You can process bills of quantities in Cosuno using the file formats GAEB, ÖNORM, or Excel.
Although Excel offers a high degree of flexibility in the design of bills of quantities, not all elements of the GAEB and ÖNORM formats can be directly transferred. Therefore, using Excel files can potentially lead to problems more quickly. Cosuno recommends using file formats such as ÖNORM or GAEB, which are specifically designed for creating bills of quantities.
If you still want to work with an Excel bill of quantities, please note the following points to avoid problems with the import and export of the BoQ and the associated quotations:
1. Set the file format at project level:
Ensure that for your project, under Project > Overview > Extended Fields, the default format is set to XLSX.
2. Exporting a BoQ as an Excel file:
When exporting a bill of quantities from Cosuno as an Excel file, please note that Excel does not support the following BoQ contents. As a result, they may not be displayed correctly or at all in the exported Excel file:
Text formatting (including tables)
Graphics and Images
3. Importing a BoQ as an Excel file:
To ensure a smooth import, we recommend using the Cosuno template as the basis for your Excel BoQ. View template
If you want to import your bill of quantities as an Excel file, please follow these steps:
1. Select file:
Once you have selected the correct file, the Excel import dialog will open.
2. Select Sheet:
Choose the spreadsheet you want to import. By default, the first sheet of the file is selected.
3. Define BoQ start:
In the "Bill of quantities starts at row" field, enter the row number where the actual content of the bill of quantities begins. All rows above will be grayed out in the import dialog and ignored during the import.
4. Assign columns:
Assign the columns of your Excel file to the corresponding BoQ columns in Cosuno by selecting the appropriate content for each column in the "Select" area. Columns that are not assigned will be ignored during the import.
5. Define unit price components: If your import file contains items with unit price components, you can create these using the "Define unit price component" function. The unit price components defined here will then be available in the "Select" drop-down menu and can be assigned to the Excel columns containing the prices per unit price component.
6. Check position types:
You can use the "Define position types" button to check whether the naming of position types in your Excel file matches the naming in Cosuno. If not, you can assign the names used in your Excel file to the standard Cosuno position types in this dialog.
When using multiple position types for one position, they must be separated by a comma in your excel file. If you want to use a different separator, you can also adjust this under "Define position types".
Cosuno generally recommends using the position types shown in the following image in your Excel BoQs.
7. Unsupported content:
In addition, please note that the following content is not supported when importing Excel files and may therefore not be displayed correctly or at all in Cosuno after importing your BoQ:
Text formatting (including tables)
Graphics and Images
Selected item types of the GAEB and ÖNORM standards:
Surcharge items (GAEB)
Execution descriptions (GAEB)
Repetition descriptions (GAEB)
Master descriptions and signatures (GAEB)
8. Languages:
Always ensure that the language you use in Cosuno matches the language used in the BoQ. Otherwise, import problems may occur.