Cost Indices

Types of Cost Indices

Time Indices

Use a Time Index to adjust the costs of projects from the Milestone date to the latest period of the index. Time indices can be utilized for the Time Factor in a Project Comparisons report.

Location Indices

Use a Location Index to adjust the costs of projects from one city to another. Location indices can be utilized for the Location Factor in a Project Comparisons report.

Creating a Cost Index

Create custom cost indices for your company to adjust historical costs by time and/or location within a Project Comparisons report. To create custom cost indices, your company must have access to Benchmarking, and you must be a Company Administrator.

Creating a Time Index

To create a custom time index, follow these steps:

1. Click Company Settings in the navigation panel.
2. Click the Standards tab.
3. Click Cost Indices on the left.
4. Click the + New Cost Index button and select Time Index.
5. Enter a name for the index.
6. Enter a description for the index (optional).
7. Select a Value Type based on how you'd like to enter your index data.
   1. Index Values - Use this option when your index uses a base value in the first time period and then is increased as time goes on. This is the most common format used in most published indices like RSMeans, ENR, Turner, Mortenson, etc.
   2. Percentages - Use this option when you want to enter a simple annual percentage increase for each year.
8. Select a Time Increment based on how often your index is updated.
   1. Months - Use this option for entering index values for each month of the year.
   2. Quarters - Use this option for entering index values for each quarter of the year. These are based on calendar quarters.
   3. Years - Use this option for entering a single index value for each year. When selecting Percentages as your Value Type, Years is the only option available.
9. Select the Start Year of your index based on how far back your index data goes. The earliest year you can select is 1990.
10. Click the Create as Draft button and then open the newly created index by clicking its name in the list.
11. Enter your index values for all available time periods. You can only enter index values for completed time periods. After the next time period has been completed, you will be allowed to enter a value by editing the published index.
12. When all required fields are filled out, click the Publish button.
13. Click the Publish button again in the confirmation dialog. This will publish the index and make it available for use by your company. Once published, a Cost Index cannot be unpublished.

Creating a Location Index

To create a custom location index, follow these steps:

1. Click Company Settings in the navigation panel.
2. Click the Standards tab.
3. Click Cost Indices on the left.
4. Click the + New Cost Index button and select Location Index.
5. Enter a name for the index.
6. Enter a description for the index (optional).
7. Click the Create as Draft button and then open the newly created index by clicking its name in the list.
8. Click the + Add Row button to add a row for each city in your index.
9. In the Location column, start typing the name of the city and select the closest match from the list.
10. Enter an index value for each city.
11. When all required fields are filled out, click the Publish button.
12. Click the Publish button again in the confirmation dialog. This will publish the index and make it available for use by your company. Once published, a Cost Index cannot be unpublished.

Deleting a Cost Index

Deleting a cost index will permanently remove it for all users in your company. If it was previously used on saved Project Comparisons reports, the escalation data on those reports will not be affected or deleted. To delete a custom location index, follow these steps:

1. Click Company Settings in the navigation panel.
2. Click the Standards tab.
3. Click Cost Indices on the left.
4. Click the Options button to the far right of a custom index and select Delete.
5. Click the Delete button again in the confirmation dialog.

Disabling RSMeans Indices

Gordian’s RSMeans Historical and City Cost Indices are provided and updated by Join for your use. If your company prefers not to use them, they can be disabled, preventing them from being used by all users within your company. To disable the RSMeans indices, follow these steps:

1. Click Company Settings in the navigation panel.
2. Click the Standards tab.
3. Click Cost Indices on the left.
4. Click the toggle in the Edit column for each RSMeans Index.