Results or Field Names

Cobra enables you to define multiple results in a calculation. Results relate to a field name that becomes a column in the database.

You can improve the performance of your system by limiting the number of field names you use for all projects in the database. You should try to create generic field names such as Quantity and use the Units field to specify the units. Another example is to use Direct to represent both the direct entered value for material items and the labor costs that are calculated by multiplying the hours by the labor rate.

You must consider your reporting requirements when creating the result names. Since reporting by hours is a valuable tool, you do not want to use the generic Quantity result for hours.

Results are often used to identify different currencies for a project. Examples of results are USD, GBP and EUR. If your projects contain hundreds of currencies, you should consider using generic result names such as Direct for the home currency and Controlling, and Company for other currencies used for multi project reporting.