The Lot BOQ Workbench is primarily used by those responsible for preparing and estimating the bill of quantities, that is, by surveyors or estimators.

The main preparation of the bill is expected to be done using the development Template BOQ Workbench. The Lot BOQ Workbench provides similar facilities for maintaining a bill, allowing amendments to be made at lot level. In addition the lot workbench provides facilities to apply resource substitutions, select lot variants and view the bills with or without the variants applied. You can also rebuild the lot bill in full or in part from the template bill.

A command bar, at the top of the screen, allows you to access, and run, the key functions relating to the developmenttemplates.

Command Bar

The command bar includes the following buttons:

Below the command bar, the Lot BOQ Workbench is split across several tabs.

The Lot and Buyer workbenches work in exactly the same way, the only difference between the two workbenches is that the Buyers workbench is a cut down version of the Lot Workbench, focusing primarily on buying, an example of both is included below:

In the following explanation we will primarily be covering the Lot workbench as the fundamentals are exactly the same as Buyers.

To Start, the Matrix Views replicate what is available in the development template workbench, it allows you to apply changes to the matrix items and add variants to lots where applicable by the Variant Matrix View.

The Alternative Views tab allows you to see the resources in numerous ways, it also allows you to interact with the resources on different levels, this can be done by payment stage, variants matrix, Estimating Sections and resources.

On the Payment Stage Matrix, you have the ability to apply actions to rows or elements, this allows you to update individual items or a whole line per payment stage.

This is done with the following actions, clicking on the arrow actions the row or element action.

The Summary views emulate the matrix views, this functionality allows you to give read only access to users, enabling them to see the matrix views but only able to filter, sort and find information on the bill.

The Material, Subcontract and Plant tabs are exactly the same, they handle ordering but for each category, i.e materials and subcontracts. It is worth noting that the Plant tab is not generally used, and that plant ordering is usually directed through the standard procurement process.

As you can see below, the material and subcontract menus exist in the exact same structure, therefore this How To guide will only cover Materials.

There are numerous ways in which you are able to order through both workbenches, you can order through each package and variation matrix, through the bill items directly or through the package browse, all require nominating a supplier and applying a price, ensuring that the item is set to ready to use.

The Package Matrix view and the Variation Matrix view look exactly the same, you are able to order items via package, or by variation (where applicable).

The element and row menus both contain similar actions.

There are two main ways of viewing the matrix, by value and by status, this is controlled by the filter located at the top of the matrix.

The Package status view allows you to see items from a procurement perspective, this allows you to easily see if an item has been order or is in the process of being ordered. This view is available across all matrix views in the ordering process.

When hovering over an item you are presented with information on how far along in the procurement process the item is.

You are then able to right-click an individual element, then select Add to Item Basket from the menu.

Bill Items exist in the same menu, this item allows you to order directly from the list of items on the development and on the lot. You are able to add last-minute changes to a lot in this menu using the add type selector set to ‘resource line’. The selectors for adding to basket exist on the line also.

NOTE: you are not able to order items if a supplier and price has not been defined, the system will error advising you to nominate a supplier

Within the same menu drop down in each of the categories you have a number of other items that may be useful. These include the following;

Just like the template items workbenches, the development items within the surveyors’ workbench allow you to add, delete and modify resources, it automatically adds in the information to the payment stages tab and where applicable the intelligent resources.

To add a resource, ensure that the ‘add type’ on the workbench is set to ‘Resource Line’

If you now click Add, you’ll be taken to a screen where you’ll be able to add a new resource.

There are four main parts to the adding of a resource to the template item tab. These are ‘Item Selection’, ‘Pricing Details’, ‘Other Details’ and ‘Ordering Details’, an example of what could be input is below;

It is worth noting that within the Pricing Details you must ensure that the ‘status’ is set to ‘Not Applicable’ against the categories that aren’t being used and also ensure that the ‘item ready to use’ tick box is not ticked.

Other Details is more memo data rather than specifically affecting anything to do with the resource and usage of it.

It is important to ensure that the ordering details are filled out and that a resource is associated to either a material or subcontract package.

Once you are happy with your resource you can click Save, once it is saved, the screen will blank out all of the details you have just entered, this is so that you can add a new resource without navigating away. To navigate away from this click Undo at the bottom right hand side of the screen.

Under the More tab you have extra options.