Estimates FAQ

Before you start

Whenever an estimate is not behaving as you expect, the first place to start is at the estimate settings for the case's category. Start by confirming that these are set to do exactly what you expect. Then at the Activity List and the Charge Code List check that your desired activities and charge codes are connected to this case category.

Then study the case estimate and its estimate costs.

Questions

There are several possible reasons, the most frequent are:

  • Has the estimate cost finish date passed or has the cost been marked complete?

    • At the category level you will see that out of date estimate costs are to be hidden:

When you increase hourly rate(s) at the Activity List this does not automatically update exiting estimates and estimate templates.

There are three possibilities:

  1. Estimate polices via activities (and contains activities)

    2. The estimate costs are not automatically updated.

    When you add a cost from the estimate the rate applied is the rate in the estimate, not the updated rate at the Activity List.

    However, you can run the Estimate Rate Adjuster to update these kind of estimates.

  2. Estimate polices via charge codes and contains charge codes

    3. The estimate costs are not automatically updated.

    When you add a cost from the estimate the rate applied is the updated rate at the Activity List.

    The same amount of money is left because the estimate cost remains the same. Thus, the amount of time left decreases. See Rate rises and charge code-based estimates.

  3. Estimate polices via charge codes and contains activities

    4. The estimate costs are not automatically updated.

    When you add a cost from the estimate the rate applied is the updated rate at the Activity List.

    The same amount of money is left because the estimate cost remains the same. Thus, the amount of time left decreases.

    Here the estimate costs can be updated using the Estimate Rate Adjuster. See Rate rises and charge code-based estimates.

There is a solution to this, see Fixed charge costs with fixed time limits.

The standard solution is to add these costs to the case before the estimate is created. However, sometime you might need to add these costs when the estimate is in place.

However, unlike with estimates policing through activities, estimates policing through charge codes do not have an option to enable costs to be entered both from the estimate and from the activity list.

If you do need to add some case costs from the activity list that are not linked to the estimate, you can temporarily disable the estimate by turning off its Current status. You will then be able to add any activities that are linked to the case's category. You should enable the estimate afterwards by re-setting it to be the current estimate.

Note that this is not an intuitive estimate feature and it may be updated in the future. If you use this solution, keep an eye out for updates in future Case Manager software releases.

You can do both and there are advantages and disadvantages for each choice, see More details for charge code policing.

There are several possible reasons for this, see Enforcement of estimate limits

There is a good reason for this, see Estimate rounding

Use the rate rise utility: Estimate Rate Adjuster.

See Lifetime Care and Support cases for full details.

If the costs have not been billed you can edit them to charge the new rate.

An easy way to do this is to select the existing cost description, select a different activity and then select the original activity again.

The system will act as if it is adding a new cost, picking up the updated rate from the updated estimate but also retaining the original start and finish times. This is demonstrated below in the Windows version:

You then save the updated cost.

Note that it's possible that this updated cost will make you exceed the estimate limit. In that situation you would be unable to save the cost at the new rate unless you made changes to the estimate.

Occasionally it may be necessary to click on another case in the Case List and then return to this case. This action forces the display to be completely refreshed.

[more FAQ to come]