General Questions: Questions 1. How should store sites be named? 2. How do I get help? 3. How to request consultant/vendor access? 4. How to request FBO Vendor access? 5. How do I delete a project? Responses The site should be named by state, hyphen, THD name and then the store number if known. Examples: a. Without store number: OH Clifton Heights b. With store number: OH Clifton Heights #3471 Note: It is important to have a space before and after the hyphen to ensure the stores are listed in the proper order. Email Home Depot (Constr_thd@homedepot.com) for: a. Policy and procedure concerns b. System configuration (need folder, need new milestone) requests c. Security requests d. Customization requests (need a new report) Email Expesite (support@expesite.com) for: a. Technical difficulties (uploading, document viewing) b. Password difficulties c. System errors 1. Vendor sends in completed Access Request Form to appropriate THD PM 2. PM approves request and forward form to Division Assistant 3. Division Assistant gives access approved by PM 4. Division Assistant sends notification to new team members who are already in the system but not on other projects 5. The System notifies the new user if they are not already in system. 1. Vendor sends in completed Access Form to FBO Manager 2. FBO Manager grants access 1. Update the project status to DELETE FROM SYSTEM 2. Email Constr_thd@homedepot.com requesting that the project be deleted 3. When the project deletion is approved, Constr_thd@homedepot.com should email Support@Expesite.com that the project should be deleted. Expesite Support would then delete the project and close the ticket.
6. How do I Remove myself (THD associate) from one or many projects? 1. Select the project from which you want to be removed. 2. Navigate to the team screen 3. Check your name 4. Click Remove from Team button at the bottom of the team list 5. Screen will ask if you really want to delete this person, click Yes If you want to remove this person from additional projects continue by: 6. Click Remove from More Projects button 7. Click on additional projects. 8. Use the Expesite Search feature to create your project list from which this person should also be deleted 9. Selected projects will move to the Projects to Add box 10. When all projects are selected click the Continue button 11. Screen appears requesting that you confirm that a person should be removed from the listed projects. 12. Click on the Remove button and the person will be removed from all selected projects 13. Select Continue and the next screen states that you were successful. 7. Should I save my work? 8. How often should I save my screen while working in Expesite? 9. Why does Expesite timeout after a particular length of time? 10. Why are so many THD REMs and PMs on a project or How can I tell which REM and PM are assigned to a project? 11. Why is Joy Bates listed as the Project Manager on all projects under Project Info? Yes. When you edit data (i.e. budget data) the changes you type in aren t automatically dsaved. To save the data your must select the Save. Save your data frequently to ensure timing out of screens, power losses, and other factors don t cause your work to be lost. If you leave your system unattended then someone else might potentially access your system and access sensitive data. To preclude this a Security Best Practice is to time out a system whenever a lack of use threshold is reached. Expesite s default time-out period is 60 minutes. THD determined the most efficient way to use Expesite was to create teams by division. This means that all REMs and PMs are associated with their respective divisional teams. Subsequently when a site is created in a division and the divisional team added, all REMs and PMs in that division are added to the project. The Real Estate dashboard for a project lists the REM and PM specifically assigned to the project. The field that identifies Joy Bates as Project Manager is used by different companies in different ways. While some companies use this field to track the projects Project Manager, THD decided use this field to list the Project Administrator. The label of this field will be customization in the future. Until this occurs, you should follow the note in Item #10 above to view THD PM assigned to a particular project.
Project Setup Questions: Questions 1. How should I start a new store site in Expesite? You must create your New Project at the same time. CRITICAL NOTE: When you create a new site you must create a New Project at the same time. If you don t, the Site that you create will be unavailable. Responses 1. From My Desktop go to Manage Sites and choose to Add a New Potential Site 2. Name the site (see format in FAQ s General Section #1) 3. Fill in all required information (indicated with an *) and optional data as appropriate 4. Click Continue which will take you to the Verify screen. If some information is incorrect, Click the Back button, correct the data, and click Continue. If the data is correct then click Continue. At this point you receive the message, Potential Site Started Successfully. 5. You MUST click on the Start New Project tab at this point or your site will not be available to others! 6. Select Start New Project which will take you to the Insert Project Information Page 7. Insert required and optional data in the specified fields. Then Select Continue which will take you to the Copy Folders, Security Teams, screen 8. Select the appropriate Master Template which takes you to the Select Items screen. You will typically accept all the checked (default) items. This is done by selecting Continue. 9. At this point the new project is added to your site. 10. Select the Project Home and select the Real Estate button. 11. Upload any existing documents (i.e. Broker Package, Site Plan, Aerials, and Photes) to Draft PSA Documents folder 12. At this point both the new site and new project have been created
1. Collect information a. Confirm to which projects the user needs access b. Confirm to which security group the user will be added 3. Navigate to the project to which the user will be added. 4. Go to the Team list. If the user can be seen in the View Users tab then the user is already assigned to the project. Otherwise click on the Add New User button. 5. Type the user s first, last, or Company name into the Search for button. If the search returns the person for which you are looking, click on their name and they will be moved into the New Team Members box. Note: You may add multiple users at one time. However, if you are adding multiple users ensure that you add groups of users that are in the same security group. 2. How do I add Consultants, Vendors, & Suppliers to an Expesite Project? Note: Director s Assistants in the Regions (i.e. R/E Director s Assistant and PM Assistant) & Corporate Administration Team can add consultants, vendors and suppliers to an Expesite Project Note: If a person is listed as a contact on a project then they must be removed from the project and then readded to the project as a user prior to following these steps. 6. If you were unable to find the user for which you were looking, click on the Add New User button. Enter all of the required user information (indicated by a red *). Click on the Continue button. The New User will move to the New Team Member box. 7. Validate that all users that you have selected are in the same security group (if not, remove users that are in a different user group). Confirm that the check box next to Allow for login to project is checked. New users will be indicated by an * in the New Team Member box 8. Click the Continue button 9. New users will be sent an Expesite username and password. If you added a New User then you will go to a screen that state s that a person has never logged into the system. Ensure that the checkbox labeled Send their user name and password by email is checked and that you add a message so that the New User understands that they were added to the project. Click Continue. 10. You will then go to the Project Team screen where you will choose the Project Group and Company Group security levels for your users. Click the appropriate box to the left of the Project and Company Groups Security Levels. Typically the Project and Company Groups Security Levels are the same. 11. Click Continue and the next screen will announce your Success!. a. If you need to add these users to additional projects, click on the Add to More Projects button. Search for the other projects to which these users should be added and follow the prompts to add them to additional projects. b. If these users don t need to be added to additional projects then click on the Done button and you will return to a screen that announces, Team Members Added Successfully 12. Select Continue and you are finished with this task.
Budget Questions: Questions 1. How do you create a new project budget? 2. Am I able to add comments to each budget line item when I am creating the budget? 3. What are the budget versions? 4. How can I add quantity descriptors in the budget? Responses 1. Log into Expesite. 2. Click on My Projects. 3. Select the project for which you want to create a budget. 4. Select the Real Estate role big button. 5. Click on Budget. 6. Select New Budget Button. 7. Choose Copy Budget Template. 8. Select, in the drop down menu, New Build Budget Template. 9. Select Do it Now button. 10. Enter the budget version s name (THD starts with the PSA budget version). 11. Click Save (Note: The city s name doesn t have to be entered at this time. It will be entered later). 12. Select the project budget you just created. 13. Select Maintain Project Budget. Look under the Plan big button. 14. Choose Configure Budget. 15. Rename the budget according to project name in Expesite (i.e. CA Ceres Budget). 16. Select Save Changes. 17. Start entering line item amounts (Note: Sum fields will not allow data to be entered). Ensure that you save your work. 18. After entering all line item amounts, click Save. 19. Total column of budget should equal total on worksheet. a. If you are finished and will make no more changes to this budget then click Lock (once the budget is locked you are no longer able to make changes) b. If you are not finished you are able to exit this budget (you already saved it in step #18) and make changes in the future. c. Note: After the budget is locked you can select Lock and Make New Version. This gives you an active sheet and defaults the dollar amounts in the previous version entered. No. When creating a budget only the quantity and unit cost numbers are added. This is by design since the budgets are fixed. Comments may be added to line items in reports. Expesite is designed in this manner since reports are reviewed with management. THD projects have one budget that is made up of multiple versions. There are four budget version types: PSA, REEC, DD, and Final Deal. Each budget version type can consist of multiple revisions. At any time you can single click on a budget line item. This brings up the Detail screen. Scroll to the Qty Type block and select from the drop down box the appropriate unit.. Selecting the Save button saves your work.
5. When may I add line items to the budget? 6. Why can t I add data to a budget column once I hit enter? 7. May I change the numbers in a locked budget? 8. If one or more budget line items change in a locked budget, how can I record these numbers? 9. When should I lock my budgets? 10. How do I record budget notes? 11. How do I create a report that allows me to compare budgets and have comment on any line item? You may add line items to your budget at any time. We STRONGLY recommend that you add all budget line items first, save your budget, and then add quantity and unit cost data. There have been cases when users add quantity and unit cost data, forget to save the project prior to adding a line item, add a line item, and then lose their unit and cost data. If you add a number to a budget and hit enter, note that the color of the cell remains a dark blue (not the light blue that indicates a change can be made). If you want to change the number just click on a different cell and then click back on this cell. You will notice a light blue background indicating that a change can be made. No. Once a budget is locked the numbers may no longer be changed. This allows the user to compare the baseline numbers to changes that are recorded in the different budget versions. Do not lock your budget until after you save your data or make a new budget version. You would open the budget, Click on the Make New Version button, give the budget version a name (i.e. PSA Version 1), type in a description of why the new version is needed and then save. You will now have access to this budget version by choosing its name from the Select View drop down box. Remember that the numbers in a locked budget can not be changed. For this reason the budget should be created when the numbers are available and saved (budget numbers may be changed at will as long as the budget is saved ). Once the budget numbers are fixed then the budget should be locked. You would select the Report button, Click on Budget History and insert your comments. Click on Add History Note and then type in your message We created THD Page 2 Report in Expesite for this very purpose. To do this: 1. Click on your budget name (first tab in the budget area) 2. You will go to the Budget Home Page (contains the buttons Plan, Bid, Track, and Report). 3. Under the Report button click on Budget Versions Comparison report. 4. You can select the columns you want to use for the comparison. 5. Click on the icon in the last column labeled Notes that is associated with the respective line item, add your comments and then click Save.
12. How do I print the Budget Versions Comparison Report? 13. How do I retrieve a budget that was previously created? 14. How do I notify someone that the budget is ready for review? Once you have the budgets created and have accessed the Budget Versions Comparison report (see steps 1-4 above) you would: 1. Select the Print Options button. Ensure that Advanced View is selected. 2. Check the Variance box. 3. Select the budgets you want to compare from the two drop down boxes to the right of the Variance check box. 4. Select Okay 5. Select Print View. At this point the report will be generated and visible on the screen. 6. You are able to print or save the report at this point by selecting the correct icon. 1. Search for and select the project associated with the budget you want to use. 2. Click on the Budget button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. 3. Select the budget from the list presented on the Budget screen 4. Click on Maintain Project Budget found under the Plan big button. 5. View/modify budget as needed. You would create a Budget Note and send a notification to the desired team member. You get to the Budget Note area as specified in Item #10 in the Budget Questions section above. They you would: 1. Type in your message to read something like, The REEC Budget is ready for your approval. Let me know when you have completed your review and approved. 2. Click the Add and Notify button 3. Team Member List will appear. Check the box or boxes of those you wish to review the budget. Click Save at the bottom on the screen. 4. You will receive an on-screen message that your notification was sent. Click Close and you will be returned to the Notes screen and see the message that you just sent.
15. How do I request that someone view or approve my budget? 1. Click on Budget History that is found under the Report big button. 2. Single click on the Add History Note. 3. Type your message in the displayed box. 4. Single click the Add and Notify button. 5. Click the boxes next to the name of the associates that you would like to review or approve the budget and click on the Send button. 6. A system screen will notify you that the emails were sent and when you select the Close button this task is complete. 7. Your note will also be displayed in the budget history window. 16. How do I view a response for an item that I m requested to review? If you receive and email requesting that you review or approve a budget you would: 1. Click on the View Budget button or hot link that accompanies the notifying email. 2. Review the budget information that is presented. If you are not working in Expesite you will be required to log on to Expesite prior to accessing the budget. 3. The reviewer would then follow the steps in question number 15 of this section, How do I request that someone view or approve my budget to indicate reply that the budget is reviewed or approved.
Milestone Questions: Questions 1. Which date should be used as the due date for a milestone? 2. Can I use Auto Fill to populate milestone dates? 3. May we change milestone dates once they are inputted? Responses There are three date stored in Expesite. Two of these dates are important to the project team. Projected dates which are reported to management and accelerated dates which the project team should meet. Since adjustments to dates may be made based on various conditions, Expesite is set up so that the last date is the one that the project team should meet. No. THD has multiple schedules so the Auto Fill will not be used. Yes. You would open the respective project, click on the Milestone button in the upper right hand corner (which takes you to the Milestone Page, click on the Update button in the upper right hand corner, and make the desired changes. Once you are finished making changes you would click the Save button at the bottom of the page and the new dates will be displayed.