Posted by: billquick | February 10, 2010

What’s New 2010

The latest and greatest versions of BillQuick, Web Suite, Agent and all other BQE products are here!

BQE Software was founded by professionals for professionals. Engineers, architects, accountants and consultants are critical members of the BillQuick design, development and management team. Everyone – from receptionists to the CEO – live by our ‘Customer First’ business model.

Customer First reflects strongly in this 11th upgrade to BillQuick software in 15 years. BillQuick 2010, Web Suite 2010, Agent 2010 and the other improved products included the top ‘wish list’ requests of our customers. There are more than 200 improvements, from small tweaks that make a screen easier to scan and interact with, to refinements that speed up process , to new workflow features that help users Work Smarter, Not Harder.

Consistently, the key feedback from BQE Customers is “Less Effort” and “More Billable Hours”. The 2010 crop of software delivers on these wishes with the following major new features:

What’s New 2010 Upgrade Offers for BillQuick 2010 and other 2010 products will begin arriving around February 15, 2010.

Watch your mailboxes and Inboxes!

Posted by: billquick | March 5, 2010

Free Webinar – Billing with BillQuick 101

Every month, every week, every day, you need to get bills out the door.

You need to get the right information.

It has to get to the right person.

It has to be in their hands at the right time.

All so they can make timely, accurate and profitable billing decisions.

The bills have to be right.

The right information.

Presented to the client in the right way.

With the level of detail you and your client want.

Signed off with minimum effort.

All so you can get into the client’s payment queue and keep your cash flow moving.

Billing with BillQuick 101 teaches you how to bill more efficiently in BillQuick, from setup through invoice management. The session demonstrates many of the most common billing situations, including Hourly, Fixed Fee, Percent Complete, Phased Billing, Joint Invoices, and more. Learn how to gain the same benefits that other BillQuick users experience — hours saved every month, reduced overhead costs, and higher revenues from more billable and productive hours.

Will you learn how to reduce your billing cycle by 10%, 20% or 50% as other BillQuick users have? Will your billing process become smoother and less stressful?

The answer is Yes! That is the great potential Billing with BillQuick 101 offers. Come learn how to add thousands – tens of thousands – of dollars to your bottom line. Join BQE Software’s Senior Trainer, Sarah Lynch, in this Free Webinar to learn how to send the right bills at the right time for the right amounts. Learn how to create invoices in a format that effectively communicates both what is owed AND your firm’s professionalism and high value to the client. Come learn how to gain the most out of BillQuick, shorten your billing cycle, and improve your productivity.

Sign up for Billing with BillQuick 101.

Title: Billing with BillQuick 101
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Pacific Time

This webinar is approved for 3 CPE Credits.

Posted by: billquick | March 3, 2010

Staff Task Allocation with Dates

Since 2008 BillQuick has helped managers capture more billable hours by giving them and their teams a Self-Policing tool. The Allocate screen allows you to assign employees and consultants to a project and allocate them a set number of hours for activities. A staff task allocation can be setup manually or be based on a project budget. As timekeepers record hours worked, BillQuick reminds them how many hours were allocated, how many they have used, and how many remain. Self-Policing of time spent on tasks saves managers time and produces a proactive project environment.

In 2010, BillQuick and Web Suite enhances Allocate by allowing hours to be allocated to teams performing a particular task or a group of activities. You can limit allocated hours to a start-end date range, putting an expiration or target due date on the work to be done. To support communication of the resource allocation plan, one click sends the schedule to each staff member’s Outlook calendar. When a member of the team enters hours for any activity in the group, BillQuick displays Assigned Hours, Used and Left for easy reference. Also, an Allocated to Actual Comparison report is available. It can be scheduled for automatic delivery using the Agent add-on module.

Take a common situation: Employees grouped together as ‘Team 4′ are assigned to work on the ABC project. Their task is to survey and complete preliminary site work for a new office building on a 15 acre site. The surveying task involves different activities, but they are all together in a group called ‘Survey’. You allocate 60 hours for the task. The schedule is emailed to the Outlook calendars of staff and managers, and for those who do not use Outlook, you schedule a Allocate report to be sent to their personal emails every Sunday. The project manager and others receive a scheduled Allocate report daily.

As the task progresses, it doesn’t matter that the team supervisor had only 3 of the 7 people in Team 4 working on the ABC project, or that they charged only 2 of the 12 activities in the Survey Tasks group to the project. As they work on the task, they see how much time is left on the time entry screens and through reports. The project manager always knows how much time is left. Because of this proactive communication, the team can focus on the job and get it done. If rain or other problems come up, the team field supervisor would proactively inform the project manager. This might extend the target due date for the work.


Posted by: billquick | March 3, 2010

Background Report Generation

Got a long report to compile?

Does that complex report have to process a lot of data?

Tired of waiting 2, 3 or more minutes for a report to be generated?

BillQuick 2010 cuts the wait time with new background report generation. Managers and staff can get back to work in BillQuick without waiting for the report to finish.

Over time, everyone’s company database grows in size. For some reports, BillQuick may need to read and process 10,000, 100,000 or more records. In the past you had to wait for the report to complete before doing anything else in BillQuick.

No more! BillQuick 2010’s new “multi-thread processing” technology returns control of BillQuick to you immediately. While you continue to work, the report compiles in the background. When it’s done, BillQuick automatically brings it front and center in the Report Viewer.

With a typical company spending 3 to 10 hours every month generating reports, the new background report generation turns that time into billable and productive hours.

Wait! There’s More!

The new multi-threading technology does more background work. It monitors changes made by other users. If a change impacts the screen you’re working on, BillQuick refreshes it automatically!

Posted by: billquick | March 2, 2010

Reports Using Groups

Groups have long been a valuable tool for BillQuick users. For years companies created employee, consultant, activity and expense code groups to make it easier and faster to set up and maintain budgets, service fee schedules and expense fee schedules. Groups expanded to clients, projects and other master information, acting as filters to shorten grid lists and reduce record management effort.

One of the most requested Group enhancements has been the ability to use groups as report filters. BQE recognizes the potential effort savings is enormous. But, Crystal Reports Report Writer (the tool embedded in BillQuick), for all its great strengths, does not offer a good solution for filtering by groups. Also, BQE was not willing to restrict this feature to only standard reports. Thousands of BillQuick Customers using custom reports deserved the same capabilities.

Well, BQE isn’t waiting for Crystal Reports to improve its tool. BQE worked out the solution for its customers.

With BillQuick 2010 you can now quickly and easily fine-tune information for any report using groups. They might be project types, teams, regions, skill sets — virtually any type of group you want. And report groups work with both standard reports and custom reports.

In short, BillQuick 2010 delivers on the Group Potential. It’s like having 100 or 200 new reports available at your fingertips. And like before, you can memorize as well as schedule reports with group filters (using Agent).

Posted by: billquick | March 2, 2010

Droid – Documents to Go

You need information in the field. Carrying a laptop may not be the best option. You can load up your Android phone before you leave the office or home, or have someone email documents to you.

Once you have the documents, how do you read them?

The Droid is bare bones phone. Rather than ‘own’ everything you use, locking you in to what someone else thinks is the best tool for you to use, the Droid is wide open. There are many applications for viewing Word, Excel, PDF and other documents. One is Documents To Go 2.0.

I downloaded the free version soon after getting my Droid. It renders Microsoft Word and Excel files and attachments well. I am satisfied with the speed too.

While I don’t need greater capabilities yet, Documents To Go offers a paid premium version that includes greater capabilities. These include:

  • Viewing Adobe PDFs
  • Support for Microsoft 2003 and 2007 file formats
  • Creating, editing and saving Word, Excel and PowerPoint files
  • Sending files via email
  • Viewing and updating charts
  • Zooming and formatting

Most users report as good an experience with the full Documents To Go as I have had with the free ‘viewer only”‘version. It is about as close to the full Microsoft Office as you can get in the palm of your hand. You can find more details at www.dataviz.com.

Posted by: billquick | March 2, 2010

Working with a Droid

Since November 2009 I’ve been using a Droid. Yes, some days I wish it was a real CPO or R2D2 – even a Data. But it is a smart phone with Google’s Android operating system and thousands of free and paid applications.

Why am I blogging about the Droid (and the iPhone)?

Because the Droid delivers what BQE delivers to its customers: Technology that helps you Work Smarter, Not Harder.

What does that mean to you and your firm?

It means a smart phone helps you be more nimble than your competitors. It helps you make a profit. A Droid helps you leverage your managers, staff and yourself. Like BillQuick and other modules, it gets to the heart of the matter: Time is money.

You save time whenever you need to:

  • Do a quick engineering calculation or a unit conversion.
  • Let your assistant know you’re stuck in traffic so she can call your client, see if you need to continue on or head for the office. You could do it yourself, but you’re probably in congestion because someone was messing with their phone and not paying attention. Also, you’re better off engaging with the traffic around you because other stressed folks out there are probably messing with their phone now. Is that guy texting? They give tickets for that, don’t they?
  • Link into your servers back at the office. Is there a Wi-Fi signal around? Maybe you should just plug your smart phone into your laptop. Or maybe you should use your smart phone to link in directly.
  • Know the weather for tomorrow in a specific zip code or at GPS coordinates. Then you need to send text messages to your crew whether to head to the Mother Nature Site or to the Dry and Warm Site.
  • Check and update appointments and tasks in real time while out of the office.
  • Update managers and staff in the field with new information from the boss sitting with a client having lunch.
  • Track time while out of the office.

You get the picture.

As you read this blog series, please add comments, share how you use your smart phone, and suggest applications you use or which are available.

Posted by: billquick | February 22, 2010

Government Contracts – FAR Overhead Best Practices

“What are best practices for a design firm that is involved or getting involved in government contracting?”

The one word that comes to mind is commitment.

In our experience, there are two kinds of design firms that contract with the government.

  1. The firm does some government work. They obtain an audited overhead rate, usually because they have reached a state-mandated threshold and want to meet the minimum standard.
  2. The firm is committed to maximize their profits related to Government contracting and thus, allocate time and resources to achieve this.

While you might envision only large firms as the second type, this is not necessarily so. A large firm or a very small firm can be committed to the opportunities in Government contracts. They research the rules. As needed, they make adjustments to their processes and procedures. Because of this commitment, firms experience much higher profitability on their government contracts, a result which many firms think is near impossible.

Know the Rules So You Can Play the Game

Design firms have come to Deemer Dana & Froehle, CPAs, ready to pursue Government contracts. They wanted an audited FAR overhead rate or an audited schedule of indirect costs.  Working with the client, we determine allowable and unallowable expenses over the past year. From this an overhead rate is produced.

While this rate is acceptable, it is painfully far from optimal. Firms that get the most out of their overhead rate do two things.

  1. They have or put in place an accounting system that immediately identifies an expense when incurred as allowable or unallowable for FAR purposes.
  2. When faced with any business decision, they consciously consider, “How will this affect my overhead rate and, in turn, my bottom line?”

In firms that thrive in Government work, you see an analysis of almost every cost — overhead expense or not — so as to obtain the highest benefit. Policies and procedures are enforced with an emphasis on overhead maximization.  For example, General Marketing is not an allowable cost but Selling Expense is allowable.  A proactive firm utilizes multiple labor codes for the marketing function. Their detailed policy includes definitions for these marketing labor codes.

Another scenario is a firm with a mix of Government and private contracts that wants to maximize their revenue while managing their overhead.  Their fleet of vehicles are typically charged to jobs and billed as a reimbursable.  While most firms use the federal rate to charge the cost to jobs, this committed firm performed a detailed analysis of their actual vehicle costs. They discovered the actual cost was 70 cents per mile.  This rate is charged to their jobs and included in their contracts.  This often overlooked cost lowered their overhead rate but increased their bottom line.

Times Are Changing

The rules for the industry have changed. Many firms in the past hired a CPA firm or consultant to establish their overhead rate. They depended on them to classify their costs. This is no longer allowable.

With the passing of the new AASHTO Audit & Accounting Guide, a Government contractor must now take responsibility for their own overhead rate.  They must have the knowledge in-house to make the appropriate allowability determinations. In addition, small firms can no longer employ very simple accounting systems. Under the new guide, all government contractors, regardless of size, must have a compliant job cost system under general ledger control. The new guide also stresses the need to account for costs correctly and maintain accurate financial information under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). This means the days of generating an overhead rate based on tax information and estimating unallowable expenses are over.

Fear Not

While the new regulations might push several firms out of their comfort zone, it is not all bad.  The requirements are good business practices, which successful firms in the industry have followed all along. In the long run, many firms will look back and, while the process may have been painful, they will realize that their overhead rate has risen. In turn, now they are making profit on their Government contracts.

Design firms achieve strong profits by paying attention to the overhead rate and making smart business decisions based on how the rate would change. With an enhanced internal information system, firms can make proactive business and contract decisions, helping to solidify their industry position now and in the years to come.

Editor’s Note: For BillQuick Customers, Deemer Dana & Froehle confirmed that BillQuick handles FAR and related requirements, and augments QuickBooks and Peachtree Accounting to produce an effective internal information system.

——————————————-

Thanks to Tony Uhrich, CPA, from Deemer Dana & Froehle LLP, for this article. Many professionals work with governments on a variety of projects.

Posted by: Bob Wolff | February 16, 2010

How To Memorize a Report

Many managers and staff review the same report. The most current data may be included, or the information may always look a week, month or quarter in the past. Or the information may include only certain projects or information for specific project managers.

BillQuick’s Memorize Report feature saves time by defining report filters once, then saving the report and its filters to run anytime. (If you want to schedule a report to automatically run and be delivered to someone, click here.)

Note: Items may vary based on your version of BillQuick. The instructions below are for BillQuick 2010.

Here’s how you memorize a report:

1. Select All Reports from the Reports menu.

2. Find the report containing the information you want in the Category list and then select it. For example, let’s memorize the Project Profitability Summary report.


3. In the Date Filters section, you will most likely want to use a dynamic Period filter. BillQuick includes the most common periods for the current and prior year. For this example, let’s assume project managers are responsible for the profitability of their projects. They need to see project life-to-date information, so we choose All Dates.

4. In the Other Filters section, select Project Manager from the drop-down list. We will memorize the profitability report for CJ, one of the project managers.

5. Click the Preview button to view the report.

6. Back on the All Reports screen, click the New button in the the Memorized Reports section (lower left).

7. In the Save window, type a descriptive name for the saved report. In this example, CJ Project Profit Summary will be clear to anyone who sees it on a menu. Click Ok.

8. From the Reports menu, select Memorized Reports. You — or CJ –can now run CJ’s profitability report anytime.


Want to automate running this report and others?

Want to email reports to managers and staff automatically?

Click here.

Posted by: billquick | February 10, 2010

Enhanced Link Files

Correspondence
Contracts
Scanned receipts
Budgets
CAD files
Calculations
Reports
Analyses
Proposals
Videos
Pictures

Small firms can easily accumulate 50,000 documents, PDFs, scanned receipts, graphics, CAD drawings and other files on their network server. Large firms can easily have 500,000 files. Employees might have 5,000 to 10,000 files on their PCs or laptops.

How do you find the right information when you need it?

Introduced in 2009, Link Files is widely used by BillQuick Customers. In 2010 Link Files expands to more areas. Now you can link files to any of these records in BillQuick and Web Suite:

  • Activity Codes
  • BillQuick Messages
  • Budget
  • Client
  • Client Contacts
  • Employee
  • Estimate
  • Expense Codes
  • Expense Fee Schedule
  • Expense Log • Invoice Review
  • Project
  • Project Journal
  • PTO Review
  • Service Fee Schedule
  • Simple Expense Log
  • Simple Time Card
  • Sheet View
  • Vendor

A BillQuick Message might include a proposed contract provision for a project you are working on with an executive. Scanned receipts may be linked to expense entries. Pictures of a work site may be linked to time entries to explain extra hours charged to a project. You might attach pictures, videos, analyses, or an audio file to a project journal note. A vendor’s record may include a linked PDF of his Work for Hire agreement while an employee’s record has linked PDFs of federal, state and other paperwork.


Another improvement is better organization of attached files. BillQuick 2010 now creates a folder for each record type (see the list above). You control where the folders are located. With linked files in a single location, employees and managers will always have access to needed documents (with appropriate security permissions). With all the linked files secure in one location, you can easily back them up along with other files stored on your network server or PC.


In BillQuick 2010 you now have visual File Link indicators on all screens. They show you how many files are linked to a record. It’s all right there.

BillQuick 2010 does not stop there. Now you can view the entire collection of linked files on one screen, regardless of the record type to which they are attached. For users of BillQuick’s Document Management feature, there is a new Linked Documents tab. It shows you, project by project, the files linked to them. This extends the project focus of the Document Management feature.


For more extensive access to linked files, the new Linked Documents screen makes it easy and quick to manage linked files. You can display items by record type or see all linked files. The list can be narrowed or expanded by choosing a period or date range for the link date. With the new Funnel Filters, you can further refine the list of linked files. For example, you might bring up all linked files, and then use a funnel filter to narrow the list to only the files linked by a single employee.

To view a linked file in its native application, simply click the link in the File Name column.

Want to view more new features for 2010?

Posted by: billquick | February 10, 2010

How To Set Up Groups

Your dozens, hundreds or thousands of project records share common characteristics — same city, same type of work, for a government entity, for a commercial entity, etc. How can you quickly identify like-projects in BillQuick?

Use the Group feature. A group is a subset of projects that share common characteristics. In BillQuick 2009 and earlier versions, groups have been used to speed up and simplify budget and service fee schedule setup. Groups can also be used to filter a project list on the screen, the project records to apply batch edits to, and the project billing records you want to review. Any project can have multiple characteristics. BillQuick lets you assign a project to multiple Project Groups.

BillQuick 2010 expanded the depth of groups. For example, you can now filter standard and custom reports using groups. Also, when you add or remove projects from a group, they dynamically update in the schedules, filters and other places to which they are applied.

Note: The Group feature is available for most types of master information. Employee and activity groups, for instance, are great time-saving tools for service fee schedules and budgets.

To set up a project group for all Commercial Projects, for example, you would:

1. Click the Group button on the Project screen (or select it from the Tools drop-down button in BillQuick 2010).

2. Click New and enter a new ID and name for the group. Make the ID and Name obvious so that everyone will know the shared characteristic.

3. From the Available Items column (left side), select the project records that make up the group.


4. Click the button to move the records to the Assigned Items column (right side).

5. Click Save and then Close.

Note: When you clone a master record (e.g., a project) that is part of one or more groups, the group assignments are copied to newly cloned records. See How To Clone Multiple Projects for more on cloning.

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