Title: Release
1Technology Center
February 14, 2004
2Notes FieldModificationWhen viewing Step 3, or
the Bidder List tab, the Notes column now
highlights the word Notes whenever information
has been entered. To enter information into
the Notes field, simply click on any grayed-out
Notes and it will pop open the dialog box
shown. Information can then be entered and
saved. Afterwards, the associated Notes for
that row will be highlighted.As always, any
information entered becomes searchable within
Step 3 or within the Bidder List tab.
When the Notes field is highlighted, it indicates
that information exists for viewing. Simply
click to open. When it is grayed out, no
information is available for viewing.
3Fax Page CounterIn Step 1, we now provide a fax
page counter for fax files added to the Fax
Attachment que.Simply add required .tif files
to the que, then click on the Fax Page Count
button. A dialog box appears and displays the
Total No. of Pages to be sent.This will help
prevent sending a 20 to 80 page fax inadvertently
to Bidders! This happens most often when
General Contractors receive an urgent addenda
from an Architect, e.g., a Microsoft Word file
then immediately convert it using the BidCaster
Print-to-fax upload driver without verifying how
many pages are included.
4Sort by CSI Major DivisionWithin Step 3 and the
Bidder List tab, Users may now sort potential
bidders initially by major CSI division. Simply
click on the number which represents the major
CSI of choice and those specific phase codes will
populate the dialog box directly below.This is
a quicker, better method for Users to sort
bidders before selecting those to be entered into
the Pick List and eventually into the Broadcast
List.
Selecting Div 9 will display all associated CSI
phase codes in the dialog box directly below.
5Uploading a Company Logo into RSVP, Bid
Information Acknowledgment MessagesWe now allow
Users to completely brand all messages sent to
Bidders with company logos. This is
accomplished by first accessing the My Account
tab.Then click Add and follow directions to
Browse, then Upload the company logo. Once
uploaded, it will now appear in RSVP, Bid
Information Messages.
6How to determine the size of your Company
Logo?Use Microsoft Paint as follows1. Use
File/Open to load your company logo file.2. Use
Image/Attributes to view current pixel settings
for the selected logo.Note, while 400x200
pixels will handle most logo sizes, you may have
to scale your logo down using a third party
software product such as Corel to meet the
400x200 pixel requirement before successfully
uploading. Remember, Broadcast and Response
Templates can still handle virtually any size
logo and are uploaded via the Image Library
(available when editing Broadcast or Response
Messages).
7New Merge Tag Price_CSI_CodesThis feature
allows Content Providers to send one broadcast to
a Bidder, but invite them to submit a bid based
upon two or more CSI Trade codes. When
Price_CSI_Codes is used within the Response
Template and sent to Bidders, it will populate
with multiple, comma delimited CSI Trade codes
with associated descriptions as shown here.
Please remember to also add a preceding
sentence similar to Please quote on the
following CSI Trade codesNote, this feature
replaces the existing Project_CSI_Number and
Project_CSI_Description merge tags. These old
merge tags will be removed after 30 days.
8Bidders can add CSI Trade Codes to Bid
Acknowledgment MessagesBidders who receive Bid
Acknowledgements can now view a reminder message
regarding the CSI Trade codes from which they
were originally invited to submit a Bid by the
general contractor. And Bidders can respond
back to the general contractor by selecting those
(or different) CSI Trade codes they intend to
address and submit with their Bid using the
process shown. This information displays within
the BidCaster Status Report using the Open
button.
Displays all CSI codes defined for example by the
General Contractor.
9Viewing CSI codes within Bid Acknowledgment
MessagesBidders can respond with a list of CSI
Trade codes from which they will submit a Bid.
These display as shown.These CSI Trade codes
can be viewed inside the Broadcast Status Report
by selecting Open and viewing the Bid
Acknowledgment Information screen.More
importantly, general contractors can view
collapsed CSI Trade information by ???
CSI Trade Codes submitted by individual Bidders
display here.
10New Minority Classification - Disadvantaged
Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE)You may now
classify Bidders by DVBE classification within
the Add New Bidder screen as you typically do for
other minority classifications. Then
filter by DVBE classification within the Bidder
List tab or within Step 3 as shown.
Classify by Disadvantage Veteran Business
Enterprise
Search by Disadvantage Veteran Business
Enterprise (DVBE)
11Exporting Minority and Territory information
using a Favorite Name.This type of information
can now be exported via Excel spreadsheet from
BidCaster using the following procedure1.
Access the My Account/My Files area.2. Use the
pull down menu under Export Bidder List to select
the Favorite name you wish to export.3.
12Generating different Favorite Lists within the
Broadcast Status Report We now provide an easy
method to generate and save a Favorite List
within the Broadcast Status Report. We recommend
this approach when1. Creating a Favorite List
for (as shown) a. All Bidders
b. Those Bidding c. Those Not
Bidding d. No Response
Bidders e. All excluding no
responses2. Retro-actively creating a
Favorite List for a broadcast (i.e., when
you forget to define a name in Step
3).3. Creating a Favorite List for
issuing Addenda, but first uncheck Display
all Declined Bidders before selecting
Generate Favorite List.
13View Response Template in Step 5 Simply select
Preview Test for any Bidder within Step 5, then
follow instructions shown herein. Note, Response
Templates are editable using this method, but
work only for ???
14Viewing Collapsed CSI codes within a Broadcast
Status Report
15Broadcast Status Print Report now displays Fax
date and time information
16- Thats it. Additional enhancements are on the
way that will make the program even more
powerful. As always, we strive to make
enhancements intuitive and easy to use. - Thanks again for using BidCaster PlanWell!
- In the meantime, we appreciate your feedback!
Please dont hesitate to call PlanWell Support _at_
510-403-2444 if you have any questions or
comments.