All estimating methods share the purpose of converting requirements and deliverables into costs, so that a bid can be submitted in response to the proposal. This is done by determining the resources (labor, material, travel, other) required to fulfill the deliverables and meet the requirements.  Different estimates have different information needs so this application provides separate tabs and panels to create each estimate. For example:

• Labor is a list of resources, hours, days etc. using rates defined centrally
• Material is both an indentured part configuration (or bill of material) and a consolidated list of material proposals or buys/makes required
• Travel is a list of travel related items, quantities and associated costs
• Other direct costs, including subcontractor costs, is essentially a list of items, quantities and costs

There is overlap but the unique requirements of each type of resource calls for a separate panel or tab to capture the desired information. All four kinds or methods of estimates feed into a single Cost Model which is reviewed, and where indirect costs such as fringe, overhead or G&A are added.

An estimating source is a subset of an estimating method and details more specifically how or where the estimate comes from. For example labor estimating methods might be sourced on the basis of a "level of effort" assessment, a discrete project plan, a prior estimate which is similar and was copied, or the actual hours booked to a previous project and WBS which represents a similar piece of work. The confidence of your estimate varies according to the estimating source selected, with more specific sources such as copying a plan or actual, having a higher confidence.

Material estimating sources vary between parts which ar epurchased and parts which are manufactured in-house. For example:

• Purchase parts can be estimated based on reading purchase order history, a vendor quotation or rough order of magnitude input, a manual estimate or a current valid purchasing contract with a vendor
• Parts which are made in-house can be estimated based on the standard production routing (operation hours at each work-center and site), discrete level of effort estimate, or based on actual production historical hours booked
• The confidence in each material estimate varies based on the selected source similar to labor estimates. Your proposal costs can be viewed by estimating source in the Costing Workbench.

Estimating in-house produced parts based on actual production order historical hours is not supported at this time, however you can view production order confirmed hours as a visual reference.