Selections in a Project are key to incorporating your client's material choices and provide a way for you to collaborate and discuss options with your client. Oftentimes, there's more to choose from than just a single Selection item. We incorporated the ability for you to provide Selection Options so that you can present a variety of selections for your client to choose from, while also allowing them to view the impact that has on their allowance.
If you're not familiar with Selections just yet, head over to this article to get started:
Selections Overview.
Create a Selection Category
Selection Categories are the container for all like-minded selection items and can be created in two different ways.
From the Budget
The first way is by the addition of a Budget line item with the type Selection. These items create Selection Categories and are easily managed by the Budget or in Selections!
WARNING: Deleting a Budget item with the type set as Selection will delete the entire Category as well as all items inside.
Add the Selection item either from your Price Book or by clicking on + Add Item in the Budget:
From there, add the items name, cost code and type. Once you select the type as Selection, you'll notice Units, Tax, Quantity and Markup are removed so you can add in your Allowance amount.
Once a Selection item is created on the Budget, you'll notice the Selection Category is created in the Selections tab:
From Selections
Choose "+ New Selection Category" and add the name, associated Cost Code, due date, Allowance, and an optional description. You can always leave the Allowance and Due Date blank and come back to it later.
Add a Selection Item
Once a Selection Category is created, start adding the various Items within that Category. You can add the following details to each Item:
Room(s): Tag the room - or room(s) - where this item will go in the project. These will come in handy when you or your client want to visualize the Selections using the Room view!
Category: Select the current Category or browse others from the dropdown
Status: Keep Open or mark as Complete if the selection is approved.
Description: Add any details like SKU, color, etc
Cost: Add pricing
Photos/Docs: Upload any pictures or documents related to the Selection item
Note: Microsoft documents such as Excel and Word files, can't be previewed directly. You'll need to download the document to view it. PDF files and images do have a preview option.Expenses: Track your costs associated with the selection
The Allowance amount and the difference between that and the actual item cost are displayed under the Category name. If the sum of all the items is higher than the Category Allowance, the number will be reflected as a negative - e.g. ($1,500.00) vs. $1,500.00.
Filter by Totals or Status
Filter individual Category Totals to see the Total Completed or Allowance Remaining within each Category by clicking the "Total" dropdown.
Filter everything by status to see everything that is Open or Complete
Create a Selection Option
Once you've created a Selection Category and an Item within that Category, you'll be able to add options within the Selection Item. If you don't have any options, you'll just see one item, which can be edited by clicking and opening it.
Options can be added by clicking on the Add New Option located in the upper right below Status.
You can add as many options as you'd like to your Selections or keep it at just one.
As you add options, include the same information you would for any Selection Item including a thumbnail image, attachments, the amount, a Room Tag, and a description.
Manage Selection Options
Easily adjust options to reflect default or preferred options, mark options as approved, or delete an option.
Set an Option as Projected
There is a blue Projected tag on the option currently selected that denotes the Projected Amount for this option is the amount that goes toward the allowance for the Category.
You can easily switch between which Option's Projected Amount affects the budget by clicking the ellipses menu to the right of the Option in the top right corner and choosing Set as Projected Option.
Once an option is set as the Projected option, you can then send the Selection Item to the client for approval.
Mark an Option as Approved
To learn more about how to send a Selection to the client for approval, head to this article. To manually approve a Selection, you have two options
Use the ellipses menu to the right of the specific option you want to approve and click Mark as Approved
Use the ellipses menu in the upper right of the entire Selection and click Mark Projected Option as Approved. The item that was designated to be used as the Projected amount is the option that is approved.
If you need to reverse the approval you can easily remove an approval by clicking on the Selection item's ellipses menu and selecting Remove Approved Status.
Delete an Option
To delete an option click on the ellipses menu to the right of the option and choose Delete Option.
Selection Options - Client View
When an option is chosen to display the Projected Amount, you'll notice that the Projected amount within your Selection Option is reflected in the Selection Category Allowance and the Projected Column of your Selections:
This allows you and the client to "try out" options as you work through their choices to ensure they fit in the Allowance and eventually, the Budget. Clients can actively manage their Selection options from their side as well to see what the impact will be on their Selection Allowance and Projected columns. Here's a helpful video explaining what these options look like in the client's View:
FAQ's
Will approving a Selection Option affect the Budget?
Selection Option Approvals will affect the Projected column and Allowance of the Selection Category but it won't impact the overall Budget until it's marked as Complete.
Can a client approve multiple options?
Currently, the Client can only approve one option for the same item. If you have multiple options that you need to be approved, we suggest adding them as a different Selection item to the same Category and sending that over to the client for approval.
Can you adjust the categorization for the Options in the Selection item so that the Projected item is always at the top or organized by price?
The Options that are presented can't be reorganized just yet. This is something our team is considering for the future. For now, the Option categorization is based on the order you add the Options to the Selection item.