Skip to main content
New York State Thruway Authority Home Click to return to NYS home page
New York State Thruway Authority
Estimator

New York State Thruway Authority Consultant Installation and Configuration Guide

New Users / New Installations:

Install Estimator following the instructions provided by the developer, Info Tech. When prompted for the Catalog location, enter http://www.thruway.ny.gov/consultants/estimator/netdata/nystaenglishcatalog.cat.
This setting will direct Estimator to the New York State Thruway Authority’s web-based English item catalog.  Each time Estimator starts, it will automatically update, if needed, the catalog (including new item and code information) thereby eliminating the need to manually perform this task.  However, an active internet connection is required for the automatic update process to run successfully.

To direct Estimator to the New York State Thruway Authority’s web-based Metric item catalog enter http://www.thruway.ny.gov/consultants/estimator/netdata/nystacatalog.cat instead.

Estimator Global Option Settings:

Additional configuration settings may be set, as long as an estimate is not open, using the Global Options command under the Tools menu.  The following settings are used by the New York State Thruway Authority:
           
Figure 1 - General tab of Estimator Options window
Figure 1 - General tab of Estimator Options window

Figure 2 - Numeric/Rounding tab of Estimator Options window
Figure 2 - Numeric/Rounding tab of Estimator Options window

Figure 3 - URLs tab of Estimator Options window
Figure 3 - URLs tab of Estimator Options window

Catalog Path: http://www.thruway.ny.gov/consultants/estimator/netdata/nystaenglishcatalog.cat
Estimate Folder: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Estimator
Estimate Template Folder: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Estimator\templates
Report Template Folder: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Estimator\Reports   (The user may have to create this folder manually)
Cache Folder: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Estimator\estcache

Figure 4 - Internet tab of Estimator Options window
Figure 4 - Internet tab of Estimator Options window

Download Folder: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Estimator\Download\

Figure 5 - Proxy tab of Estimator Options window
Figure 5 - Proxy tab of Estimator Options window

 

Figure 6 - Tree Labels tab of Estimator Options window
Figure 6 - Tree Labels tab of Estimator Options window


Project Estimate Options:

Some configuration settings can be changed for individual estimates.  The following settings shall be used by consultants for all New York State Thruway Authority estimates.  This dialog box is available, after an estimate is opened, by selecting the Estimate Options command under the Edit menu.

Figure 7- Estimate Options window
Figure 7- Estimate Options window

Estimator.ini Settings:

The Estimator.ini file is located in the C:\Program Files\Estimator directory and contains the CatalogPath, UserPath and Extra Data settings.

The CatalogPath should be set to the location of the New York State Thruway Authority catalog.  The UserPath should be set to the location of the user table. Finally, as Extra Data fields are not currently used by the New York State Thruway Authority, this section should not have any active entries.

Sharing Estimates with the New York State Thruway Authority:

To allow the New York State Thruway Authority to open estimates, consultants must add the following to the Estimate User List of each estimate file:

User = *
Agency = NYSTA
Location = 00000
Estimate Access = Owner

Refer to Section 5.9 titled ‘Working with the Estimate Users List’, in the Estimator User’s Guide for additional information.