The following is a discussion about what types of data can be imported into Smart Contractor, and what happens to that data when it is imported.

When you import estimate data into Smart Contractor, it is added to a job in Smart Contractor as though you had manually typed in all of the job items being imported.

When you import estimate data, you select the job to import the estimate items to. You must create the job in Smart Contractor before you can import estimate data to it. You can do this by clicking the Add button to the right of the prompt for Import To Job.

Note: If the job you import estimate data to already contains estimate items, the imported estimate items will be added to it, unless you click the "Update Existing Items" option.

Note: If you import the same estimate data to a job more than once, the estimate data will be added again - not updated. If you want to update data in an estimate by re-importing it, you must first delete the estimate items that were already imported. You can delete estimate items in the Edit Estimate form.

Item Groups

Imported estimate records might be grouped and divided into sections. Smart Contractor will import items in a group to "sub-items" under a "group item" in the estimate.

If imported estimate records are not grouped or divided into sections, Smart Contractor will import them all as top level items in the estimate. After the estimate is imported, you may then re-arrange these items into groups in the Edit Estimate form.

Imported estimate data may include estimate data only, or it may also include product/price information. If the imported estimate contains product/price data, the product/price data is stored in the Smart Contractor "Product List", and it is connected to the estimate.

Smart Contractor can store product/price data in two places, referred to as either:

• the "Product List", or
• the "Product Repository".

If the imported product/price data has a vendor associated with it (the prices in the product/price data being imported are a vendor's quoted prices), then it is stored in the "Product List".

When you create an estimate, you can reference products in the "Product List" to specify a product for the estimate item. Records in the "Product List" have a different price for each vendor, so if you specify a vendor in the estimate, the program will automatically pull that price into the estimate when you select the product from the Product List.

When you import product/price data that does not have a vendor associated with it, it is stored in the "Product Repository".

The Product Repository is a separate list where imported product/price data that is not associated with a vendor is held until you need a product for a job. At that point, you copy the product from the Product Repository into the Product List (in the Enter Products form), associate it with a vendor, and enter a price for the vendor.

Again, while the Product List contains different prices for each vendor, the Product Repository only has one price for each product, so that price is assumed to be the MSRP. When you copy a product from the Product Repository into the Product List (in the Enter Products form), you can enter a different price for each vendor who sells the product.

The reason there is a Product List (which contains vendor prices) separate from the Product Repository (which contains only the MSRP) is because, when you import product/price updates, you wouldn't want that to overwrite vendor prices.