July 2019

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In This Newsletter


Assa Abloy U.S. Catalogs to Introduce Tariff Surcharges, Effective August 1, 2019

Inside the Catalog Building Process

AVAproject Fusion: Microsoft Dynamics GP Plugin

Understanding the "Scope" of AVAproject Properties

AVAproject Tip: Horizontal Hardware Schedule






Watch AVAproject Tip Video!


Catalog Updates


 U.S. Price Books:

  • Cal-Royal
  • Hager
  • LCN



 Canadian Price Books:

  • Falcon
  • Ives
  • LCN
  • Schlage
  • Schlage E.S.
  • Von Duprin
  • Zero



Assa Abloy U.S. Catalogs to Introduce Tariff Surcharges, Effective August 1, 2019




Commencing August 1st, 2019, eight Assa Abloy U.S. catalogs will include an additional surcharge of 3% on various product series.

The affected catalogs include:

  • Corbin-Russwin (select series)
  • Markar
  • McKinney
  • Norton (select series)
  • Pemko
  • Rockwood
  • Sargent (select series)
  • Yale (select series)

The manner in which the tariff surcharge will be applied to the list prices is slightly different from other "adds" that may apply to individual products. As such, it will not be presented as a typical price increase. The list prices of the various products and their related options will not change; instead the tariff will be added to the calculated list price of each given product.

Unlike other optional charges that are generally applied to the base price of the product and then added to arrive at the list price, the tariff will be applied to that final list price. The additional surcharge will appear in the AVAproject 'Product Builder' as seen here, showing both the calculated list price and the list price inclusive of the tariff.

Because of the atypical nature of this charge, a small update to AVAproject will be necessary in order to present it in accordance with Assa Abloy's specification. While the updated Assa Abloy catalogs will be available for download by subscribers on their effective date (August 1st), the AVAproject update will be online for advance download on July 29th. This will allow AVAproject users to have the necessary software in place in advance of the catalog releases.

IMPORTANT NOTE: As the August Assa Abloy catalog updates are designed to work with the updated version of AVAproject, users that have not updated their software will be unable to utilize those catalogs. They will instead receive a message indicating those catalogs cannot be "mounted" as they are designed to operate with a updated version of AVAproject.

AVAware has worked very closely with Assa Abloy to ensure a seamless transition to the new pricing model. Every effort has been made to notify users well in advance so that they may prepare for the upcoming releases.

As a final measure to ensure that all AVAproject users are made aware of the catalog and software updates, a bulletin will appear via the AVAwire Flash alert service on August 1st.

For additional information or assistance, please contact AVAware customer service.


The following is an official release from Assa Abloy, outlining the updated product pricing:





Inside the Catalog Building Process




AVAproject users have come to rely upon the product, pricing and technical information offered by AVAware's architectural product catalogs. Users are now given an insider's view of the process.


Architectural product catalogs are an essential resource for the detailers and estimators that rely on AVAproject to manage their project bids and submittals. For nearly twenty years, AVAware has published an ever-growing catalog library containing product and pricing information from dozens of leading industry manufacturers. An in-house team of experts curate content from manufacturers' printed price books and translate it for use with AVAproject.

For the most part, the process undertaken to deliver this high quality content has been in a proverbial "black box"; everyone knows the data gets there, just not necessarily how. It's the intention of this article to shed some light on the efforts taken to accomplish this involved task.


» Click here to read full article...



AVAproject Fusion:
Microsoft Dynamics GP Plugin




The AVAproject Fusion Dynamics GP plugin allows products to be sourced, organized, and pushed directly into Microsoft Dynamics GP as purchase and sales order documents.


Built upon a powerful data extraction engine, AVAproject Fusion allows users of AVAproject to harvest project data to build highly customized reports and pivot tables - as well as move data directly into many accounting/ERP platforms. Through the use of specialized "plugins", AVAproject Fusion is able to integrate directly with virtually any API enabled accounting software.

One of the more popular accounting solutions for medium to large distributors is Microsoft's Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains). GP is a feature rich customizable accounting/ERP platform that offers many advanced features.


» Click here to read full article...



Understanding the "Scope" of AVAproject Properties

AVAproject provides a myriad of options and settings that allow users to tailor their estimates, submittals and overall experience according to their individual preferences. While many of these settings relate specifically to options governing individual projects, others affect AVAproject as whole for a given user or PC. Others still (those generally set via the web-based 'control panel') govern the use of specific features company wide. These differing level of effect are referred to as the "scope" of a given option or setting; the extent of their effect in the overall system.




The entire spectrum of options offered in AVAproject can be divided in terms of their level of impact - or their "scope".

 

 

Project Scope

 


The AVAproject 'Project' Menu

A setting with "Project Scope" will impact a single project independently. Although defaults can be established that will take effect for each new project created, the settings can be changed independently for each and every project. These settings values are stored within the project files themselves and "travel" with the project. If a given project is opened on another user's machine, it will retain its settings and options.

These settings are most often located under the 'Project' menu in AVAproject. Settings and options are grouped by their area of impact, encompassing every aspect of the project.


 

 

User Scope

 

A setting is said to have "User Scope" when it impacts the overall operation of AVAproject. Program preferences, data blocks, currencies, and the like are the types of options that are set once and govern the entire user experience.

These settings are most often located under the 'Tools' menu in AVAproject, and establish operational and user interface preferences that are specific to the individual user.


The AVAproject 'Tools' Menu

 

 

Company Scope

 


The "Software Settings" Page of the AVAware Customer Login Area

The final, and most wide-reaching level of scope involves settings and options that affect all the users within a company, regardless of their physical location. Because of the distributed nature of many organizations, the company-wide options are maintained through a web interface called the "control panel". System administrators are able to modify settings that will impact the use and availability of certain features by all users.

The concept of the scope is extremely important in order to fully understand how the many options and settings offered by AVAproject interact in respect of any given project. In addition, scope play an important role in the management of other system features such as 'Shared Resources', which will be discussed in a future edition of the AVAwire.



For additional information, general inquiries or to arrange an online product demonstration, please contact AVAware customer service.



 

AVAproject Tip: Horizontal Hardware Schedule

The 'Horizontal Hardware Schedule' columns, when added to the Openings Schedule, display the hardware installed on each opening based on their industry standard category designations. The column headers correspond to the master hardware categories as defined by the DHI and ultimately determine the order in which they are to be listed in the Hardware Schedule. Hardware items taken from AVAware supplied product catalog are all pre-defined with their category designations - so the separation is done automatically.



The AVAproject "Horizontal Hardware Schedule" columns



The individual hardware items can be identified by their 'Short Codes' (shown here) or by their assigned 'Product Codes'. This option to selected either is under the 'Project' menu, in the 'Openings Schedule' tab of the 'Hardware Schedule' dialog.





NOTE: When the presentation option is changed, a refresh of the horizontal hardware schedule will be necessary to reflect the new selection in the openings schedule.



The "Refresh Hardware Usage & Horizontal Schedule" option in the AVAproject "Action" menu

In addition to being a useful reporting feature, the horizontal hardware schedule columns can be made to be interactive as well. Hardware selections can be made for doors and frames without ever building a hardware group. As powerful and flexible as the AVAproject hardware groups are, being able to assign hardware directly to each opening can save a great deal of time when preparing estimate for smaller projects, or those in which only the doors and frames are being supplied. By assigning hardware to the openings, the doors and frames are still prepped to receive the hardware without having to prepare a detailed hardware schedule.



In the very same dialog that offered a choice of identifying hardware products with either product or short codes, an option is given to allow the definition of hardware using the horizontal hardware schedule columns.




When selected, the background color the columns change - indicating that they are no longer simply 'read only' in nature.





A pull-down is now offered in each column containing hardware items, taken from the project's hardware list, that match the category designation of given column. Hardware can be assigned to the opening without ever having to create or assign an actual hardware group.

When a material list is generated the opening details or identical to those created for openings with assigned hardware groups. Hardware products are listed and priced, while doors and frame components are automatically prepped to receive them.




The horizontal hardware columns will never completely replace hardware groups, especially in the case of larger and more complicated projects. However estimators can make quick work of an costing a project that that has limited number of openings and hardware options.



AVAproject Tips now feature accompanying overview and demonstration videos courtesy of the AVAware production team.

Click below to view the video for this month's Tip!








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We welcome any questions, comments or suggestions about any topic mentioned in this edition of AVAwire. Please visit our website for more information, or contact us directly at (416) 239-9099.