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Summary File Maintenance (SFM) Preferences Window
From
Summary, select File > Preferences.
The Preferences window opens for you to select the options and settings
desired for Summary reports.
In the General Options section, select:
- Run Combined All/Estimate File
Pricing on startup:
If this option is checked, if the Combined All - Estimate File Pricing
summary does not already exist when you first go into Summary, it
will automatically be run. If unchecked, the Combined All - Estimate
File Pricing summary will not run until a summary is run.
- Run Print Preview on Quote Master: If
this option is checked, when Quote Master is run, a print preview
of the report displays. If not selected, the quote is displayed
in the Summary screen without previewing first.
- Enable Hot Tracking: This
option determines whether Hot Tracking is turned on or off. Hot
Tracking underlines the Summary item that the mouse/cursor is currently
over.
- Show prompts for manual values:
This option allows you to show prompts for manual values in summaries.
- Show prompts for
quote values: This option allows you to show prompts
for quote values in summaries.
You can setup the color for the manual and/or quote prompts by using
Edit Colors (in the Miscellaneous
Options section) on the Preferences window. If these prompts are shown,
any manual/quote value displays with a different background color
to alert you to enter a value for the item.
- Display Full UOM Description: When
this option is checked, units of measure will be fully written out
instead of abbreviated (e.g. “ea” becomes “each,” “lbs” becomes “pounds,”
etc). For this option to take effect, the Summary report
must be closed and re-opened.
In
the Printing & Export Options, section:
The two text fields for Print 'Adj Mat Unit'
column as and Print
'Adj Lbr Unit' column as allow you to enter different titles
for these columns to appear on the Summary report (e.g., you may prefer
that your customers see a column titled "Price" rather than
"Adj Mat Unit" on the report).
Select Custom
Print Header to open the Customize Summary Printing Options dialog
where you can select how the fields on your report display.
- In
the Header Display Format
section, select to display the company header in the center (Centered
Display) or along the sides (Wide Display)
- In
the Header Elements
section, place a check mark next to the data, job and estimate information
you want displayed.
- In
the Company Info
section, place a check mark next to the company information you want
displayed.
- In the Report-Specific
section, place a check mark next to the report information you want
displayed.
- In the Summary-Specific
Options section, place a check mark next to the items you want
to view in the report: Show Empty Sections, Show Report Notes, Show
Empty Levels, Show Material/Labor Sources. De-select these options
to "hide" that data.
Select OK
after choosing your report settings.
In
the Level Display Options section:
- Check one of these
options to choose what is displayed in the tree view (printed reports)
for each level.
The options include: Display
Level Type Name, Display
Level ID, Display
Level Number, and Display
Level Name. - VIEW
PHASE BREAKOUT BY: Use this drop
down to select how you want to view and print the Phase breakout (by
material, field labor, shop labor, weight, area/volume, or your user
defined phase, etc.)
- VIEW
SUBTOTAL BREAKOUT BY: Use this
drop down to select how you want to view and print the Subtotal breakout
(by material, field labor, shop labor, weight, area/volume)
In
the Decimal Places section:
Use these fields to set the
number of decimal places to be shown for both material and labor. You
can either manually enter a number or use the up and down arrows to select
a number after clicking in the field. A representation of the number you
choose is shown to the right of the input field.
In
the Variance section:
Variance compares the current unit value (ignoring adjustments) to a value
from Databook, and shows the difference in terms of unit and/or percentage.
- The
Percent
option divides the unit difference by the compared unit and multiplies
by 100. For example, if you
had some wire that was originally priced at 1.34$ per foot, but your
supplier quotes a price of 1.14$, which you enter. Your variance would
be -.20$ (1.14 - 1.34), but if displayed as a percentage, it would
be -14.93% (.20 * 100 / 1.34). {100
* ( (current - compare) / compare)}
- If Unit Difference is selected,
the program subtracts the compared unit from the current unit. { current - compared }
You
can select which unit from Databook they wish to compare using the
Calculation
Method option.
Original:
the unit used when the report was run (can be primary or alt/discount,
depending on the Summary settings).
Primary:
Always compares to the primary unit in Databook.
Alt: Always
compares to the alternate / discount unit of Databook.
EPF: Always
compares to the saved units in the Estimate Pricing File. If the user
has not saved a value into the EPF, it defaults to the saved primary
unit.
When
an item is added to the Estimate Pricing File, both its primary unit
and alternate unit are added to the EPF. These values are used
by default when Summaries are run (unless the user saves a manually
edited price, which then takes precedence). Therefore, it is
possible that, even without saving prices/labor to the EPF, Variance:
EPF and Variance: Primary
will give different results (e.g., a Price Update was applied after
the EPF was created).
If you change Variance preferences while a Summary is open, the Summary
will update and display the new results.
Additional
Variance Information:
Limitations
/ Exclusions
- Variance cannot
function if the current (or compared) value is SQMF. SQMF
means that either there is no value, or there is an unknown value.
In either case, there's no meaningful comparison that can
be made.
- Variance
does not function for calculated values. Since variance
is meant to compare current values against the Databook (or EPF
- and calculated units are not saved to the EPF), and calculated
values cannot be edited, they are ignored. Also: since calculated
values do not display the units straight out of Databook, variance
between the displayed unit and the Databook unit are meaningless.
If
variance cannot be calculated, a "---" symbol will be displayed
instead.
In the Miscellaneous
Options section:
- Supplier
Connect:
Opens the Supplier Connect Options window where you select your preferred
method for acquiring pricing information. You can set up custom columns
in Summary that can be used with Viewpoint
Pricer, EZ-Pricer,
NetPricer, Supplier
Xchange and Viewpoint Pricer. You can set up custom columns in
Summary to be used with your selected service.

EZ-Price columns are universal, meaning they can be set once and
used for all other Estimates created. However, EZ-Pricer columns
only appear if no Estimate-specific custom columns are setup in Summary.
- Edit
Colors: This option allows you to select the colors
of the units in the Summary Items Grid View. Click Set
to Default to reset the colors to their original system settings.
See Colors
in SFM for more information.
- Check Prompt to Save Changes to the Estimate Pricing
File if you want Estimating to prompt you to save the changes
made to the Estimate Pricing File.
- Check Retain Edited Values after Updates are Appliedto
have the edited items remain marked as edited, even after the Summary
Report is updated.
In the Accounting Integration
section: This section is visible if you have already selected an Accounting
Integration program. This integration can be set from the main Estimating
screen, File > Options > General Options.
- Create Separate Material and Labor Items:When this preference is
set, Accounting Bids will create separate cost codes for Material
and Labor. If the option is not set, then Material and Labor items
will continue to be combined. This option will only appear if
you have an accounting software application selected in the Accounting
Integration tab.
- Export
Codes: The Select Bid Export Pricing Codes dialog displays.
Choose which codes are sent to the accounting software application
selected in the Accounting
Integration tab. Select the UPC, Vendor and Buyer pricing codes
you want exported.
The Summary screen has columns for all 9 of the codes (3 each for UPC
Code, Vendor Code and Buyer Code). Verify which codes are being exported
by creating the export and examining the files for which codes are included.
When you are finished selecting
your preferences, click OK to
accept any changes you have made and return to Summary. Select Cancel
to return to Summary without saving any changes.
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