Linking to Assemblies

What an assembly is

An assembly is a bundle of components that always go together, priced as one item. A lighting assembly might carry the fitting, the flex, the ceiling rose and a junction box. Linking a group to an assembly means every marker in that group stands for the whole bundle, so one link does the work of several.

Assemblies are built in the estimating side of Ensign.Software, not in ZeroCount. ZeroCount lets you use them. If a bundle you need does not exist, ask your estimator to add it.

The two kinds

Every assembly carries a badge on its description in the picker:

The badge is the quickest way to tell them apart while scanning results. The same distinction is also a column, Type, which is hidden by default — switch it on from the column controls if you want to sort by it, or use the Type filter with its System and Contractors options.

Linking a group to an assembly

1. 1

   In the sidebar, click the group's grey link button. On an Annotation group, use Link Item in the menu.

2. 2

   In the table toolbar, open the dataset dropdown and choose Assemblies. The line under the heading changes to Assemblies database.

3. 3

   Type into Search assemblies..., or narrow with the Type, Category, Heading, Group or UOM filters.

4. 4

   Click the chevron on a row to expand it and check the components it contains.

5. 5

   Double-click the parent row to link. The window closes and the assembly is applied.

The columns

The unit-of-measure pre-filter

The window opens with a UOM chip already set to match how the group is measured: L for a Linear group and U for a Count or Detection group. Area groups are not pre-filtered here, because the assemblies data has no single area unit.

Clear the chip if the assembly you want is classified differently. The filter is reapplied fresh every time the window opens.

What the group row shows afterwards

• The row's link button turns blue .
• The group's menu shows the assembly code in green, the badge, and the description beneath. Where an assembly has no description, the row falls back to reading Assembly. An button with the tooltip Unlink assembly sits beside the code.
• In Review mode the code and description are laid out to the right of the row, with a Remove button whose tooltip reads Remove linked assembly.

The group still counts or measures exactly as it did. Linking to an assembly does not multiply the quantity by the components inside it — that expansion happens in the estimating software.

Unlinking

Any of these removes the link, with no confirmation:

• Click the blue button on the group row.
• Open the menu and click Unlink assembly beside the code.
• In Review mode, click Remove to the right of the row.

When an assembly is the wrong choice

• You need each component visible in the quantities. The Excel workbook writes one row per group with the assembly's own code and description. The components inside it are not broken out.
• The bundle is a one-off for this job. Linking the individual items directly is faster than getting an assembly built.
• You are working inside a group template. Templates hold component, Contractors Choice and custom-item links, but not assemblies. Link the assembly on the drawing itself instead.

Common issues

Double-clicking does nothing

Either you are on a component row rather than the parent, or you are linking from inside a group template, where the Assemblies view is read-only.

The badge says Contractors Assembly but I expected a System one

Two assemblies can share a code — one shipped, one built by your company. Use the Type filter to show only the set you want before you pick.

Next steps

• The Database Items window — the dataset dropdown, search and filters.
• Linking to database items — link a single component instead.
• Linking to custom items — your company's own priced items, created in ZeroCount.
• Group costs and totals — what a link does and does not do to the numbers.