Adding an External Report Database Configuration

An external report database configuration is a set of options that the Estimating Management Console and Sage Estimating use to generate data for one or more estimates into a separate external report database.

You can add as many configurations as you need.

To add a configuration:

1. Open the Estimating Management Console.

2. On the toolbar, click [External Report].

3. Click New External Report Database Configuration.

4. In the New External Report Database Configuration window:

   1. In the box provided, type the name for the new configuration.

      Tip: Give the configuration a meaningful name that will help you remember the type of report data it generates, later.

   2. Tab to the next box, and then type the name for the new external report database.

      Each configuration generates a separate external report database.

   3. Specify whether to include all estimates in the configuration by default. (You can include and exclude specific estimates later, manually, as needed.)

   4. Specify whether to grant read-only access to the external report database to all users by default. (You can add and remove non-administrative users' access, later.)

   5. Specify the branch in the configuration catalog on which you want to locate the new configuration.

   6. Click [OK].

5. On the Options tab of the External Report Database Configuration window:

   1. For the Sequence, select one of the following alternatives:

      • To generate data using the last sequence used to view an estimate, select Current.

      • To generate data using a different sequence:

        1. Select Custom.
        2. Click the browse button .

        3. In the Edit Grouping Hierarchy window, from the Available Fields list, select the fields by which you want to group estimate items.

           Click the right arrow key to add each one to the right-hand pane. Then use the and buttons to specify the order in which to group the information in the database.

        4. Click [OK].

   2. Specify whether to use the estimates' native system of measurement or to convert all units to Imperial or Metric in the external report database.

   3. Use the Options checkboxes to specify what item information to generate for the external report database.

6. On the Estimates tab:

   1. If you want to include all new estimates in the configuration automatically, select the Automatically include new estimates in this configuration option.

   2. If you want to limit the number of estimates generated for the external reports database, select the Limit generated estimate count option and then specify the number of estimates that can exist in the external reports database.

   3. In the Estimates grid, select the checkbox for each estimate for which to generate data using this configuration. Clear the checkboxes for estimates for which you do not want this configuration to generate data.

      Tip: If a large number of estimates appear in the grid, use the filters in the column headers to display only estimates with specific characteristics.

7. In the grid on the User Access tab, select the non-administrative users who need to read from the external reports database that this configuration will create. (That is, provide read access to users who will create reports using this data.)