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.
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.
These benefits include
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.
It is recommended that where possible not to duplicate assemblies for like items but to use base styled assemblies assigned to multiple VPB items. Examples of this will be given in the setting up steps further in this document.
Questions that you would need to ask may include:
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.
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.
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.
Example:. if a VPB item for a roof tile upgrade is used there is no need to create dozens of assemblies for each house type as a single assembly can be used the assembly would be setup for 1m2 of roof tile upgrade.
The use of a table item would be the most suitable for this type of VPB item as the same description is used multiple times and the table structure is used to suit the multiple house types.
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.
It is important to note that using this type of item the QTY method needs to be set to “Standard – consider VPB qty”. |
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.
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.
Items that are area specific both in terms of price and validity can be maintained in the item dialog box / area pricing tab.
If the item is only to be used in specific areas and not to be used elsewhere then in the “For Unlisted Area’s?” drop down list choose “item is not allowed” and only place the area’s in the area price list that apply.
By Adding the areas to the area pricing, (if base item is the same) integration maintains the cost and retail price of the item via the WMS Sales Worksheets communities (i.e. WMS area pricing). If Building in areas outside the base area where there may be a difference in supplier pricing WMS can manage the difference in supplier pricing by using different rates and or different suppliers in multiple areas, this is referred to as “Communities” in WMS.
Once the suppliers pricing is set and the preferred suppliers are nominated in the supplier / Communities table, we are now ready to set up the Sales Worksheet. Firstly the Precision Estimating assemblies will need to be replicated into WMS, this is done through the WMS Estimating Integration. Once complete open the sales worksheet module of WMS. Open the Models / Options by Communities module under Sales Pricing and simply drag the assemblies into the area required. Then open the Sales Worksheet module, create a new sales worksheet and drag the items from the left side column under each community into the worksheet, then save once complete.
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.
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.
| 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)
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.
Multiple variables can be set to define different mark ups. This may be set as variables for 20%, 25%, 30%, etc..)
Therefore if the business decides to increase a mark up from 25% to say 27% the variable value is simply changed and all items that contain that variable in the retail formula tab are updated.
Unique formula strings can be applied on individual items.
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.
Once all the above has been considered and implemented we can now run the Framework Sales Pricing Integration.