This Printwiser Estimating 8.0 upgrade, effective July 2019, was implemented to facilitate a number of quote analysis reports and—more specifically—the submission of quotations in soft copy such as PDF documents without having to first print and then scan the quotes. It includes the following key features:

• Advanced quote writing with branding images for logos, signatures, directors lists, special conditions
• Cost analysis report
• Workback estimate report
• Yearly comparative report

1. Quote Writer option

Menu selection: Option > Quote Writer.  A user can be given the ability to turn this feature off temporarily, on their Estimating User Form.

When the feature is turned off from the Option menu (unchecked), all new functions documented below will not be available.

2. Quote signatory signature

Menu selection: Option > Settings. The signature appears beside the signatory’s name on the Settings form. Double-click on it to assign a new signature from a JPG file. When you change the signatory’s name a dropdown list will appear beside it for you to select an existing signature. But if the signature is new, update the form first then double-click on the former signature to assign the new one.

3. Quote company list maintenance

Menu selection: Option > Quote Company. Different sets of company name/logo/directors list and printing conditions details may be maintained. On the Quote Company Form, shown at the top of this page, double-click on any image to assign a new value (logo, directors list and printing conditions).

4. Special quote terms and conditions list maintenance

Menu selection: Option > Special Quote Conditions. Different sets of special terms and conditions may be maintained. They are later assigned to applicable quotations (combined format editable text quote and quote schedule) during report generation.

The NONE code has no conditions attached and should be selected when no special conditions should be assigned to a quote.

5. Printing quote cover letters with logo and signature

Specify the quote company on the report generation window.

To have the letter—as well as any other report—produced automatically in PDF format, select PDFCreator as the printer. If this option is not available, contact IT support to have it installed.

6. Printing quote with images and special conditions

Specify both the quote company and the special conditions on the report generation window, applicable to the Combined, Editable Text quote format.

The logo, signature and directors list are the images that will be included on the quote, and the quote (in RTF format) will automatically open in your computer’s word processing application such as OpenOffice Writer or Microsoft Word. Any special conditions will appear on its own last page.

7. Printing quote schedule with images and special conditions

Like in the previous section, specify the quote company and the special conditions codes on the report generation window.

From the specified quote company, the logo and directors list images will be taken, along with the address next to the logo. The size of the short logo is fixed at about 25mm high by 68mm wide (roughly 1 x 3 inches); a bigger logo will be reduced to this size. Any special conditions will appear on its own last page.

Newly generated and saved quotation schedules will display in the new format, while older ones will display as before when viewed from Report Manager.

8. Cost analysis report

Menu selection: File > Build Report > Cost Analysis. This new option will be accessible to anyone that can generate estimate reports. It presents analysis data from one or more estimates, preferably for the same customer, in spreadsheet format, including material, labor and total costs, four standard addition rates and amounts with corresponding agency commission amounts, total price and unit price at no markup and then the unit prices at each of the standard additions.

The following displays for you to specify the agency commission, standard additions, labor rate and the estimates to be used to build the spreadsheet.

If you have generated a report before and just want to see it again, you can uncheck the Recalc box for faster display.

When the report displays, the customer name will be shown as subheading from the first estimate on the list. At the bottom of the report screen the following options let you change selected headings and values.

You can use this to change agency commission, labor rate and standard additions, and then use the Calculate button to refresh the page, instead of closing and going back to the previous window. Once you type a heading or value, press Enter or Tab key for it to be assigned. The Binding column works with specific rows on the report, so first click on the row you want to change before typing the new value. The Paper and Board columns let you adjust the paper and board specification headers. The paper quantity is shown inside parentheses for client paper.

You can resize the columns or move them around. You can export the spreadsheet to Excel or OpenOffice Calc for further manipulation.

9. Workback estimate report

Menu selection: File > Build Report > Workback Estimate. This newly-available option will be accessible to anyone that can generate estimate reports. When the customer offers to pay a different price, for instance, the report shows the effect on the standard addition.

The following displays for you to specify the estimate and the new price to be used to build the report.

10. Yearly comparative report

Menu selection: File > Build Report > Yearly Comparative. This new option will be accessible to anyone that can generate estimate reports. It presents prices of estimates of the same paper size and ups format across two or three years for comparison.

The following displays for you to specify the paper size and ups, standard addition and the years to be used to build the report.

You may resize the columns of the report, and after doing so just double-click to have the year headings align properly.