Import your budget from OPUS
If you already budget in OPUS you don't have to key anything in again: export its reports to Excel, drop them into Matterial and the project is set up with the same budget, line item by line item and item by item, with the total matching to the cent. The import uses no AI and no credits: it reads the reports exactly as OPUS exports them.
- The Budget report is enough to create the project; the Unit price analysis brings your breakdowns and the Input explosion, your catalog.
- You can drop all three files at once: Matterial recognizes which is which.
- Before anything is created you see how many line items, items, breakdowns and inputs were read, the total and warnings about what could not be read.
- Each line item keeps its name exactly as it was, and you can export back to OPUS from Budget.
- With the budget imported, Schedule offers to generate the tasks from the line items.
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Export the reports in OPUS
In OPUS open your project and go to Reports → export to Excel. Export the Budget (required). If you want your breakdowns, also export the Unit price analysis, and for the input catalog, the Input explosion. Leave the files as OPUS generates them: don't change the headers.
- 2
Open the importer
In Projects tap “+ New project” and choose “Import from OPUS”. You land on the importer screen; the “?” button gives you the screen tour.
- 3
Drop the files
Drag them into the box (or tap it to pick them). Each recognized file turns green: Budget, Unit price analysis or Input explosion. If a file isn't from OPUS or isn't Excel, you're told which one and why.
- 4
Review what was recognized
You'll see the line items with their number of items and amount, how many items have a breakdown, how many unique inputs there are and the budget total. If something doesn't add up, the warnings tell you which row could not be read.
- 5
Create the project
From the report header we suggest a short name, the location, the dates, the built area and the number of levels; change them if you want. Confirm and the project is created with its budget. From there you continue as with any project: in Schedule, “Generate from the line items” builds a draft of tasks linked to each line item, which you then adjust and link.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to export all three reports?
No. The Budget is enough to create the project with its line items and items. The Unit price analysis and the Input explosion are optional: they add your breakdowns and your input catalog so you can work unit prices in Matterial.
Is anything lost going back and forth between OPUS and Matterial?
Not in what gets imported: the total matches to the cent, line items keep their names exactly and items keep their code, unit, quantity and price. Exporting from Budget produces an Excel file in the format OPUS recognizes.
Can I upload the OPUS unit-price catalog with the breakdowns itemized?
Yes. The catalog exported with itemized breakdowns brings each crew and each mix with its recipe and its productivity rate, and Matterial reads it that way: each matrix gives the same unit price as in OPUS. On its own, without a Budget, it imports its resources into your catalog, with the crew and mix recipes. Together with a project Budget, it links the matrix to each concept with the same code and each concept keeps the unit price from its budget: in Unit prices you see which ones do not match and, with the list in front of you, decide whether to apply the matrices.
Does the import use AI credits?
No. OPUS reports are read with fixed rules, no AI, so the import doesn't use credits and the same file always gives the same result.