Compatible Units
Compatible Units define the materials, labor, and equipment necessary to install or remove assets in relationship to construction work. Compatible units can be referenced by other compatible units to build more complex configuration and allow users to properly group resources together.
Compatible Unit Type
The Compatible Unit Type determines how a compatible unit can be used:
- Compatible Unit Base: A simple compatible unit only consists of materials and serves as a building block for function compatible units. They cannot be selected directly on a work design or construction work activity and do not reference a property unit. Base compatible units are meant to model basic stock items used to build up a functional or accessory compatible unit. Changes to the stock item will be reflected on the compatible unit.
- Compatible Unit Function: This type of compatible unit is considered as the primary compatible unit which is added to work designs and construction work activities. Functional compatible units can include materials, labor, and equipment and require a function to install or remove the compatible unit. They can also be defined with a condition and property unit. Functional compatible units are intended to model an asset (such as a pole) and to create fixed or physical assets.
- Compatible Unit Accessory: This CU is meant to be used in conjunction with other CUs and is not meant to be capitalized. An accessory can be directly selected on a work design or construction work activity and can be designated with a function and condition, but not a property unit. Accessory compatible units are meant to model optional asset accessories that can be added to a work design or construction work activity to accompany the build out of an asset but which don’t directly contribute to the asset as a whole. A CU Accessory can also inherit from a Base CU if there is a desire to abstract the stock items in the Base CU from the various ways the CU can function as a CU Accessory. Note that CU Accessories do not create fixed or physical assets.
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On a work design to determine a quote, and perhaps pick between various design options.
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On a construction work order to initially populate the planned estimates and to drive the assets that will be created.
The accounting information on the compatible unit is used during the construction reconciliation process to produce the true cost of the new asset as well as allocate cost across the appropriate accounting codes. A CU Usage value can be added to the compatible unit to enable the system to retrieve all the valid Cost Center values for the selected CU Usage. If the compatible unit does not include a CU Usage value, a list of all CU Usages are rendered for the planner to choose from and to specify a cost center specific to that usage.
About CU Sets
CU Sets group related compatible units, usually by factors such as equipment group and size. Every compatible unit must belong to only one CU Set.
The main goal of a CU Set configuration is to make it easy to add CUs to work designs and construction work activities by these groupings. A best practice is to ensure that a CU Set is defined for every equipment group and size combination, and to ensure that a set includes the Functional CUs and Accessory CUs together. This will ease the selection of CUs when creating a work design or construction work order.
About CU Contractor Bids
CU Contractor bids define the details of a contractor’s proposal to perform the work for a particular Compatible Unit on a construction project.
Contractors must be defined in the system by a vendor location. Bids can only be added to functional or accessory compatible units and they may or may not include materials. Bids have both an effective date and an expiration date.
Activating the bid will ensure that it can be included on the construction work activity where the compatible unit is referenced.