The Correspondence Logwithin Project Management enables you to track

and manage project correspon-dence including phone calls,faxes, e-mails, and other docu-mentation. You can track detailssuch as who the sender was, howthe correspondence was sent, aswell as comments, status, andurgency. The CorrespondenceLog keeps information easilyaccessible since it centralizeseverything.

Similar to other featureswithin Project Management, theCorrespondence Log can be

adjusted to meet your company’sneeds. By right-clicking on theheader, you can hide/show the

What’s Better Than a Filing Cabinet?Correspondence Log Takes No Space

by: Lynn A. BitarBusiness Development/Human Resources

Thomas & Egenhoefer, Inc.

columns that your companyfrequently utilizes. From withinProject Management, you cancreate new entries and attachdocuments. You are also able toview the complete correspon-dence log for a particular project,as well as search for specificentries by field. In addition,Project Management allows youto open and view documents andattachments to particular entries.Finally, you have the capabilityto change, close and deleteexisting log entries.

There are a few ways youcan add an entry to the Corre-

spondence Log. Youcan add an entrydirectly in ProjectManagement. Fromthe Documentsmenu, select Corre-spondence Log. Inthe CorrespondenceLog window, enterthe job informationthat you are loggingthe information to.You can then eitherclick on a blank row

in the Correspondence Log gridor you can select New. Thenwork your way through the grids

by entering in as much informa-tion as you have. To attach anexisting file, select the paperclipin the last column of the grid.

You can make a Correspon-dence Log entry for e-mails yousend or receive. If you want tomake an entry to an e-mail yousend, prior to sending it, clickAdd to Log in the toolbar area.The first time you perform this

Continued on page 3

News & Information for Users of Sage Timberline Office Software for February 2007

IN THIS ISSUEWhat’s Better than a Filing

Cabinet?CorrespondenceLogTakes No Space ................ 1

Join the Project Management ForumGroup for Answers, Questions,and Everything PJ ................... 2

Easier Benefits Management withOffice ConnectorAs SageTimberline Office, Microsoft®Excel Link ............................... 4

Estimating Tips ............................... 5You’ll be Glad That You Got Around

To Learning About Round andRoundto ................................. 6

America’s First Home Uses TimberlineProduction Management ToManage Growth ...................... 7

Version 9.4 Estimating will be ComingSoon to a PC Near You ........... 10

TUG Online Training Schedule ........ 11TUG Calendar ................................. 11

- 2 -

Has your companyrecently purchased SageTimberline’s Project

Management module? Have youbeen assigned the task of learn-ing what to do with this moduleso that it functions the way yourorganization wants it to work?Or, have you been using ProjectManagement for years, butwonder if there may be a betterway to do something? Or, do youhave a wealth of knowledgeabout Project Management andare willing to share your vastexperience with other users?Regardless of your experiencelevel and knowledge, the ProjectManagement Forum Groupwelcomes you.

TUG’s Project ManagementForum Group meets via Webexthe last Tuesday of every monthand holds training sessions allother Tuesdays at noon CentralStandard Time. The topic is setfor an entire month, and thetraining sessions apply directlyto the selected topic. For ex-ample, February’s topic is RFIs.The first training session covers

Join the Project Management ForumGroup for Answers, Questions,

and Everything PJby: Lynn A. Bitar

Business Development/Human ResourcesThomas & Egenhoefer, Inc.

the basics of RFIs, followed by atraining session on RFI reports.Then, at the Forum Groupmeeting at the end of the month,after users have had the opportu-nity to apply what they learned,the forum answers questions andissues.

Our month-end ForumGroup meetings, while they docover the month’s topic, are alsoopen for general discussions.Users are free to ask questionsabout upgrades, issues they arehaving, reports they want accessto, security, etc.

We always welcome moreattendees. TUG is only as strongas its users who support andparticipate in the organization.We strongly encourage new andexperienced users to join. It isamazing the information andknowledge you can walk awaywith from just spending one hourin a Webex training session.

Check out TUGweb.com tosee available training sessions.Join us to share knowledge andlearn from other users.

May 9 - 11, 2007Gaylord Texan Resort& Convention Center

Grapevine, TexasRegister at www.TUGweb.com

the TUG PulsePublished by the

Timberline Users Group, Inc.and sent to all members.

Board of DirectorsMike Suhovecky, President

Sharon Hessong,Vice President

Robin Peterson, SecretaryCharlie Auger, Treasurer

Lynn BitarTom MooreJon Banse

Dawn NaisbittNatalie AllenJim Morrison

Dennis StejskalTom Love

Wayne Newitts

Publications CommitteeEire Stewart

Robin PetersonTom Moore

George MurphyAlan Cusson

Carolyn Boettner, EditorMaureen Connolly,

Consultant

National AdministratorBoettner Business

ProfessionalsP.O. Box 697

Sylvania, OH 43560Phone: 419.885.9004

Fax: 419.885.9007

Toll Free: 800.884.4630

Web Site

2007 TUG NATIONAL CONFERENCE & WORKSHOPS

- 3 -February 2007

task for the day, you’ll needto login to Sage TimberlineOffice. In the Correspon-dence Log window, enterthe job and enter anyadditional information.Some of the fields withinthis window can also bemodified to meet yourneeds. (Figure 1)

When you’ve com-pleted the information,click OK. You may receivea Correspondence Logentry message that lets youknow that the log entry willbe made when you send thee-mail or close an e-mailyou received. You will thenreturn to the e-mail. Whenyou send the e-mail, you’llreceive a message statingthat an entry was made inthe Correspondence Log.Logging e-mails youreceive is completed in a similarmanner. After opening the e-mail, select Add to Log and thenfollow the steps described above.

Project Management alsoenables you to log entries fromMicrosoft® Word and Excel.Once you’ve created or opened adocument in Word or Excel,select the Add to Log button inthe toolbar area. (Figure 2)

The above window willopen up within Word or Excel.Enter as much information asyou have available and then clickOK. The entry to the Correspon-dence Log is actually made whenyou close the document.

If necessary, you can changeinformation within the Corre-spondence Log. If you changeinformation directly in the

Instead, Project Manage-ment points directly to thefile location where yourfile is saved. You may setup different default filelocations for logged andsaved Word or Exceldocuments.

Microsoft Outlookfunctions differently withthe Correspondence Log.When you create a logentry for an e-mail, a copyof the e-mail is createdspecifically for the Corre-spondence Log as a .msgfile. The file name is thefirst 20 characters of the e-mail’s subject. If the e-mail has any attachments,those are also saved withthe original e-mail. Docu-ments that are attached tothe Correspondence Logentry by selecting the

paperclip remain in the folder inwhich they were originallysaved.

Project Management hasnumerous Correspondence Logreports that help you to manageand follow up on entries made inthe log. These reports include:• Correspondence Log• Correspondence Log by

Person• Correspondence Log by

Status• Correspondence – Overdue• Correspondence by Type• Correspondence by Urgency• Correspondence by SpecSec• Correspondence by SentVia

Login and put this tool togood use.

Continued from page 1

Correspondence Log withinProject Management, the infor-mation is saved once you moveto a different row in the grid.There is some information thatcan’t be changed, such as From,To and CC recipients if the entryis for an attached e-mail. You canonly make changes to an entryfor Microsoft® Outlook, Word orExcel documents if you createdthe original log entry.

Many users wonder wherecorrespondence log attachmentsare stored. When you createentries for documents withinWord or Excel, the documentbecomes a file attachment to thecorrespondence log entry. There-fore, Project Management doesnot create a copy of the originalfile for the Correspondence Log.

Figure 1

Figure 2

What’s Better Than aFiling Cabinet?

- 4 -

The Gorman Group ofcompanies has beenmaintaining and rehabili-

tating roads for municipalitiesand private customers throughthe Northeastern United Statessince 1916. Gorman Group hasmore than 250 employees. Manyof those employees are seasonalwith years of service acrossmultiple hire and re-hire datesand with varying carryover andeligibility for vacation. Withthese challenges, staying on topof employee benefits and manag-ing them is of paramount impor-tance.

Much of the informationGorman needs to manage em-ployee benefits is in Sage Tim-berline Office payroll files.However, managing all of thisinformation, reviewing it foraccuracy and sharing it with theappropriate decision makerswould be difficult using the SageTimberline Office payroll appli-cation and a report writer. That’sbecause the information neededfor such a report is in two sepa-rate Payroll master files. Tocomplete the reporting process,

The Gorman Group’s Story:

Easier Benefits Management with OfficeConnector As Sage Timberline Office,

Microsoft® Excel Linkby: Barbara A. Morse James Coyle

Gorman Bros., Inc. Event 1 Software, Inc.

several different staff membersmust interact with the sameinformation, building on whatother staff have provided. So,Gorman turned to Microsoft®

Excel to manage this informa-tion.

Gorman chose Excel be-cause it had the capacity tohandle the amount of calculateddata needed to complete thisproject and the Payroll Depart-ment finds it easy to use. Col-umns 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 in thescreen shot below representinformation from the SageTimberline Office employeemaster file displayed in an Excelworksheet. Columns 5, 9, 10, 11,and 13 are custom fields in theSage Timberline Office em-ployee master file. The remain-ing columns are Excel calcula-tions.

The Complexities of the Task

In order to get a comprehen-sive picture of an employee’sbenefits, Gorman had to create twoseparate Excel spreadsheets repre-senting each of the Timberline data

folders. Gorman pays most of thebenefit time from one data folder.However, there are employeeswhose benefit time is paid from theother data folder.

The first thing Gorman had todetermine was whether the em-ployee was eligible for vacation.Gorman has nine different benefittime policies. The custom field“Eligible for Vacation” was createdto facilitate this process. A formulawas created using the “Title” fieldto determine eligibility. The Titlefield classifies whether the em-ployee is permanent fulltime,permanent seasonal, etc. If the Titlefield is blank, “Needs Entry” showsthat Payroll needs to enter data.

The next step involved deter-mining the employee’s years ofservice with the company. A simpleExcel year calculation using thestart of the new year, benefit time,and the employee’s hire date derivesthe years of service. The rehire datefield was brought in for any excep-tions. Once the years of service iscalculated, a lookup formula is thenused to calculate what the vacationfor each employee should be. In

- 5 -February 2007

some cases, it matches the “Earned”column. This information is cur-rently in the Timberline data folder.A column was added for Payroll’sreview of the Earned (to manageexceptions). The same logic wasapplied to calculate the Carryovercalculation. The “Exception”column is a manual entry column.Any exception in hours beyond thepolicy is marked here, as well as inthe Sage Timberline Office em-ployee data folder for futurerecordkeeping.

However, Excel by itself wasnot the most efficient method ofkeeping the data up to date. Theoverview is a good tool for thePayroll Department, but modifyingeach employee master file would bevery time consuming.

How Office Connector Simplifies

Gorman turned to Event 1Software, Inc. and Office Connec-tor. Office Connector was intro-duced to Gorman in the fall of 2003at the Sage Timberline Office usermeeting of United Solutions, Inc.Office Connector’s ease of use andintegration with Excel gave Gorman

interesting ideas on ways it couldutilize the software. Gormanpurchased Office Connector in2004. Staff needed only one onlineclass to start down the path oftransferring the information fromTimberline into Excel. On thisparticular project, Tim Schmick, theconsultant from Event 1, resolvedan Excel calculation. The Event 1piece was clear and correct.

In Gorman’s current process,once the Payroll Departmentreviews and makes any correctionsto the workbook, staff use OfficeConnector Write to write back thefields to the Sage Timberline Officedata folder for each employeemaster file (in different data fold-ers). In a matter of minutes, the datais updated. Doing this manually ineach Timberline data folder for eachemployee record would take hours.Office Connector means a hugetime saving for Payroll. It also addsconfidence for the employee thathis or her benefit time is correctand up to date. Because it is aheavily seasonal business, Gormanreplenishes the benefit time eachNovember 1. In addition, each

January 1 the carryover is calcu-lated and refreshed.

Gorman uses Office Connectorfor a number of reports:• Equipment comparisons for

cost and revenue for fourconstruction companies.

• Accounts Payable uses anExcel sheet with OfficeConnector combiningcertain GL accounts fromsix Sage Timberline Officedata folders.

• Multiple sheets have beencreated for Payroll, includ-ing wage comparisons andunemployment eligibility.

Implementing Office Connec-tor with Excel has had a positive,daily impact on Gorman Group.Gorman wanted to build a “bettermouse trap” and conduct businessmore effectively. The companyrecognized the potential that OfficeConnector had to impact the bottomline. With the support of Event 1,Gorman Group was able to redefineprocesses and use its existing toolsmore effectively.

TO: Guru ManI like Models, but am having troubles with them. My users won’t read the help orput in the correct values. What I’d like to do is make users pick from a list. What canI do?

FROM: Model Trouble

TO: TroubleI have problems with Models, too, mostly because they won’t go out with me, andthey use totally inappropriate language like “pudgy” and “middle aged.” Now youknow why I hide under my Guru robe.

Model Estimating, however, can help you. There is a question type called a Drop Down Question.Select this type of question and populate it with the values you want the user to pick from. The user can onlypick from these values, resulting in no more mistakes.

FROM: The Unmistakable Guru

Email your questions for the Estimating Guru to TUGadm@tugweb.com.

Estimating TipsEstimating Tips

- 6 -

The takeoff process usingSage Timberline Estimating allows the estimator

to generate accuracy to threedecimal places. The computer’scalculation will be accurate, butit’s based on the information andthe handling instructions that theuser has given it.

An example would be aconcrete calculation. A formulacould appear as Length ‘ *Width ‘ * Depth ‘ /27. Thecomputer will calculate concretein a slab that is 10’6" by 15’3"by 4" thick as having 1.957 cubicyards. It is nice to have that levelof accuracy, but reality willimpact this quantity. Would youwant to call the concrete plant toask for 1.957 yards?

We can use the Round or theRoundto function to allow thesystem to calculate a roundedquantity. The Round functionwill take the result of the for-mula and round to a specificplace.

Sage Timberline Help tellsus this:

ROUND Function

This function rounds thevalue being calculated at takeoffto a specified number of digits(from -3 to 3). Enter a separator(shown as a comma below) afterthe value.

* If digit is positive, the valueat that position is rounded to thenearest number.

Estimating Formula of the Month:

You’ll be Glad That You Got AroundTo Learning About Round and Roundto

by: Thomas A. Love • Brice Building Company

* If digit is negative, roundingoccurs to the left of the decimalpoint.

Syntax ROUND (value, digit)

Examples:ROUND (1538.3518, 3) =1538.3520ROUND (1538.3518, 2) =1538.3500ROUND (1538.3518, 1) =1538.4000ROUND (1538.3518, 0) =1538.0000ROUND (1538.3518, -1) =1540.0000ROUND (1538.3518, -2) =1500.0000ROUND (1538.3518, -3) =2000.0000

TIP: Unlike rounding theorder quantity of items onreports (Round field in theDatabase Item window), aformula with a ROUND functionaffects the actual number calcu-lated during takeoff.© 2005 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

In order to take advantage ofthis feature, the formula could bewritten as ROUND(Length ‘* Width ‘ * Depth ‘ /27,0). Thiswould generate cubic yardsrounded up or down, dependingon the quantity. Using the sameinputs from above, the answerwould be 2.0 cubic yards.

The Round function givescontrol of the decimal place, butwill round down or up. If theinputs generated 25.36 cubic

yards, the better answer shouldbe 26 cubic yards. The formulawould return 25 cubic yards. Inorder to control the direction ofrounding, you should use theRoundto function.

Sage Timberline Help tellsus this:

ROUNDTO Function

ROUNDTO, which is moreflexible than the ROUND func-tion, allows you to use a specificmethod and multiplier to get thedesired number of decimalplaces. Enter a separator (shownas a comma below) after thevalue and method. This functionrounds the value being calcu-lated at takeoff.

Syntax ROUNDTO (value,method, multiplier) Where themethod is:

-1 round down0 round to closest1 round up

Examples:ROUNDTO (538.351,-1,.1) =538.3000ROUNDTO (538.351,1,.01) =538.3600ROUNDTO (538.351,0,1) =538.0000ROUNDTO (538.351,0,10) =540.0000© 2005 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

The formula could bechanged to ROUNDTO( Length‘ * Width ‘ * Depth ‘ /27,1,1).

Continued on page 12

- 7 -February 2007

America’s First Home Uses TimberlineProduction Management To Manage Growth

TIMBERLINE PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT WORKFLOW

Continued on page 8

America’s First Home ison a growth path thatwould be the envy of

any corporation in America. Oneof Florida’s largest home build-ers, and number 74 on theBuilder Magazine Builder 100list, America’s First Home willclose 1,100 homes in 2006, butlook back a few years and youwould see 780 starts in 2004,and fewer than 100 in 2001. Fewcompanies anywhere have grownat such a rate, in or out of thenew home market.

The company’s 200 employ-ees and 35 superintendentsmanage the construction of 32base plans, each one of which isoffered with a minimum of twoelevations. As if that is notenough to track, there are 75options per plan, and all the fieldworkers are tied to back officesoftware systems with aircardson their laptops to access high-speed data networks, so the“back office” software is truly afield-interactive data center, withreal-time access offers to manyauthorized workers.

To power its many compli-cated operations, America’s FirstHome uses Sage TimberlineOffice. America’s First Homefirst defined their buildingprocess and technology objec-tives by examining their corerequirements as a productionbuilder. Typically “productionbuilders” are defined as builderswho construct more than 100single-family homes or 250multi-family homes per year andhave a need for integrating sales,bid solicitation, estimating,

purchasing, scheduling, fieldmanagement, accounting andwarranty into a seamless pro-cess. For its process manage-ment, America’s First Home runsBuilderMT’s Workflow Manage-ment Suite in tandem with SageTimberline Office; also know asTimberline Production Manage-ment. BuilderMT is the centraldata processing and process-management hub through whichthe majority of America’s First

Home runs its day-to-day opera-tions. By processing budgets,purchase orders, cost, revenue,schedules, and warranty datainto the Sage Timberline Officedatabase, the Workflow Manage-ment Suite offers integratedmodules for Sales Pricing, BidSolicitation, Scheduling, Wire-less Scheduling, Model Man-ager, and Purchasing, which metAmerica’s First Home require-

- 8 -

Continued from page 7

WIRELESS SCHEDULING ON THE BLACKBERRY

America’s First Home

PURCHASE ORDER RELEASE SCREEN IN THE

PURCHASE ORDER EXAMPLE

ments as a productionhomebuilder.

BuilderMT Purchasing withSage Timberline Office

For Sage Timberline Officeusers, BuilderMT’s award-winning software, offers aseamless integrated solution, thatbring Sage Timberline Officeproduction home building clientshighly developed, yet easy-to-manage, workflow manage-ment software modules thatcan formalize, enforce, anddrive multiple activitiesacross any number of hous-ing starts, and all affiliatedtrades. Moreover,BuilderMT can be linked toa wide variety of wirelessdevices that can—on apermission basis—drawupon / affect core SageTimberline Office data.

America’s First Home isparticularly fond of the capa-bilities that BuilderMT bringsto the purchasing process. Asa production home builder,America’s First Home quicklydetermined that they neededthe BuilderMT portion toaddress America’s First Homeneeds for an integrated produc-tion solution. As soon as it wasavailable, the staff at America’sFirst Homes eagerly imple-mented BuilderMT Purchasingon top of their existing SageTimberline Office, and theycouldn’t be happier with theresults.

“We implemented theBuilderMT Purchasing mod-ules as part of the BuilderMTWorkflow Management Suite,”said Lisa Friesz, Vice Presi-dent of Purchasing for America’sFirst Home. “BuilderMT’s

Purchasing offered an immediateimprovement over our previousmethod for our productionhomebuilding company.” With1,100 starts each years (that’s anaverage of around four startseach day) Lisa Friesz and herpurchasing coordinator, MaryAnn Spencer, have to manage anenormous amount of purchasingdata, invariably spread amongmultiple communities, neighbor-hoods, superintendents, all

drawing on an ever-chang-ing list of vendors.

One major advantage ofBuilderMT’s Purchasing isprice maintenance. WithBuilderMT Purchasing, wecan refresh and updatepricing across all our startswith just five minutes workper day, compared to thelaborious process requiredfrom our previous solution”said Lisa Friesz. “WithBuilderMT Purchasing, theintegration is all automated.

There is no need to switchback and forth betweensoftware modules.BuilderMT Purchasing notonly integrates with Job Costseamlessly, but has the abilityto approve PO’s for payment –this is critical to the efficien-cies required for ProductionHome Builders.” BuilderMTpulls all job and vendorinformation from Sage Tim-berline Office and uses thisinformation to process Pur-chase Orders and Schedulesand then send Budgets,Commitments and Costs overto Job Cost along with elec-tronic invoices, from thepurchase orders, into Ac-counts Payable, thus eliminat-

ing all invoice data entry func-tions for all purchase orders.

- 9 -February 2007

Purchasing coordinator,Mary Ann Spencer, agrees.“BuilderMT is intuitive softwarethat automatically associatesvendor information and associ-ates vendors with communities. Isave at least 40 minutes a daywith BuilderMT Purchasing overour previous solution.”

“With BuilderMT Purchas-ing,” added Mary Ann Spencer,“we can execute multiple actionsacross multiple software mod-ules with the single click of amouse. We do not have to switchmultiple times between budgetsand purchase orders. As aproduction homebuilder whodepends on BuilderMT Purchas-ing, there is an ease to the datamanagement that you cannotfind in other purchasing sys-tems.”

“Exactly,” explains Friesz.“Let’s take an example of thepricing on a roof truss from asingle vendor. We use to have tocreate an estimate with that itemin Estimating, assign a pricevalue of $0, obtain the unit price,enter the price, select a vendor,and then send the populatedvendor/price record back toEstimating so the records wouldmatch. With BuilderMT’s Pur-chasing all of that work is auto-mated when the price is enteredone time. There is no ‘round-tripping,’ no switching betweenmultiple modules.”

“With vendor pricing inBuilderMT’s Purchasing, youdon’t need to manually sendanything over to Sage TimberlineOffice Estimating,” said MaryAnn Spencer. “You can auto-matically generate an estimateand immediately see your vendordata. BuilderMT assigns thevendor to a job; vendors areassociated with a community in

the software, and the communityis assigned a job number. It alltakes 30 seconds as opposed tothe hours it took previously. ”“Also, the ability to have costsstored by community and date aswell as by vendor is a big plus.In our previous system, weneeded to have multiple data-bases to handle costs by commu-nity.”

BuilderMT’s WorkflowManagement Suite

With hundred of thousandsof dollars to be won or lost withminor changes in a price or evensmall errors in purchase orders,America’s First Home does nottake lightly its selection ofsoftware. It has fully imple-mented and added to theirexisting Sage Timberline Office,BuilderMT’s Workflow Manage-ment Suite and in doing soautomates the workflow acrossits multiple divisions.BuilderMT’s Workflow Manage-ment Suite or otherwise knownas Sage Timberline OfficeProduction Management, in-cludes applications to helpbuilders control constructioncosts, pinpoint the reason for avariance, manage labor costs,handle contracts, and more. Itworks with popular front-endsales software, so your salesoffices can communicate withpurchasing and accounting.Modules include:

Purchasing: Purchasingstreamlines workflow and opti-mizes business practices. Getcontrol of the essentialhomebuilding functions byautomating the flow of informa-tion. Coordinate accounting andestimating applications to bettermanage the entire productionprocess.

Sales Pricing: Determineby community the models andoptions you want to make avail-able. Establish the retail price ofeach plan or option, and mark upcosts by a percentage or bysetting a market value.

Scheduling: Activelymanage projects on the job site,improve communications, andexchange information betweenyour field supervisors and theoffice with Scheduling. WirelessScheduling allows users ofhandheld to keep track ofprojects while in the field.

Wireless Scheduling: Thisremote application allows abuilder to update a scheduledactivity, approve purchaseorders*, manage variances,maintain quality control walk-throughs, initiate vendor notifi-cations and send text and emailmessage to suppliers.

Model Manager: ModelManager solves the problem ofcreating new models based onexisting models. This tool hasbeen created with the specificgoal of allowing WorkflowManagement Suite clients toeasily copy base plans andoptions from one representativemodel to another new model.

Warranty: Coordinatescommunication betweenhomeowners, builders and sub-contractors, making the homewarranty process more efficientand removing the sources ofmany customer service head-aches.

To learn more, visitwww.sagetimberlineoffice.com/softwareproduction_managementor visit www.buildermt.com orcall (888) 757-1991.

- 10 -

E stimating version9.4 is filled withnew features that

make the life of an estima-tor easier. Some of themare:

One-time Items –Version 9.4 offers a newmethod of doing one-timeitems. Under each phase isan “Add New Item” thatyou can drag onto thespreadsheet. Then, yousimply type the informationyou want for that itemdirectly on the spreadsheet,just as you would inMicrosoft® Excel. No tripsto the detail window re-quired.

Database Builder –Are you one of the compa-nies that bought SageTimberline Office estimat-ing software, but hasn’tgotten it implementedbecause you haven’t setup a database? DatabaseBuilder was designedfor you. This wizard-likefeature, accessedthrough Sage Desktop,takes you through thesteps of getting yourdatabase underway. Itcomes with industry-specifictemplate databases that contain aphase list, standard formulas,and subcontractor items. You’llfind it easy to set up the databaseand configure the phase list.And, you’ll clearly see how touse the one-time item feature (as

illustrated) to build your data-base as you are estimating.

Once the items are createdin the estimate, you’ll noticeenhanced usability of the “saveone-time items to the database”feature. This allows you to easilyadd the items to the database.

Version 9.4 Estimating Will BeComing Soon To a PC Near You

by: Gary Simpson, Product Director – EstimatingSage Software, Inc.

Within a couple of jobs,you’ll have set up most ofthe items you use regu-larly.

Increased Field Size– Version 9.4 increases thefield size for a number offields in estimating. Theseinclude:

The increase in thevariable name and the

description fields shouldhelp reduce the need for“creative” abbreviationsthat users have been com-ing up with to fit the de-scriptions in the availablespace.

Update Databasefrom Estimate – One ofthe time-consuming tasksof estimating is keeping thedatabase current. Howmany times have you

entered the informationinto the estimate only tohave to go into thedatabase, then enter thesame information—orworse—forget to go inand update the database?This version, with theUpdate Database fromEstimate tool, allowsyou to selectively save

estimate information to thedatabase, a functionality that willgreatly reduce the time needed tokeep your database current. Withthe new version, you may savechanges in Item Informationunder Item Description, Waste

Field Previous Size New Size

Phase Number 9 20

Phase Description 70 150

Item Number 4 15

Item Description 70 150

Formula Name 20 70

Variable Name 20 70

Continued on page 12

- 11 -February 2007

TUG ONLINE WEBEXTRAINING SCHEDULE

February 23, 2007Houston Local Chapter

Meetingcherylacole78@aol.com

May 9-11, 20072007 TUG National

Workshops & ConferenceGrapevine, Texas

November 3-5, 2007Sage Summit

Chicago, Illinois

April 30 - May 2, 20082008 TUG National

Workshops & ConferenceNashville, Tennessee

May 13 - 15, 20092009 TUG National

Workshops & ConferenceGrapevine, Texas

May 19 - 21, 20102010 TUG National

Workshops & ConferenceOrlando, Florida

All training sessions take place at 1:00 EST and last approxi-mately one hour. To register, email Carolyn at TUGAdm@aol.com.Just let her know which class(es) you would like to participate in.We’ll get you registered and email a confirmation along withconnection information. These classes are free of charge and opento members only — one more benefit of belonging to the Timber-line Users Group!

Power to the User.

February 2, 2007 Beginning Report Designer

February 5, 2007 PJ: My Assistant

February 6, 2007 PJ Basics

February 7, 2007 Estimating Tips & Tricks

February 9, 2007 Modifying Crystal Reports

February 12, 2007 Advanced ODBC

February 14, 2007 Estimating: Advanced Takeoff

February 20, 2007 PJ Reports

February 21, 2007 Estimating Formulas

February 23, 2007 Advanced Report Designer

March 2, 2007 Beginning Accounts Payable

March 5, 2007 Document Management

March 6, 2007 PJ Basics

March 7, 2007 Database Editor

March 9, 2007 Cash Management

March 12, 2007 Desktop Tips & Tricks

March 14, 2007 Estimating Buyout Operations

March 21, 2007 Estimating Tips & Tricks

March 23, 2007 Beginning GL

March 30, 2007 Beginning Job Cost

April 3, 2007 PJ: Communication & Photo Log

April 4, 2007 On Center Takeoff

April 6, 2007 Reconciliation

April 11, 2007 Estimating: WBS Sorting

April 10, 2007 PJ: Notice to Comply & Safety Log

April 17, 2007 PJ: Punch List & Reports

May 15, 2007 PJ Basics

May 22, 2007 PJ Reports

The formula will alwaysround up to the whole cubicyard. The quantities generatedwill contain some adjustments tothe hard, theoretical, calculatedquantity. At some point, thepractice of construction willdetermine the actual quantitydelivered to the site.

The field has to report theactual, in-place quantities tocompare. Hopefully, usingrounding and waste factors, theactual quantities will be slightlylower than the estimate.

An estimate will always be abest guess. The use of Round andRoundto may help your estimatebe slightly greater than theactual.

Continued from page 6

Factor, Crew, Labor, Material,etc., such as Price, ProductivityFactor (conversion), Taxable,Apply Waste %, and Taxable,etc.

You can preview thechanges before committing tothem and also can get a report

that provides the changes for anaudit.

Five Categories on theItem – Another feature with the9.4 release is the ability to have

Continued from page 10You’ll Be Glad Version 9.4 Estimating five categories (Labor, Material,

Equipment, Sub and Other) onthe item. Previous versionslimited you to three. As a matterof fact, you can even add addi-tional categories through theUpdate Database from Estimatetool described above.

As always, you will prob-ably notice a number of minor

enhancements and fixes to whathave been irritants and issues.Version 9.4 is scheduled to bemass released in February, butcan be obtained earlier byrequesting it through yourSage Timberline Office busi-ness partner. Note that if youhave both Sage TimberlineOffice estimating and account-

ing and are running them onthe same server, you mustupgrade both systems to 9.4simultaneously.