Fabrication ESTmep™ > ESTmep™ Wish List

"Alternate" field to allow characters instead of just numbers

(1/1)

cnash:
It would be great if the "Alternate" field allowed standard characters instead of just numbers.
Currently we have to create a key when we use alternates and use numbers such as 1, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, etc.

It would be great if it allowed something to have a character string such as "PVC Underground Sanitary Alternate" instead of just numerical values.

Andy Robins:
Chris
Can you help me understand what you are trying to use the Alternate field for? Understanding may help us with a solution.

cnash:
During the Estimating Process when we split up a project with Alternates it's usually pretty specific.
For Example, we have a base bid of a project with Underground Sanitary (and/or Storm) as Cast-Iron Service Weight, but we provide an "Alternate" for PVC Schedule 40 DWV.

In this case the 0 Alternate or Base Bid would be the Cast-Iron Service Weight so no need to rename that one, unless we wanted to specifically name it "Base Bid".
The first real "Alternate" would be named something like "U/G SAN/STORM PVC" or something similar to that.

Currently, if there are multiple alternates in a job instead of being specific we are having to use numerical values and creating a alternate key to explain what each alternate is.

This becomes complex in a job we have recently done we had Alternates 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1, 4.0 and 4.1. If all these alternates had names it would be much easier to know which is which without having to refer to a key that could possibly be lost.

Thank you.

Kuhns:
Chris,

Totally agree!  Why limit what we can put in a field?

cnash:

--- Quote from: Kuhns on Apr 30, 2018, 21:33:56 PM ---Chris,

Totally agree!  Why limit what we can put in a field?

--- End quote ---

Even though I would still love to use this "alternate" field with any data, since we are now using profiles 100% we have started using the "zone" field instead. The data in this field cannot be deleted (another problem) which is why we didn't use it previously, but luckily it sticks to the profile and not the master database.

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