RA Group Estimate Builder — Manual

Operating manual · updated 17-Aug-2026 · quick answers: FAQ page · tags show who each section is for: Estimators Accounts Everyone

1. Getting in Everyone

• Open https://ra-tracker.centralindia.cloudapp.azure.com/estimates.html on any device — phone, laptop, office PC, from anywhere.
• Log in with your own name and password. Never share it — every estimate records who made it.
• You see only your own company's estimates AND clients (RA / Work Horse / Brand Twist each have their own client list). That's by design, not an error.
• Forgot your password? Type your name on the login screen and press “Forgot your password?”. If your email is on file you get a link — it works once and expires in an hour. Floor and team logins have no email on file, so the request goes to Aashutosh instead and he resets it for you. Either way, do not borrow someone else's login.
• Change your password any time: press change password next to your name at the top of the Estimates page. You'll be asked for your current one first.
• Can't type it right? Tick Show password on the login screen to see what you're typing — useful on a phone.
• The floor/production team uses the Job Tracker page with the shared team password — they never see amounts.

2. Making an estimate Estimators

1. Press + New Estimate — it always opens blank.
2. Leave the Estimate No. empty. The system gives the next number in your company's series automatically. This number IS the job code and follows the work till billing — never invent your own.
3. Fill Client (pick or type), Contact person + phone (compulsory — basic finance discipline), email if you have it, Location (suggests known cities/venues), and Tax:
   • CGST + SGST (9% + 9%) — client registered in Maharashtra
   • IGST (18%) — client registered outside Maharashtra
4. Output format: "Standard" prints on your company's letterhead automatically. "Diageo Project Estimate" is only for Diageo/USL jobs (RA only) — their mandated template.
5. Line items: pick the Particulars from the list — HSN, unit and rate fill themselves. You can also type any custom item.
   • W × H × Qty → square feet automatically.
   • Add D (depth) → cubic feet (wall bays, racks, SIS units).
   • Lumpsum (transportation, packaging): leave W/H/Qty empty, type the Amount directly.
   • The rate is yours to change. The prefilled figure is the standard/reference; adjust it for the job's nature and material — that's your judgment, the system just remembers it.
   • Client rate memory: once a client is picked, any item you've estimated for them before prefills at their last rate, with a hint like "this client: last ₹450, median ₹425 (4×)". Every client builds their own rate card as you work — no extra effort needed.
   • Multi-outlet job? Tick the checkbox below the table to show the Outlet column.
6. Press Save Estimate, then take the file to send:
   • ⬇ Download PDF — use this one. The file is built on our server and is always landscape, identical for everyone.
   • 🖨 Print on paper — only when you are actually printing. Do not use the browser's own "Save as PDF" from that box: it offers a Portrait setting the page cannot obey, and that is what produced sideways estimates for weeks.
   • ⬇ Excel — the same estimate as a spreadsheet.
7. Need a line in the middle of the table? Every row has a small + beside its ✕ — it drops a blank line in above that row and renumbers for you. "Add line" still adds at the bottom.
8. After sending, press Mark Sent — this starts the follow-up clock.

2b. The client book — what fills itself Estimators

Pick a client and the app fills in what it already knows, so nobody retypes what we have written down before:

• The people we deal with there appear in the Contact list, each with their number beside the name. Choose a person and their phone and email fill in.
• Naming a person replaces the phone and email — it does not fill only the blanks. If we have no number for them the box is left empty on purpose: an empty box is honest, somebody else's number is not. Type the new number and it is remembered for next time.
• GSTIN and billing address come from the client's billing record. Some clients bill under more than one GSTIN — pick the right one, it is what decides CGST+SGST versus IGST.

If a contact is wrong, just correct it on the estimate and save — the correction becomes what the next person sees.

3. The life of an estimate Everyone

DRAFT → SENT → APPROVED → job → done → BILLED (or CANCELLED at any point)

• Client asks for changes (rework): open the estimate, edit, save. It becomes Rev 2 under the same number — the old version stays on record and printouts show "(Rev 2)". You never need a new number for rework.
• PO received: press Approved (PO received / promised) and enter the PO number. Then press → Create job in Tracker — production sees the job instantly (without any amounts) and takes over. Once the job is in the tracker the button disappears and a small ✓ Already in Tracker note takes its place, so you can work through a backlog of approved estimates without wondering whether one is already pushed.
• Verbal go-ahead, PO later: same two buttons — just leave the PO empty when asked. Production starts; the estimate carries an amber PO awaited tag and stays on the ⏰ Follow-up list (and Monday's email) until the PO is entered. Work never waits for paperwork, and paperwork never gets forgotten.
• Estimate dead / wrong entry: press Cancel. You're asked for a one-line reason (e.g. "covered by another job code", "open PO elsewhere", "folded into another estimate") — it's saved onto the estimate's Notes and shown at the top whenever that cancelled estimate is opened again. The number stays reserved for the record — numbers are never reused.
• ⏰ Follow-up tab: your estimates sent 7+ days ago with no PO. Call those clients — after 60 quiet days an estimate drops off this list as a dead lead.
• One home for job codes: every new job code is born in this app — never in the Excel sheet, never on paper. The app hands out the next number itself; two people can't clash. (A watchdog checks the old Excel every 30 minutes and pulls in strays, but that's a safety net, not a way of working.)
• You now see your own estimates. The list shows the estimates you raised — not the whole company's. Rajesh and Aashutosh still see everything, because accounts and management have to. If you need an estimate that isn't yours, ask the person who raised it.
• ⚠ To complete tab: your estimates that are missing something needed later — no items priced, no contact phone, or approved with no PO/mail/verbal record. Old imported history is not counted here; this list is only work you can actually finish, and it's usually a two-minute fix each.
• Estimates marked "backfilled": older jobs that existed before this system got an estimate entry created automatically — with the right code, client and status but no line items yet. If you got an email listing yours: open each one, add the items and rates from your records, save. That's what makes the billing figures real.
• ⬇ Export to Excel: every tab has this button beside the search box. It downloads exactly the rows on screen — same tab, same search, same person — as one spreadsheet, with the company on each row plus who made it and what is still missing on it. The ⬇ xlsx button on a single row is different: that one is just that estimate.

3b. What the app tells you without being asked Everyone

Two things now speak first, so nothing has to be gone looking for.

• The panel at the top of the estimates list names what is waiting on you — your finished work that is not invoiced, your quotes gone quiet, your estimates still to complete — and it names the estimates, not just a count: "BT247 Valio (24 days) · RA802 ICICI Lombard (23 days)". Only ever your own work; nobody sees anybody else's. The ✕ closes it for the day.
• The 🔔 bell carries the same kind of news for jobs — something changed on work you are on.

If a line in the panel looks wrong, it is reading real data — open the tab behind it and you will find the same rows. That is usually the app telling you something true that had gone unnoticed.

4. Billing Accounts (Rajesh)

• 💰 To bill tab: jobs the floor marked DONE whose invoice isn't raised yet — with the estimate value and PO side by side.
• When you raise the invoice, press ₹ Record bill on that row and enter the bill number and amount. It marks the estimate BILLED and ticks "Billing Done" in the Job Tracker automatically.
• ⬇ Export to Excel: on the 💰 To bill tab, this button downloads the whole list as one spreadsheet — a Company column with the rows grouped/sorted by company (RA, BT, WH…), plus code, client, subject, job status, amount and amount billed. Open it in Excel and sort or filter by company. It only reads the current list; no amounts, GST or codes are changed.
• Bulk orders delivered in parts: a job appears in 💰 To bill as soon as some quantity is marked done — bill just the delivered part (enter that amount). The row shows "₹X billed of ₹Y"; the estimate turns BILLED and the tracker flag flips only when the billed total covers the estimate.
• Quantity progress at a glance: every estimate with a tracker job shows "qty: 17 of 28 done · 11 left" under the subject (green when complete, amber while pending) — so a partly delivered bulk order is never mistaken for fully done. Don't tick "Billing Done" on the job for a part bill — record the part bill here instead; the tick happens by itself when billing covers the estimate.
• Always quote the estimate/job code on the invoice — that's what keeps the whole chain traceable.
• The imported history (old register) is searchable here too — items marked APPROVED with a PO but no invoice on record are your verification list.

4b. Estimate formats Estimators

• Standard — your company letterhead. Use this unless one of the others applies.
• Event / day-wise — adds a Days column. Use it when work is charged per day: 3 days × 35 pieces = 105 units × the rate. Days multiplies the quantity, and GST is charged on the result as usual. Leave Days blank on a line and it counts as one day.
• Diageo Project Estimate — the client's own template, for Diageo/USL only.
• Cash Memo — retail counter sale, no GST.
• The format only changes the printed estimate and which boxes you're shown. It never changes how a rate is worked out.

5. Rate Card Estimators

• Rates are client-wise. The moment you pick a client, the Particulars list rearranges: the items that client has been quoted before, at their own rates, come up first, marked "this client". The shared catalogue follows underneath, marked "standard". Pick a client's own item and their rate fills in — not a generic one.
• A line above the item table tells you which rate card you're looking at, e.g. "Rate card: 11 item(s) quoted to USL before". For a brand-new client it says so honestly — you're quoting from the standard list, and whatever you quote becomes that client's rate card for next time.
• Two kinds of items: shared basics (GSB, vinyl, transportation…) everyone sees, and your company's own items only your company sees.
• Diageo FB items (RA only) are contracted rates — locked. Nobody edits those. They appear in the Particulars list only when the estimate's client is USL/Diageo — for any other client the catalogue stays hidden.
• Type an item often? Add it once in the Rate Card tab — it joins your dropdown and autofills forever. New items you add stay within your company's list.
• You can change a rate inside any estimate freely. Changing an item's standard rate in the Rate Card is admin-only — ask Aashutosh with your reasoning.

6. Retail / walk-in customers Estimators

• Client = Retail, person's name in Contact person, mobile in Contact phone.
• Cash sale? Choose Output format = Cash Memo — no GST lines, total rounded to the rupee, prints as "CASH MEMO" with a Memo No. on your letterhead.
• Everything else works the same — number, revisions, job, billing.

7. Emails the system sends you Everyone

• Monday morning: your personal week — what you made, clients to chase, drafts sitting unsent, corrections. No email = you're all clear.
• Friday evening: data-quality notes on your entries (spellings, units, missing HSN) — small fixes that keep the rate card clean.
• These go only to you. Nobody else sees your list.

8. 💬 Feedback — problems, queries, ideas Everyone

• Press 💬 Feedback in the top bar, describe the issue, attach a screenshot if you can, Send.
• Simple "how do I…" questions get an automatic email answer within a few minutes — at any hour.
• Bugs and feature requests go to Aashutosh & Claude and are usually fixed same-day. Your feedback is recorded under your name so we can follow up.

9. FAQs

Moved to their own quick-access page: FAQs with instant search — type a word (revision, HSN, cash, tax…) and the answer filters in front of you.

If the answer isn't there, say so. Press 💬 Feedback and ask the question in your own words. Anything asked more than once gets written into the FAQ, so the next person finds it straight away — that is how this page and the FAQ get better, and it only works if people ask.

9a. Looking at one person's work Aashutosh & Rajesh

• Estimates: the dropdown next to the search box on the Estimates list. Pick a name and the list shows only that person's estimates — every chip still works, so you can see (for example) only Siddhesh's estimates that are still to bill. Choose “Everyone's estimates” to go back.
• Jobs: a matching dropdown next to the company filter on the Job Tracker. It stacks with everything else — company, the search box, and the view buttons — the same way the company filter always has. Export downloads exactly what is on screen, filters included.
• Who sees it: Aashutosh, Rajesh and Renu, across all three companies. Everyone else sees their own estimates.
• Sending a job back a stage (rework): if a job is already DONE and the client wants a change, open it and set the Stage dropdown back to INSTALLATION (or the right earlier stage), then Save — no new job or code needed. The backward move is recorded as rework automatically, so the reason it reopened stays on the job's history. On the phone, ↩ Back steps it back one stage at a time.
• 👤 Mine filters to jobs where you are the servicing person or the production person.
• ⚠ To complete lists running jobs still missing a target date, a servicing or production person, a vendor, or a brand. Each row says exactly what is missing, in amber, next to the job code.
• Why it matters: a job with no target date can't go on anyone's overdue list, and a job with no vendor can't be costed or billed properly later. Finished jobs are never flagged — their blanks are history.
• Your Monday email now carries the same two lists, so the screen and the mail never disagree.

10. 📱 My Jobs — phone screen for the floor Production (from the Sept pilot)

• Open /my.html on your phone and log in with your own name & password — you see only your jobs, nothing else.
• One big button moves the job to its next stage. ⏸ Hold pauses it, ↩ Back steps it back, ✎ adds a one-line remark.
• DONE needs the install photo — the 📷 button asks whether to take a photo now or pick from the gallery (several at once), then marks DONE. The photo is saved with the job and doubles as billing evidence, so claim and proof always travel together.
  Upload the photo itself — do not photograph your phone screen. A picture of a screen is a far worse record and one job carries two such shots at 11 MB each, where the originals were under 800 KB.
• A job that is READY but past its target date says so, and names the servicing person to ask. Production has finished; what is missing is the install date, and that sits with the desk, not the floor.
• Stage moves are recorded automatically with time and name — that's the job card's start/end columns, filled without writing anything.
• Floor logins are update-only: they can't create jobs, change master lists, or see any money. New jobs come from BD/Servicing or an estimate, as always. Opening the desktop app with a floor login simply lands on the phone screen.
• Discussion: every job has its own message thread — on the phone card and in the desktop job panel. Questions, changes and problems about a job go there instead of WhatsApp, so the answer is attached to the job forever and everyone working it sees the same story.
• 📋 Lineup (third switch on the phone): kal kaun kahan jaayega — outlet, time, team, work type (installation / maintenance / recce / pickup / dispatch) — Ravi Lad raat ko board pe daalta hai, subah team ke phone pe milta hai. Cancel hua toh kata hua dikhta hai, gayab nahi hota.
• Whole floor switch (top of the list): see every pending job — who holds it, what's ⚠ not picked up — and hand a job to someone from the job card's Production box. Made for Shailesh & Ravi Lad's daily allocation; everyone can use it to take an unassigned job.
• 🔍 Recce: the site survey screen — measurements and photos taken before a job is quoted, so the estimate is built on what is actually there rather than on a phone call. Same login, same phone.

11. Admin corner Aashutosh

• Users, passwords & company scopes: managed via Claude ("add X as estimator for WH") or scripts/users.py on the server.
• Standard rate changes, estimate deletion, numbering counters: admin login only.
• System watchdogs: Monday chase list & personal reports, Friday data-quality, feedback agent on the office Mac — all automatic.
• Anything else: ask Claude in a session — the whole system is documented in memory.

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