How to manage price list revisions

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Creation of a list review

N.B: To create a revision, it is necessary to go to the Revisions Archive by pressing List Revisions from the List Revisions menu.

• Press the button and enter Name, Description, Color of the new revision (which will appear in the list on the left) and Notes.
• We assign a color to our revision, and any notes (notes will be shown in the list print).
• In the field Price selection type we can decide how the grid column to be used should be chosen based on the size of the type in the quote. There are three possible choices:
• Arrotonda” – to select the nearest column
• Eccesso – to always select the largest column
• Difetto – to always select the minor column
• Esatto – To always select the exact size (available from version 3.8.4)

Suppose we have created a grid ranging from 600 mm to 1000 mm with a 100 mm pitch for both width and height. The type in the order has a width of 730 mm. Which reference column to use?

• By selecting the value "Excess," Opera will consider the width 800 mm
• By selecting the value "Defect," Opera will consider the width 700 mm
• By selecting the value "Round", Opera will consider the width 700 mm because it is the closest to the actual size of the type.
• If you select the value "Exact," Opera will consider the width 600 mm because it is the exact size given in the type

The Method field specifies the calculation method to be used for price generation: the available values "1", "2" and "3" are the same as those available within job management. However, by activating Always activate % rappr., it is also possible to use the representative percentage within the review by other methods than "3" .

In case you are using the Discount Classes being purchased within the program, you can assign one to the review by retrieving it from the archive.

If active, the Publish to Web field allows online export of the review to the Orchestra site. Integration of the list on Opera Job Management with the Orchestra product (watch the video via this link) is an advanced feature that can be activated separately.

The full XML Export field allows, if active, the entire price list to be exported in XML format to allow for advanced printouts or the creation of a customized paper price list.

• We save the changes by pressing the File:Keystroke.png

• After saving the changes, we select the revision we just created again and press the File:Sourcekey.png button.

N.B: More than one source can be entered in the price list revision archive: see the How to enter another revision section for the procedure to follow.

Source management

Within this framework are indicated the types that will be part of the list. Typologies can be selected individually or in groups, and can also belong to different series and systems. Each type (or set of types depending on the choice made) is placed in a source.

Press the button to create a new source: at this point the box on the right will show all the types present in the List Types archive. By acting on the fields System, Series, Group, List it will be possible to filter the types in the archive, and then select only those of interest. The list on the right will be updated from time to time showing only the selected types.

NOTE:
Since for each source it is permissible to specify list generation parameters separately, including, for example, colors and profit percentages, it is therefore advisable to group types with similar characteristics as much as possible.

The Group field allows you to make a more accurate selection of types according to your needs.

The values available for this field depend on the choices made by the user when creating the List Types archive: in fact, an arbitrary value can be assigned to each type by writing Group in its field. The value will be nothing more than a label assigned to the type, and usable later to be able to make filters and selections on the list archive.

Suppose we want to list all windows and patio doors in a series. These types will most likely have the same colors available, but will have different base glass. We can then think of assigning a group to the types so that they can be differentiated: all windows will have a "Window" group label and all doors the "French Doors" group.

The quickest way to list these types at this point is to create two sources, one for windows and one for French doors. Selecting the types will use the Group field to filter one or the other.

The fields Desc and Discount class allow you to specify a description for the source and a discount class to be associated with it. These fields can be left blank if not needed. The generation of list prices for a source can be done in basically two ways: the first involves developing list types by taking the material costs on file and specifying a set of profit percentages to be applied to the costs; the second, on the other hand, allows for the direct import of reference grids from file. The fields Table file and Data import filter are used for this purpose.

For price management by importing from file, please refer to the section "Importing from file."

Source fills

Pressing the File:Key-fills.png button will open the Fill Management pane. Within it you will be able to specify the fill(s) to be used for the source list price calculation.

Following the case seen above, the source of the windows will, for example, have standard low-emissivity double glazing, while the source of the French doors will have safety glass.

In case you want to generate a list without taking glass into account, you can ignore this framework.

Variant management

Pressing the File:Keyvariants.png button accesses the Price list variant management pane. This window allows us to specify which grids are to be used for the source, and the relevant parameters for generating prices.

• To create a new variant, press the button. A variant represents a family of colors having a grid reference: the general parameters are the Name, the description Desc, and the possible Discount Class.
• To generate grid prices correctly, we need to specify the profit percentages to be applied and the basic colors to be used for calculation. We assign the percentages of %sfrido', %packing, %transportation , %development , %overhead expenses , %useful, %discount, %representative, and possibly activate Material discounts.

In case you want to import these percentages from the company's data, simply press the File:Keypercentages2.png

• Instead, in the bottom box, it is necessary to specify the colors to be used for generating the base grid.

Having to make a price list for PVC types, for example, one might think of having two reference grids: one for white and one for foiled. For an aluminum price list, one could create a grid for the standard RAL color family, one for Wood Effects, and one for special RAL colors.

The File:Key-fills.png button allows you to enter a specific fill to calculate the price of the variant. If left blank, the one specified within the Source Management frame will be used.

Color management

After configuring the parameters of the basic grids, the next step is to specify which colors will be available in the sales list.

• Pressing the button will open a picture in which you can individually enter the colors that make up the family, for example, "RAL1013," "RAL9010," and so on.

To enter a new list color, press the button. For the color you just entered, you will be able to specify a Description, and a %increase from the base price. The Print Abacus field, if active, will allow for the detail of the surcharge within the estimate; otherwise, any surcharge for coloring will be charged per body and will not appear in the abacus. In the lower part of the picture it will be possible to configure the coloring, choosing from the Coloring Archive the Interior/Exterior Coloring, Accessory Coloring, Locks/Handles, Hinge Coloring, Hardware Coloring, Filling Coloring, Gasket Coloring and Gutter Coloring.

NOTE:
The choice of a color combination is binding: only those that have been defined within the variants will be available for selection at the order stage. Therefore, it is recommended not to fill in the fields that you want can be changed at will in the job order phase, leaving their value set to auto .

The choice of coloring can be made in two distinct ways: it is possible to work with individual colors or with entire finishes: the second case is the quickest and most efficient in the case where within your Color Archive, colors are already grouped within finishes representing different price ranges. Below is the detail on how to enable the management of finishes within the variant. After enabling the Enable Finishes field, in the previously seen fields in which you can set the colors, the individual colors will no longer be present, but a menu for choosing the finish will open. Enabling finishes will also enable the Two-Tone Type field, which allows you to choose how the colors of a finish can combine in the interior/exterior coloring:

• “Monocolore” - the interior coloring must be the same • “Bicolore” - Interior and exterior coloring should be different • “Monocolore e Bicolore” - both combinations are possible

Suppose we have a price list in which there are two base grids. The first grid for Standard White has been calculated using RAL1013', of which we know that the color RAL9010 will have a 2% markup over the base. The second grid, for Coated colors, has been calculated using the color CHERRY as the base, but the colors available in the price list are all the Coatings in the Color Archive, which have been divided into Coated A for the basic ones, and Coated B for the special ones, which have a 15% surcharge. The price list does not include two-tone types.

How to set these parameters within the colors?

We first proceed by creating the two variants White and Coated, specifying for each the exact color for the generation of the base grid. Within the colors of the White variant, two colors will be inserted: one containing the RAL1013, and one containing the color RAL9010: for the latter, the value 2 will be set in the field %increase.

For the Coated variant, you will have this setting: add two colorations, both with the Enable Finishes item enabled and the value Single Color. In this way, in the first coloration, you will be able to select the Coated finish in the inner and outer colorations, leaving all other fields at the auto value; for the second coloration, however, choose the Coated A finish in the inner and outer colorations instead, and enter the value 15 in the %increase field.

N.B: The program also handles double-filling in the case, for example, of French doors with transoms: for the procedure see the section How to handle double-filling

Price generation

The basic configuration of the list is now complete. The generation of the prices of is done by pressing the File:Source Generation Key.png button in the List Revisions pane. The creation process will take a variable amount of time, depending on the number of types entered within, the number of grids to be generated, and their size.

The generation button is present in several frameworks, List Revisions, Source Management, and List Variant Management: this is because generation can be done selectively as needed. Since price regeneration is done only on the item selected from the list on the left side of the framework, it will be possible to recalculate, for example, even the prices of a single variant, or a source.

At the end of regeneration it will be possible to make a printout of the calculation conditions used, or grids.

Import from file

In the event that you choose not to use archive prices to generate the grids, but to load list prices by importing them from a spreadsheet, or from a file in .csv format, the procedure to follow is different. Within the Source Management framework, you must fill in the field Table File, specifying within it a path where Opera will have to search for files related to the grids for the types that are present in the source.

A correct import of prices is guaranteed only in the case where the imported files contain within them only the LxH grids for the type. Additional wording, or images within the file may compromise its correct reading by the program.

If the source contains only one type, simply set the direct link to the reference file by pressing .

Conversely, if the source contains multiple types, you can specify a macro that will allow multiple files to be imported simultaneously. The macro indicates how the files to be imported will be named.

File containing a single grid

If you have a separate file for each grid related to the listed types, you need to fill in the path to the table file, specifying a macro that indicates how the files to be imported are named. The keywords to be used are %name% and %variant%, which indicate the name of the type, and the referenced variant, respectively.

The use of this import macro assumes that the reference files are correctly named in terms of both the name given to the list type and the variant name.

Suppose we want to import grids, stored in the folder C:\OPERA\LISTINGS, for a source that contains the following types: FIN1, FIN2, FIX.

Assuming that the White and Coated variants seen above are available in the list for these types, in order to correctly import all tabular lists for the types in the list, the Table File field will need to contain the path C:\OPERA\LISTINI\%name% - %variant%.csv.

Within the folder, the Files will need to be renamed as follows in order to import the grids correctly:

• FIN1 – Bianco.csv
• FIN2 – Bianco.csv
• FIX – Bianco.csv
• FIN1 – Rivestito.csv
• FIN2 – Rivestito.csv
• FIX – Rivestito.csv

The names will be those used in the price lists, which are given in the List section of the Source Management pane. The variant is the one that is created in the Price List Variant Management pane.

Remember, that the prices imported from the grid, are considered by the program as final prices, and therefore it will not be possible to specify profit percentages to be applied within the variant framework, since no calculation is to be made. It will also be possible to configure the colors available in the price list as previously seen.

File containing multiple grids

If you have a file containing multiple grids (usually a spreadsheet/excel), you need to make some changes on the file itself to allow the software to make the correct correspondence between the grids in the file, and the types within the source to be generated. The essential data to be able to make the correspondence are the name of the type and the name of the variant.

At this point, we need to modify each grid in the excel file by inserting the following macro in the first cell at the top:

OPERA: name="nome tipologia" variant="nome variante"

Substituting instead of type name and variant name, the exact references to the list type to be associated.

Suppose we want to import an excel file called Listini.xls, stored in the folder C:\OPERA\LISTINI, for a source containing the following types: FIN1, FIN2 Assuming that the "Standard" and "Coated" variants seen earlier are available in the price list for these types, in order to correctly import all the tabular price lists for the types in the list, the Table File field must contain the path "C:\OPERA\LISTINI\Listini.xls."

The type grids within the file, should be modified by adding the following headings in the first cell:

• OPERA: name=”FIN1” variant=”Standard”
• OPERA: name=”FIN1” variant=”Rivestito”
• OPERA: name=”FIN2” variant=”Standard”
• OPERA: name=”FIN2” variant=”Rivestito”

The names will be those used in the price lists, which are given in the List section of the Source Management pane. The variant is the one that is created in the Price List Variant Management pane.

Remember, that the prices imported from the grid, are considered by the program as final prices, and therefore it will not be possible to specify profit percentages to be applied within the variant framework, since no calculation is to be made. It will also be possible to configure the colors available in the price list as previously seen.

The price framework

To access the reference frame, from the Price List Revisions frame press the File:Keyprices4.png button will open the Price List Revision Management frame, where you will be able to see the detail of the newly generated price list.

This window contains all the prices available in the price list. The following are the types of prices that can be entered and their usage description:

• LxH: is used in case a price is to be given to a type in a price list by means of height and width values.(LxH type prices are generally filled in automatically by the program at the end of a price generation, but the user will still have the option of manually editing them or entering new ones.)
• Tipologia: is used to give a list price to a type that does not have a reference grid, but is priced differently (e.g., per m² or per piece)
• Opzione: permette di assegnare un prezzo di listino a una opzione dell’archivio
• Riempimento: is used to assign a list price to replacement fills that can be chosen from the accessory archive (e.g., panels and glass)
• Profilo: this type allows a price to be added to the price list for archive profiles (to be used, for example, as mullions/ transoms, thresholds, baseboards)
• Accessorio: this item can be used to price archive accessories (excluding fills).
• Out-of-Size Increase and Excess Out-of-Size Increase: allow surcharges to be applied to the typology if it is created of a size not provided for in the grid. The type Oversize Increase applies the price to the entire typology, while Excess Oversize Increase applies the price only to the actual squaring ti excess typology
• Zone and Distance: these types allow you to assign transportation-related list costs.
• Inglesine: allows you to specify a surcharge to the basic price list for Inglesine.

Each line in the list represents a combination of type, color variant, and size (LxH), or it can indicate a filler item or option. It will be possible to make changes on each individual line

Inserting a new list item

Entering a new price is roughly similar for all the types just examined: however, depending on the choice, only those items within the framework that are consistent with the selected type will be activated or deactivated.

Press the button for entering the new price item, and choose the Type

The System / Series / Group / Variant fields are to be used as a filter, to specify to the program what the price is to be applied to. By leaving these fields blank, the price will be applied to any type in the price list.

Then choose from the archive the object to list: depending on the Type selected, a different picture will open. The price application provides multiple fields on which values can be entered:

• Price (understood as price per piece),
• %aumento (the base price is increased by the specified percentage)
• Price per m², (you can also specify the calculation by per m² on type size and a minimum billing)
• Price per m (you can also specify calculation by per m on actual length and a minimum billing)

N.B: To allow a more flexible application of prices, the program will compose the final price of the item by summing all values specified in the framework, and ignoring those with value "0" or left blank by the user.

The Print Abacus field, if active, will allow for the detail of the surcharge within the quote; otherwise, any surcharge for coloring will be counted in the body and will not appear in the abacus. The Code and Description fields allow for the specification of a different code and description than the item on file. These codes will only be valid for the price list and related quote and abacus printouts. Below is an example of an entry, highlighting the flexibility of the price panel:

Suppose we want to list a glass V6/7-12-6/7 Low-E. This glass, in our price list, comes standard in French Doors, but if inserted in a window the basic price is increased by 50€ per square meter. The price is the same for all series provided in the price list. In addition, we want to make the surcharge appear in the quote. To do this we need to enter two price items in the price list, one for windows and one for French doors, done this way (fields not mentioned should be left blank):

• Tipo: Filling
• Sistema/Serie: <vuoto>
• Riempimento: V6/7-12-6/7
• Variante / Colore : <vuoto>
• Gruppo: Finestra
• Prezzo al m²: 50
• Stampa abaco: <attivo>

• Tipo: Filling
• Sistema/Serie: <vuoto>
• Riempimento: V6/7-12-6/7
• Variante / Colore : <vuoto>
• Gruppo: Portafinestra
• Prezzo al m²: 0
• Stampa abaco: <disattivo>

Editing a list item

Although it is possible to edit list items individually, it can often be useful to make a change to an entire list of prices.

Pressing the File:Keypercentage.png button in the Manage Price List Review panel allows one or more price items to be changed simultaneously by percentage.

A frame will open in which to enter the percentage value to be applied: either positive or negative values can be entered (e.g. 3 or -10 are both valid)

N.B: Pressing the "Selected" button will enable editing only on the current item, while the "List" button enables editing on all items currently showing in the price panel. Therefore, it is recommended to act appropriately on the filter at the top of the window to show only the desired prices.

Creating an order from a list

This section will describe the actions to be taken to create a job order, from entering types to printing for the customer's quote.

Creating a job order using the price list is done in much the same way as the standard procedure:

• Press the button to create a new job order, and fill in all the desired fields. When the entry is complete, press the File:Keymanagement.png
• To enter a new type in the job order, press the File:+inser.png button and, in the warning message that will open accordingly, choose the item "Types from list."

We choose the item Type from list and enter it in the job order along with the revision.

This will open the Price List Type Selection panel, from which you can select the desired type.

Once you have chosen the type to be included in the job order, the program will ask which of the revisions on file you want to use.

N.B: Only those that contain prices related to the selected type will be shown in the list of revisions

At this point you can proceed with the configuration of the type

N.B: Only those that contain prices related to the selected type will be shown in the list of revisions

All changes made on the base type, will affect the price of the type in accordance with the extra items that have been specified in the price list: fills, special coloring, and all other options will make up the final price of the quote. Clicking on the File:Keyol.png button at the Sale Price field will open the summary picture of the list data used.

By pressing the File:Calculationskey.png button, it will be possible to see in real time the actual profits of the type, calculated taking into account the current prices of the material, and compared with the price of the list at the time of its generation. In this way, it is possible to always have a precise idea of the price trend, so that any changes to the price list can be considered.

Pressing the File:Key-detail.png button, on the other hand, will present a detail of all the operations performed on the type using the price list. Therefore, all changes that have been applied on the base price by grid will be shown in this frame.

If the information entered is correct, after all the required types have been entered into the job order, it is possible to print the estimate from the main panel of the job order, following the standard procedure.

How to handle compound types

Entering a compound type into the job order using the price list involves a few simple steps.

After the first structure is entered, press the File:Keyboarddesign.png button to access the Design Sheet panel and change the starting type.

At this point, pressing the File:+inser.png button will allow you to choose which archive to draw from for type selection:

Once these steps have been taken, perform the design of the compound type as per standard procedure.

Returning to the General type data panel and pressing the File:Keyol.png button will bring up the list detail, which will take into account the changes made: with each structure of the composed type, its basic price list will be automatically associated (if it exists), and its surcharges; the final price will be the sum of the price lists of the two structures.

N.B: If the new structure entered is not provided for in the list, or a price has not yet been generated, the program will not identify a revision, and therefore a price for the type, It will be possible in any case to assign a price "on the fly" from the list by filling in the field Pr.imposed.

Printing of price lists

Opera Job Management allows you to export and print a price list revision. To do so, simply go to the Price List Revisions Archive panel and press the File:Keyprint2.png

Pressing the button will allow us to choose whether to print or export:

• the entire price list File:Listtypes.png
• display the calculation conditions used in the creation of the list File:Condizionidicalcolo.png
• print out a grid generated in real time based on the prices matched to the types entered in the File:Livegrids.png price frame. (available since version 3.8.4)

Once you have made your choice, the picture on the side will appear: if you want to print the list, simply select the currency and press the button; if you want to export the list instead, you must first activate the Export to Excel item, and set the folder to which you want to export the files in the Export Path field.