Split lines vs consolidated lines
When inputting an assembly, you can tick or untick the Split Lines option. This controls how the assembly is displayed on the examine grid.
Split lines ticked
Each component appears as a separate line on the examine grid. This gives you full visibility of every item and allows you to:
- View individual product codes, descriptions, quantities, and costs.
- Adjust individual quantities or prices on screen for this particular input.
- Assign different labour types to different components (see Assembly Price Updates and Labour Types).
Split lines unticked
The assembly displays as a single consolidated line with one combined description. This keeps the examine grid tidier on jobs with many assemblies, especially when you do not need to see the individual components.
Effect on reports
The split-lines preference affects how the assembly appears in certain documents:
- Material reports (sent to wholesalers) always show the individual items split out, regardless of which option you chose on screen. You will never accidentally send a single-line assembly description to a wholesaler.
- Schedules of rates (quantified schedule of rates in the bills section) display the assembly according to how it was input. If you used the consolidated (non-split) option, the schedule of rates shows the single assembly line description. If you used the split option, it shows the individual components.
There is no right or wrong choice — it depends on how you want your tender documents to look and how much detail you need on screen. Many estimators use split lines for complex assemblies where they want visibility, and consolidated lines for straightforward items where the detail is not needed.
Assembly system preferences
You can adjust how assemblies behave across the software by going to Tools > System Preferences and selecting the Assembly Settings section. Two key options are available here.
Ignore items with zero quantities
When this setting is enabled, any component inside an assembly that has a quantity of zero will be skipped when the assembly is input. This is the foundation of the picking-list technique — you can store several variant items (e.g. different front plates) inside one assembly, all at zero quantity, and simply enter a quantity against only the one you need at input time. For full details on this technique, see Picking-List Assemblies.
Allow one-off instances
When enabled, this setting lets you amend the quantities of an assembly for a single input without changing the master file. The assembly input screen will display a note in red confirming that your changes apply to this instance only. The next time you input the same assembly, the quantities will revert to their saved defaults.
This is useful when you know a particular run needs more or less cable allowance than usual, or when site conditions for a specific area differ from the norm. For example, you might increase a cable allowance from 14 metres to 20 metres for a particular input, knowing that the default of 14 will be used for all subsequent inputs.
Both of these preferences are well worth enabling. Allow one-off instances gives you flexibility without the risk of accidentally changing your master assemblies, and ignore items with zero quantities opens up the picking-list technique for variant selection. Once enabled, they affect all assemblies going forward — they do not alter assemblies already input into existing jobs.