Vico Cost Explorer™ grants the tightest possible control over your project’s budget. With this straightforward visual monitoring system, you can easily grasp and communicate project cost variances, and compare them to the targeted budget.

 

Cost Explorer

 

Graphical Cost Explorer
The Graphical Cost Explorer provides a graphical representation of the cost breakdown of the project’s estimate. New in the 2009 release is the ability to include the locations that you defined in Constructor in the Cost Explorer view, which will help you to identify quickly where in the project cost variance and over budget situations exist.

 

Target Cost Editor

 

The concept of Target Costing helps to define and control a budget or a baseline cost estimate. By defining targets, a bandwidth for the project's budget is established. Updated values can then be compared against these targets and bandwidths.

 

Define Specified Target Costs
Increase budget control by setting Target Costs. With the Target Cost Editor, known budgets for parts of the cost breakdown can be defined. This can be done as a cost value or as a percentage of the overall budget.
In Vico Cost Explorer 2009, Target Costs can now be defined at the ‘element’ level of detail or on the ‘activity’ level of detail. In addition to this, targets can be set per project location, as defined in Constructor.

 

Divide the Remaining Budget
Increase accuracy and granularity on-the-fly. When known cost breakdown items have been specified, the remaining budget is automatically divided into the unknown budgets for items in the cost breakdown structure. The level of detail can be increased throughout the project's phases. This makes defining a set of Target Costs easy and the process follows the project cycle.

 

Cost Estimating Version Import

 

Easily track cost changes. Versions of a cost estimate (either from Microsoft® Excel™ or Vico Estimator™) can be imported into a Vico Cost Explorer project and compared against the target costs.

 

Import from Estimator
After exporting an Intermediate Data Set from Vico Estimator, the generated snapshot of the estimate can be imported into the Cost Explorer project. During the import, all Recipe, Method and Resource data are imported, as well as any associated quantities.

 

Import from Excel
Benefit from Cost Explorer 2009 functionality - even when using simple Excel spreadsheets as your data source. Cost Explorer allows for the importing of this type of estimate by means of an Excel Import Wizard. The wizard helps users to specify step–by-step where cost descriptions and values are located in the spreadsheet.

 

Project Data Panel

 

Vico Cost Explorer is tightly integrated with Vico Estimator. All information that exists in a project's estimate at a certain point in time is imported into Cost Explorer and made available through the Project Data Panel.

 

Recipes, Methods, and Resources by Location
When cost estimating data are exported from Vico Estimator, all data are visible by location in the Project Data Panel. In the case of Microsoft Excel files, all line items are included as individual lines in the same data panel. In addition to descriptions and costs, quantities associated with these cost items are shown.

 

Side-by-Side Comparison
Cost Explorer provides effective comparison tools which enable tight control over changes. Versions of cost estimating content are compared side-by-side when activated in the comparison. Cost and quantity variations can be easily identified.

 

Methods and Recipes Comparison
Cost Explorer 2009 provides highly detailed comparison capabilities. Now you can compare versions of your project cost with an element view (Recipes) or even down to an activity level (Methods).

 

Add Comment Callouts
During analysis and comparison of the cost information in Cost Explorer, notes can be added to cost items that appear as callouts when hovering over the item after it is saved.

 

Vico 5D Presenter Integration

 

Tight integration with Vico’s Virtual Construction™ product suite enables users to visualize cost items in the 5D model.

 

Improved Connection
Cost Explorer 2009's connectivity with 5D Presenter has been further improved so that you can now select multiple items in a Cost Explorer project and highlight associated elements in the 5D Presenter model, providing you with visual feedback on the location of budget and cost variance.