Estimates

Estimates are the essential part of the Campaigns and you can access them from Campaigns page or from the Estimates page as shown below. 

In the Estimates section you can:

• Create a new Estimate (All tasks access permission controlled) 

• Approve the Estimate or Request Changes

• Review all the other created Estimates based on your access permissions

• Search for a particular Estimate or Estimates by using:

            *Simple search; type the name of the Estimate and click ‘Search’

            *Advanced search; Click on Advanced Search, select the desired criteria in the filters and click on ‘Apply’

     *Status filter; Displays Estimates by ‘View All’, ‘Reconciled’, ‘Draft’, ‘Approved’, ‘Cancelled’, ‘Pending Approval’, ‘Changes Requested’

            *Assigned to me option; all Estimates for which you were added as a watcher or approver

     *Created by me option; all Estimates which you have created

How to Create an Estimate

You can create an Estimate from the Campaigns overview screen or Estimates screen. 

• Click on the ‘Create Estimate’ button and you will land on the ‘Estimate info’ page. 

You can create an Estimate from the Campaigns overview screen or Estimates screen. 

• Click on the ‘Create Estimate’ button and you will land on the ‘Estimate info’ page. 

• If you're creating the estimate from a campaign, the campaign will be automatically selected for you when you create the estimate.

• If you're creating the estimate from the Estimates page, then you will need to select a campaign from a dropdown menu.

•  Fill in all the required fields and click on ‘Save ’ at the bottom of each page. You’ll be able to submit the Estimate for Approval only when all the required information is completed in the ‘Estimate Info’, ‘Bids’ and ‘Process’ tabs in the Estimate section.

• Click on ‘Save’ and select ‘Deliverables’. The Media Type(s) selected on the ‘Estimate info’ page will be automatically populated on the ‘Deliverables’ page.

• From the dropdown menu for each media type start to build your list of content to be created. You can select the same media type option multiple times if required i.e. for Moving Image, if there are two of the same deliverable types with different frame rates, formats and/or durations, etc.

• If this Estimate contains more than one Media Type then you repeat the process for each Media Type listed until all content to be created has been added

• Click ‘Save’ and then click ‘Budgets’ to move to the ‘Bids’ page.

Agency Budget - is the budget communicated by client to agency as a guide price for the estimate

Client Internal Budget - This is the full Production Budget given by the client to MCA and not the ‘Agency Budget’ given by the client or MCA to an individual agency for all, or part, of the content to be created within an Estimate.

Budget Source - This refers to where the budget for this estimate comes from: Advertising, E-commerce, Shopper, Professional, Web Infrastructure, etc.

Budget Center - Dropdown with 3 standard options: Local, Regional, Global. It can be a local marketing team, Regional or Global

Budget Region - Is the region where the paying country(ies) is. This allows budget reporting by region as well as by country.

Paying Countries - The country(ies) that will pay the production costs of the Estimate. 

Budget Year - 2021, 2022, 2023, etc. This is the year that we measure this budget for. This is the clients ‘budget year’ which may run differently to a calendar year (Jan-Dec) i.e. a clients budget year may by April 1st through March 31st

Once you fill in all the information you have on this page click on "Save" and then click on "User Info" .

Client

Client Procurement Contact - Enter Name (email address if you think that this will be helpful for our accounts team)

Brand Contact - Enter Name
# Client PO - Enter PO number or code

Agency

Agency Producer - Enter Name
Agency Account Lead - Enter Name
Agency Copy Writer - Enter Name
Agency Art Director - Enter Name
Agency Job Number - Enter number or code 

Agency Estimate Number - Enter number or code

MCA

MCA Engagement Date - When an account team member or a consultant creates the Draft Estimate. This is the start date of MCA’s work on the Estimate, but only if the consultant is the Draft creator is it the same date as ‘MCA Engagement Stage Start’.

MCA Engagement Start Stage - The stage at which the consultant starts working on the production

MCA Consultants - This is a dropdown field from where the consultant for this Estimate is selected. If the consultant is also the Draft creator they will select their own name from the dropdown. If more than one consultant will be working on this Estimate then the Draft creator can use an ‘Add Consultant’ button to add one or more additional consultants.

MCA Consultant Job # - Auto generated field consisted of the first letters of the name of the client, the region and then the estimate id number e.g. COLUK1234. The finance team uses this number in order to pay the consultants involved.

MCA Retainer Project - A ‘yes/no’ dropdown to indicate whether this estimate is part of a client retainer package.

MCA Single Project Fee - A ‘yes/no’ dropdown to indicate whether this estimate is a single fee package.

# MCA Single Project Fee - Tier Days - for Reckitt only

Brief to Consultant - This is a narrative of what the client requeste

# Scopes of Work - The number of SOW’s for the Estimate.

Once you fill in all the information you have on this page click on "Save" and then click on "Bids" .

Bids

The next step is to add Bids. The media type(s) selected on the ‘Estimate info’ page will be automatically populated on the ‘Bids’’ page. 

• As in ‘Deliverables’ only the top line of each media type will display when the page first opens. 

• From here you start building your Bids by selecting from the dropdown menu which ‘Cost Categories’ and which ‘Line Items’ you need. 

• First select your required ‘Cost Categories’ using the dropdown menu ‘Select Cost Categories’. Multi select the categories required and click the + button.

• When you open each ‘Cost Category’ you can select the appropriate ‘Line Item(s)’ for each category by using the ‘Select Line Item’ dropdown menu, multi select and click on the + button.

• Fill in the Initial & Final costs for all line items you're populating and if there were no savings made on a particular line item, simply enter the same amount for both Initial & Final costs.

• It is usual to complete three ‘Bids’ for each Estimate (there are exceptions that require client approval). Once you have completed Bid 1, click on the ‘Add Bid’ button to create an additional ‘Bids’ template for completion. Each subsequent ‘Bids’ template will display the same ‘Cost Categories’ and ‘Line Items’ that you selected in the first bid.

• After the ‘Approval’ cycle has selected the winning Bid, click on the asterisk of the winning Bid so that all the stakeholders are aware of the approved Estimate. 

Line Item Cost and Currency

Should a specific line item be in a different currency you can use the currency field’s dropdown to assign a new currency for this line item only. This line item will display in the selected new currency on the Bids Page, but all costs will be converted back to the ‘Estimate Currency’ for the calculations on the Summary Page.

Suppliers

To select more than one supplier, click right next to the selected supplier and the list will show up again so you can choose another supplier. You can add as many suppliers as needed.

Creating a New Supplier

To create a new supplier simply enter the neme of the supplier and click on the "+" sign to create it.

Adding New Line Item

For each cost category there are predefined line items that you are able to find listed. If you require to add a line item under a cost category you can do so by clicking ‘+ Add Line Item’ at the bottom of the Cost Category. You will be able to add and save this new Line Item, however, this will require authorisation from Customer Services after they have reviewed the Line Item accuracy (i.e. check for duplication, text format and spell check, etc.).

Removing a Line Item

To remove a Line Item, navigate to the right side of the line item title and select the bin icon. You can only remove a line item from a specific bid. This removed line item will appear again in all future bids.

Adding a Cost Category

The available Cost Categories on the estimate that you are currently working depending on the Estimate Type that you have selected when creating the estimate. Nonetheless, you can add additional cost categories to the ones that you are already seeing.

To add a new Cost Category that is available within the platform, please scroll below all cost categories and click "Select Cost Category".

To select a new Cost Category, click on the dropdown arrow and choose a category that you would like to add to your bid.

Process

Client's Approval Date - The date that this estimate was approved by the client.

Agency Reconciliation - Only available from the Agency some time after the estimate has been completed.

Advised Added Costs - Additional costs to that of the Initial Bid which are added before the estimate is approved by the client. These added costs are around the quality level of the content being produced.

Narrative - Reason for additional of costs 

Area - Description of costs
Amount - Numerical cost

Client Requested Changes - Additional costs to that of the Initial Bid which are added before the estimate is approved by the client. These added costs come from changes in the brief, for example requests for additional talent or new locations.

Narrative - Reason for additional of costs 

Area - Description of costs
Amount - Numerical cost

Negotiation Savings -

Consultant Hours - Where MCA Consultants enter the number of hours they have worked on this estimate.

Commentary about the job - the good, the bad and the ugly - A free text box where the Consultant delivers a full report at the completion of the estimate. Considered by the Business Leaders to be high priority, this is a detailed report (i.e. the good, the bad and the ugly) on how the end-to-end process of the estimate. The purpose of this report is to supply the Business Leader with an accurate account of the progress of the estimate for their feedback to the client.

Cost Avoidance - Cost avoidance means the removal or mitigation of expected spend BEFORE there is a formally agreed baseline price, such as a pre-bid ballpark or a prodco/agency bid.

Narrative - Reason for additional of costs 

Area - Description of costs

Amount - Numerical cost

Added Value - Added Value is the result of getting more deliverables for the same or less money. It can be a financial or operational benefit to the production; for instance, adding more territories, or a longer term of usage rights, without incurring additional cost; or it could be agreeing more shoot or post deliverables for no extra spend.

Narrative - Reason for additional of costs 

Area - Description of costs
Amount - Numerical cost

Missed Opportunities - How much we would have saved as extra if the client or the agency had involved us earlier in the process or had listened to the advice.

Narrative - Reason for additional of costs 

Area - Description of costs
Amount - Numerical cost

Did we learn anything? - A free text box where the Consultant offers comments at the completion of the estimate.

Can we suggest better ways of working with the agency / advertiser moving forward? - A free text box where the Consultant offers comments at the completion of the estimate.

Any new technical / innovation information gathered with regards to a new industry process? - A free text box where the Consultant offers comments at the completion of the estimate.

URL Attachments - This is where you can attach a link to any asset of this project.

Documents - This is where you should attach all documentation related to this estimate.