| # To launch an estimate to a budget You can launch an estimate to a project when: The work can start. The bid is accepted. Long-lead-time items must be ordered. You launch an estimate to create project budget lines from the estimate line. You can either launch: A complete project structure with all the estimate lines or a selection of estimate lines. Part of the structure. If the selected structure is hierarchical, you must specify a node. As a result, all structural elements and estimate lines linked to this node’s structural element are launched. If the hierarchy is not defined, a flat structure evolves and you can specify a range of elements and/or estimate-line sequence numbers. All estimate lines within the range are launched. If the structural element has the Bottom Up estimate type and the activity types is either a WBS element or a planning package, the structural element cannot be launched to a budget. For the Top Down estimate type the same rule applies, in case you use an activity structure as the primary structure. Estimate lines that are launched. In this case, you must delete the estimate/budget lines launched earlier, else the duplicate budget lines appear. Note There is no relation between the estimate lines and the budget lines, after the estimate is launched to the budget. When you use the indirect cost/surcharges in an estimate version, you must either change the value of the surcharge amount on your budget lines to zero or change the estimate lines with indirect cost to direct costs, when you launch an estimate. Else, the surcharge is calculated and added to the indirect cost of the actual project, which generates an inaccurate budget. For better estimating, use sundry costs to update the budget with surcharges. In the Launch as Sundry Lines group box, select the check boxes to balance the total value of the estimate and the budget. To launch an estimate to a budget, you can use the following budget types: Top-down budget. Bottom-up budget (activity budget). Bottom-up budget (element budget). Note The launched top-down budget and the bottom-up budget are not related. You can also copy or generate lines to a top-down budget after the launch. To launch an estimate to a top-down budget You can launch a top-down budget, only if: The primary structure is activity-based. You can launch a top-down estimate to a top-down budget. The top down budget version status must be Free. If you use a version for the project budget, you can launch an estimate to a new top-down budget version. The project status must be Free or Active. If the project status is Active, the project plan must be the project’s leading plan. Verify the consistency of the structure, before the launch. If the estimate-version structure deviates from the project activity structure, you will receive an error message in the Message Log (tpest0505m000) session. If the leading plan does not exist for the actual project, the project is updated with the launch plan which is the target plan in the Launch Estimate to Budget (tpest2200m000) session. If an activity structure does not exist for the launch plan, the estimate-version structure for the plan is copied to the budget. To launch an estimate to a bottom-up budget For each selected estimate line, the information on the budget line is populated based on these rules: If the estimate-version structure is copied to the budget, ensure that the element or activity structure is linked to the estimate version. If, during the launch to an element budget, element codes are not used on an estimate line, the default element is used. Consequently, an estimate line is launched with this default element. The same logic is applicable for activities. If the activity is of the type WBS element activity or a planning package activity, the activity can be used for estimating but cannot be launched to the budget. A bottom-up estimate line with the Total level type (level types are determined in the Structural Elements (tpest1120m000) session) can have a cost amount although a cost type is not defined. In this case, to launch the estimate line, a default cost type and the corresponding default cost object are used from the Launch Estimate to Budget (tpest2200m000) session. If the cost object is of the type Control Code and all check boxes are selected, a new cost object is generated in the session and is used on the budget line. Otherwise, the estimate line’s cost object is used on the budget line. The cost object description that is used on the budget line is the standard cost object description. If the cost object is not defined for the estimate line and if all the check boxes in the Cost Object Not Filled field are selected, a generated code is used on the budget line. Otherwise, the cost type’s default cost object is used. If any of the Cost Control Levels for Cost Component check boxes in the Project - Cost Control Levels (tppdm6102m000) session is selected for the project, and if a cost component is defined as one of the structural elements, the cost component is used for the budget line. Otherwise, the cost object’s cost component is used for the budget line. If an extension is present as one of the structural elements, the extension is used on the budget line. If the Target Extension field is specified, this target extension overwrites the structural-element and target extension used in the budget. The sales price is only specified on the budget line, if the extension type is Quantities-to-be-Settled and the invoicing method is Budgeted Costs. You can launch surcharge-, contingency-, and/or escalation amounts as sundry cost lines. Note on sequence numbers If you selected one of the Cost Object check boxes in the Launch Estimate to Budget (tpest2200m000) session, the corresponding values entered in the Sequence Number group box of the General Parameters (tppdm0100s000) session are used. If a control code is linked to an estimate line, a new cost object code is generated by adding a sequence number to the control code. The length of the sequence number depends on the value that indicates the maximum length in the General Parameters (tppdm0100s000) session, and the length of the cost object code that is defined in the data dictionary. If the range of the sequence numbers has already been used, a new series is generated starting with ZZZ00001. For example, Control code 20 appears twice and the length of the sequence is 2. As a result, the codes 2001 and 2002 are generated. For the equipment code, the maximum number of positions is 10. To assign a sequence number, the original code that is entered in the Estimate Lines (tpest2100m000) session must be less than 10 characters. Infor LN assigns the next free sequence number to the control code. Related topics To use estimate line levels To use a bid |