TABLE OF CONTENTS. TECHNICAL SUPPORT APPENDIX Appendix A Formulas And Cell Links Appendix B Version 1.1 Formula Revisions...

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1 SPARC S INSTRUCTIONS For Version 1.1 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service By Todd Rivas December 29, 1999

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS WHAT IS SPARC S?... 1 Definition And History... 1 Features... 1 Contributions... 4 WHATS NEW IN VERSION New SPARC s Utility Toolbar... 5 New Sheet Navigation Feature... 5 Revised Formulas And Formatting... 6 Stacking Toolbars... 7 Installing SPARC s... 9 Updating SPARC s Version 1.0 Files To Version How To Use SPARC s Excel Basics Starting A Project THE SPARC S TOOLBAR Location And Use Using The Buttons THE SPARC S UTILITY TOOLBAR Location And Use ENTERING AND EDITING DATA WARNING: Do s And Don ts Printing And Saving Files How To Fill In The Sheets DAVIS-BACON LABOR FACTORS How The S.R.C. Unit Cost Is Calculated CUSTOMIZING SPARC S Limitations Of The Initial SPARC s Setup Before Modifying A Sheet Adding More Roads Adding And Removing Pay Item Lines (Pay Item Records) Adding More Payments Formatting And Aesthetics Making Permanent Changes TECHNICAL SUPPORT APPENDIX Appendix A Formulas And Cell Links Appendix B Version 1.1 Formula Revisions... 69

3 PAGE 1 WHAT IS SPARC S? DEFINITION AND HISTORY SPARC s, or Spreadsheet for Preparation and Administration of Road Contracts, is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application designed for tracking USDA - Forest Service public works and timber sales road contracts. The Clackamas River Ranger District made SPARC s in the winter of 1999 as a replacement for a few of the previous Data General (DG) contracting documents and processes. SPARC s can generate the Estimate of Quantities, Engineer s Estimate, Schedule of Items, and Payments for road projects. Automated data entry and calculations make SPARC s a fast and effective tool for preparing and administering USDA - Forest Service road contracts. FEATURES Features included in SPARC s that increase efficiency of the contract preparation and administration process. These features are: 1) Automatic Calculations 2) Automated Data Entry 3) Creation of Estimate of Quantities, Engineer s Estimate, Schedule of Items, and Payments in one file 4) Sorting of Pay Items (double or single spaced) 5) Accommodation of 100 Pay Items, 18 Roads, and an unlimited number of Payments 6) Metric or English Pay Item Lists 7) Public Works or Timber Sale Contract formats 8) Utilizes Davis-Bacon Labor Factors 9) Custom Toolbar and Dialog Boxes AUTOMATIC CALCULATIONS

4 PAGE 2 Using Excel makes automated calculations simple and produces reliable, consistent documents quickly. SPARC s is set up to automatically calculate values, such as total project costs. The calculations still need to be checked for accuracy, but the amount of time for checking the documents is significantly reduced. See Appendix A for a table showing the formulas and links used in each cell. AUTOMATED DATA ENTRY Repeated information, such as pay item numbers, is automatically inserted into subsequent documents. For example, the pay item number automatically appears in the Engineer s Estimate, Schedule of Items, and Payment Reports upon entering the pay item number in the Estimate of Quantities. This feature avoids repetitive data entry, reducing contract document preparation time. See Appendix A for a table showing the formulas and links used in each cell. CREATES ESTIMATE OF QUANTITIES, ENGINEER S ESTIMATE, SCHEDULE OF ITEMS, AND PAYMENTS Producing multiple documents from the same project file reduces clutter and confusion associated with public works and timber sale road contracts. See Using SPARC s Section 3 for more details on how to generate these documents. SORTING OF PAY ITEMS (SINGLE OR DOUBLE SPACED) Sorting the pay items allows the flexibility to add pay items out of order and sort them later with a few clicks of the mouse. The single or double spacing option allows flexibility in the presentation of the printed documents. See Custom Toolbar for instructions on how to use this feature. ACCOMMODATES 100 PAY ITEMS, 18 ROADS, AND AN UNLIMITED NUMBER OF PAYMENTS While the contractor is sure to like SPARC s capability of unlimited number of payments, the ability to have up to 18 roads and 100 pay items ensures that SPARC s will accommodate large projects. SPARC s is initially set up for 45 pay items, six (6) roads, and six (6) payments, but expands to handle larger projects. See Modifying SPARC s for more details. METRIC OR ENGLISH PAY ITEM LISTS

5 PAGE 3 Custom master lists in Metric or English units can be created in SPARC s. The lists are created and maintained by the user and allows the user to enter pay item information (i.e. description, method of measure, unit, and specification revision date) by entering the pay item number or selecting it from the list. Since each user will have a different set of specifications, the lists are entirely created and maintained by the SPARC s user. These lists reduce the amount of time spent entering the pay item information and increase the reliability of the information. After the pay item information is entered from the list it can be modified on the document. See Custom Toolbar and Using SPARC s Section 3 for more information on this feature. PUBLIC WORKS OR TIMBER SALE CONTRACT FORMATS When starting a new project in SPARC s, the user can select either the Public Works or the Timber sale format. The main difference is the use of Davis-Bacon Labor Factors in the Schedule of Items for timber sales. See Modifying SPARC s Sections 1,3 and 5 for more information. USES DAVIS-BACON LABOR FACTORS The Schedule of Items for timber sale contracts uses the labor factor for the user. (For more information see Davis-Bacon Labor Factors). SPARC s uses this factor to determine the Specified Road Construction Unit Cost (S.R.C Unit Cost). Note: The S.R.C Unit Cost replaces what was previously known as the Purchaser Credit Unit Cost (PC). See Davis-Bacon Labor Factors for more information CUSTOM TOOLBARS AND DIALOG BOXES A custom toolbar and dialog boxes makes SPARC s user friendly and simple to use. The SPARC s toolbar is located with the other standard toolbars in Excel. The dialog boxes are activated when using the buttons found in the SPARC s toolbar.

6 PAGE 4 SPARC s Utility Toolbar SPARC s Toolbar Figure 2. Picture showing the SPARC s toolbar and SPARC s Utility Toolbar (See Custom Toolbar to learn about the features of the SPARC s toolbar)

7 PAGE 5 WHATS NEW IN VERSION 1.1 NEW SPARC S UTILITY TOOLBAR UPDATE SPARC S VERSION 1.0 FILES There are two buttons on the SPARC s Utility toolbar that allow Version 1.0 files to be changed into Version 1.1 files. One button changes Public Works files and the other Timber Sale files. To Change a file to Version ) Open the file that needs to be updated 11) Select the appropriate button a) Fix Public Works fixes any Public Works files b) Fix Timber Sales fixes any Timber Sale Documents 12) Save the File TURN THE SPARC S TOOLBAR ON AND OFF These new buttons allow the user to hide the SPARC s toolbar when they are not needed (such as when you are working in Excel but not with a SPARC s file) and display it when it is needed. Besides hiding the SPARC s toolbar to prevent the buttons from being pushed, it also turns off the Automatic Pay Item Entry feature (Typing the pay item number and hitting return inserts the entire pay item record). While this Automatic Pay Item Entry makes data entry quicker, it may cause error messages if it is not turned off. NEW SHEET NAVIGATION FEATURE EASILY MOVE AMONG SHEETS AND ROADS Selecting the sheet you wish to work with can be very cumbersome if you use the sheet scroll tabs. The new Navigate button on the SPARC s toolbar allows you to view all the sheets in the file and select the one you wish to activate. The list is grouped according to the sheet types (i.e. all Schedule of Items sheets are grouped together) and also displays

8 PAGE 6 the road number you assigned to that sheet. This new feature makes it easier to go to the sheet you are looking for quickly. See Using the SPARC s toolbar for more information. REVISED FORMULAS AND FORMATTING ADJUSTS FORMULAS AND FORMATTING FOR PP ENTRY AND PAYMENT WORKSHEETS The formulas in the PP Entry and Payment worksheets were revised to accurately track contracts. Specifically, the New Pay Items sections were modified to prevent the doubling of the amount of money credited to a pay item. This requires a new process for tracking New Pay Items and cost adjustments. The PP Entry and Payment Sheets were modified to fit this new process. It is ESSENTIAL that all SPARC s version 1.0 files are updated for this reason. UPDATES FORMULAS IN OTHER LOCATIONS A few other cells in the worksheets were also revised. One of these was the Unit Cost in the Payment worksheets for Timber Sales. Version 1.0 files used the UNADJUSTED Unit Cost instead of the Specified Road Construction (S.R.C.) Unit Cost. The net result is that the Davis-Bacon Labor factors were not used in the Payment worksheets. Now the formulas in Version 1.1 reflect the use of Davis-Bacon Labor factors by using the S.R.C Unit Cost. MODIFIES FORMATTING IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS SPARC s Version 1.1 also changes formatting in a number of cells for improved consistency and use of the SPARC s toolbar. One of the cell formatting updates was on the Payment Rd 1 worksheet that allowed records to be added to the New Pay Items section instead of the original contract section when New Pay Item Lines were added (See Adding and Removing Pay Item Lines under Customizing SPARC s for more information). These changes are reflected in Version 1.1.

9 PAGE 7 WARNING! YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO USE VERSION 1.0 FILES WARNING! You will not be able to PROPERLY use the Automatic Pay Item Entry feature (type the pay item number and hit return to input the rest of the information) for Version 1.0 files. It may damage the PP Entry worksheets. This is true even after the file is updated using the SPARC s Utility toolbar. To activate this feature properly Open the file while holding the Shift key down. Once the file is open, click on the SPARC s On button on the SPARC s Utility bar. This will allow you to safely use this feature. If you wish to use the Automated Pay Item Entry feature for the PP Entry form (see warning above) or if you added Pay Item Lines to a Version 1.0 Public Works file, updating the file will not be enough. The Automated Pay Item Entry feature will not work unless you open the file while holding the Shift key down and then clicking on the SPARC s On button on the SPARC s Utility toolbar. If you added Pay Item Lines to a Version 1.0 Public Works files you should either start over or not use any of the road 1,7, and 13 worksheets (i.e. Eng Est Rd 1, Sch It Rd 1, PP Entry Rd 1, Payment Rd 1 for road 1). This is because a glitch in the formatting causes the program to add lines to the New Pay Items section instead of the Original Pay Items section. Only the sheets for road 1,7, and 13 are affected, the rest are OK. STACKING TOOLBARS New in Microsoft Office 2000 are toolbars that can be stacked. The stacking feature displays only the most recently used buttons on the toolbar. The other buttons are hidden until you click on the More Buttons button at the end of the toolbar (See Figure 1 below). This allows all of the buttons on the SPARC s toolbar to be seen at one time without having to move the toolbar around. The SPARC s toolbar constantly adjusts to display the buttons you use the most and hides the rest.

10 PAGE 8 Click here to view the rest of the buttons on the SPARC s Toolbar Figure 1. The SPARC s Toolbar is Stacked to display only the most used buttonsgetting Started

11 PAGE 9 INSTALLING SPARC S NOTE: EACH PERSON THAT LOGS ONTO THE COMPUTER WILL NEED TO INSTALL THE NEW UPDATE BEFORE USING SPARC S, EVEN THOUGH IT IS ON THE SAME COMPUTER. IT IS A RESULT OF A NEW FEATURE IN OFFICE 2000 THAT WAS NOT IN OFFICE 97. Users will likely only need to Open the InstallSparc s.xls file. See below for further details. IF YOU ALREADY INSTALLED SPARC S BEFORE INSTALLING THE SPARC S UPDATE DELETE THE OLD SPARC S TOOLBAR 1) Open Excel 2) Right Click on any toolbar 3) Select Customize from the pull down menu that appears. Select Customize from the menu

12 PAGE 10 Figure 3. Menu displayed after right mouse click on any toolbar 4) Scroll through the list of toolbars in the Customize Dialog box to the bottom and select Payment Tools. Figure 4. The Customize Dialog Box 5) Hit Delete followed by OK on the little talking Paper Clip 6) Close the Customize dialog box DELETE THE OLD SPARC S FOLDER 1) Go to the Windows Explorer 2) Select the Sparcs folder and delete it 3) For added measure you can empty the recycle bin 4) Open Excel to make sure the toolbar was effectively deleted a) If error messages appear ignore them and click OK b) If the toolbar is still visible try deleting it again (see above)

13 PAGE 11 5) Close Excel after deleting the toolbar, Open it up and see if it is gone. 6) You should not have to delete the toolbar more than once, maybe twice INSTALLING THE SPARC S UPDATE COPY THE ZIP FILE TO THE HARD DRIVE 1) Click on the SPARC s download link on the web page. 2) Save it to the C:\ drive. UNZIP THE FILES 1) In Windows Explorer, Find the SPARC s executable zip file in the C:\ drive 2) Double click on this file. A WinZip dialog box should appear. 3) Make sure the Unzip To Folder: is the hard drive (C:\). If it isn t, type it in. 4) Click Unzip 5) Click OK after it tells you that 8 files were successfully unzipped 6) Close the Winzip (T) dialog box OPEN THE INSTALLSPARC S.XLS INSTALLATION FILE 1) In Windows Explorer, Open the newly created Sparcs folder 2) Double click on the file InstallSPARC s.xls 3) Excel should automatically open and the new Payment Tools and SPARC s Utility toolbars installed. 4) SPARC s is now updated except for any file created with the previous version of SPARC s 5) EACH USER WILL HAVE TO REPEAT STEPS 1-4 EACH TIME THEY FIRST LOG ONTO THE COMPUTER. It is a new feature in Excel 2000 that I believe was made to allow customization of the programs for individual users.

14 PAGE 12 IF YOU HAVE NOT PREVIOUSLY INSTALLED SPARC S INSTALLING THE SPARC S UPDATE COPY THE ZIP FILE TO THE HARD DRIVE 1) Click on the SPARC s download link on the web page. 2) Save it to the C:\ drive. UNZIP THE FILES 1) In Windows Explorer, Find the SPARC s executable zip file in the C:\ drive 2) Double click on this file. A WinZip dialog box should appear. 3) Make sure the Unzip To Folder: is the hard drive (C:\). If it isn t, type it in. 4) Click Unzip 5) Click OK after it tells you that 8 files were successfully unzipped 6) Close the Winzip (T) dialog box OPEN THE INSTALLSPARC S.XLS INSTALLATION FILE 1) In Windows Explorer, Open the newly created Sparcs folder 2) Double click on the file InstallSPARC s.xls 3) Excel should automatically open and the new Payment Tools and SPARC s Utilities toolbars installed. 4) SPARC s is now updated except for any file created with the previous version of SPARC s 5) EACH USER WILL HAVE TO REPEAT STEPS 1-4 EACH TIME THEY FIRST LOG ONTO THE COMPUTER. It is a new feature in Excel 2000 that I believe was made to allow customization of the programs for individual users. WHEN LOGGING ONTO A COMPUTER FOR THE FIRST TIME OPEN THE INSTALLSPARC S.XLS INSTALLATION FILE 1) In Windows Explorer, Open the Sparcs folder 2) Double click on the file InstallSPARC s.xls 3) Excel should automatically open and the new Payment Tools and SPARC s Utilities toolbars installed.

15 PAGE 13 4) SPARC s is now updated except for any file created with the previous version of SPARC s 5) EACH USER WILL HAVE TO REPEAT STEPS 1-4 EACH TIME THEY FIRST LOG ONTO THE COMPUTER. It is a new feature in Excel 2000 that I believe was made to allow customization of the programs for individual users. UPDATING SPARC S VERSION 1.0 FILES TO VERSION 1.1 WARNING! You will not be able to PROPERLY use the Automatic Pay Item Entry feature (type the pay item number and hit return to input the rest of the information) for Version 1.0 files. It may damage the PP Entry worksheets. This is true even after the file is updated using the SPARC s Utility toolbar. To activate this feature properly Open the file while holding the Shift key down. Once the file is open, click on the SPARC s On button on the SPARC s Utility bar. This will allow you to safely use this feature. All files created with SPARC s version 1.0 HAVE TO BE UPDATED. In order to work properly all files created with version 1.0 will need to be updated to Version 1.0. To Update a file to Version 1.1: 1) On the Fix Version 1.0 Worksheets toolbar click either the Fix Timber Sale or Fix Public Works button depending on the file type

16 PAGE 14 Click to Update SPARC s Version 1.0 Files to Version 1.1 Figure 5. The SPARC s Utility Toolbar 2) The file will be corrected and a Corrected Version 1.0 label placed in a note on the first Estimate of Quantities worksheet. 3) If a file has already been corrected, you will not be able to (or need to) correct it again. If you try, a message box will display letting you know that it has already been corrected. WHEN UPDATING A FILE IS NOT ENOUGH If you wish to use the Automated Pay Item Entry feature for the PP Entry form (see warning above) or if you added Pay Item Lines to a Version 1.0 Public Works file, updating the file will not be enough. The Automated Pay Item Entry feature will not work unless you open the file while holding the Shift key down and then clicking on the SPARC s On button on the SPARC s Utility toolbar. If you added Pay Item Lines

17 PAGE 15 to a Version 1.0 Public Works files you should either start over or not use any of the road 1,7, and 13 worksheets (i.e. Eng Est Rd 1, Sch It Rd 1, PP Entry Rd 1, Payment Rd 1 for road 1). This is because a glitch in the formatting causes the program to add lines to the New Pay Items section instead of the Original Pay Items section. Only the sheets for road 1,7, and 13 are affected, the rest are OK. HOW TO USE SPARC S For SPARC s to work properly you must complete the sheets in a specific order. The first sheet to fill out is the Estimate of Quantities after the quantities and road numbers are known. You can always edit the information at another time. Once the Pay items have been entered complete the Engineer s Estimate sheets. You can print the blank Schedule of Items out for the bidders to fill in at this time. After the contract is awarded the Schedule of Items should be completed with the contractors (purchasers) unit prices. For Timber Sales this would include keying in the Davis-Bacon Labor Factors. As work is completed new pay items added or quantities adjusted, the PP Entry form would be filled out. When a payment is to be made, the Payment sheets would be completed, printed, signed and distributed to the various individuals. Continue filling out the PP Entry and Payment worksheets until the completion of the contract. This section is designed to provide a general outline of how the sheets relate to the contracting sequence. For further details about completing each type of sheet see Entering and Editing Data below. HOW INFORMATION IS AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFERRED BETWEEN SHEETS

18 PAGE 16 Estimate of Quantities Schedule of Items Road 1,2,...,18 Engineer's Estimate Road 1,2,...,18 PP Entry Road 1,2,...,18 Payment Road 1,2,...,18 Payment Summary Report Figure 6. Chart showing automatic information transfer in SPARC s SPARC s is organized to transfer identical information from one document to another to reduce repetitive data entry. Figure 3 shows how this is done. The Estimate of Quantities is completed first. Information is then conveyed from the Estimate of Quantities to the Engineer s Estimate and Schedule of Items for each road. Entering the engineer s estimated cost for each pay item into the Engineer s Estimate completes the second form. The next form is the Schedule of Items. Finishing the Schedule of Items for each road is accomplished by entering the bid price, except for timber sales, which require the labor factor to be entered also. During construction the PP Entry form is filled in to keep track of quantities and contract adjustments for each payment. Selecting Payments from the SPARC s toolbar, filling in the percent withholding, and selecting partial or final payment completes the payments for each road and the Payment Summary Report for all roads. The last step in this process is to print out the payments and other forms as needed. Each document automatically forwards information to the subsequent documents, reducing time when filling out contract forms. For further details about completing each type of sheet see Entering and Editing Data below. EXCEL BASICS

19 PAGE 17 The information below is included for new users of Excel and Spreadsheets. It should provide enough information to allow the new users to explore Excel and SPARC s. However, it is not intended to be an authoritative instruction manual on how to use Excel. The online help, tutorials, in-house experts, and instruction books for Excel should be consulted for this purpose. WORKSHEETS AND WORKBOOKS A document created using SPARC s is an Excel workbook. A workbook is similar to a book with multiple pages. The pages of the workbook are worksheets (or just called sheets). The workbook is an Excel file. They are one and the same (A workbook = a file). When you open an Excel file you are opening an Excel workbook. The names of the worksheets appear on tabs near the bottom of the page. Names of the worksheets for SPARC s files include: 1) Estimate of Quantities 2) Eng Est Rd 1 (Engineer s Estimate for the first road in the Estimate of Quantities) 3) Sch It Rd 1 (Schedule of Items for the first road in the Estimate of Quantities) 4) PP Entry Rd 1 (Progress Payment Entry form for the first road in the Estimate of Quantities) 5) Payment Rd 1 (Payment report for the first road in the Estimate of Quantities) 6) PC Summary (Payment Summary of all roads. Yes, PC is a leftover from Purchaser credits) 7) Final Summary (Summary of all PC Summaries, if more than 6 roads in the project) Each worksheet with a road number appears once for each road in the project. Roads are grouped six (6) to an Estimate of Quantities worksheet.

20 PAGE 18 Column Headings Formula Bar SPARC s Toolbar SPARC s Utility Toolbar Workbook (file) name Row Headings Active Cell is highlighted Contents in Formula bar Arrows to scroll through the various worksheets Estimate of Quantities is the Active Sheet Other non-active sheets appear as tabs. Not all tabs are visible at one time. Figure 7. Labeled SPARC s file opened in Excel TO GO TO A PARTICULAR WORKSHEET: Option # 1(Usually the fastest New Feature): 1) Press the Navigate button on the SPARC s toolbar (See Figure 7) 2) Scroll through the list of all the worksheets in the file and select the sheet you wish to activate 3) Click OK to go to that sheet or Cancel to exit Option #2 (Slower in most circumstances): 1) Select the tab of the worksheet you wish to view with the mouse

21 PAGE 19 2) Only a limited number of tabs can be seen at one time. To view more tabs, click on the arrows at the bottom left of the screen (See Figure 7). a) The outer arrows take you to the first and last worksheet tabs in the file, while the inner arrows move right or left one worksheet tab at a time. NOTE: DO NOT CHANGE THE NAMES OF THE SHEETS, AS THIS WILL DISABLE MOST OF THE APPLICATIONS ON THE SPARC S TOOLBAR. MOVING AROUND Navigating in an Excel spreadsheet is not complicated. You can use the arrow keys, tab, or return keys along with the mouse to select a cell or multiple cells (called a range or selection). It is best to experiment with these keys to see what they do if you are not already familiar with Excel. The column and row titles will always be displayed on the screen as they scroll with you to various parts of the worksheet. The column and row titles are different depending on the document type. To see the column and row titles for the various documents, see Appendix B.

22 PAGE 20 Row Titles Always Visible When You Scroll Right Column Titles Always Visible When You Scroll Down Figure 8. Column and Row Titles for the Estimate of Quantities Worksheets ENTERING AND EDITING DATA To enter data into a cell: 1) Select the cell 2) Type the data. 3) Select another cell by hitting return, tab, an arrow key, or using the mouse To edit data in a cell: 1) Select the cell 2) Type in the new data or 3) Edit the current cell s data in the formula bar located between the toolbars and the spreadsheet 4) Select another cell by hitting return, tab, arrow keys, or using the mouse

23 PAGE 21 STARTING A PROJECT To start a project: 1) Select the SPARC s ON button on the SPARC s Utility Toolbar 2) Select New Project from the SPARC s Toolbar 3) Select the type of contract (timber sale or public works) 4) Select either Metric or English units 5) Select the Drive, directory and name of the new project 6) Select Save

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25 PAGE 23 THE SPARC S TOOLBAR LOCATION AND USE SPARC s Toolbar Click here to view the SPARC s buttons that are not visible Figure 9. The SPARC s toolbar The SPARC s toolbar is located below the other toolbars in Excel when you first start a new project. It will display every time you open Excel unless you turn off the SPARC s toolbar by clicking SPARC s Off on the SPARC s Utility Toolbar (See The SPARC s Utility toolbar below for more information). If the toolbar is not visible: First try: 1) Select the SPARC s ON button on the SPARC s Utility Toolbar

26 PAGE 24 Then try: 1) Select View 2) Select Toolbars 3) Select the SPARC s toolbar (also called Payment Tools) And finally try: 1) Select Tools 2) Select Add-ins 3) Click the SPARC s English Add-in so that it is on (only select one, not both) 4) Click OK or Close until you are back into Excel Ten buttons on the SPARC s custom toolbar provide access to operations designed specifically for SPARC s. Some of the ten buttons can be seen in Figure 9 and are discussed individually below. WARNING! ACTIONS IN THE SPARC S TOOLBAR CANNOT BE NEGATED USING THE UNDO FEATURE OF EXCEL. FOR SAFETY, ALWAYS SAVE THE FILE BEFORE PERFORMING ANY ACTION USING THE SPARC S TOOLBAR THAT COULD JEOPARDIZE THE FILE S DATA. DOING THIS WILL ALLOW YOU TO RECOVER THE FILE AS IT EXISTED BEFORE THE ACTION BY CLOSING THE FILE WITHOUT SAVING, AND THEN OPENING IT. MANY OF THE FEATURES CAN BE UNDONE MANUALLY, BUT IT MAY TAKE TIME. USING THE BUTTONS PAY ITEMS BUTTON Selecting Pay Items shows a window that contains all items in the master list. If nothing has been entered in the master list, nothing appears. Buttons along the bottom of the window provide access to a number of features. This option is only available in the Estimate of Quantities and PP Entry Forms, as these are the only places you should be entering pay item information.

27 PAGE 25 DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MOVE THE PAY ITEMS WINDOW WHILE IT IS OPEN. The screen-updating feature is turned off at this time and moving it will generate a huge, ugly mess. To scroll, close the window, scroll, and re-select Pay Items. If you do create a huge ugly mess, you can quickly clean it up by clicking the close button without damaging any data. CLOSE Select this button to close the window and return to Excel INSERT Use this button to insert the pay item and its associated information into the Estimate of Quantities and PP Entry Worksheets. Select a pay item from the list to insert with the mouse. Click Insert to insert the pay item information into the active row (the active row is the row containing the cell that is currently selected). It will ask you if you would like to skip a line. Selecting Yes will create a blank line between pay items while No will not skip a line. If you decide later that you would like to skip a line (or not skip a line), you can correct it with the Sort Pay Items feature on the SPARC s toolbar (See Sort Pay Items below). After inserting a pay item, the list resets and lets you enter another pay item. If the selected cell is not in column A or in an available row (i.e. not in the titles), the first available cell in column A will be selected and the pay item information entered. Another Option for inserting pay item information is to enter the pay item number in the desired cell and hit the Enter key. Pay item information will be automatically entered if the pay item is in the master list. The last option for entering pay item information is to type it in manually. WARNING! You will not be able to PROPERLY use the Automatic Pay Item Entry feature (type the pay item number and hit return to input the rest of the information) for Version 1.0 files. It may damage the PP Entry worksheets. This is true even after the file is updated using the SPARC s Utility toolbar. To activate this feature properly Open the

28 PAGE 26 file while holding the Shift key down. Once the file is open, click on the SPARC s On button on the SPARC s Utility bar. This will allow you to safely use this feature. ADD TO LIST Select this button to add a pay item to the master list. Dialog boxes will appear to step you through the process. After entering the information each time, a message will appear asking you to verify the entry. Unfortunately, if you choose not to accept the information you typed in, you loose it and have to start over. The new pay item will be displayed in the master list after all the required information has been entered. EDIT LIST Select a pay item from the list that you wish to edit and select this button. Dialog boxes with existing pay item information as the default will step you through the process. After making changes, a message will appear asking you to verify the entry. Again, if you choose not to accept the information you typed in, you loose it and have to start over. A better option may be to accept the changes and then re-edit the pay item. The changes will be reflected in the master list after all items have been entered. DELETE FROM LIST Select a pay item to delete from the master list and select this button. A message will appear asking if you want to delete the selected pay item. DELETE PAY ITEMS BUTTON The primary purpose of this button is to quickly delete pay item information from Estimate of Quantities or PP Entry forms without damaging the formulas in SPARC s by deleting rows or cells. It quickly deletes the cell contents of the pay item information. To use this feature: 1) Select a cell in the same row as the pay item you wish to delete 2) Click on DELETE PAY ITEM from the SPARC s toolbar 3) Click Yes when the verification message appears 4) Click No to cancel the delete

29 PAGE 27 Another Option is to select the information you wish to delete and hit the delete key or select 'Clear' and then 'Contents' from the Edit menu. Whichever method is employed, never delete cells, rows, or columns. This will create ugly error messages in cells that reference the deleted cells. SORT PAY ITEMS BUTTON This feature sorts the pay items in descending order, either double or single-spaced. The double spaced sort takes significantly longer then the single space and requires some patience. There are two ways to use this feature, either sort the entire Estimate of Quantities, or sort a selection. Sorting a selection also works in the PP Entry form. SORTING THE ENTIRE ESTIMATE OF QUANTITIES 1) Select Sort Pay Items from the SPARC s toolbar 2) Select Yes to continue* 3) Select Yes when asked if you wish to sort the entire Estimate of Quantities 4) Choose single or double spaced, depending on your preference. *Note: Sort pay items only before any related cells have been entered. The pay item information is sorted in subsequent documents, but the information that is typed in manually is not. The result is that the pay item information and manually entered data is miss-aligned, creating erroneous documents. THE RULES FOR WHEN TO SORT: For the Estimate of Quantities: 1) It is OK to sort if none of the Engineer s Estimates have been completed 2) It is not OK to sort if any of the Engineer s Estimate have been completed For the PP Entry Form:

30 PAGE 28 1) It is OK to sort if the Quantities or Changes in Quantity have not been entered for any of the new pay items 2) Otherwise, it is not OK to sort *Note: You may also need to add more Pay Item Lines before sorting double-spaced. SPARC s is initially set up for 45 single spaced Pay Items. If you have more than 22 Pay Items (45 lines divided by 2, rounded down), you must add more Pay Item Rows before being able to sort double-spaced. Any pay items beyond the 22 double-spaced pay items will not be included in other documents unless more Pay Item Rows are added with the Spreadsheet Set Up button on the SPARC s toolbar. It is strongly recommended to add any Pay Item Lines and Roads before filling out the Estimate of Quantities. This problem can be avoided by adding the required amount of roads FIRST followed by the required amount of pay item lines. Refer to Modifying SPARC s, Section 2, for more information on this topic. SORTING A SELECTION 1) Select ENTIRE rows of all the pay items you wish to sort. 2) Start with the top row first and select downward (Do not start at the bottom of the selection and go up. This will result in an incomplete sort.) 3) Select No when asked if you wish to sort the entire Estimate of Quantities 4) Choose single or double spaced, depending on your preference. Note: All pay items below the top selected row will be sorted for double-spaced sorting VIEWS BUTTON If a particular road does not have a particular pay item, the corresponding row in the Engineer s Estimate, Schedule of Items, PP Entry forms, and Payments will remain blank. This does not affect the calculations, but it is unsightly. In addition, there are certain columns on some of the documents (e.g. the Labor Factor column in the Schedule of Items for timber sales) that are needed for calculations but do not appear in the printed document. You can hide or show these rows and columns quickly by using the Views button on the SPARC s toolbar. For the Engineers Estimate, Schedule of Items, and

31 PAGE 29 individual road Payments, using this feature will change all the documents for all the roads. Other documents must be changed individually. HELP! I CAN T SEE MY DATA AND I KNOW ITS THERE! After changing the view of the first road for data entry or printing, it will be necessary to change the view back to View All Data before moving onto the next road (except for the PP Entry forms). If this is not done, none of the data will be displayed (although it does exist). If data is not visible, make sure that the view is on 'View All Data' and that the window is scrolled all the way to the top of the sheet. CHANGE THE VIEW OF A DOCUMENT 1) Select Views from the SPARC s toolbar 2) Select the type of document currently on the screen 3) If the type of document selected does not match the document on the screen an error message will be displayed letting you know that the option is not available. This will not occur for the Engineer s Estimate, Schedule of Items or individual road Payments. These documents view s can be changed from any document at any time, as they are all changed simultaneously. 4) For the Schedule of Items, select the contract type (Timber Sale or Public Works) 7) Select the desired view a) Some documents have three views i) View for Printing ii) View for Data Entry iii) View All Data b) Others have two views i) View for Printing ii) View all Data

32 PAGE 30 CHANGE CASE BUTTON This feature changes the text case style for the selection. The three options are UPPER CASE, lower case, and Proper Case. CHANGE THE CASE STYLE OF TEXT 1) Select the desired cells 2) Select Change Case from the SPARC s toolbar 3) Select the desired options 4) Click OK REFRESH VIEW BUTTON The purpose of this button is to update the screen to show all the text in the cells. A large number of cells use text wrap and may show only portions of the text that they actually contain. Usually a line or two is partially cut off. The refresh view button is designed to remedy this bug. If the data in the cells only partially appears, then: 1) Select Refresh View from the SPARC s toolbar 2) Select the type of document currently on the screen a) If the type of document selected does not match the document on the screen an error message will be displayed letting you know that the option is not available. 3) For the Schedule of Items, select the contract type (Timber Sale or Public Works) 4) Select the desired view It is also possible to remedy this problem by simply filling in the red cells. After each entry, the entire line will be fixed to show all the data. PRINT ESTIMATE OF QUANTITIES BUTTON Before using this feature you will need to specify the printer and paper size (File and then Page Set Up in Excel). Printing the Estimate of Quantities on two or more pages while keeping the sheet count current and the formulas intact can be a time consuming task. To speed up this process, the Print Estimate of Quantities button was created. This can be used for printing Estimate of Quantities on one page, also. However, the Printing

33 PAGE 31 features in Excel will accommodate printing one page of Estimate of Quantities easily. To use the Print Estimate of Quantities button: 1) Make sure you are in an Estimate of Quantities sheet 2) Select Print Estimate of Quantities from the SPARC s toolbar 3) Enter the number of pages you would like to print the Estimate of Quantities on a) Entering 1 will fit the Estimate of Quantities onto 1 page, 2 will fit it to 2 pages b) Selecting fewer pages will decrease the size of the document, including the font c) Selecting more pages (2 is probably the maximum you will use) will increase the size of the document, including the font 4) Click OK 5) Enter the sheet number for the first page of the Estimate of Quantities 6) Click OK 7) Enter the number of sheets in the project 8) Click OK See also Section 3 Estimate of Quantities SPREADSHEET SET UP BUTTON Spreadsheet Set Up is the button used to make modifications to the SPARC s spreadsheet set up. With this button you can add roads, pay item lines, and payments. For more information on when and how to use this feature, see Modifying SPARC s. PAYMENTS BUTTON SPARC s allows the generation of an unlimited number of payments (limited only by the extents of Excel). However, it only displays payment reports for one payment at a time. The Payments feature allows selection of which payment to display on the forms. For more information on how to use this feature see Section 3 - Payments.

34 PAGE 32 NEW PROJECT BUTTON This is the button used to create a new project. It allows the user to select the name and location of the file and provides a blank workbook to start with. Other options that are selected at this time are whether to start a timber sale or public works contract and whether to use Metric or English units. To start a new document: 9) Select New Project from the SPARC s Toolbar 10) Select the type of contract (timber sale or public works) 11) Select either Metric or English units 12) Select the Drive, directory and name of the new project 13) Select Save

35 THE SPARC S UTILITY TOOLBAR PAGE 33 LOCATION AND USE SPARC s Utility Toolbar SPARC s Toolbar Figure 10. Picture showing the SPARC s toolbar and SPARC s Utility Toolbar (See Custom Toolbar to learn about the features of the SPARC s toolbar) The SPARC s Utility Toolbar is a new Version 1.1 feature designed for two purposes: 1) Update Version 1.0 files to Version 1.1 2) Turn the SPARC s Utilities on or off You will need to use it to update any version 1.0 files to Version 1.1 (see New Features ) and to turn the SPARC's toolbar on and off.

36 PAGE 34 UPDATING VERSION 1.0 FILES TO VERSION 1.1 You will need to update all Version 1.0 files to Version 1.1 to track contracts properly. You only need to update them once. All files created after installing Version 1.1 do not need to be updated. To Change a Version 1.0 file to Version 1.1 1) Open the file that needs to be updated 2) Select the appropriate button a. Fix Public Works fixes any Public Works files b. Fix Timber Sales fixes any Timber Sale Documents 3) Save the File TURNING THE SPARC'S TOOLBAR ON AND OFF When you are not working on SPARC's files in Excel, it is a very good idea to turn the SPARC's toolbar off. This prevents the buttons from accidentally being activated and destroying the data integrity of file without being able hit the Undo button. The SPARC's Utility toolbar contains two buttons to allow the user to selectively turn the SPARC s toolbar on or off. Selecting SPARC's On turns the toolbar on and selecting SPARC's Off turns the toolbar off. The SPARC's Utility toolbar is always displayed but should not accidentally damage files.

37 PAGE 35 ENTERING AND EDITING DATA WARNING: DO S AND DON TS Here are a few guidelines and points to remember about entering and editing data in SPARC s: 1) NEVER use the Cut command 2) NEVER delete columns or rows 3) ONLY delete cell contents 4) Undo is not an available option for the SPARC s toolbar! 5) Use Automated Pay Item Entry to save time 6) Sheets and some cells are locked to protect formulas (See Customizing SPARC s) 7) SAVE frequently. You cannot undo SPARC s operations using the Undo button. When in doubt, save the file before selecting a button from the SPARC's toolbar. 8) DO NOT move the payment dialog box window. The screen-updating feature is turned off and a huge, ugly mess will ensue. Instead, close the window, scroll around to the desired location, and re-select payments from the SPARC s toolbar. PRINTING AND SAVING FILES Printing is similar for all documents except for the Estimate of Quantities. For Printing the Estimate of Quantities, see Printing Estimate of Quantities under the SPARC s toolbar. TO PRINT A DOCUMENT: 1) Go To File 2) Modify the page set up by selecting Page Setup

38 PAGE 36 3) Modify Margins 4) Change Page Orientation 5) Select the printer 6) Modify any other options as desired 7) Select Print or Print Preview 8) Select the desired printer (if not already selected) 9) Select OK on the Print Dialog Box (if not already selected) TO SAVE THE FILE: 1) Go to File 2) Select Save or 3) Select Save As 4) If Save As is selected: 5) Select the file name and location 6) Select OK HOW TO FILL IN THE SHEETS The sheets should be filled out in sequential order. The only sheets that can be completed out of sequence (or skipped entirely) are the Engineer s Estimate sheets. The order of completion should be: 1) Estimate of Quantities 2) Engineer s Estimates 3) Schedule of Items 4) PP Entry forms 5) Payments Before starting any of these forms, be sure you have enough roads for the entire project. If in doubt, add more roads. After adding roads, estimate how many pay items you will have and whether they will be single or double-spaced (See Estimate of Quantities below for more information).

39 PAGE 37 ESTIMATE OF QUANTITIES INTRODUCTION Completing the Estimate of Quantities requires that information for all roads and pay items are entered. All available space may not be used if you have fewer than 45 pay items and six roads or if you skip a line between pay items (double spaced). If more Pay Item lines or Roads are needed, add more Pay Item Lines or more Roads (see Customizing SPARC s for details). It is best to do this before you fill in any information. If there are extra Pay Item Lines Left after entering all the Pay Items, and there will be no more road additions, you can delete the extra Pay Item Lines (although this is not recommended). Be sure to add all the roads that may be needed throughout the life of the project before adding pay item lines or filling out any other forms. Remember, if you are going to double space the pay items and you have more than 22 pay items, you will need to add more pay item lines ([Number of Pay items 22]*2). Follow these steps to fill out the Estimate of Quantities: WARNING! You will not be able to PROPERLY use the Automatic Pay Item Entry feature (type the pay item number and hit return to input the rest of the information) for Version 1.0 files. It may damage the PP Entry worksheets. This is true even after the file is updated using the SPARC s Utility toolbar. To activate this feature properly Open the file while holding the Shift key down. Once the file is open, click on the SPARC s On button on the SPARC s Utility bar. This will allow you to safely use this feature. FILL IN THE RED CELLS 1) Road Numbers normal data entry 2) Road Lengths normal data entry 3) Pay Item Information a. Using the Pay Item Master List from the SPARC s toolbar i. Inputting a Pay Item into the Estimate of Quantities

40 PAGE Go to the cell in the Estimate of Quantities where you wish to insert the Pay Item Information (make sure you are in column A ) 2. Select the Pay Items button on the SPARC s toolbar 3. Select the Pay Item from the dialog box that is displayed 4. Select Insert 5. Decide whether you want to have the pay items double or single spaced on the Estimate of Quantities 6. Repeat steps 1-5 until all the Pay Items are entered ii. Adding, Editing, or Deleting Pay Items in the Master List 1. Select the Add to List button to add an item to the list 2. Select the Edit List button after selecting the pay item in the list you wish to edit 3. Select Delete from List after selecting the pay item in the master list you wish to delete b. Using the Automatic Pay Item Entry Feature i. After typing in the Pay Item Number (be sure you are in the correct column) hit the return button. All the information from the Pay Item list (Description, Method of Measure, etc.) will automatically be entered for you. ii. This will only work if The SPARC s toolbar is on. If it is not, click on the SPARC s on button on the SPARC s utility toolbar. c. Keying in and editing the information i. If you wish, you can manually type in or edit all the information in each cell. 4) Quantities normal data entry 5) Remarks normal data entry PRINTING Printing the Estimate of Quantities can be done either on 8.5 X 11 paper or any other size. You can control all of this manually by using the Page Set UP and Print features included with Excel. The Print Estimate of Quantities on the SPARC s toolbar is a

41 PAGE 39 feature designed to fit the Estimate of Quantities onto the paper and make printing easier (but less flexible). This allows all of the information to be compressed onto 1 or more pages when it is printed. To use this feature effectively: 1) Modify the Page Set Up as desired 2) Select Print Estimate of Quantities from the SPARC s toolbar 3) Type in how many pages you want to fit the Estimate of Quantities onto 4) Click OK and then enter the starting Sheet number for the Estimate of Quantities 5) Click OK The Estimate of Quantities will print out on the printer you selected and the paper size you selected. It will be printed on how many sheets you told it to print onto in step (3). See Print Estimate of Quantities under The SPARC s toolbar section for more information. ENGINEER S ESTIMATE INTRODUCTION The Engineer s Estimate is the document that contains the engineer s estimated cost for each road. It is completed after the Estimate of Quantities if filled out. Some information is automatically entered for you after the Estimate of Quantities if filled out. See Appendix B for a picture of a typical Engineer s Estimate with descriptions and labels. COMPLETING THE FORM Only the red areas need to be filled, which is limited to road name and the engineer's estimated unit price for each pay item. To prepare the document: 1) Select the proper view View for data entry (See Views under The SPARC s toolbar for more details on how to do this) 2) Fill in the header information for the first road only. Subsequent roads will have this information automatically entered from the first road.

42 PAGE 40 3) Enter the engineer s estimated unit cost. The total cost is automatically calculated. 4) Select the desired view View for printing (See Views under The SPARC s toolbar for more details on how to do this) 5) Print out the sheet 6) Save the file 7) Repeat steps 1-6 above for each road in the project SCHEDULE OF ITEMS INTRODUCTION The Schedule of Items contains the bid cost and is completed after the contract is awarded. There are two different formats; one for timber sales and the other for public works. The timber sale format uses the Davis-Bacon labor factors to adjust the unit cost to the Specified Road Construction (S.R.C) Unit cost. See Appendix B for pictures of both formats along with descriptions and labels. COMPLETING THE FORM 1) Select the proper view for data entry (View for Data Entry, see Views under The SPARC s toolbar) 2) For Timber Sales a. Select the proper view (View for Printing, see Views under The SPARC s toolbar) b. Enter the Labor factor for each pay item c. Enter the Percent Labor, if desired, for tracking purposes d. Check the data for accuracy e. Print it out (see Printing and Saving Files and Documents) f. If the page does not fit on a single page, adjust the margins or column widths (see Customizing SPARC s) 3) For Public Works a. Enter the bid tem unit cost for the Unit Cost

43 PAGE 41 b. The Cost is automatically calculated c. Select the desired View (View for Printing, see Views under The SPARC s toolbar) d. Print it out (see Saving and Printing Files and Documents) e. If the page does not fit on a single page, adjust the margins or column widths (see Customizing SPARC s) PP ENTRY FORMS INTRODUCTION The PP Entry forms (Progress Payment Entry forms) contain the data for generating various payment reports. It is filled in during construction. For a picture of a typical PP Entry form with descriptions and labels, see Appendix B. This is the form where new pay items are entered (under Construction Cost Adjustments New Pay Items) and quantities tracked for each payment. WARNING! You will not be able to PROPERLY use the Automatic Pay Item Entry feature (type the pay item number and hit return to input the rest of the information) for Version 1.0 files. It may damage the PP Entry worksheets. This is true even after the file is updated using the SPARC s Utility toolbar. To activate this feature properly Open the file while holding the Shift key down. Once the file is open, click on the SPARC s On button on the SPARC s Utility bar. This will allow you to safely use this feature.

44 PAGE 42 Original Contract Pay Items area is everything between rows 5 and 60 Greyed out areas are locked. New Pay Item Construction Cost Adjustments area is everything below the red outlined row 60 Figure 11. The PP Entry sheet after scrolling down the screen. Note the Row Numbering. COMPLETING THE FORM FOR ORIGINAL CONTRACT PAY ITEMS 1) If you are using withholding, select Final or Partial Payment 2) Select the proper view (View for Data Entry) 3) Enter any changes in the contract quantities in the Change in Qty column, for each pay item and (change in quantity for this payment only) 4) Enter the amount of units earned for each pay item (units earned for this payment only) 5) Repeat Steps 3 and 4 for each payment

45 PAGE 43 6) Select whether it is a partial or final payment (Select one or the other, but not both) 7) To add more Payments, See Adding Payments in Customizing SPARC s FOR NEW PAY ITEMS AND COST ADJUSTMENTS 1) Enter the Pay Item information for the new pay item under the New Pay Item Construction Cost Adjustments section. 2) Enter the Unit Price 3) Fill in the quantity in the Change in Quantity column under the desired payment number 4) Select the proper view (View for Data Entry, see Views under The SPARC s toolbar) 5) Enter the amount of units earned for each pay item (units earned for this payment only) 6) Repeat Steps 3 through 5 for each payment 7) Select whether it is a partial or final payment (Select one or the other, but not both) Note: If you go back and add pay items to the Estimate of Quantities after changing the View to View for Data Entry, you will have to change the view to View all Data and then back to View for Data Entry before you will see the changes reflected on the PP Entry Form. PAYMENTS INTRODUCTION Payments are generated for each road in the project. They are completed for each payment and involve very little data entry. The percent retention is the only cell that requires data input, except for the heading on the first road (see figure 12).

46 PAGE 44 Heading: Rows 1-9 Original Contract Pay Items area New Pay Items and Cost Adjustments area Percent Retention Figure 12. The Payment sheet after scrolling down the screen. COMPLETING THE FORM 1) Complete the information in the heading for Road Number 1. The heading for all the other Payment sheets will automatically be filled in with the proper information. 2) Select the proper view (View for Printing, see Views under The SPARC s toolbar) 3) For each road, type in the percent retention if it will be used (the default is (0) zero) 4) Select Payments in the SPARC s toolbar 5) Enter the Payment number to generate (i.e. Payment #1 = 1, Payment #2 = 2, etc.) 6) Click OK

47 PAGE 45 7) Wait, it takes a while to execute this feature 8) All Payments, including the Payment Summary Report should be complete 9) Select whether it is a partial or final payment for each road (Select one or the other but not both) 10) Print each payment individually (See Saving and Printing Files and Documents) above. Note: If you only have data for two (2) roads and you select the third payment, zeroes (0) will be put into the report from the PP Entry form. Likewise, if SPARC s is only set up for six (6) payments and you choose the seventh (7 th ) payment, zeroes (0) will be read in from the PP Entry form. If you get a bunch of zeros in the Payments, make sure you have data in the PP Entry form for that payment number. PAYMENT SUMMARY INVOICE INTRODUCTION The Payment Summary Invoice is a compilation of the results of each road s Payment form in the project. If more than six roads are in the project, a Final Payment Summary Invoice is also generated. This Final Payment Summary is a compilation of all the Payment Summary Invoices (One for each set of six (6) roads, see Customizing SPARC s). It is similar in form and nature to the Payment Summary Invoice, but supercedes it.

48 PAGE 46 Figure 13. The Progress Payment Summary sheet after scrolling down the screen. COMPLETING THE FORM These forms are completed automatically after the payment for each road is generated. All you need to do is print them out. See Payments and Printing and Saving Files above for more information.