Custom Ibis cost estimating integration
Ibis is estimating and administration software from Aceve Nederland, formerly Brink Software, for construction, infrastructure, installation engineering and property. In Ibis, quantities are measured and estimates are produced. After that, the estimate has to go further: to the work budget, purchasing, planning, the quote or the ERP. Appfront builds the integration between Ibis and those systems, so that every estimate line, with its quantity, unit and price, ends up in the right place and a new version does not have to be retyped.
What is an integration with the Ibis estimating software?
An Ibis estimating integration takes an estimate from Ibis and transfers it into the software you continue working in. Ibis is a toolbox for estimating, calculating and administering projects, with separate packages for construction, infrastructure, installation engineering and property. Quantities come from PDF drawings, BIM models or Excel take-off sheets, and the estimate is built up from lines with quantity, unit, price and hours. According to Aceve, estimates are exchanged with administration software via CUF, the Calculatie Uitwisselings Formaat (estimating exchange format), or via the integration with the ERP. The integration reads that output and puts every line in the right place.
Without an integration, it often goes like this. The estimator builds the estimate in Ibis and delivers an export or a printout. The work planner copies the lines into the work budget, the buyer picks out the materials, and the planner adds up the hours per component. If a new version follows after a conversation with the client, someone has to check line by line what has changed. For a property manager with multi-year maintenance plans for many complexes, there are even more lines, and these also have to be correct in the maintenance planning.
We build custom because every company uses the estimate differently. One contractor works with its own cost types and its own work budget, another sends everything to an ERP such as 4PS, AFAS or Exact. An installer works with articles from 2BA, an infrastructure company with RAW specifications. Which Ibis packages you use, whether Aceve's ERP integration already covers part of it, and which systems need the estimate next, determines what the integration does. Aceve does not publish public API documentation, so in the first step we look with you, and if necessary with Aceve, at what output your environment provides.
No retyping
Estimate imported instantly.
Right line
In your own structure.
Change visible
Versions compared.
How we build your integration with the Ibis estimating software
We start with your estimates and your systems: which Ibis packages you use, which estimates you produce, in what form they come out of Ibis and where they need to go next. Then we build the first integration, usually from the estimate to the work budget, because that is where most of the retyping happens. Your work planners use it on a few live projects. Purchasing, planning, version comparison and the multi-year plans follow once that works well. After that, we maintain the integration when Ibis or your other systems change.
Package, format and destination.
The first integration.
Expansion.
Go-live, monitoring, and maintenance when things change.
What an integration with the Ibis estimating software actually does
The components below appear in almost every Ibis estimating integration. Which ones you need depends on your type of work and your systems.
Import
CUF or ERP output.
Mapping
Ibis line to your line.
Working budget
Budget per component.
Purchasing
Materials per project.
Versions
What has changed.
Multi-year
Maintenance to scheduling.
Who we build an integration with the Ibis estimating software for
The integration is intended for companies that regularly estimate with Ibis and then need the estimate in several systems. The larger the estimates and the more often they change, the more it pays off.
Contractors
Estimate to working budget.
Installers
Materials to purchasing.
Infrastructure companies
Specification and estimate to execution.
Property managers
Multi-year to scheduling.
Technology and integrations
This page is about importing estimates from Ibis. If you estimate with Calc4You, see our page on the Calc4You integration. For the budget during execution, see our page on working budget software for construction; for the integration with the ERP itself, our page on the 4PS integration; for specifications, our page on the STABU integration; and if you want your own estimating package, see our page on estimating software. You can read about our approach on building software.
Why Appfront for your integration with Ibis estimating software?
An estimate that is retyped three times, a new version whose change never reached the working budget, or a purchaser working with different quantities than the estimator all cost a construction company time and margin. That is what we build against: the estimate created once, every line in the right place, and every change visible to whoever needs it.
Faster
From estimate to execution.
One version
Everyone works from the same.
No missed changes
Versions compared.
Security and privacy for an integration with Ibis estimating software
Estimates and unit prices are confidential, especially in a tender. The integration only gives access to the people working on the project, and every imported estimate is logged with time, version and user. Prices only go to the systems that need them.
The integration runs in a European data centre, with encrypted connections and storage and daily backups. If the Ibis data sits in your own database on your own server, we will work with you or your IT administrator to determine how the integration can reach the estimates securely and what may only be read.
Frequently asked questions about an integration with Ibis estimating software
Questions that estimators, work planners and owners of construction and installation companies ask before getting started.
A connection between the Ibis estimating software and your own systems, such as working budget, purchasing, planning, quote or ERP. The estimate is imported and each line lands in the right place with quantity, unit and price, without retyping.
Estimating and administration software for construction, infrastructure, installation engineering and real estate, from Aceve Nederland. It combines the former Brink Software, Syntess Software and ENK Software. There are separate packages such as Ibis Calculeren for Construction, for Infrastructure and for Installation.
Aceve mentions two routes: CUF, the Calculation Exchange Format (Calculatie Uitwisselings Formaat) used in construction to exchange estimates between estimating and administration software, and the integration with an ERP system. We have not found any public API documentation. Which route suits you, we assess using a few real estimates.
For Infrastructure, Aceve mentions exchange with Exact, AFAS and 4PS. If that integration covers what you need, custom development is not necessary. We build for the parts it does not include, such as your own working budget, purchasing per project, planning or comparing versions.
Yes. A new version is laid alongside the previous one, and for each line you can see what has been added, removed or changed. The works planner decides what changes in the working budget.
Yes. The lines per year and per complex from Ibis Calculeren for Real Estate go to your maintenance planning or management system, so that planning and estimate use the same figures.
For companies that regularly need large estimates in multiple systems, or that produce many versions per project. With just a few small estimates a month, retyping is often faster than an integration.
Want your Ibis estimates directly in your other systems?
Tell us which Ibis packages you work with and where the estimate needs to go next. We will show you how an integration can take over the retyping.