What Are Intelligent Assemblies in Accubid Anywhere?
Intelligent assemblies take the concept of a standard assembly further.
Instead of simply inserting the same collection of components every time, an intelligent assembly can respond to selections and conditions entered by the estimator.
In practical terms, one assembly can represent many installation possibilities.
Why That’s Powerful
Traditional assemblies work well when the installation is predictable.
Electrical estimating isn’t always predictable.
Installation requirements can change based on conduit size, conductor size, mounting method, length, equipment type, installation location, and numerous other conditions.
Rather than maintaining a huge number of nearly identical assemblies, intelligent logic can allow the assembly to adjust.
Intelligence Should Reduce Decisions
The goal isn’t to make an impressive assembly.
The goal is to make the estimator’s job easier.
A good intelligent assembly asks for the information necessary to determine the installation and then handles as much of the repetitive work as possible.
That can reduce:
· Repetitive selections
· Duplicate assemblies
· Missing components
· Inconsistent takeoff
· Manual quantity calculations
There Is Such a Thing as Too Much Logic
Intelligent assemblies can become extremely sophisticated.
That doesn’t mean they should.
If the logic becomes so complicated that nobody understands what the assembly is doing, maintaining the database becomes difficult and estimators may stop trusting the results.
The best intelligent assemblies hide complexity from the estimator without hiding the intent of the installation.
This Is Where Database Development Becomes Valuable
Building intelligent assemblies requires more than software knowledge.
Someone has to understand the installation well enough to determine what should change, when it should change, and what components belong in each condition.
That is why mature estimating databases take significant time to develop.
The value isn’t simply the number of assemblies.
It’s the accumulated logic inside them.
