Managing Estimation
AASHTOWare Project Estimation is a cradle-to-grave estimating tool that allows the transportation agency to manage and perform the estimation process at all phases of the highway project life cycle, from early planning to preliminary and final detail estimates. Agencies that pay for highway construction need to know how much a project will cost so they can plan the work, set up funding, and evaluate the bids they receive. The Estimation business area of the application helps agencies develop both long-range planning and detailed cost estimates.
The primary entity in Estimation is the cost estimate. A cost estimate includes all of the settings, pricing information, and estimated costs of a planned improvement. Cost estimates enable you to estimate the anticipated costs of an improvement as it progresses through different stages of planning, from a conceptual estimate when minimal scope exists, to a preliminary estimate when detail items can be determined for the project, and finally to a letting estimate associated with a proposal. Each concept, project, and proposal can be associated with multiple cost estimates, enabling you to evaluate different methodologies and pricing scenarios as needed. Cost estimate items can be priced using any combination of bid-based, cost-based, and reference pricing methodologies.
Figure A-1 provides a high-level flowchart showing the progression of cost estimate data in Estimation. During the early stages of planning, a cost estimate may contain a combination of parametric items, typical sections, ad hoc pricing, non-construction costs, and markups. You can assign contingency costs based on user-defined risk factors. You can also specify life-cycle costs to compare the projected maintenance costs for different scenarios.
As more information becomes available for the proposed project, parametric items and typical sections are transitioned to detail line items.
A concept is the starting point in the cost estimation life cycle, spanning the first two phases of estimation (initial and program estimates). A single concept can be associated with multiple cost estimates. The concept is transitioned to become a project in AASHTOWare Project Preconstruction, with the associated cost estimates now transferred to the project.
Alternatively, an estimate may be initiated at the preliminary design stage after project items have been entered for a project. In this case, the cost estimate will be based on the project items and only the unit prices can be changed for the cost estimate items.
At the proposal level, a letting estimate is created by adding a cost estimate to a proposal. Proposal items are copied to the new estimate, and any cost estimates for projects associated with the proposal become inactive. Item price changes that result from a proposal cost estimate are applied to the related project items prices as appropriate.
The Estimation component is the gateway to other components in the application you will use to produce cost estimates. This includes setting up estimation-specific reference data (bid history profiles, contingency assignment profiles, life cycle maintenance schedule profiles, typical section profiles), viewing historical bid prices (find bid data, item bid history), and maintaining cost estimate audit trails (snapshots). To access Estimation components, click the link for the area you want to access, or select Open from the Actions menu on the appropriate row.
For more information about managing specific parts of the Estimation business area, refer to these topics:
To save time, you can add a new concept to the system directly from the Estimation component by selecting Add from the Actions menu to the right of the Concepts link.
To save time, you can add a new contingency assignment profile to the system directly from the Estimation component by selecting Add from the Actions menu to the right of the Contingency Assignment Profiles link.
To save time, you can add a new life cycle maintenance schedule profile to the system by selecting Add from the Actions menu to the right of the Life Cycle Maintenance Schedule Profiles link.
To save time, you can add a new planning group by selecting Add from the Actions menu to the right of the Planning Groups link.
