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# System prepended metadata

title: iCost Startup Guide

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<p style="font-size:200%"><b>iCost Startup Guide</b></p>

# Introduction

Welcome to the User Guide for iCost! 

This guide will walk you through the system's features and functionalities, enabling you to confidently navigate project cost estimation and management.

## What You'll Find in this User Guide:

This guide is structured for users of each role. Here's a brief overview of what you can expect to find within its pages:

**System Overview:**
Gain a deep understanding of the system's feature, including configuration setting and data input, report calculation methods and reporting.

**User Roles and Permissions:**
Discover the roles available within the system and understand the permissions associated with each role.

**Project provisioning and Data Input:**
Step-by-step instructions to create project in iCost, entering project data and ensuring data accuracy.

**Report Calculation:**
Step-by-step instructions on Report Calculation setting "Price adviser", item's unit price estimation and generate project report

**Report:**
List of project created EAC report

# System Overview

## System Introduction

In today's dynamic business landscape, effective project cost management is critical.

iCost consolidate both internal data sources and user inputs to deliver accurate
and timely EAC predictions of Labor, Subcontract, Expense, Material and E&C costs.

## System Workflow

The process to calculate a project's EAC is described and the figure as below:

![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/SyAvJmLq6.png)


*Quick link to each role's task can be find on the side menu*

1. PCM creates a project on iCost
2. PCM/PCE inputs the configurations for the project
3. PCM/PCE uploads project data
4. Each department LE uploads master files for the project
5. PCM/PCE configures Related Project for Price Adviser unit price estimation
6. PCM/PCE kick-off Report Calculate once all the unit prices are confirmed.

:::info
:information_source:

PCM: Project Control Manager
PCE: Project Control Engineer
LE: Leading Engineer
:::

## System Requirement

The following browsers are supported

* Chrome
* Microsoft Edge

:::info
:information_source:

Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) is not supported.
:::

# User Roles and Permissions

The are 3 Roles in iCost

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| Role | Responsibility | Description   |
| -------- | ---- | ------------ |
| Application Admin (PCM)   | Create and provision iCost projects, setup privileges for project admin  | This role typically represents PCM, the one who decides which project to use iCost, and assign the PCE as the project admin for the designated project.  |
| Project Admin (PCM/PCE)| Setup the privileges for designated projects, upload the required configuration and data, kick-off the Unit Price Estimation and Report Calculate | This role is usually used by PCE, the one who is counted for a project cost estimation. |
| Engineering User (LE)| Upload the latest master files of the represented department as EAC calculation base | Currently there are two master files can be upload for each department and seven departments in total.<br> 2 master files - Subcontract, Material<br>7 departments - Process, Civil, Equipment, Instrument, Piping, Electric, Project Management<br><br> Each Engineer User can only uploaded master files to the designated project and department. |

## Authorization

Application Admin should assign the Project Admin (typically PCM/PCE) privileges so the PCM/PCE can assign Engineering User, set Project Configurations, upload Budget files.

Project Admin should assign the Engineering User (typically LE) privileges so the LEs can upload the Master file for each department.

>1. click ![img](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/BkYb58d2n.png) at the right upper corner of the navigation bar and choose Project Admin or Project User
>2. the Project Admin and the Project User can be added or deleted as required in these pages.

# Project provisioning and Data Input

There are three main tasks in this section: Create Project, Project Provisioning, Input Project Data.

![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/rkG91mUqa.png)


* Create project and project provisioning is operated by **application admin**
* Project data can be classified as three categories: configuration, budget  and master files.
  * Project configuration and budget are input by **project admin**
  * Project master files are input by **engineering user**

This section will provide basic steps for each role.

* Application Admin
* Project Admin
* Engineering User

## Application Admin

:::info
:information_source:


There are 2 main tasks for Application Admin

1. Create Project
1. Project Provisioning
:::

Getting Started : Open Chrome > [https://eac.ctci.com](https://eac.ctci.com)

### Create Project

>1. click ![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/BJWIOIu23.png) at the right upper corner of the navigation bar to enter Project Management Page
>2. on Project Management Page, Application Admin can create Project as required.
>
>Note that
>* Project Name, Parent Subproject Number and Parent Subproject Company No are **required**
>* If your Parent and Main Subproject is different, Main Subproject Number is **required**.

::: warning
:warning:

Main Project and Parent Project cannot be changed once confirmed. If you have any question, please contact system administrator.
:::

### Project Provisioning 

:::info
:information_source:


In the current version, most of the project provisioning tasks are done automatically. However, Application Admin is recommended to review and update the project privileges.
:::

To review and update the project privileges settings,

>1. click ![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/BkYb58d2n.png) at the right upper corner of the navigation bar and choose Project Admin or Project User
>2. the Project Admin and the Project User will be listed and can be modified as required in these pages.

## Project Admin

:::info
:information_source:


There is 1 main task for Project Admin

1. Input Project Data
    * Project Configuration Data
    * Project Budget Data
:::


### Input Project Data

To calculate project EAC following information are required:
:::info
:information_source:


There are 2 methods to input 
1. Web Input: iCost provides the form for user to input
2. excel: User to compose the excel. All templates can be downloaded from iCost.
:::
:::success

* Config
  * Project scheme setting (web input) - *create/edit/delete sub project information of the project*
  * Requisition Category (excel) - *requisition setting for following properties: requisition relation with sub discipline, requisition level, key unit, key item white list* 
  * Unit mapping (excel) - *unit synonym dictionary*
  * Self perform table(UI input) - *self perform subproject budget and execution data*

* Material - *budget item, including item information, unit, quantity and price*
  * Material Control budget (excel)
  * Material Current budget (excel)
* Subcontract  - *budget item, including item information, unit, quantity and price*
  * Subcontract Control budget (excel)
  * Subcontract Current budget (excel)
* Labor
  * Human resource budget (web input) - *labor control and current budget cost and man-hour*
* Expense
  * Expense budget (excel) - *expense (General/Subcontract/Material) cost code/requisition budget and calculation level*
  * Expense equipment plan (excel) - *expense equipment forecast by month and equipment unit price*
* Escalation & Contingency
  * Escalation & Contingency budget (excel) - *escalation & contingency budget for each discipline*
:::

#### Step 1: Select Project

Open Chrome > [https://eac.ctci.com](https://eac.ctci.com) > select project from drop-down list> click "Project EAC"

:::info
:information_source:

If the project number you need is not in the list, please confirm with your application admin whether your employee ID has the correct permission settings.
:::

#### Step 2: Input Project Configuration

There are 4 configurations to be set before processing uploading project data

* Project scheme setting
* Requisition category
* Unit mapping
* Self-perform table

:::warning
:warning:

Depending on the configuration changes you make, modifying the configurations after Unit Price Estimation may have various impacts. In some cases, this may cause unexpected results in EAC Report. If Unit Price Estimation has already been performed, it is **RECOMMENDED that you re-run Unit Price Estimation after modifying the configurations to ensure that your EAC Report uses the latest configuration.**
:::

#### **Project scheme setting**

>1. on sidebar "Data Input" > "Config" > "Project Scheme Settings"
>1. fill in Subproject information form> click "Submit"
:::info
:information_source: Form Infomation

* Company No. - Company ID of this sub project, ex. 9933
* Project No. - CTCI project number format, ex. 20 4367A01
* Subproject Type -
    * Regular Subproject - if it's not a Parent Project, Main Project, nor Self Perform Subproject.
    * Self Perform Subproject - A self perform subproject need to fill-in the required information in Self Perform Table accordingly.
* Subproject Description - Description of this subproject
* Is calculate - Subproject will be calculated and summed up in EAC Report
:::

#### **Requisition Category**

Requisition Category is to define the relationship between the Requsition Category (the first 4 characters of requisition, ex. SA9A) and its level (ex. L4) for EAC calculation. Also it will be used to define the relationship of Requisition Category and Disciplin/Subdisciple, requisition unit and white list.. etc). The template can be downloaded from iCost.
>
>1. on sidebar "Data Input" > "Config" > "Requisition Category"
>1. click "Browse" > choose file > click "upload"
>![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/BJRgrRH9a.png)

:::info
:information_source:

It's recommended to upload "Requsition Category" before fill-in the required information in Self Perform Table, as the Discipline and Subdiscipline list in Requisition Category are required to be set in Self Perform Table.  
:::

#### **Unit Mapping**

Unit Mapping is to set the unit conversion rules. The template can be downloaded from iCost. This unit conversion will be used in EAC calculation.
>
>1. on sidebar "Data Input" > "Config" > "Unit Mapping" 
>1. click "Browse" > choose file > click "upload"
>![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/Hkr7BAB5a.png)

#### **Self Perform Table**

Self Perform Table is to set the Discipline, Sub Discipline, Budget and EAC for the Self Perform Projects.

:::warning
:warning:

*Self perform table should be configured **after "Project Scheme Setting", "Unit Mapping", "Requisition Category" had been uploaded.***
:::

>
>1. on sidebar "Data Input" > "Config" > "Set Self Perform Table"
>1. click "Edit" ![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/H160Rlp-T.png) to edit the designated subproject settings.
>![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/S1uHBCrqp.png)
>
>1. open drop-down list to set the Category, Discipline, Sub Discipline 
![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/By59yZab6.png)

#### Step 3: Input Project Data

There are 8 categories of project data to be upload by project admin

* Labor Budget
* Expense Budget
* Level 4 Material Control Budget
* Level 4 Material Current Budget
* Subcontract Control Budget
* Subcontract Current Budget
* Expense Equipment Plan
* Escalation & Contingency Budget
* Level 3 Subcontract and Material Current Budget


#### **Labor / Expense / Material / Subcontract / E&C Budget**

:::warning
:warning: 

*Control Budget and Current Budget upload **after project configurations had been uploaded.***
:::
>1. on sidebar "Data Input" > "Labor" / "Expense" / "Material" / "Subcontract" / "E&C" > "Control Budget" / "Current Budget" / "Budget"
![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/S12x6x6ea.png)
>
>1. click "Browse" > choose file > click "upload"
![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/r1iWH04q6.png)

#### **Expense Equipment Plan**

>1. on sidebar "Data Input"> "Expense" > "Equipment Plan"
>1. click "Browse" > choose file > click "upload"

#### **Level 3 Subcontract and Material Current Budget**

>1. on sidebar "Data Input"> "Material / Subcontract Current Budget L3"
>1. click "Browse" > choose file > click "download current version"
>Download material and subcontract current budget sum up from level 4 files  

## Engineering User

:::info
:information_source:


There is 1 main task for Engineering User

1. Input Project Data
    - Project Master Data

:::

### Input project Data

The Project Users indicates the Users from Engineering Team (typically LE) Each Project User should be assigned based on Project and Department and will be responsible to upload the master files of the Project and department .  To upload the master file 

>1. Open Chrome > [https://eac.ctci.com](https://eac.ctci.com)
>1. click ![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/rklZ3Id22.png) at the right upper corner of the navigation bar to enter Select Project Page
>2. click "Choose from Existing Project" to expand the drop-down list > select project > click "Select"
![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/rJVITnE5p.png)

:::info
:information_source:

If the project number you need is not in the list, please confirm with your project admin (PCM/PCE) whether your employee ID has the correct permission settings.
:::

>4. on sidebar "Data Input" > "Material" / "Subcontract" > "Master"
>5. Find the department and upload required Master file
>
>![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/Skt5B04ca.png)


:::warning
:warning:

* Material and Subcontract should be uploaded separately
* The master file has to pass the data validation before being uploaded successfully. If any issue encountered, please see the error message on the webpage and fix it, or check the detail in user guide.

:::

# Report Calculation

![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/rkoTJQI9a.png)


## Project Admin

### Price Adviser Setting

#### Related Project

Related project and rate for Price Adviser to advise Project Admin item unit price
>
>1. on sidebar > "Data Input" > "Related Project"
>1. fill in related subproject form> click "Submit"
![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/HyeEZ78qa.png)



:::info
:information_source:

Price adviser - search level 4 item unit price as a recommendation for project admin in unit price estimation process. As a brief, it will try to fetch the unit price estimation based on 
1. Purchased in current project 
2. Budget of current project 
3. Purchased history of related projects.
:::

### Project Item Unit Price Estimation

#### Start an unit price estimation

>1. On sidebar > "EAC" > "Start New Estimate"
:::info
:information_source:

Recommend to upload all EAC information above before starting new estimation.

:::

:::warning
:warning:

**A Data validation will be enforced before starting a new estimation**, includes the following validation,
    - "Requisition category" and "Self perform table" is required
    - "Material Master" and "Subcontract Master" in each department, validate item required data according to item's requisition level
:::

:::info
:information_source:

Price Adviser will take a few minutes to lookup the prices. For a typical project, it may take 15-20 minutes to be completed. 

:::

#### Confirm item's unit price

>1. On sidebar > "EAC" > "Estimate EAC"
>2. Select item
>    * Select "Department", "Requisition", "Type" to search items
>    * Input "item code" > "submit" to search item by code
>3. Input item unit price and currency, click "confirm" to save
>![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/rkFF9RNcT.png)

:::info
:information_source:

The number quoted in back of Department and Requisition tells there are how many unit prices to be confirmed. For example, CB(541) means there are still 541 unit prices to be confirmed in CB. One can process to Calculate Report only when all unit prices are confirmed. 

:::


### Calculate Report

Once all unit prices had been confirmed, user may submit estimation to generate report
>
>1. On sidebar > “EAC" > "Estimate EAC” > click "submit & calculate" button

:::warning
:warning:

**Data validation before starting to calculate report**:

* All unit prices of L4 item are confirmed
* All self perform subproject are listed in self perform table and self perform table are required

:::

# Report

## Project Admin

### EAC Reports

There are two main functions for "EAC Report" page, **upload EAC report** and **view/download history reports**.

1. Reports data manually input by user on excel can be store back to iCost  for the next report, following data can be store:
    * Sheet name: Subcontract L2.5 Adj / Material L2.5 Adj   
    Column: 切分包剩餘比例(%)
    * Sheet name: Subcontract Req. / Material Req.   
     Column: Admendment
    * Sheet name: Subcontract L3.5a Calc. / Material L3.5a Calc.   
    Column: ETC / Average Unit Price
    * Sheet name: Subcontract L3.5_L3.0a Calc. / Material L3.5_L3.0a Calc.   
    Column: ETC / Average Unit Price

2. History EAC report are listed, can be download by download button on the right


>On sidebar > “EAC Report"
![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/Syb4m_jPC.png)




# BCMS Control Budget 

## Project Admin

### L4 Control budget to BCMS control budget format

Transfer control budgets uploaded on iCost system to BCMS budget format.

iCost control budget includes labor budget, expense budget, material budget in each department, subcontract budget in each department, budgets are transfer to two excel files for BCMS budget, "Planned budget" and "Detail Budget"

>On sidebar > click “BCMS Control Budget"
![image](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/SJsGQuiw0.png)

