Lite

Full

Estimates are stored in a robust relational database

Yes

Yes

Automatically saves your data

Yes

Yes

Backup database function

Yes

Yes

User definable drop down menus

Yes

Yes

Install on a PC/laptop, LAN, Windows Terminal Server and Citrix

Yes

Yes

Full multi-user; you can even have a team working on the one estimate at the one time (requires multiple licenses)

Yes

Yes

Administration function so you can control functionality and default settings

Yes

Yes

Project Browser function which lists all your estimates in your database and allows you to easily search for and open previous Projects

Yes

Yes

Quickly view Tenders due today, this week, next two weeks or within the next month

Yes

Yes

Project and Resource Notes and text fields for Project Comments, Documentation, Deliverables and Scope

Yes

Yes

Check Out / Check In allows you to work remotely on an individual estimate or estimates if you cannot connect to your master database via your network

Yes

Yes

Ability to add links to documents (photos, specifications, drawings etc) within a Project and to Items in your Item Library

Yes

Libraries

Lite

Full

Control access to Libraries on a user by user basis

Yes

Yes

Resource Library stores your standard Labour, Plant, Material and Subcontract rates

Yes

Yes

Item Library stores the standard services you provide.  An Item (also known as an activity or recipe) is made up of a collection of Resources

Yes

Yes

Section Library stores your standard Section headings (i.e. main headings/breakdown for a standard job you do)

Yes

Yes

Client Library stores your client's details

Yes

Yes

Subcontractor Library stores your subcontractor’s and supplier’s details

Yes

Yes

Conditions Library stores your standard and project specific conditions that can be used on your quotes

Yes

Yes

Estimator Library allows you to create user profiles including login code, password, contact details, system access permissions and quote authorisation levels

Yes

Yes

Takeoff Sheet Library stores your quantity takeoff templates, which can be used to work out quantities for Items in a project

Yes

Variable Library stores your common variables (parameters) that you wish to amend on a job by job basis (e.g Wastage for Pipe %, Wastage for Concrete %, Hours per Day)

Yes

Estimating YOUR PROJECT

Lite

Full

The ability to add Sections, Items and Resources from your libraries, and be able to edit this information within the estimate

Yes

Yes

The ability to add project specific Sections, Items and Resources to your estimate

Yes

Yes

The ability to load a Bill of Quantities (schedule of items) from a spreadsheet, and save your bid (submission) rates electronically into the original spreadsheet file

Yes

Yes

Allocate Resources from Item Library  - gives you the ability to allocate one or many Items from your Item Library to a single Item in a Project

Yes

Yes

Section Production Rates to quickly and accurately change the production rate for all Items in a Section

Yes

Yes

Item Production Rates to quickly and accurately change the production rate of an Item

Yes

Yes

Resource Production Rates to quickly and accurately change the production rate for a user- definable group of Resources within an Item

Yes

Yes

Item and Resource Calculator function – calculate quantities of Items and Resources with Benchmark’s powerful calculator.  The calculations you enter (which can include text strings) are saved with your estimate and can be printed out on your internal reports.

Yes

Yes

Resource Factor feature to specify a secondary factor for a Resource (for example if you purchase Steel at a per metre rate, you can specify a weight per metre – Benchmark can then calculate for you the total weight of Resources in your Project)

Yes

Yes

Plugged function allows you to see which Resources are “plugged” (or guessed) for a Project

Yes

Yes

Complete function so you can keep control over which Sections and/or Items you have finished estimating, and also so you can “lock” your estimated price

Yes

Yes

Ability to duplicate entire estimates, and set up standard project templates that can be duplicated and edited

Yes

Yes

Rate Only Items and Provisional Sum Items

Yes

Yes

Resource Level Sub Totals, Group Totals, Text and Bold Text lines.  Item Text lines.

Yes

Yes

Cartage Calculator can automatically calculate the cost of Cartage for specific Resources based on a Cartage Rate, Cartage Distance, Flag Fall and Distance Included

Yes

Yes 

Cost Check - updates previous estimates with current rates from the Resource Library

Yes

Yes

Add Variations to projects

Yes

Yes

Routines for pricing repetitive works by answering user definable questions.  Routines can price an entire Project or individual Items within a Project.

Yes

Yes

Sub Items (composite resources) can be added to an Item as an individual Resource but can themselves be made up of many Resources. Ideal for crews, assemblies or breaking down your items of Plant into more detail (e.g. Fuel, Operator etc).

Yes

Subcontractor Manager – issue requests for prices and import quotations from Subcontractors or Suppliers electronically.  Compare quotes in a comparison screen and automatically update your estimate with your selected subcontractor/supplier.

Yes

Calculate Quantities of Items in your estimate using standard takeoff sheet templates.  These templates are set up in a spreadsheet and the resultant takeoff calculation is stored seamlessly with your estimate

Yes

Auto Allocate bids schedules of items (or bills of quantities) with amazing speed and accuracy

Yes

Resource Rate Change allows you to view all resources used in your estimate in one screen and make project specific rate changes, without changing the default rate in the Resource Library.  You can make changes by rate or %.

Yes

Variables allow you to edit key, user-definable parameters like a Density or Wastage %, and this will flow through to all appropriate calculations in your estimate automatically.  You can also use it to designate depths, widths, heights, areas at several levels of an estimate.  Your Variables can be used in your Item and Resource quantity calculations.

Yes

Power Routine for bidding annual and longer-term maintenance contracts

Optional add-on

Optional add-on

Allocating Profit, Overheads and Contingencies

Lite

Full

Extras screen for allocation of your project Markup, Overheads and Contingencies; these can be applied as %’s or lump sum amounts.  You can apply different Markup % to your Labour, Materials, Plant and Subcontract components or break it down even further by Resource Group (Concrete, Steel etc).

Yes

Yes

Overhead Sections (ideal for Site Overheads and Project Management) which are spread across your direct cost (bill) items and not displayed on your Quote

Yes

Yes

The Spread function allows you to manipulate your submission rates on an item by item basis.  You may wish to “front-load” your tender to increase cash flow early on in your Project for example.

Yes

Yes

Reporting - General

Lite

Full

Over 70 Direct Cost reports including a project summary, bill of quantities, list of materials, detailed resource listings per item, resource listings per group and cost code, and resource usage sorted by cost and quantity

Yes

Yes

Resources by Item with Options report with many user-defined options to enable you to produce a handover report for your contract manager in the format you want

Yes

Yes

My Reports menu to set up your most commonly used reports in the one easy to access menu

Yes

Yes

Reports can be viewed on screen prior to printing, saved to HTML and copied and pasted into Word or Excel

Yes

Yes

Compatible with external reporting systems including Crystal Reports and Cognos

Yes

Yes

Reports can be generated as a PDF document (excluding Word and Excel documents)

Yes

Quotes, Quoting and Follow Up

Lite

Full

Quote Submission reports including Quotations, Rate Only Quotations, Schedule of Rates and a Tender Letter

Yes

Yes

Ability to include your company logo and standard and project specific conditions in your Quote reports

Yes

Yes

Quote with Options report with many user-defined options to quickly produce a quote in your required format

Yes

Yes

Microsoft Word® templates allow you to set up standard template(s) for your standard Quote submission formats. For a Project you simply select which format you wish to use and Benchmark populates the template automatically with the relevant details from the estimate

Yes

Quote Authorisation process flow to notify Managers when a quote needs their authorisation

Yes

Follow Up feature to remind your estimators which quotes need to be followed up on each day.  Includes a Follow Up Summary report which gives information on the Follow Up performance of your Estimators

Yes

Email (as a PDF) your quotes directly from your Benchmark estimate to improve quote turnaround time and help you win more work

Yes

Email Log logs all emails issued from Benchmark and saves quotes and reports attached as PDFs; ideal for auditing and to quickly view quotes emailed to clients

Yes

Marketing and Business Reporting

Lite

Full

Business reporting including Items by Market Share, Projects by Estimator, Quote KPI per Estimator and Winner Not Registered

Yes

Yes

Update Marketing Data window so you can view and update Marketing data for all Projects from one single window

Yes

Marketing Analysis graphs (won/lost/pending, reason for loss, competitor comparison, forward order) 

Yes

Export all marketing data direct to a spreadsheet for your own analysis

Yes

Exports to Excel

Lite

Full

Resources by Cost Code for budgets, project management and integrating with other systems

Yes

Yes

Resources by Subcontractor/Supplier for ordering

Yes

Yes

Resources by Item with Used and Remaining and Project Total Resources by Group for job costing

Yes

Yes

Project Review/Analysis for job costing and what-if analysis by contract managers

Yes

Yes

Schedule of Items

Yes

Yes

Interfacing with Other Business Systems

Lite

Full

Exports to other business systems being Projection Scenario, Microsoft Dynamics (Navision), Timberline and JobPac

Yes

Yes

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) Driver so other systems can access and extract data from your Benchmark data file(s)

Yes

Yes

Import (and export) facilities allow you to electronically import Resource rates (price lists), Clients and other data into your Benchmark data file

Yes

Yes

Standard MPX export to Microsoft Project, Suretrak and Primavera

Yes

Yes

Resource-based export to Microsoft Project for project scheduling, cash flow forecasting and resource planning (requires Microsoft Project 2003 onwards)

Optional add-on

Optional add-on

Progress Claims

Lite

Full

Generate Progress Claims directly from your Benchmark project.  Includes ability to do your claims by % or Quantity complete and Retentions.  Five different Progress Claim reports including a one-page Summary (cover sheet), detailed reports by Item, a Claim Report with Options so you can customise the format of the report, and a report showing the data for the last four claims. 

Optional add-on

Yes

Support and Documentation

Lite

Full

12 months of upgrades to the software

Yes

Yes

12 months of 24/7 support from our helpful and experienced support team

Yes

Yes

Comprehensive hard copy full-colour User Manual

Yes

Yes

Online Help

Yes

Yes