Estimate Creation

Task-Based Estimates 

Task-Based Estimates allow you to create a project budget by entering in the estimated hours for each task applied to the project. This can be very useful when working against tight budgets or needing to provide a quote to a client for project approval.

To Set Up a Task-Based Estimate 

1. Go to Projects > Estimate in the left menu.
2. Select the Client and Project in the drop-down menus at the top of the page. 
3. Scroll down to the listed tasks and enter in the Estimated Hours for each task. (The estimated hours field is in-line editable, and the entered hours are saved automatically).

Note: The total estimated fees will automatically be calculated based on the hourly rates for each task and the number of hours you have entered.

Once the estimated hours have been entered, you’ll have a comparison graph for each task. As your team tracks time against the project, the comparison graph will update: teal for under the estimated hours, and red for over budget.

Task-Based Estimate

Project Estimates can also be monitored from the Project Info modal, the CEO Desktop > Client page, and the Estimate Report.

The Project Info Modal

Project-Level Estimates 

If you would prefer to create an estimate without breaking out the estimated hours by task, FunctionFox also allows for project-level estimates, allowing you to assign a total amount of estimated hours and/or estimated fees to a project. Click on your initials at the top right, and then the Settings & Preferences gear icon. Under Account Preferences > Other, check off the option ‘Use Project-Level Estimates’.

If project-level estimates are active, this setting will be applied to all existing projects and new projects going forward. Any task-level estimates will no longer be displayed.

On the Projects > Estimate page, you can add your estimated amounts by filling in either the Estimated Hours or Estimated Fees field (or both, to track against an overall amount of estimated hours and an overall estimated fee). This can also be done on the Projects > Manage page. 

Project-Level Estimate

Overall Project Summary

Estimate Alerts 

To set notifications based on your Project Estimates, navigate to Settings & Preferences > Account Preferences > Alerts. In the Estimated Hours Alert/Estimates Fees Alert fields, choose as many percentages as you want. The Project Manager will receive a notification when the actual hours/fees have reached a selected estimate percentage, as long as they also have the ‘Actual project fees have reached a specified % of estimate’ and/or ‘Actual project hours have reached a specified % of estimate’ notifications activated under My Preferences > Notifications > Project Notifications.