automatically kept up to date via the use of formula’s in the VPB items, you will always know the selling price is maintained.
- An item linked to an assembly to generate cost price is easily maintained as a consequence of normal supplier price database updates.
- Ensures that both Sales Estimators and Production Estimators are selling and ordering the same items.
What to Do
Requirements
Pre-requisites
- Assemblies
- Set up of areas in the Framework VPB (if required)
- Area pricing in WMS (if required)
- Access to the Sales Pricing module in WMS (for using Sales Worksheets)
- License for Integration Timberline Sales Pricing
- License for Integration Document/Estimate Creation
Things to Consider
- WMS worksheet set up (refer to WMS help files)
- Assembly numbering (what has been defined as base for WMS assemblies?)
- Analysis
Planning
The most important aspect of adding BOQ links to VPB items is to consider how the item is going to be used from a sales estimating and production estimating prospective. Defining the structure of the VPB and where the items are located within it is the first stage of avoiding duplicate items.
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The decision to use a standard VPB item or table item has to be made each time a new item is added to the VPB. A basic rule of thumb is to use a standard item for single variation items where no duplication exits (i.e. an item that applies to all house types or a house specific item) and to use a table item where the same item is repeated many times for different house types and has a different price for each item.
Resource Commitment
Resources allocated to link BOQ’s to VPB items should have senior experience in both Sales Estimating and Production Estimating and be competent with the calculation methods of the VPB linking methods and applicable Estimating software.
Implementation
BOQ Link – Variable units of measure
If an item is going to be used as a variable unit of measure it is recommended that the assembly be set up as a base unit of 1.
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The same assembly is applied to all items within the table and the quantities are set in the item general tab and BOQ link tab for the specific house type. This then has the flexibility that if a standard house has been modified then the quantity in the item on the document is simply changed to suit the modification and the cost and retail price are increased or decreased pro rata.
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| Warning |
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It is important to note that using this type of item the QTY method needs to be set to “Standard – consider VPB qty”. |
BOQ Link – Items with more than one assembly
As previously mentioned it is always good practice to use a base or breakdown of assemblies to eliminate duplication. Framework VPB items have the ability to link to more than one BOQ. These items can vary in quantity and method of take off.
(e.g. we will use the previous example of a roof tile upgrade to show the use of multiple BOQ items. For example, consider a particular roof tile item that requires sarking, instead of creating a new assembly for the roof tile profile with sarking, it is more efficient to have an assembly for 1m2 of sarking then add this assembly to the item also. So now the same assembly can be used in multiple items within the VPB and the sarking base assembly can also be used elsewhere in the VPB.
BOQ Import / Export Method
When adding BOQ links to VPB items be mindful of how these are going to be used. Various options area available to be set on both import through Sales Pricing and export through Document Integration.
The options “Mandatory on import/export”, Optional on Import/export” and “Do not import/export” are available to be set on both the importing and exporting in Framework. This allows us options to link BOQ’s to set sales pricing that we do no want to export into an estimate and also link BOQ’s that we want to export into an estimate but do not want to influence the retail price/cost.
Area Pricing
Items that are area specific both in terms of price and validity can be maintained in the item dialog box / area pricing tab.
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If the VPB item requires different estimate items or changes to the BOQ, this can be maintained by creating a unique BOQ for the VPB item in the specific area and adding this to the BOQ reference of the area pricing. This is particularly useful for building methods that may be different for the same item in different areas.
Validity
For items that can be used only for specific house product or a variety of house product it is important to apply the validity of items.
Example: An item is created for an air conditioning unit for an 18kw, 20kw etc.. with different number of outlets etc.., these would only need to be created once then the validity applied to each house that the item can be used on, thereby ensuring that the incorrect air conditioning unit cannot be used on the wrong house type and also the need not to create replicated items for air conditioning suitable for each house type is not required.)
Use validity to control the VPB item that are not applicable in specific areas where costs maybe unknown, or suppliers are unavailable (or have not yet been sourced)
Retail Pricing - Formula based
If formula’s are to be used to generate retail pricing of items, it is recommended that formula “Variables” be created to maintain consistency in formulas and a quick and easy way to change mark ups if required.
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Unique formula strings can be applied on individual items.
Retail Pricing – Market Value based
If the retail price of the item is to be set based on market value and not formula’s then the retail formula is simply omitted from the item in the VPB, retail price is manually input into the retail price field on the General tab. By maintaining a BOQ linked to the item to generate cost price, each time integration is run, filters can be applied to show only items that have an increase in cost or a reduction in margin (by specified values), allowing a new market value price to be set if desired or left at the current price.
Framework Integration
Once all the above has been considered and implemented we can now run the Framework Sales Pricing Integration.
- Flow diagrams
- Project Plan (contact Insula Software to be provided with a specific project model of the implementation process for your environment).
- UATs & Signoff
- Training
- Go Live
Ongoing Management
It is important to remember that each time new assemblies are created and assigned to items in the VPB that these are replicated in the WMS database, assigned the appropriate communities and added to the relevant WMS Sales Worksheet.
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