The Vico Office Cost Explorer tree structure view clearly visualizes the cost breakdown of a project budget by presenting cost categories as nodes in a tree. These nodes are color-coded based on their status compared to set targets. The cost breakdown scheme can be based on an industry standard classification structure, on Locations, or any other custom breakdown structure defined by the user.
The graphic presentation of cost is a powerful control tool. The color-coded system indicates to and alerts project team members and stakeholders when a cost component is over budget (red), within range (yellow), on budget (green), and suspiciously low (blue).
This effective communication system enables the users to quickly identify where in the project cost variances and over-budget situations exist, and makes it easier to understand at which point in the decision making process an overrun situation originated.

In the integrated Vico Office Environment, the cost breakdown components are automatically associated with the model elements they refer to. As a result, when selecting any node in the breakdown structure, the related elements in the 3D model are immediately highlighted, providing clear visual feedback on which 3D elements are involved in a cost change.

For each node of the cost breakdown structure, a set of target costs can be defined in the Target Cost Editor using cost values or percentages of the overall budget. The level of detail of the target cost can be augmented gradually throughout the project's life cycle, increasing granularity and accuracy on the fly. Once a target cost set has been specified, the current project cost can be compared to set targets to analyze and monitor the project’s budget.

Cost Explorer provides effective and highly detailed comparison capabilities, which enable users to identify variations between cost estimating versions at a glance, track cost drivers, and assure tight control over changes. You can easily access any cost version and compare its content with the target costs or any other cost version.