Alt & VE Log

Download Data File:  SC1-Data

Alternative & Value Engineering Log: You are a Junior Estimator for a large construction company. The Lead Estimator for an upcoming project needs a place to store all of the possible cost impacting items related to the project. You are tasked with creating a spreadsheet that all items can be entered into and decisions can be managed with just a few clicks of the mouse. You will create multiple columns to keep track of each decision made for each item.

1. Open the file named SC1 Data and then Save As SC1 Alt & VE Log
2. Select Cells A1:A4 and set the font to Cambria.
3. Select all cell locations in Sheet1 by clicking the Select All button in the upper left corner of the worksheet.
4. Set font size to 12 points. Then click any cell to Deselect.
5. Select cell A1 and enter your First and Last name after “Project Name”.
6. Change cell A3 to read, “Date of Issue for Baseline Estimate:”.
7. Enter the current date in cell A4 after, “Date of Issue:”.
8. Select cells A6:J6, make these cells bold, and increase the font size to 14 points.
9. Increase the width of columns B, D, E, F, G, H, I, and J so all entries in those columns are visible.
10. Select cell A7, click and drag to AutoFill cells A8:A16.
11. Click on Auto Fill Options and select “Fill Series”. Center the content for cells A7:A16.
12. Use the Home tab of the Ribbon to change cells F7:F16 to read as prices by selecting the drop-down in ‘Number’ Format’ and select Currency.  Decrease decimal setting by two since no cents are involved .
13. In cell G7, enter the = sign, click on cell E7, enter the * sign, click on cell F7, then hit “Enter” to calculate the Budget Amount.
14. Copy this formula for cells G8:G16.
15. Put a border around cell A6:J16. Select these cells, go to the Font Tab, click the Outline drop-down and select “Thick Outside Borders”.
16. Center the cell contents for cells A6:J6.
17. Align cells F18:F29 to the right.
18. Use a Thick Outside Border for cells D17:H29.  This area will help to visually high key cells of the spreadsheet used in the future.
19. Do the same for the cell ranges of I17:I29 and J17:J29.
20. Decrease the decimal point for cells G18, G20, G22, G23, and G24 by two.
21. Bold the following cells, G17, F19, F21, F25, F26, and F29.
22. Change the color of cells D17:J17 to be White, Background 1, Darker 15%.
23. Do the same for cells D19:J19, D21:J21, and D25:J25.
24. Change the color of cells D26:J26 and D29:H29 to be ‘Orange’.
25. Decrease the width of column D to 16.71, Increase the height of row 6 to 37.50 and Wrap Text for cell D6.
26. Change name of the sheet to “VE & ALT Log”.
27. Confirm that all content fits on a single page.
28. Go to File, then Print, change the orientation to Landscape, change the scaling to Fit Sheet on One Page.
29. Save and close the workbook.

Attribution

Adapted by Barbara Lave from How to Use Microsoft Excel: The Careers in Practice Series, adapted by The Saylor Foundation without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee, and licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.