When shipbuilding projects are performed across shipyards, it is challenging to keep cost planning consistent and clear. Besides the discontinuities in systems, different calculation structures make it difficult to perform an efficient costing. For these reasons, CostFact provides the possibility to treat a project jointly from separate CostFact installation environments by exchanging projects in the form of data bundles. Besides calculation data, all other project information like specification text, cost rates, surcharges and technical parameters can be included into the exchange package. The package can then be imported from a different CostFact environment. Consistency checks during the import ensure data consistency even in case of diverging project settings.
Although CostFact provides the possibility of remote access in order to use the program from outside, some situations may require working on a calculation project offline and locally. For this purpose, the exchange function can be used to transfer a project on a mobile device with a stand-alone installation of CostFact. After editing the project outside from the shipyard’s system environment, the new version can be reloaded when the user returns to the basis environment.
While user rights, controlled by the CostFact administrator, prevent unauthorized project exchanges, the exported data bundle is encrypted by state-of-the-art technology.