Including Objects in a Cost
Estimate
Use
You include objects (for example, materials, activities) in a cost estimate to model the structure of the products or services the costs of which you want to cost. The costs assigned to the individual objects then flow into the formulas assigned to the object fields which determine the calculation of the cost estimate in detail.
Prerequisites
You have defined object types and link types in Customizing for the data basis that is assigned to the current working environment.
Which type of objects you can assign directly to each other within a cost estimate depends on the settings that you have made in the Customizing of the data basis under Allowed Sender/Receiver Relationships.
Features
With the first object that you create in the work area of the working environment below a project, you create a new cost estimate for this object. You can generate a multilevel hierarchy of other objects for this leading object by arranging objects that are part of the leading object below it.
For every object that you assign lower-level to another object of the cost estimate, the system also generates an internal link that represents the connection of the object to its higher-level object. Since links have their own field list, you can manage information on the object that is not part of the object itself but instead refers to its position within the cost estimate.
You create a cost estimate for the object “wheel”. A wheel is made up of different parts, among other things of wheel nuts. Therefore, you add a lower-level object “wheel nut” to the cost estimate for “wheel”. The system generates a link internally that represents the connection between wheel and wheel nut. If in Customizing you have defined a link type with the field quantity in the structure of the data basis, the system displays a column quantity in the work area in which you enter the number of wheel nuts that are required for a wheel (for example, 5).
Additional Settings for Costing Objects
The field catalogs of the costing content delivered by SAP contain some fields that you can use to influence the behavior of objects included in a cost estimate:
· Active: This indicator determines whether or not an object should be included in the calculation when calculating the costing results. The indicator is set as the default setting. For example, you can indicate an object as inactive if you want to cost experimental designs in an early phase of the construction or to set alternative materials within a cost estimate active or inactive and compare the results.
· Fix Price: This indicator determines how the value belonging to an object should be included in the cost estimate. The indicator is not set as the default setting. This means that the system dynamically calculates the value when executing the cost estimate by processing the formulas relevant for the object. However, if the indicator is set, the system uses the statically defined value for the object instead. This option is especially useful if the object value was calculated as the result of complex costing structures in the operational system and should be reused unchanged after the import in the product design cost estimate.
· Surcharge: This indicator determines whether during the cost estimate, an overhead rate for the relevant object should be read from the operational system and added to the object price. The prerequisite for this is that you have set up the surcharges to be included in the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Costing Solutions under Import, Export, Template and Surcharges ® Surcharges.
· Template: This indicator determines whether an Easy Cost Planning (ECP) model for the relevant object should be used for the cost estimate. The prerequisite for using such models is that you have set up the required models in the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Costing Solutions under Import, Export, Template, and Surcharges ® Template.
For more information on the last two topics, see Costing Templates and Surcharges.
Activities
You have various possibilities to include an object in a cost estimate:
Create using the Context Menu
Create:
...
1. To add exactly one object to a cost estimate, in the context menu of a costing object, choose Create and the desired object type.
The system requests you to enter values for the key fields of the object type.
2. Make the requested entries for the desired object and confirm them.
The system adds the object you specified to the cost estimate.
Load:
...
1. In the context menu of a costing object, choose Load and then the desired object type.
The system displays a wizard dialog box in which you can enter selection criteria for all the key fields of the object type or table type.
2. Make the necessary entries and confirm them.
The system loads the data in accordance with the selection criteria you used and adds the objects to the cost estimate.
Create with Drag and Drop
...
1. Generate a list of objects in the worklist that you want to include in the cost estimate.
2. Assign the object by dragging it to the cost estimate in the work area.
Attachments in the Detail View
The detail view offers you an efficient and comfortable way of creating a complete list of subobjects for a costing object. You can create objects of different types, change the sequence, undo settings made by mistake, and much more. Proceed as follows:
...
1. To open the detail view, in the context menu of a costing object, choose Display Values, or choose Details On.
The system displays the detail view for the object selected in the right screen area.
2.
Within the detail
view, choose the category 
Items.
The system displays the list of subobjects already assigned to the object.
3.
To assign
additional objects to the object, choose 
Append Row or 
Add Row.
4. Make the necessary entries in the newly created rows. Use the input help (F4) in particular for the object type entry.
5.
Once you have
created all desired objects, choose 
Check Entries.
6. The system transfers the objects into the cost estimate or points out missing values or similar if necessary.