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MDCE Mechanical Design Cost Estimation

As every project leader knows, it is an extremely important task to make reasonable estimation of design project costs for customer. By overestimating the costs company may lose the competition of the design project contract. The most serious case is to underestimate the costs, because then there will not be any net profits of the project. This Windows Phone application purpose is to assist to make a mechanical design project cost estimation. Estimation calculation is based on several years experience of the demanding mechanical design projects. Even the application is thoroughly tested and the calculation data is verified, the application is provided 'as-is' and the application developer is not in any way responsible how the end user uses the information gained with this application.

This Windows Phone application is developed by the Engineers Interactive Notes Team. The Einotes Team wishes to you successful and well estimated design projects.

MDCE Mechanical Design Cost Estimation


After you start the MDCE Mechanical Design Cost Estimation application you will see application information message. This message is automatically shown only at the first time you launch the application. Later you can view it by pressing SHOW APPLICATION INFO button. The main page has a application logo with the version text, www.einotes.com homepage hyperlink and some buttons. By pressing SHOW SAVED SUMMARY button saved estimation summary is shown. REMOVE SAVED SUMMARY removes saved summary from phone memory. ESTIMATION DEFAULTS takes into page where estimation defalt values can be changed. START NEW ESTIMATION will forward into data entry and calculation pages with default values. Application closes by pressing the phone physical BACK button when the main page is shown.

This Windows Phone application is developed by the Engineers Interactive Notes Team. The Einotes Team wishes to you successful and well estimated design projects.

MDCE Mechanical Design Cost Estimation


This page allows changing some of those estimation default values used in calculation. First box is for setting the default times to complete drawing sheets. This page and also all other pages data input is immediately evaluated and if input value is not positive numeric value, then Message is shown and the value stays as it was. In the next box are three fields to give default values for structural analysis, documentation and translation times. Next box below is for setting the project support activities times as percentage of the work time estimated. By pressing SAVE CHANGES button the values shown in the screen are saved into the application memory. These saved values are as defaults for next evaluation (also next time launch). Original defaults can be restored at any time.

This Windows Phone application is developed by the Engineers Interactive Notes Team. The Einotes Team wishes to you successful and well estimated design projects.

MDCE Mechanical Design Cost Estimation


First application data input page has five text fields and one listbox. The text fields are for the names of customer company, customer representative, project, design office (your company) and design office representative (you). By tapping the field you get screen keyboard to write texts. The design office and the design office representative texts are saved into phone memory for next application start. Those fields are still changeable at any time. Under those text fields there is a listbox to select the currency used in estimation calculation. The default choice is derived from the phone locale setting, but the selection can be changed. Selection is made by tapping the currency text. At the moment there are 154 currencies to choose.

This Windows Phone application is developed by the Engineers Interactive Notes Team. The Einotes Team wishes to you successful and well estimated design projects.

MDCE Mechanical Design Cost Estimation


Second application data input page has two listboxes. The first listbox is to select project complexity level. This is for determining what kind of project it will be. Second listbox is for selecting the principal project author level. This means the persons who are mainly involved with the project operation. Available author levels depend on the selection of the project complexity. It means that the higher complexity level needs more experienced author than the lower level complexity.

This Windows Phone application is developed by the Engineers Interactive Notes Team. The Einotes Team wishes to you successful and well estimated design projects.

MDCE Mechanical Design Cost Estimation


Third application data input page has one listbox. This listbox is used to select the main computer program for modeling, drawing or word processing. Available selections depend also on the project complexity level. This selection is usually made after the customer company requirements. Most common programs are included, but if you want add some programs to the list, contact the Einotes Team. At the moment this selection does not affect to the cost estimation.

This Windows Phone application is developed by the Engineers Interactive Notes Team. The Einotes Team wishes to you successful and well estimated design projects.

MDCE Mechanical Design Cost Estimation


Fourth application data input page has text fields for number of drawings, number of strength calculation (FEM) models, number of documentation and translation pages. Input values are immediately evaluated and non numeric and negative values are rejected. Available fields depend on the project complexity level. When evaluating the project scope the main approach is to try to estimate the amount of parts and assemblies in the project. This is usually the only way to estimate the amount of drawings and that way to estimate the time spent in the design process. Documentation and translation are own processes and the time depends on the time used to produce the necessary number of A4 (or Letter) pages.

This Windows Phone application is developed by the Engineers Interactive Notes Team. The Einotes Team wishes to you successful and well estimated design projects.

MDCE Mechanical Design Cost Estimation


Fifth application data input page has five text fields to input numeric values, CALCULATE button and two textfields to represent estimation values. The first four textfields are for input percentages of the project support activities times compared the design process time. The fields are the project start with meetings, layout design, 3d models, drawings and documents checking and then the project release to the customer. Next field is the billing rate of the principal project author. This value determines the project cost estimation. Use only numeric values or the content will treated as empty. By pressing the CALCULATE button the application calculates the time and cost estimations after the information given in the previous pages.

This Windows Phone application is developed by the Engineers Interactive Notes Team. The Einotes Team wishes to you successful and well estimated design projects.

MDCE Mechanical Design Cost Estimation


The last page shows the project summary compiled from the input information and the calculated values. The project summary can be saved by pressing SAVE ESTIMATION SUMMARY into the phone memory for later review. Summary can be sent as an email message by pressing SEND SUMMARY AS EMAIL button. If the email account is properly set up in the Windows Phone, this option will fire up the email page with the project summary information. The most used way to use the summary is as a support to finalize the main offer of the mechanical design project. The way to port the summary automatically into phone notepad or word processing program is under investigation.

We hope that you find this application as useful tool for project estimation tasks. Sincerely, Einotes Team
This Windows Phone application is developed by the Engineers Interactive Notes Team. The Einotes Team wishes to you successful and well estimated design projects.

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