Use Project Properties To Drive Line Item Quantities

This article offers a quick look at how to use Project Properties to drive line item quantities in the Estimate View.

• In this example, we will use the Total Site Area Project Property to drive a line item quantity. But this will, of course, apply to other standard and custom Project Properties. 
• In the Project View, we have set the Total Site Area Project Property to a value of 200,000 (sf). Note that I have put 'SF' in the Notes column, but this is purely a reminder for the user - the application is not aware of this unit of measure stipulation, and will not perform conversions. 

• Navigate to the Estimate View.
  
• We need to expose the Formula column:
  • Right-click on the Estimate View row header and click Show Column Chooser.
    
  • In the Column Chooser, locate Formula, and drag-and-drop it into the Estimate View column header (typically, next to the Quantity column).
    
• Click into the Formula column on the line item that you'd like to edit, then enter the name of the Project Property that will drive the quantity of that line item. Here, we enter Total Site Area. Note that the Project Property entered here needs to be exact. 

• Notice the the Quantity column immediately reflects the correct number. 

• This works for all formulas that call on a Propect Property as a formula variable. In the below example, we changed the line item to Acres, and then use a simple formula to convert the SF of the Project Property to Acres for this line item. Note that the Quantity value updated automatically.

We can also go back to the Project View and update the Total Site Area Project Property - all line items with a formula-driving quantity that references that Project Property will be instantly updated. 

• Total Site Area updated to 300,000.
  
• The formula conversion is automatically recalculated and the Quantity updated.
  

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