One of the subjects that I emphasize over and over in my training is the difference between “Local” data files and “System” data files. You cannot manage HeavyBid properly if you don’t understand the underlying architecture of it. The design is brilliant (thank you Mike Rydin, CEO and founder of HCSS) but it does take some time to really understand why some data files are local and some are system-wide. It is not unusual for me to train estimators who have used HeavyBid for over 10 years and still don’t know the difference. They think the materials are set up in the Master estimate and they don’t understand the “dance” between the local material codebook and the system-wide codebook. These are critical concepts and misconceptions which I frequently see can be disastrous. So why do I include the above as part of my Managing HeavyBid blog series? Because to manage HeavyBid you have to understand what the data files are and when revised what happens inside of HeavyBid. To maintain them you need to know what revisions to them affect the estimates. Here are some questions that frankly if you use HeavyBid you should know the answers to:

  1. Labor is revised in the current Master Estimate. What estimates are affected by this change? How are current estimates updated?
  2. The Material Codebook (System Wide) is revised but there are estimates that are being worked on that already have the code in them. How can the revisions be brought into the current estimate?
  3. A price is updated in an estimate and the estimator now wants this price to updated in the system-wide Material Codebook. What is the best way to accomplish this?

HCSS has a short PowerPoint presentation on this subject. Click on the link and play the PowerPoint.

LINK