Global Margin Adjustments - D-Tools Forum

MichaelH · 06-25-2010, 06:15 PM

I'm using SI5.5 and I was wondering if there is a feature that allows management to model the projects with a "what if" scenario that allows the global adjustment of margins. We use d-tools a little differently in a commercial security function. Sometimes the industry is brutally competitive, especially when you are dealing with $200K to $800K projects. So we need to be able to globally adjust the labor and/or material margins up or down (mostly down) to be able to be competitive.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

**Ryan Brown** · 06-25-2010, 10:19 PM

Hey Michael, great question with lots of application for most companies. I'll throw a couple ideas into the mix and I'm sure there are some other ideas out there that others can put forward as well.

While there is no feature included to globally adjust the margins of a project with 'one click' - there are several features within the Data Matrix/ project options that would essentially allow you to do this.

As far as your 'what if' scenario I suggest you look into using project revisions to track each of the what if scenarios (and be able to backtrack to one of them at a point in the future).

As the total margin for a project is the cumulative sum of all its parts (individual margins of all products and labor) you will need to do one of 2 things:

For Equipment discounting:

1. Simply add a discount item into the project with a negative selling price (cost =0): This allows you to set a finite discount amount and run subsequent management reports to see the effect on your bottom line.

2. Adjust the margins of all items in the job in order to globally adjust the project: This works great so long as you're OK with adjusting all of the items to have an equal margin. You can do this very quickly by selecting all of the items in the data matrix and then use the 'fx' button on the toolbar to adjust the margin/markup on the items - adjust price based on cost is probably most appropriate choice here.

For Labor Discounting:
1. Add a labor item that serves as a discount item
2. Adjust the selling price of your labor rates for the project under D-Tools -->Options

I'm sure there are other approaches but these are the most obvious that come to mind.

MichaelH · 06-25-2010, 10:37 PM

Ryan,

Thanks for the tips. These should work very well. Maybe we can get a modeling option available for future releases.