Tags are properties in your proposal and WBS where you assign the field's label and allowed values up-front and the various people completing estimates assign values within their labor, material, equipment etc. estimates. These values are in turn passed onto the cost model and can be used to slice and dice costs in the costing workbench.

Tags are initially set-up by your implementation consultant, and get inherited from the proposal type settings. You can subsequently edit, add or delete tags in the proposal SET-UP tab.

At the bottom of the SETUP tab under the heading "Use Tags to add New Dimensions to your Cost & Revenue Model" highlighted in the screen image below, you can:

1. Assign values to tags which are already present in your proposal by selecting a value from the list
   • Any tags assigned to your proposal are automatically inherited down to the proposal WBS and to the estimating records (labor, material, travel and other costs) in your proposal
   • Depending on how the tag was set-up you may be allowed to define new tag values "on the fly" in other words type in free text and have that value added to the list for other users.
2. Add a new tag to your proposal, assigning a tag which your company previously setup, by simply selecting the tag or custom field from the list of values which appears in the drop down of the last field "Select Tag to Add"
3. Create or define a project or proposal-specific tag on the fly, as explained in the section below
4. Edit the definition of an existing tag if you are authorized. You can only edit project-specific tags created per #3 above from within the project or proposal application. To edit other tags go to the Tag Definitions SET-UP menu
   • Do not modify the tag properties such editing or deleting entries from the list of allowed values for a pre-existing tag unless you either created the tag or you have talked to its creator. Deleting values from a tag which have already been used in a proposal or project's estimates causes inconsistencies in the reporting data
5. Delete a tag from your proposal, as explained in the section at the bottom of this article (same caution applies).

To add a new tag to your proposal click (2) list of tags to add, and click on the Create New Tag button shown immediately below.

Following the Create New Tag button you will see the popup definition panel shown below. Here you can:

1. Enter the name of your new tag, as you would like it to appear in the proposal or project SET-UP tab, in the scope/WBS tab and in your estimating tabs as a column, or in the consolidated material list popup ADDITIONAL DATA tab.  Make sure your description is unique i.e. not the same as a previously created tag
   • In case you wish to assign a previously created tag to your proposal, WBS and estimates then select it from the drop-down list do not click on Create New Tag button shown above
2. The tag is also assigned a 'tag code' which is not editable. Its purpose is to allow you to change your mind about the name (or to translate the name into other languages in the future) without having to re-tag everything
3. Select what type of tag this is e.g. text, number, date or value from list. "Value from list" is the default and the most common type and simply means that the tag values are selected from a list
   • Selecting tag values from a list ensure consistency of how estimates are classified and allows you to have more consistent reporting of costs by tag values as well as defining formula which uses costs with specific tag values assigned as their base
4. The list of values allowed for this tag appears in the table below, which is initially blank if you are creating a new tag. Click the + button to add a row for each allowed tag value you users to choose from
   • Enter the description of each tag value as clearly as possible making sure the description is unique for this tag. The tag description is what users will see
   • The tag's "code" (which is how the tag is stored in the database and is not language dependent) is automatically set as the tag code plus the tag value code (tag description minus spaces). This code cannot be edited. The only time it will not match the description is if someone edited the description of the tag value after the code was set
   • Having a separate tag code vs. text value is useful if you make a mistake in how the tag is named or wish to modify the name or value of a tag after you have started using it.
5. If you want to allow users to add new values to the list of tags "on the fly" as they are assigning values in their estimate, then check this box. Leaving this box unchecked means that users must choose a valid tag from the list of values in the table below
   • The benefit of allowing others to add values on the fly is when you don't really know what values the tag might take at the beginning, for example if the tag represents something which is changing in your organization. The drawback of allowing others to add values on the fly is they will add values instead of selected from the existing list resulting in duplicate value such as "Red", "RED" and "red" making their way into the list
6. Tags created from the proposal or project SETUP tab will also have a scope which is proposal-specific, meaning that they can only be used in this one proposal. To create company wide tags system administrators and other authorized users should use the SET-UP menu
7. Optionally assign your tag to a group, or create a new group by simply entering it. This is more for system administrators to group and organize tags across your company
8. Optionally enter a longer description of the tag. Include information to the user about how to select the right value for example the criteria for each value
9. Confirm and save this popup to add your new tag, which will be automatically assigned to the scope/WBS and labor, material. travel, equipment and other direct cost estimates within your proposal or project. It cannot be used on other proposals or projects unless you set up a company wide tag.

Tags are normally added to the next available position or "slot" in your proposal set-up tab, though in exceptional circumstances and empty slot vacated by a deleted tag might be re-used. You cannot modify the position of tags in the SET-UP tab, though you can modify the sequence of tag columns in the SCOPE/WBS, labor, material, travel and other cost estimating tabs.

If you added a tag by mistake, or changed your mind about a tag after you have added it, you can remove the tag from your proposal by simply clicking on "Delete Tag" link (#5 in first screen image) which appears above each tag in your proposal SETUP tab.

If you have not yet started using this tag it will simply be deleted. If you or others have started assigning values to this tag then deleting it will impact the assigned values. You will receive a popup like the one shown below warning you of this. It tells you how many WBS elements and how many estimates (labor records, materials, travel or other direct cost items) are impacted.  You then have the option to:

• Cancel and not delete the tag after all, because you want to check why values have been assigned and perhaps manually clear them
• Delete the tag and clear all the assigned values immediately to keep things "clean", because you know the tag was a mistake so any assigned values will be invalid anyway. Click the Delete button with "Clear all" checked by default
• Delete the tag but leave the values assigned. This is dangerous because the values which are assigned are now "orphaned" and will automatically appear against a new tag which is created in the same "spot" in the proposal SETUP tag as the tag which you deleted.
  • To do this uncheck "Clear all" before pressing the Delete button
  • Only do this if you know that the new replacement tag (which you are going to create right away) is similar to the tag you are deleting and therefore the same values can and should be re-assigned to the new tag. That being said it also possible to simply the existing tag's value, being careful not to delete values which have already been used, instead.