Configuring an Estimate

Estimates have a high level of configurability, ensuring you can create your estimates with precision. For more information about creating an estimate, see Creating an Estimate.

Overview of Estimate Products

The Overview tab has an Estimate Product Overview grid that displays a high-level summary of the estimate products in your estimate.

  • The Status column of the grid displays an Added to Opportunity, Project Created or, Draft status. The Draft status represents an estimate product that hasn't been added to opportunity or created a project yet.
  • Right-click a column header to show a menu with options to hide columns, add columns, or sort columns in ascending or descending order.
  • A drop-down enables you to display the estimate products in their respective currencies or select a currency to display all of the estimate products in. This drop-down will only display if the Disable Multi-Currency Estimates field in the Services CPQ Settings custom setting is disabled and when there is more than one currency represented in the estimate.
  • To filter the Estimate Product Overview by role, practice, group, and region, click Filter.
  • To exclude non-billable expenses from the grid, click Filter and deselect the Include Non-Billable Expenses checkbox.
  • To exclude estimate vendor line items from the grid, click Filter and deselect the Include Estimate Vendor Line Items checkbox.

Estimate Details

The Details tab enables you to amend estimate details. You can amend the start and end date of the estimate. You can also select whether the estimate is the primary version for the opportunity, and the billing type.

The Records Independent of Estimate Products section enables you to amend the details of independent records. The Product field enables you to select the active product you want to use to create an opportunity product when pushing records independent of estimate products to opportunity.

The Discounting section enables you to apply a discount to an estimate, enter the percentage to discount in the Global Discount (%) field on the estimate. For more information, see Discounting Estimates.

The Cost Contingency section enables you to set a budget for any unexpected costs. This amount is added to the net amount and cost for the estimate. You can also select the Apply Discount to Cost Contingency checkbox, so that any discounts on the estimate are applied to the cost contingency.

For more information about the fields displayed on the Details tab, see Estimate Fields.

Estimate Builder

The Builder tab contains the Estimate Builder component, which enables you to build your estimate using estimate products, line sets, tasks, and role requests.

Notes:
  • You must have the appropriate permissions for the fields to display in the Estimate Builder component. Contact your administrator.
  • To view a record's details in a new tab, on the row of a record, click then View Details.
  • To export the Work Breakdown and Hours Breakdown views of the Estimate Builder to a CSV file, click Export to CSV File in the toolbar. Only the data in the expanded rows of the Builder are included in the CSV file. For more information, see Estimate Builder Lightning Component Properties.

Hierarchy of Estimate Records

Records on an estimate employ the following hierarchy:

  1. Estimate Products
  2. Line Sets
  3. Tasks
  4. Role Requests

Each record can exist alone, but they will always exist in the outlined hierarchy if the records are related to each other. Any changes to records will have an effect on their parent and child records. If a parent record is deleted, its child records will also be deleted.

Tip:

You can reorder and reparent records by dragging and dropping the rows. However, the new location of the records must still respect the hierarchy, and records can't be moved into or out of estimate products.

Customizing the Estimate Builder

You can customize the Builder in the following ways:

  • Right-click a column header to show a menu with options to hide columns.
  • Use drag-and-drop to reorder columns.
  • Use Drag and Drop to reorder rows.
  • Use the fill handle to copy cell values by clicking and dragging one or more cells and dropping them into other cells.
Tip:

You can also copy and paste specific cells by right-clicking the cell, then click Copy Cells, Cut Cells, or Paste. Keyboard shortcuts are also available to use when copying or pasting cells. For more information, see Estimate Builder Keyboard Shortcuts.

Note:

You cannot use the fill handle in the following scenarios:

  • When dragging cell values from the Discounted Bill Rate column
  • When dragging cell values from the Bill Rate and Discount (%) columns simultaneously
  • When cells are read-only
  • When dragging across different record types
  • When dragging horizontally in the Work Breakdown view
  • When dragging horizontally in the Name and Total Hours columns in the Hours Breakdown view

Your customizations are only applied for your user and are retained if you use the same browser on the same device. Your scroll position and collapsed state of estimate records are also retained for your most recently viewed estimate, provided you only have one estimate open.

Using Fill Handle on Start and End Dates

The following rules apply when changing or amending record dates in a hierarchy:

  • The end date cannot occur before the start date
  • Child start and end dates cannot be set outside of parent start and end dates if the Automatically Adjust Dates custom setting is set to true
  • Changing a start date adjusts the corresponding end date to maintain the same duration
Note:

You cannot use the fill handle to drag more than one start and end date.

Locking an Estimate

To lock an estimate so that all records associated with it are uneditable, select the Locked field in the Details tab. To unlock the estimate, deselect the Locked field.

Note:

Estimate templates cannot be locked.