Lesson 5-- Project Schedules

The Goldenseal scheduling software program calculates schedule dates for each Estimate that has a category or item breakdown. This lesson explains how to use the scheduling features.

Project Start Date

To enter the start date for work on an estimate, click in the Start Date field and type in a date. If you have already entered items and want to update the schedule, click the Update Schedule button.

Item Start Dates

As you enter each item into an Estimate breakdown, Goldenseal computes the time it takes to do that item, and adjusts the start date for all following items. It also adjusts the Finish Date for the entire estimate.

If the item is an assembly, Goldenseal estimating software calculates the time it will take for each component in the assembly, and multiplies that total by the quantity.

For labor items, Goldenseal divides the total person-hours for the item by the crew size in the Crew column.

Crew Size

To change the crew size for any item, click in the Crew column and type in a different number. Goldenseal will automatically adjust the start date for every item after the changed line.

Adding Delays

To add a delay in the middle of a project, follow these steps:

Click in the bottom row, and hit the Return key to add a new row.
Click in the Cost Area column, and enter Delay.
Click in the Size column, and enter Hours or Days.
Click in the Quantity column, and enter the amount of delay.
Drag the row to its final place in the schedule (see the next section).

Changing Schedule Order

To change the order of items in an Estimate, follow these steps:

Hold down the Control key, and click the row that you'd like to move.
Keep holding the mouse button down, and drag to the new location.
Lift up the mouse button. Goldenseal will move the row.
Repeat steps 1 to 3 for any other items you'd like to move.
When you are finished, click the Update Schedule button to recalculate the entire schedule.

Changing Schedule Columns

You can use the Custom Layouts command (Lesson 21) to add more scheduling fields to the estimate breakdown tables. You can add columns to show start time, finish date and finish time (see page 138).

You can also add start time and finish time fields to the estimate itself, if your projects don't take very long (see page 129).

Working Hours

Goldenseal project scheduling software lets you base schedules on the hours that you actually work.

To set up working hours, follow these steps:

Choose Costs Setup from the Costs menu, and choose Working Hours from the submenu.
You'll see a list of Working Hours. Double-click on an item in the list.
You'll see details for this set of working hours.
Enter the vacation schedule, and the hours your crew works each day. You can also enter a delay factor to adjust all schedule dates.

When Goldenseal calculates the schedule with these hours, it will only schedule work during the working hours, and it will skip any holidays included in the vacation package.

If you don't use Working Hours, Goldenseal uses a normal work week and spreads it out over the entire week.

Schedule Reports

To see a printed schedule, choose Estimates from the Reports menu, and choose Schedule from the submenu. You'll see a listing of tasks, with the start and end dates for each.

Finishing Up

In this lesson you've learned how to use the Goldenseal scheduling software to fill in the schedule dates in a project estimate.

This might be a good time to figure the installation time for each wax cherry or banana in the chic hat that you started in Lesson 4,. You wouldn't want to make social plans, and then not have it ready in time!