PROJECT MESSAGES
Use Project Messages to quickly and easily fix up any problems in a project
Project messages allow you to quickly and easily fix up any problems in a project and review important information relevant to the project. Project messages are automatically created and managed by the program. If there are any project messages present, you will immediately be able to see and refer to them by looking in the bottom right hand corner of the window here. This will display how many of each type there are.
There are three different flavours of messages
- Error messages
- Warning messages
- Information messages.
Error messages:
These are used to identify any errors that need to be resolved within the project and will stop calculations from being run. This can include any unfinished items or group resources, invalid formula, or project settings that aren’t viable.
Warning messages:
These are the way the program calls things to your attention for review, but they may not necessarily be wrong. For example, they may be an item with a sell rate lower than the estimated rate, but that may be a deliberate choice by the estimator.
Information messages:
These allow you to review relevant information about the project, including items on the to-do list, which are not yet done.
Neither warning nor information messages will stop calculations from being run.
In many instances, you’ll be able to double click on the magnifying glass, here, to navigate instantly to the source. We can see that problem highlighted here.
As you can see, once you’ve reviewed and corrected any error messages, calculations are able to be run.
You also want to make sure you’re reviewing any warning or information messages.
But wait, there’s more.
In ‘Project Properties’, you can use the Project Message Settings tab to customise how and what project messages are displayed. For example, you can customise project messages so that certain messages that are by default ‘errors’, are only raised as information messages, or that ‘warning’ messages are instead raised as error messages, or not at all.
This window lists out every possible project message for Base Resources, Cash Flow, Code Sets, Cost Estimates, and so on. You can change the level simply by clicking ‘here’.
Like any other grid, you can use the filter key here on the ‘level’ column to easily see which project messages are set by default to ‘do not raise’.
Here is a valuable bonus tip.
If you have a particular set of settings that you want to repeat across projects, consider setting up the project message settings in a template project, which all new created projects are based on. Once customised, you can click on ‘Save’ to save the changes.
And that’s an introduction to Project Messages and using the Project Message Settings window to customise how your project messages are displayed in Expert Estimation.
WANT MORE TIPS & TRICKS? VIEW HERE