| There are
two sides to the Model Costs system. Firstly there is the 'Model Cost'
itself which is made up of Components, Items & Packages as above.
Consider a Model Cost to be an ideal or typical cost. It is usual
to have a number of models - you might have different sizes or specifications
for your developments - in which case you would have a model for each
type. For example, a hotel chain might have a model called '200 bedroom,
High Quality, Out of Town'. The Model Costs system would allow you
to drill down into that model and analyse the costs of each of the
components. The second side to the Model Costs system is arguably the most useful.
This is where you can create a Construction Cost Estimate specific
to your project. To get started quickly you copy a Model Cost after
which you can go and amend it to suit your particular project. The
hotelier, for example, may have a site that can fit a 250 bed hotel
on it. He can copy the 200 bedroom model and then adapt it to suit
his particular site with any changes to cost being visible immediately.
When required, the administrator can initiate the publishing of a
new set of data that the Model Costs users can then work with. This
new data is made available over the Internet and is downloaded by
users.
Admin & User Interfaces
There are two main interfaces to the Model Costs system. The first
is the administration interface. This is web-based and allows an administrator
to create and edit cost models and all of the parts that go to make
up a cost model. If the administrator changes the price of a Component
or Item the revised cost is immediately reflected throughout the whole
system. Similarly if the administrator adds an Item to a Package,
the package cost increases and this too updates the whole system.
The same is true for adding Packages, Fees and Overheads to Models.
When the administrator is ready a copy of the Model Costs data can
be published ready for users to work with.
The Model Costs User Interface is a program that works with the Model
Cost database and allows the user to generate costs for specific projects,
create reports and save costing schemes to their computer's hard-disc.
The user is also able to compare the "what-if" scenarios
with the model the study was based upon. Users are able to either
just work with headline figures or to drill-down into the costings
as far as needed to view and make changes as and when required. The
reporting system allows them to create summary and detailed reports
as required, saving them to PDF files.
Integration
As the Model Costs system is part of the ICON software suite, it links
and integrates with other related services. For example, when used
with the Project Tracker it can be used to link project roll-out
with procurement information. This turns into a very powerful tool
for a procurement department in that it is providing projected requirements.
Knowing that a particular item of equipment is used five times in
a project and that there are twelve projects proposed over the next
two years allows the procurement department to negotiate better deals
with their suppliers.
Used with the Building Standards system it is possible to access a
whole range of additional information from a Model or Construction
Cost Estimate. Model Costs deals with the costs and quantities of
items. The Building Standards system deals with specification, colour,
size, electrical requirements etc. Utilising the two together gives
the Model Costs user access to Building Standards information and
vice versa. |
