Most BOQ tools speak one regional dialect well and treat the others as “import via Excel.” Epic I refuses that compromise. v5.2.0 ships first-class round-trip parsers and writers for the four formats a mid-size international contractor actually needs, all driven by the same canonical BOQ model underneath. A DACH project can hand its GAEB X83 straight to a Spanish subcontractor as BC3; a UK NRM schedule can re-emerge as a US MasterFormat Excel without losing element traceability.
The four formats
Hierarchical positions, GTU codes, FX-correct totals
The full GAEB DA XML triplet — Leistungsverzeichnis (X81), Angebot (X83), Nebenangebot (X84). Hierarchies survive round-trips. GTU codes preserved on import. Totals stay FX-correct under multi-currency.
Capítulo / partida tree, mediciones, precios descompuestos
Native parser for the FIEBDC-3 line-by-line format the Spanish public sector tenders in. Full chapter-and-item tree, line measurements (mediciones) and decomposed unit prices retained on both import and export.
Work sections, NRM1 element codes, BCIS-compatible measurement
Schedule-of-rates Excel built to NRM 1/2 conventions: work-section structure, NRM1 element codes, measurement rules compatible with BCIS benchmarks. Export ready for a UK quantity surveyor to open without remapping.
Division / section structure, Procore-compatible export
CSI MasterFormat 2020 division and section tree, with the column shape a Procore or RSMeans-trained estimator expects. Import accepts the same shape back. Currency, units and crew rates flow through unchanged.
One import surface — Regional Exchange
A new /regional-exchange page ties the four parsers together.
Drop in a file; the format is auto-detected (magic bytes plus extension); a
preview shows positions, totals and the classification it landed on; one
click pushes the result into a new or existing BOQ. Export is the same page
in reverse: pick a BOQ, pick the target format, get a file your counterparty
can open without coaching.
Why this matters
A construction firm bidding across borders typically pays for one BOQ tool per country, or pays its estimators to retype tenders into Excel. Both options are slow, both lose data, and both lock the firm into the vendor whose format is least painful to leave. With four native formats living next to one canonical model, OpenConstructionERP becomes the same tool from Munich to Madrid to Manchester to Minneapolis — and the cost data, classifications and resource catalogue travel with the project, not with the format.
What ships in the package
- 116 modules total — Epic I lives across the BOQ editor, the new Regional Exchange page and the format registry.
- 57 validation rules across 16 rule sets — DIN 276, GAEB, NRM, MasterFormat, ÖNORM, SIA, GB/T 50500, BC3 / FIEBDC-3 and others.
- BOQ canonical model stays unchanged — every format I/O is a translator on top, not a re-write.
- 27 UI languages covered, including the four locales the new formats are native to.
Upgrade
pip install --upgrade openconstructionerp && \
alembic upgrade head && \
systemctl restart openconstructionerp
Alembic head v3144. No data migration needed — the four format
packs are pure I/O modules that read and write the existing canonical BOQ
tables.
Try v5.2.0 today.
Live demo in your browser, or self-host in five minutes. AGPL-3.0, no signup required.