Sage Estimating rewards the teams that make a few structural decisions early and make them on purpose. This playbook follows the order in which a company usually adopts the software, and for each stage it sets out the decisions to make, the pitfalls we see most often, a checklist to work through and a short consultant’s note.
It is written for chief estimators, estimating managers, the person who owns the cost database and the IT lead who looks after the server. If you are starting out, read it in order. If Sage Estimating is already in place, use the checklists as a review and start with the chapter that matches your current problem. It is written to hold across current versions; Sage’s help for your version has the click-by-click steps.
What’s inside
- Before you start: goals, database ownership and what “done” looks like
- Setup and administration: SQL Server, databases, users, permissions and backups
- Licensing: license uses, modules and working offline
- Building your database: items, formulas, assemblies, crews, WBS and naming
- Your first estimates: setup, takeoff, adjustments and reports
- Takeoff integration with eTakeoff Dimension and On-Screen Takeoff
- Pricing and cost data, including RSMeans data
- Model estimating and when models pay off
- Upgrades and data migration
- Keeping it healthy: ownership, reviews and training