This particular engineering firm was made up of multiple specialized companies and they wanted to ensure that the costs and revenues were appropriately allocated across the companies and as well as to ensure the same level of allocation and reporting available for each of the different cost-centers within each company.

 With Microsoft Dynamics GP inter-company billing, the company is able to share resources across their organization while tracking individual project and company profitability. Through the automated process of inter-company entries the appropriate accounts payables and receivables are assigned to projects and companies — even supporting company/department markups based on different company rules.

 By entering this level of detail into the projects, it was then possible for the engineering firm to have different project evolution and profitability reports based on company/service/project to allow management to continually refine their approach to projects.

 This is idea #16 from the white paper: 25 Brilliant Ideas to Outsmart Your Competition with Microsoft Dynamics ERP. To learn about other creative ways about can you can stay ahead of the competition, download the document www.erpsoftwareblog.com/brilliant-erp.

By, JOVACO Solutions, a Quebec-based Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner, www.jovaco.com

Re-engineering Intercompany Transactions with Microsoft Dynamics GP is a post from: ERP Software Blog

With Microsoft Dynamics GP, the agency got all the functionality they needed with an in an easy-to-use interface that required little training for the freelance workers. Sub-contractors now enter their timesheets and supporting documentation through a portal — all they need is an internet connection. For workers serving more than one client, new contract allocation is simplified through an easy project assignment tool to help review over and under-utilization of a particular freelancer. Since timesheets are fully integrated to payroll, double entry was also eliminated and it also reduced the processing time for the accounting clerks.

By removing the manual process of entering the details of a sub-contractor’s timesheet into the system, the agency has been able to improve their cash flow by shortening billing cycles since the information is automatically entered into Dynamics GP. These entries can also include details with regards to specific documentation outlined in the client’s contract which in turn also minimizes the number of collection issues.

To maintain the profitability of the agency’s operations, setup rules can include predefined markups corresponding to the cost of the freelancer. Automated allocation of costs can also be configured to reduce the number of manual inter-departmental entries that are required to ensure that the costs are being associated to the appropriate accounts. By having these entries routed to the appropriate accounts at the time of entry, this makes it faster and easier to create and send reports based on the past and current activity levels therefore having a better control over their business operations.

This is idea #20 from the white paper: 25 Brilliant Ideas to Outsmart Your Competition with Microsoft Dynamics ERP. To learn about other creative ways you can stay ahead of the competition, download the document www.erpsoftwareblog.com/brilliant-erp.

By, JOVACO Solutions, a Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner in Quebec, www.jovaco.com

Placement Agencies Gain a Better Control of Their Contracts with Microsoft Dynamics GP is a post from: ERP Software Blog

Watch this video to learn how:

• JOVACO Project Suite with an integration to Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables associates to optimize their business development practices.
• Empowers associates to extract personalized reports based on profitability by client, business practice or associate.
• Reduce the number of manual transactions required when billing your customers

Learn more about how accounting firms can benefit from Microsoft Dynamics GP with a time and expense module.

By, JOVACO Solutions, specialist in project accounting solutions in Quebec

Video: How Accounting Firms Can Manage Their Business Processes From Proposal to Profits is a post from: ERP Software Blog

By JOVACO Solutions, Quebec specialist in Dynamics GP for Professional Service firms

Infographic: Why Professional Service Firms Should Use Timesheets is a post from: ERP Software Blog

Microsoft Dynamics GP is also well known in the mid-market space and offers a solution for all types of organizations. Microsoft’s strategy then becomes to have Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) who are the true specialists in their respective industries or practices to be able to meet the specifics for a particular niche. There are ISVs who specialize in practices such as job costing or project tracking and there are others who specialize in industry specific solutions like Deltek who focus on professional services, engineering and architecture firms.

Here are some reasons why you should consider Dynamics GP with the ISV solution Project Suite before implementing a Deltek Management solution:

1. Integration between your operations and financial system. With Project Suite, your operations are fully integrated to Dynamics GP therefore creating a tighter link between the two, which allows your company to obtain more detailed and specific project-based reports.
2. Robust cost center and inter-company transaction capabilities. Dynamics GP already has a very flexible multi-company functionality. When you add an ISV solution like Project Suite, you can now have the opportunity to automate your inter-company transactions by project so that the markups and costs are allocated and properly reflected within the appropriate company.
3. Cost of implementing a module vs. the cost of implementing a completely new solution. If you are already on Microsoft Dynamics GP, are comfortable working within this environment and have already spent many hours personalizing your reports, you should keep this in mind when calculating your costs of a new system. If you were to migrate to a new solution, these reports would need to be recreated and you should consider the time required to do this. There will always be a learning curve when a new process is introduced, but at least this one will be shorter since your organization would already be used to the interface and the standard accounting processes that will remain the same.

As a last piece of advice, when deciding between Microsoft Dynamics GP and the suite of Deltek products (or any solution that you are implementing!), make a list of the functionalities that are essential and which are nice-to-have. Where the costs can quickly increase without you realizing is when these nice-to-have features that look great in a demo could take a long time to implement and are not always included in the solution that you need right now.

By JOVACO Solutions, a project accounting specialist for Microsoft Dynamics GP

Deltek vs. Microsoft Dynamics GP is a post from: ERP Software Blog

 Although I would be cautious when they speak about the requirements list, you need to be realistic when you are creating your list as I feel this is where project accounting software gets a bad reputation for being expensive and lengthy to implement. I think it’s important to look at everything you may need, but you need to ask yourself: do I need all of this right now or can I do this implementation in phases? Then ask yourself the following: which of these is a must have, a nice-to-have, or just a fun feature? Ideally, what is important is that your organization finds a solution that could grow with you and has a long-term vision of where you will need your project accounting solution to eventually be; but you are able to just start with the basics.

 I thought this article was very honest in expectations that “there is no magic fix”; unfortunately this is very true. I don’t think that this solely applies to project accounting software; this can be said about any solution where you will be revising internal company processes. This is an important step and you should not cut corners. If others in the organization can see a benefit from this new process, you have a better chance that it will be adopted. Personally, I think this is even more of a reality for smaller organizations where employees may not see the benefits as quickly as in a larger organization.

 One of the major advantages to having a timesheet in a smaller organization is that you can empower your resources by making them responsible for the work they do within the organization. Employees are now able to stay on top of their different aspects within their projects as well as their deliverables. In addition, you limit the amount of data entry required within your financial and operational tools to ensure that your projects stay on-time by closely following their progress.

 I feel that timesheet and project accounting software should be considered for organizations both large and small and not just those who just require the input of time in order to invoice customers. A project accounting solution offers you a more concise way to follow your costs by product and department to have a better pulse on your overall organization, regardless of your size.

 By JOVACO Solutions, a Quebec project accounting specialist

How Small Business Can Benefit from Time Tracking and Dynamics GP is a post from: ERP Software Blog

 The complications arise when they want to maintain the costs in the appropriate company and therefore inter-company billing becomes a necessity. Since many companies have different entities that represent their business on either a vertical or horizontal market, an inter-company billing process is required to facilitate the lending and sharing of resources across their organization.

 This complexity then only continues to multiply when there are several projects with different combinations of companies involved. And as the number of transactions increases, the challenge then becomes how to properly account for all of these tasks and transactions. We have noticed that organizations want to maintain their visibility into the health of a particular company but still preserve a substantial amount of detail at the project level to be able to evaluate the project’s profitability as well.

Many companies currently manage their projects through  distinct company setups in Dynamics GP but then require constant manual interactions between them to maintain up-to-date information. It is typically a time-consuming task for the accounting department to decipher the different activities within a project and then to properly report on the different business units in a consolidated statement.

 From our experience, we believe that the project’s database should be the basis of your structure  and should be available across all your companies participating in that project. That would eliminate the requirement for multiple manual inter-company transactions. This type of structure will allow you to easily lend resources like employees, suppliers, inventory, and equipment to each other in order to reduce your administrative time creating these transactions and increase the synergies between your different organizations; it will allow you to better manage the resource sharing between them.

 A way that JOVACO reduces this level of complexity is with a multi-company project database setup. You can create an automated process of inter-company entries and even inter-company invoicing to streamline the flow of your business activities. This process will automatically create and associate the appropriate Accounts Payables and Receivables for each of the companies associated within the project, therefore eliminating the manual transactions and also allowing  your organization to include related discounts and markups related to a particular project.

 In general, if you can set up a multi-company project within Microsoft Dynamics GP, you will then have the possibility for drilldowns and reporting specific to a particular company. With a well thought out multi-company project structure which supports your projects across all your companies, profit centers, and business units, your organization will have the insight it needs to have a better overview on the health of your different companies and projects while easing the burden of inter-company invoicing.

 By JOVACO Solutions, a Quebec-based Gold Certified Microsoft Dynamics GP Implementation Specialist

Multi-Company Structures in Dynamics GP for Project-Based Companies is a post from: ERP Software Blog

 There are a wide variety of different types of Microsoft Partners that exist in order to meet the different types of needs and requirements for different End-Users. I have put together a list of some questions to ask yourself to ensure you have a Partner that best fits your organization:

 1.       Do the competencies of your Partner align with your business requirements?

Microsoft has a wide range of competencies that a Partner must attain, look at which certifications your Partner has in order to have a better idea of their strengths and fit to your organization's specific requirements. Be aware of which vertical industries the Partner specializes in, in order to have a clear comprehension of their experience in your industry and if they are considered experts in your field. With your Partner’s expertise, you will be able to work together to align your solution in order to incorporate your industry’s best practices by understanding your needs and offering solutions tailored to your specific industry.

 2.       Does your Partner have the breadth of services that your organization is looking for?

Do your homework and check their customer references. When you speak to references, don’t only ask about the implementation process; ask how proactive they were during and after go-live with your system. Also discuss the frequency of communications, number of training sessions, frequency of User Group activities and informational updates as these are the long term activities that create a mature stable solution.

 3.       Can your Partner suggest different solutions to meet your different organizational challenges?

With the flexibility of the Dynamics product line and integration to Dynamics ISV solutions, there is usually more than one solution that could meet your organization’s requirements. Your partner must take into account the software and services you require and ensure that the proposed solution is fully integrated in line with your goals. The solution should enable you to streamline business processes and increase performance to make the most of your investment.

 4.       What level of involvement are you expecting from your Partner?

Some companies will try to delegate projects in their entirety to the firm implementing the solution. Others will do the exact opposite and actively participate and learn the product in order to try and reduce costs. You need to ask yourself: What type of customer am I? Do I really have the resources to do all the work myself or am I better off to have a Partner involved, helping with training and researching new solutions and updates?

 5.       Why choose one type of Microsoft Certified partner over another?

With a Certified Partner you are guaranteed that they have made a commitment to have several employees that are trained on the Microsoft solutions. These Partners have been tested and validated on their level of professionalism, the quality of their work, and their knowledge as well as implementation of Microsoft Dynamics or the development of add-on solutions.

Once you have decided on a solution that best meets your needs, you also need to be assured that you have found a Partner who will meet your expectations moving forward with regard to your needs for training and providing information on new technologies and product updates. These are all key success factors to protect your investment. By effectively using your system to its full potential and by asking yourself these questions you will be better able to guage your expectations and requirements.

 I strongly suggest that you be open with your Partner from the beginning and ask these questions so that the Partner is aware of your expectations so they will be well informed and able to meet them. This will reduce your chance of being disappointed with the level of service later on. Also, don’t be afraid to make your concerns heard if you feel that your expectations  are not being met. It could happen that your organization's original needs have changed and so you should make your Partner aware of these changes in order for you to remain informed and up-to-date on your Microsoft solution and to continue to take full advantage of your system.

By JOVACO Solutions, your Quebec-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner

How to Choose the Right Microsoft Partner for Your Organization is a post from: ERP Software Blog

You manage over 50 projects a year. This is usually the threshold for when it starts becoming more difficult to manage projects within your GL. There is also an increased risk for potential errors since there is no concept of a closed project therefore expenses can be continued to be placed into this account even if this project has been completed.

The project billing portion is taking an increasing amount of time. Since Analytical Accounting simply tracks costs, you cannot complete any transactions like invoicing or crediting to a particular project. This causes the Finance Department to be  more reactive than proactive when they are trying to bill particular projects.

There are complaints that the Project Manager needs to know more about the project than just its costs. This could mean that your organization needs to know how many hours have actually been recorded into the system to date or what has already been billed versus what is outstanding in a particular account. Since Analytical Accounting is primarily a reporting tool, one of the limitations is the amount of information that you can extrapolate. Traditionally the data in the GL is usually quite basic and therefore requires a significant amount of manipulation in order to obtain this level of detail.

Managers’ requests for reports are difficult to extrapolate. This is usually a symptom that there is not enough data in order to properly understand the current status of a project. By having more levels in your Work Breakdown Structure, you allow yourself to be more flexible since things can be more easily transferred to a different group or department. By having this possibility to further drill down and obtain a greater level of detail, you have more options when you want to create a specific report.

Employees are manually entering timesheets. With a project accounting solution, there is normally a timesheet application that will automate this process and there are usually integrations to Dynamics GP’s HR and Payroll modules available as well, therefore eliminating manual entries which in turn will reduce the possibilities of duplicate entries, input errors, and resources dedicated to this task.

It’s not only Professional Service Firms who benefit from a project accounting solution where time and billing are involved. If you are one of many organizations who manage by project you can still gain a lot out of using a project accounting module rather than the Analytical Accounting module since you gain additional detail and flexibility by working in a sub-ledger which increases your reporting capabilities and insight to your projects statuses and expenses.

by JOVACO, Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner in Quebec, Canada

Signs That You Have Outgrown Analytical Accounting is a post from: ERP Software Blog

There are a lot of different approaches that currently exist when an organization decides that they are going to start calculating the impact that their business has on the environment. There would be one less hurdle if you could automatically capture and measure change within a robust ERP solution. The luckily the answer is yes, it can be done.

If you already have a solution in place then you are on the right track. Since there are currently no standardized calculations required it makes it easier for your organization to test the waters calculating your environmental footprint. The simplest way of doing so is to break down the process by job or project and then calculate the impact through a project accounting solution. With this model, you can easily collect the data you require by creating rules and workflows that automatically allocate a percentage or a pre-determined amount to this account depending on the time, size, and number of people involved.

Here is a list of some factors that are easily extrapolated from a management solution and are easily accounted for when calculating an organization’s triple bottom line:

Economic

• Amount of taxes paid

Social

• Average hours of training/employee
• From welfare to career retention
• Charitable contributions

Environmental/Safety

• Safety incident rate
• Lost/restricted workday rate
• Sales dollars per kilowatt hour
• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Use of post-consumer and industrial recycled material
• Water consumption
• Amount of waste to landfill

Another way that an ERP solution helps you extract the proper measurements, if you decide not to calculate by project, is to create KPIs with regards to the unit of product such as percentage of material wasted and quantity of energy required.

Another tool that is available to calculate the required information could be a flexible time & expense module.  A time and expense module would help you calculate green-house emissions created from business travel as well as creating a percentage or index amount for hourly overhead that an employee generates at the office.

It’s not easy being green, but with the right project accounting solution, it could be just a little bit easier.

By JOVACO Solutions, a Quebec-based Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner

Triple Bottom Line: The Trick Isn’t Defining It; The Trick Is Measuring It. is a post from: ERP Software Blog