Static vs Dynamic Values in Quantity Formulas

Understanding how to write and edit Dynamic formulas is one of the most important skills that an estimator can have while using Ediphi. This allows you to save time during the design iteration process, and prevents you from making mistakes when manually entering quantities.

In this article

• Static vs Dynamic values; what's the difference?
• How do they work in Ediphi?
• What values can be used for Dynamic formulas?

Static vs Dynamic values; what’s the difference?

To understand the difference between these two, think of Static values as any quantity that has to be updated manually if there’s been a change to the project’s design.

On the other hand, Dynamic values are those quantities that we derive from quantity formulas that automatically capture changes to the project’s design. 

Dynamic values save us a ton of time as we go through geometry iterations for a project. The more Dynamic formulas we have in our estimate, the less time we need to spend checking for human error.

How do they work in Ediphi?

Let’s look at the difference between these two by calculating Metal Deck and Detailing and Miscellaneous Metals in an example project:

Both of these quantities are calculated on a per square foot basis, so we need to find the total area of our project. We’re going to create a Static value for Miscellaneous Metals. To find out the total area of our project, we’ll consult the Area tab, and we’ll scroll down to the bottom and find that in this example, we have 220,000 square feet:

We’ll return to the Line Items tab, and we can enter that Static value either by typing on our keyboard and hitting Enter, or by inputting = in the cell and then Enter which will prompt us with a pop-up:

The two static values in our "Add Value" window above are Metric, and Number. The difference between these two is that

• Number will allow you to input a value, but it will not have a unit of measurement.
• Metric on the other hand, allows us to input a value and add anything we want for our Unit of Measurement (UM).

Once we add our value, we click on Save, and now we have a static equation in Miscellaneous Metals.

Now to contrast this, let’s create a Dynamic equation for Metal Deck and Detailing. We’ll add our formula, and we’re going to tie it to our area sheet by selecting Area under "Add Value":

As you can see, the default is Total Area:

So essentially, our work is done. We click on Save, and now any changes that we make to the area of this building will be automatically captured in Metal Deck and Detailing, whereas those changes will have to be made manually for Miscellaneous Metals.

What values can be used for Dynamic formulas?

Other than the Area value we used in the example above, there are many other types of Dynamic values in Ediphi that you can add that will help you create Dynamic formulas. You can tie things like:

• Line Items within the estimate
• Geometry worksheets
• Units, and anything within those units
• Rooms in your finish schedule, and anything about the geometry of those Rooms in your finish schedule
• Active Floor
• Vertical Transportation
• Attributes of the project
• Category of line items

If you’d like more information on what each of these dynamic values entail, or more information on quantity formulas in the platform, please reference our Quantity Formula article.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact our support team and we'll be happy to help!