I love this new tool. Most of the users probably like me were probably not looking for the feature but once introduced it is like “where was this all my life?” But you have to determine how best to use it. Plan how you are going to use it before you actually turn this feature on. The genius of  the Archive feature is once an estimate is moved into the Archive area then it can be searched by Estimate, Biditem, or Activity description in the Copy Biditems/Activities option (see screen shot below).  Here are some suggestions to consider in the planning process:

  1. If you want an estimate archived and available in HeavyBid make a copy and archive the copied estimate.
  2. Consider being very selective on what is archived. If everyone copies frequently from other estimates and you are selective what is moved up to the Archive then the source of the copy data quality can be improved as the estimators should restrict their copying to only Archive estimates. And most likely this will occur naturally as estimates are searchable down to the activity as opposed to the active estimates so the estimators will prefer the Archive estimates over the Active ones.
  3. Filters are going to be critical if a lot of estimates are moved up to the Archive. For example if a old addendum version of the estimate is in the Archive (and the more recent one also) then a filter for a status of “Final” or “As Bid” would restrict the types of estimates the estimator would copy from. Filters are valuable even not using it for filtering out estimates to copy from so put filters to work if you have not done so.
  4. I would recommend that the Archive not be treated as a dumping ground for all estimates that you don’t want active.  My opinion is that is not the intent. Eventually estimates lose their value and should be deleted altogether. Make a backup and park the backup in its corresponding job folder outside of HeavyBid for “just in case” but having hundreds and hundreds in the Archive from which to copy from is just not going to be efficient. Think of Archive as a tool box. How likely are you going to go search in a drawer full of unorganized sockets as opposed to a drawer where there are much fewer but they are organized by size?  I guarantee you will go to the organized drawer.

So sit down with the estimating team and plan the use of the very significant new feature in HeavyBid. If used properly you should see the estimating productivity increase.