Effective project management involves the crucial task of estimating for various stages and costs throughout the execution phase. This article will guide you through the process of generating an estimate using Nutcache.

Members with the status of administrator or higher can create and manage estimates, and managers can do the same when assigned.

After logging into your account, you can start creating an estimate from 4 different areas within your software:

A) Using the + Global from the top right corner

B) From the Invoicing module in the left menu

C) From the Client section inside the Company module

From any of these areas, you will see the popup below:

This is the first step to start creating an estimate. Simply fill in the popup with the pending information, according to the instructions below:

1) Assign an Estimate Number: Start by adding a unique number to your estimate for tracking and reference purposes.

Remember: this is an intelligent feature, which in practice means that the system will identify the prefix you choose and automatically number the sequence accordingly. For example, if your first estimate was "ABC - 001", your next one will be "ABC - 002" and so on. If you want to disable this feature, you can do so in your Organization settings by clicking on the tool icon and then on "Settings".

2) Select a Client: Choose the client you are billing from your client list.

3) Select a project: If there are projects for this client, they will be displayed. Click to select the project related to the estimate. You can select more than one project if necessary.

4) Create the Estimate: Click the "Create" button to finalize and save your estimate.

D) From a project, you have two ways: via the + Estimate button (which behaves the same as the previous way) but you can also Quote project from task, which behaves a little differently.

In this case, the estimate is already inside the project, so you’ll have to select the tasks you want to include.

From this option, you will see the popup below:

Select the Task lists you want to add to your estimate, the Rate and then hit the Create estimate button.

That's it! You have now pre-configured your estimate and will be redirected to the estimate editing page.

NOTE: The Create button in this case also serves to save this estimate as a draft. Regardless of whether you complete the next step or not, your estimate will be created as a draft and can only be modified or deleted with the security profile required for these activities.

Once created, the estimate will be displayed on your screen.

1) Take a moment to look at the Estimate Action Tab strip:

This tab shows the Estimate status and available actions such as preview, export, send, create an invoice, duplicate, create a project from an estimate, delete, etc.

2) Fill in the estimate Header:

Complete the essential fields in the estimate header, including:

NOTE: You can edit the title of your estimate by clicking on the pencil icon next to the title. If you have options created, you can select between them and, if not, you can create new options and even set one to be the default.

3) Add Services and Products:

NOTE: The layout of the estimate (including grid columns) and default settings like payment terms and customer notes are determined by your estimate template.

4) Finalize Your Estimate:

When you are done editing your estimate and click on Save and send, this popup will appear:

Some fields will be pre-filled, but you can edit them and, once all the information is correct, click the Send button.

NOTE: If you don't want to estimate something but want to make an invoice instead, you can do so according to this help page.