All functionality discussed below is available both in Sage 200 and in the Sage 50 ‘Manufacturing Controller’ and ‘Job Controller’ variants

The Estimating module provides the facility to create and amend Estimates for one-off jobs or non-repetitive batches. Estimates can be converted into Jobs and further processed through MPS/MRP and Works Order processing. Variances between Estimates v Actuals can be easily identified. Additionally Bills of Material may be included on an Estimate which provides additional flexibility in customising standard products.

Manufacturing operations are set up in the Operations Register, which in turn uses information from the Labour and Machine Registers. The information stored includes run-time quantities, set-up times, hourly rates, delays and overlaps etc. Any operation can be selected from the Operations Register for use on an Estimate as and when needed, amending the default information if necessary. Details of sub-contract operations can also be entered in the Operations Register, and subsequently used on Estimates, the system being capable of raising Purchase Orders and recording despatches plus receipts to and from sub-contractors. (NB Information stored in the Operations Register may be used in Estimating and/or Bill of Materials).

Estimates may be created using quantity breaks where batch work is involved, making it easy to quote for say, 1000 off, 5000 off or 10,000 off for a particular product. Estimates are also broken down into ‘stages’ e.g. design, manufacture, install, making it easy to control jobs stage by stage.

Expected costs are entered, item by item, under Cost Categories – Stock Items, Non-stock Items, Operations and Other Expenses. When all expected costs have been entered, the user can manipulate the quoted price either by adjusting the selling price of a category or by adjusting the required margin.

A facility is also provided for ‘linking’ Estimates, which means that subsequent Purchase and Works Orders associated with this Estimate will never be used by MRP to satisfy another job, even if that other job is more urgent. This is to provide additional control when a number of jobs are in progress at any one time.

Estimates may then be printed out, either from within the program, or by passing the data to (©) Microsoft Word for use with a Template.

The 'Attached Files' tab provides the facility to link other files or folders on your network to an Estimate, such as a spreadsheet, Word document, drawing, customer’s folder or even a web-site URL. Attached files are instantly accessible at the click of a button.

As well as the normal ‘New Record’ screen for creating an Estimate there is also a ‘Quick’ (Sage 50) or ‘Rapid’ (Sage 200) facility, which is an abbreviated form of entry and useful in situations where many Estimates need to be entered in a short space of time. This method requires less detail than the standard method and allows the user to switch more easily between stock, non-stock, operations and other expenses. Certain functionality is not immediately available using this method, such as quantity breaks, but these can be added at a later stage after the Estimate has been saved.

Once entered, Estimates can be amended (subject to status) copied, or re-costed.

A useful facility is the ability to create Sales Orders (in Sales Order Processing) directly from an Estimate without having to enter details already stored within the program. Estimates may also be ‘converted’ into a Bill of Materials. (See note 1)

The 'Multiple' facility enables the inclusion of unrelated multiple item lines on one Estimate. This makes it possible to produce an Estimate for e.g. 100 off Product A, 500 off Product B, 250 off Product C and so on. Although entered as one Estimate, the system effectively creates one record for each item line so that if the customer decides to go ahead with Product A and Product C (but not Product B) the user can easily process only those items which have been ordered. A multiple line Estimate can of course be printed as one document. Note however that if you want to create Sales Orders from multiple line Estimates the program creates one order for each line rather than one order containing multiple lines.

Successful Estimates can be released for further processing through MPS/MRP or, optionally, a Works Order may be created directly from the Estimate.

Next: Differences between Sage 200 and Sage 50 Estimating