Room ID

(Required) This is the unique identifier for the room. This field is subject to validation procedures which ensure that no two rooms in the same area have the same ID. It must be filled out to create a new room.

The Room ID can be a room number, an abbreviation of the room name or a code for a room type (note the "Quantity" field below). You can change a Room ID at any time when editing a room. When you save the room record, all references to the Room ID in the FF&E Worksheet will also change. 

Room IDs are the only exception to the requirement for an ID to be unique, since the same room type may occur in more than one area of a building (e.g., different wings or floors, if your project is organized like that). 

Name

Enter a descriptive name for the room. This can be generic ("Office") or very specific, as desired 

Area ID

Enter the ID for the project Area that contains this room. If the area does not exist, you can add it by using the "Views" box to display the Area Form. 

For smaller projects which do not have areas, you can create a generic area ID such as "ALL". 

Room Qty (count)

This field is used to tell the system how many times this room occurs in the project (or project area). The default value is "1".

In projects for extremely repetitive buildings such as hotels or hospitals, identical rooms should be created once and given a quantity or "room count." A room whose quantity is greater than one is sometimes called a "prototype room" or simply a room "type."

The quantity you enter here will be used to multiply the items placed in the room in the FF&E Worksheet, so as to create an extended total of all items needed, eliminating the very error-prone manual method of doing this. For this reason, make sure that you only enter the FF&E quantities for one room of this type in the FF&E Worksheet.

Include in room count total?

Normally, the total number of all rooms in a project is not an important piece of information. However in building types like hotels, the total number of guest rooms is critical, especially if there are a number of different room types (or prototypes) that just add up to the total spaces available on the floor plan.  This checkbox controls whether the room count (see above) for the current room is included in the totals for the room list's "Qty" column.  If you wish to keep track of the total number of certain room types (for instance, "keys" in a hotel), you should put a check in this option on each room type you want to track and leave it blank in non-critical rooms. The system will then show a total number of rooms for the area that you are currently in  and for the whole project. If you have included alternate rooms in the project, we suggest that you either disable this option for them or move them into a temporary holding "area" so they do not add to the room count for the "live" area.

This option only affects the totaling of the room counts.  It has no effect on totaling of budgets, costs or prices for all rooms, which are always included.

When a room's quantity is included in the room count, the quantity itself will appear in boldface in the Room List's "Qty" column.

Phase

If the project is divided into phases, enter or select the phase number (or letter) in which this room's FF&E installation falls. This field can be used in report filters to produce reports for single phases. If you enter a phase that does not exist in the project's phase list, the system will prompt you to add it. By default, all projects are created with a "Phase 1" that you can select. 

Phases, including the default Phase 1, can be edited on the Projects screen using the Subsets command. You can change both the ID and its description as needed for each project. 

Room Code

An optional code that can be used for query purposes and for custom accounting breakdowns for a client. This can be used to mark alternate rooms so a query can exclude them (or only include rooms coded as "IN" or "ACTIVE".  

Budget

Enter the total budget for this room, if you are using room budgets. This figure will be compared to both the aggregate budgets for items you place in the room, and to their actual costs. It will also be added to budgets you enter for other rooms with the same Area ID, for comparison to the total budget for the area.  

Note that if you enter a both a budget amount and a room area (size), the screen will display an equivalent cost per unit area.  You can also calculate a total budget using a target cost per unit area by clicking on the small calculation button (with the "=" on it) next to the budget.

Area

This field is for informational purposes and for calculating a budget based on a cost per unit area (e.g., cost per square foot). If you wish, enter the calculated area of the floor in the unit of measure set up for the current project.  For more about setting the area unit of measure see the Setup Form.

Contact

Enter the first and last name (if any) for the person responsible for this room. In office projects, this might be the occupant. If there is a single contact for the entire area or project, this field does not have to be used. 

Phone

Enter the phone number for the room contact. This will appear with the contact's name in some reports to help make the data easily accessible 

Add

Add> Import

Used to add a new room to the system. Choosing this command will create a blank record on the screen. You will then need to fill in an ID for the new room. The system will check this ID to make sure it does not already exist. If the ID is valid, you can enter the rest of the information for the room.

You can use the Import Option while adding a record to import an entire room from another project, replacing the fields you are currently editing with the source fields and copying the source room's contents. See the section describing the import function later in this chapter as as a discussion of how this command relates to other room-building commands at Techniques for Building Rooms.

To cancel the Add command, press [Esc] or use the Cancel button. 

Once you have entered the desired information for the record, click on the Save button or press [Alt-S] to save your work and leave the editing mode. 

All new records will be indexed automatically so that they will appear in their proper place in the database. 

Edit

The Edit command is similar to the Add command, except that you are working with an existing record. The Edit command always acts on the record currently highlighted on the screen, so if you wish to edit some other record, use the up and down arrow keys or the Query command to highlight the desired record first.

Changes you make to a room record will be reflected in any reports. If you change the spelling of the Room ID, the system will change the spelling in all related reports as well.

Once you have made the desired changes, click on the Save button or press [Alt-S] to save your work and leave the editing mode. To cancel the Edit command, press [Esc] or use the Revert button. 

Clone

Use this command is used to create a new room entry from a copy of the currently highlighted room on the room list. Using this command, you can quickly create a room that has identical or similar contents (but be sure you understand the "prototype" feature described above). When the command is chosen, you will see the Room editing screen with all of the information copied, except the Room ID. After supplying a new ID, you can change any information on the screen.

To cancel the Clone command, press [Esc] or use the Cancel button. 

A discussion of how this command relates to other room-building commands can be found at Techniques for Building Rooms.

Clone Into

The Clone Into command allows you to select an existing room and clone its contents (or selected portions of its contents) into an existing room in the project. This differs from the Clone command above, which creates a new room by copying the entire room from an existing one.

This command also appears on the FF&E Worksheet, where the source room is selected by highlighting any object usage in that room.

The Clone Into command is especially useful if you have created a full list of areas and rooms in your project that do not contain any objects yet but are similar to an existing room—for instance, during a project budgeting phase before room contents are known.

Example: If the first hotel guest room you have populated is a basic "King" room type and you already have a "Double-Queen" room type created (but without any objects in it), you can:

1. Highlight the "King" room.
2. Select the Clone Into command to display all object usages in the "King" room's contents.
3. Clear the "Selected" checkmarks from any items in the room that are not applicable to a "Double Queen" room. Note that if you wish to clone only a few items from a long list into the existing room, you can use the Clear Selections button first, then select only the needed items.

1. Adjust any quantities that might be different for the selected items in the target room.
2. Click "Okay" to clone the selected items into the existing "Double Queen" room.

Note: If the some objects in the source room already exist in the target room, they will not appear in the list of objects to clone. The Clone Into command allows you to select an existing room and clone its contents (or selected object usages from its contents) into another existing room in the project.

A discussion of how this command relates to other room-building commands can be found at Techniques for Building Rooms.

Delete

(Undelete)

The Delete command is used to permanently remove a room from the system, including all object usages in the room If you choose this command, you will be asked to confirm your choice. While using the list at the top of the screen, the shortcut for the Delete command is the [Del] key (this key works on text as expected when you are  editing text entries). 

This command deletes the room and the room contents, meaning object usages. It does not delete objects from the Object List, which will appear as "not used" unless they are still used in other areas. 

The Undelete command (right-click) displays a list of eligible deleted rooms that can be restored, with some important limitations. Areas can be restored as long as the the File Cleanup utility has not been run and they were deleted with version 4.03.30 or later. For more detailed information, see the Undelete Room section.

Query

When you choose this command, the system will display the Query Form. This command is used to limit the display (and subsequently, reports) to rooms that meet certain conditions. For more information, see the Query Form topic.

You can close the Query form by pressing [Esc].

Print

This function displays the Reports Form, on which you can select and print reports specific to this form. For more information, see the detailed descriptions and procedures about reporting elsewhere in this manual.