Price Archive

The Price Archive stores historical prices of all cost positions for automatic price suggestions and price tracking over time.

Overview

The Price Archive offers:

• Price history - Complete price development of each position over time
• Source linking - Traceability of where prices originated
• Editable history - Directly edit prices inline
• Effective dates - When was which price valid
• Automatic suggestions - Intelligent price recommendations when creating new positions
• Statistical analyses - Recognize price trends and distributions

Opening the Archive

Switch to the "Price Archive" tab at the top of the Master Templates section.

The list shows:

• Name - Archive designation
• Description - What it is used for
• Positions - Number of stored entries
• Active - Whether archive is used for suggestions
• Created - Creation date

Archive Details and Statistics

Click on an archive to see detailed analyses:

Tab: Prices

Shows all stored entries with:

• Short text - Position description
• Item No. - Item number
• UP (current) - Latest unit price
• Unit - m, m², m³, pcs
• Price history - Number of historical price entries
• Source - Origin project (if linked)

Viewing price history:

Click on an entry to see the complete price history:

Date	Price	Project	Note
2025-01-15	€125.00	Project A	Current price
2024-10-01	€120.50	Project B	Fall adjustment
2024-01-01	€115.00	-	Base price

Search and filter:

• Search by short text or item number
• Filter by origin project
• Sort by price, date, or name

Tab: Analytics (Admin)

Shows statistical analyses:

Price distribution:

• Bar chart - Distribution by price classes
• Identify outliers and typical price ranges

Trends:

• Time series - Price development over time
• See whether prices are rising or falling

Categories:

• Scatter plot - Prices by IFC type or trade
• Compare prices between categories

Sending GAEB Positions to Price Archive

Send GAEB positions with prices from a project directly to the Price Archive.

Creating a New Price Archive from Project

1. In the project: Select GAEB positions with prices
2. Right-click → "Send to Price Archive"
3. Select "Create new Price Archive"
4. Enter:
   • Name - e.g., "Prices Berlin 2025"
   • Description - Purpose and scope
   • Region (optional) - e.g., "Berlin", "Southern Germany"
   • Active - Use for automatic suggestions
   • Effective date - From when are these prices valid
5. Click "Create"

TIP

All positions are saved with their current prices as first entries in the archive.

Updating an Existing Price Archive

Add new prices to an existing archive:

1. In the project: Select GAEB positions
2. Right-click → "Send to Price Archive"
3. Select "Existing Archive"
4. Select the target archive from the list
5. Choose the update mode:
   • Append - Adds new positions to the archive
   • Replace - Deletes old entries and replaces them (Caution!)
   • Synchronize - Adds new price history to linked positions
6. Enter effective date (from when the new prices apply)
7. Click "Update"

Update Modes

• Append: New positions are added, existing ones remain unchanged
• Replace: All old data is deleted - use with caution!
• Synchronize (Recommended): Uses source linking to add a new price point to existing entries

Editing Price History

One of the most powerful new features: Edit price history directly inline!

Adding a Price

1. Open an archive entry
2. In the price history, click on "Add Price"
3. Enter:
   • Price - Unit price (e.g., 125.50)
   • Effective date - From when this price applies
   • Note (optional) - e.g., "Material price adjustment Q1/2025"
4. Click "Save"

The new price is automatically sorted chronologically.

Editing a Price

1. In the price history: Right-click on a price
2. "Edit"
3. Change price, date, or note
4. "Save"

Inline Editing

Even faster: Double-click on a price to edit it directly inline.

Deleting a Price

1. Right-click on a price in the history
2. "Delete"
3. Confirm

Minimum One Price

Each entry must have at least one price. The last price cannot be deleted.

Source Linking

Entries adopted from projects retain a link to the source:

What is stored:

• Source project - Which project the entry came from
• GAEB Item ID - Reference to the original position
• Adoption date - When the entry was created

Benefits:

• Traceability: Where does a price come from?
• Updates: Automatically add new prices from the source project
• Consistency: Track the same positions across multiple projects

Updating Prices from Source

When prices have changed in the source project:

1. Open the archive
2. Right-click on an entry with source linking
3. "Update from Source"
4. Enter the effective date for the new price
5. The current price from the source project is added as a new history point

Batch Update

Select multiple entries and update all at once from their sources.

Automatic Price Suggestions

The Price Archive is used automatically:

When creating new positions:

1. You create a new position in the Costing Panel
2. The system searches active Price Archives for similar positions
3. Suggested prices appear in the Details Panel with:
   • UP (current unit price from archive)
   • Trend - Arrow showing if price is rising/falling
   • Archive (origin)
   • Date (when last used)
   • Source (project if available)
4. Click on a suggestion to adopt it

Matching criteria:

The system finds similar positions based on:

• Short text similarity - Text comparison with fuzzy matching (PostgreSQL similarity())
• Item numbers - Same or similar item numbers
• Unit - Must match (m² position only suggests m² prices)

Relevance Score

Suggestions show a relevance score (0-100%). The higher, the better the price fits the new position.

Creating a New Archive (Admin)

There are several ways to create a new archive:

Method 1: Create Empty Archive

1. Click on "New Archive"
2. Enter name, description, and optionally region
3. Set Active if it should be used for suggestions
4. "Create"
5. Add entries:
   • Import from Master BOQ
   • Import from project
   • Enter manually

Method 2: Create from Project (Recommended!)

1. Open a project with current prices
2. Select positions with prices
3. Right-click → "Send to Price Archive" → "Create new Archive"
4. Enter name, description, and date → "Create"

Method 3: Import from Master BOQ

1. Open a Master BOQ with prices
2. Right-click → "Export to Price Archive"
3. Select archive or create new
4. Enter effective date
5. "Import"

Updating the Archive

Automatic updates:

Prices are automatically added to the archive when:

• A Master Template with prices is saved
• A project is completed
• Positions are sent from projects (with "Send to Price Archive")

Manual synchronization:

1. Right-click on archive
2. "Update from Projects"
3. The system searches all projects for new prices
4. Enter effective date for new prices
5. "Synchronize"

Deleting an Archive (Admin)

1. Right-click on the archive
2. "Delete"
3. Confirm

Price Suggestions

After deletion, the prices are no longer available for suggestions.

Best Practices

Keep Prices Current

• Update prices regularly (e.g., quarterly)
• Use effective dates to track price development
• Don't remove outdated prices - the history is valuable for analyses!

Multiple Archives

Create separate archives for:

• Regional - Prices by state or city (Berlin vs. Munich)
• Time period - Annual archives (e.g., "Prices 2024", "Prices 2025")
• Trade - Separated by service areas (Electrical, HVAC, Shell)
• Suppliers - Different contractors or material suppliers

Use Source Linking

Keep source linking to:

• Automatically adopt price adjustments from projects
• Ensure traceability
• Ensure consistency across projects

Optimize Price Suggestions

The more historical data in the archive, the more precise the price suggestions become. Maintain the archive continuously for best results.

Keep Price History Complete

Instead of deleting or overwriting old prices:

• Add new price points with correct date
• Keep the history - it shows price trends
• Use the note function to document context

Typical Workflows

Workflow 1: Project → Price Archive → New Projects

1. Complete Project A: You've finished a project with current market prices
2. Update Price Archive: Send all positions to Price Archive "Berlin 2025"
3. New Project B: When creating new positions, price suggestions automatically appear from the archive
4. Adopt prices: One click adopts the suggestion

Workflow 2: Continuous Price Tracking

1. Q1/2025: Record prices in the archive with date "2025-01-01"
2. Q2/2025: Material prices rise - add new price points with date "2025-04-01"
3. Q3/2025: Further adjustment - new price point with date "2025-07-01"
4. Analysis: View price development in the Analytics tab

Workflow 3: Regional Price Differentiation

1. Archive "Berlin": Record Berlin prices
2. Archive "Munich": Record Munich prices (often 10-15% higher)
3. Project in Berlin: Set archive "Berlin" active, "Munich" inactive
4. Project in Munich: Set archive "Munich" active, "Berlin" inactive
5. Price suggestions: The system automatically uses the correct regional archive

Workflow 4: Supplier Comparison

1. Archive "Supplier A": Record prices from Supplier A
2. Archive "Supplier B": Record prices from Supplier B
3. Comparison: Open both archives and compare positions
4. Decision: Set the cheaper archive active for new projects

See Also

• Master BOQs - Templates for Bills of Quantities
• Creating Positions - Use price suggestions when creating
• Details Panel - Price suggestions in the Details Panel
• Cost Calculation - Overview of cost calculation
• Import/Export - Export and import prices