CCAS Light3 Capture Brief

Transcription

1 Overview CCAS, Inc. s Light3 Capture is an electronic timekeeping and manloading (staff scheduling) application. It is designed for professional services firms and, in particular, companies that have contracts with the US Government. As such, its built-in features help insure that the stringent (and very important) requirements of government auditors - including the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) - are fully addressed. That is, full DCAA compliance can be expected out-of-the-box. While the ultimate integrity of any system is a function of its implementation by users, there is no feature or functionality in Capture that will present any obstacle to full compliance with government accounting regulations. Equally importantly, Capture is as fast, comprehensive, and accurate as it is easy to use, administer and maintain. Users - employees and independent contractors you may decide to establish as users - will access Capture via the Internet using any modern web browser (including those found on smart phones ), FileMaker Pro 10 (or greater) as well as via FileMaker Go for the ipad and iphone and ipod touch. For security reasons, System Administration is not available via web browsers. All access to the system is made via Accounts and passwords established for each user, including the System Administrator (the Admin Account). Passwords can only be set by the logged-in user. Weekly, bi-weekly, and semi-monthly pay periods are supported concurrently. Significantly, employees paid bi-weekly can be established as weekly employees in Capture and Light3 will record each week separately - but combine the appropriate weeks when computing payroll. The same approach can be used for employees paid monthly: they will record their time in semi-monthly periods, with Light3 Payroll resolving all. This functionality offers the possibility of maximized cash flow via more frequent billings. Pay period data is imported into Light3 - CCAS s accounting system for government contractors - with a single button-click. Data can also be exported in various formats for those using other accounting systems. Upon log in, users will be presented with those screens that match their status. All users are able to enter and edit their entries - and review entries they ve recorded for any of their pay periods. They will also be able to print timesheets and time entry listings for any pay period. Project Managers - any user who has been designated as the manager of at least one project - are able to review and approve charges to their CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com

2 projects. If the option to distribute labor cost has been enabled by the Administrator and user pay rates have been recorded, total project labor cost and total estimated project billing amounts will be reported for pay periods. Division Managers (who may also manage projects) will have the ability to review and approve all entries and timesheets of users in their division for each pay period. Division Managers will also be able to assign their employees to projects and establish their related billing labor category and billing rates. These managers, and Executive Mangers, will also be able to review staff utilization rates for any pay period and any year for which data exists in the system. Executive Managers have the ability review and approve entries and timesheets of any employee for any pay period. All managers are able to send s to employees that address individual entries recorded to their projects, or in their divisions and, again, Executive Managers can correspond with any user regarding any charge. The System Administrator is able to send s to individual, flagged, or all users regarding timesheet completion status. The Administrator is also able to review and print timesheet completion status reports as well as the timesheet of any or all employees for any pay period. The Capture System Administrator will find important information at the Help tab and can customize the Company s time management process via the options at the Settings tab. Users will have have their own, status context-sensitive, help screens as well. Note that the accounting conventions used, when the Distribute Labor Cost is set to Y on the Administrator s Organization Data screen, are as follows. For hourly employees, cost is the multiplication of hours by the user s pay rate or, if the hours are overtime hours, by the user s pay rate multiplied by the Overtime Pay Factor selected at Settings. For salaried users, the distributed cost is recorded hours multiplied by an estimated hourly rate determined by dividing salary by the total regular hours available for the year. Upon Posting (finalizing a payroll), salaried employee hourly rates will be pay period salary divided by total pay period hours ( Uncompensated Overtime method). Entered billing rates are hourly billing rates for T&M efforts, or a specified cost multiplier (i.e. 2.15) to be applied to distributed cost. Lastly, in addition to addressing all aspects of the Company s collection, approval and recording of time entries, Capture optionally allows for the review and approval of employee/user entries to projects by client (external) managers. It is possible for these managers, described as XM s in Capture, to review and approve entries to their projects for any pay period or date range for which they are established as the client manager for the project. It is important to note that XM access to the Capture is set to N (disabled) upon system startup and, when enabled, only those individual XM s whose access privileges are set to Y (enabled) are able to review and - upon user submission of timesheets as Final and approval of timesheets by Company management - approve entires to their projects. XM access to Capture is password protected and the System Administrator is not able to view the XM s password at any time. The Administrator is able, however, to reset any XM s password to its default value should they forget or otherwise lose their password. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com PH:

3 DCAA Compliance and Capture In conjunction with the Company s Policies and Procedures regarding timesheet preparation by employees and timesheet approval by and management, Capture addresses the timesheet completion process and includes controls that help insure full DCAA compliance. Specifically, timesheet entries processed by Capture are written in ink. All timesheet distribution entries are recorded with date and timestamps and all edits are logged with full detail of entries before and after modification(s) and are date and timestamped as well. The View & Export Time Entry Edit Audit Trail action at the Capture Administrator s Export/Import screen provides for the viewing, printing and exporting of this data in a variety of electronic formats. This edit audit trail data cannot be deleted or otherwise modified by any employee of the Company, including the System Administrator. Employees are presented with a listing of projects and activities with their description (names) that allows them to accurately distribute their time. At the end of pay periods, employees sign their timesheets by electronically submitting them as Final and, depending upon the application client (software) used to record their time, Capture also allows for the actual handwritten signing of timesheets (see Capture s documentation). Two levels of supervisory approvals are also provided for in Capture. As detailed above in the Capture Overview, employee timesheet entries are available for approval by Project Managers and Division and/or Executive Managers. Settings established by the System Administrator determine the desired sequence of events related to timesheet finalization and signature by employees and timesheet entry approval by managers. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com PH:

4 System Administration - The Administrator s Role Upon login, the Administrator will arrive at their Home screen. From this one screen, and its associated tabs and linked screens, all aspects of Capture are fully managed. Each screen and its requirements are largely self-explanatory. Where necessary or particularly important, these requirements are further detailed on the screen itself or the Administrator s Help screen. Core system settings, including those associated with enabling the transmission of s by the Administrator and management, are established at Organization Data. Other screens provide for the establishment of system-wide settings, employees, projects, labor categories as well as their attributes and the creation and deletion of Capture user accounts. From this screen the Administrator can also review employee timesheet completion status - by pay period - for all employees and can send s to individual, selected (flagged), or all employees regarding the completion of timesheets on a timely basis. Timesheet completion status reports and employee timesheets - either interim or Final - can also be printed for any pay period. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com PH:

5 From the Export/Import tab, the Administrator posts and exports pay period timesheet data to CCAS Light3 accounting software, or exports employee timesheet data in a number of formats that can be used to import this data into other accounting software. As noted earlier, the Administrator can view, print or export a Time Entry Edit Audit Trail here as well. The screenshot below provides a sample of this report s content. Periodic updates to Capture software are also accomplished from the Export/Import screen. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com PH:

6 Employee Timesheet Preparation The following screenshots present the screens associated with the creation and editing of timesheet entries and the viewing and printing of timesheets and detailed time entry listings, by employee, for selected pay periods. The actions presented are the same for all Company employees. All employees will be taken to this screen - My Timesheets - upon system login. Depending upon the logged in users status (Employee or Project, Division or Executive Manager), other actions specific to their status will be presented. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com PH:

7 Timesheet entries are recorded and edited - in detail - on these screens by all users. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com PH:

8 Both screen and print views of timesheets are offered for any period for all users. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA com PH:

9 A time entry detailed listing is also available to all employees for viewing and printing for any pay period. All employees have access to system help that is consistent with their status. Following is an Employee s Help screen. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com PH:

10 Project, Division and Executive Manager Screens Following are the Division Manager s Help and Assign Employees screens. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com PH:

11 The Project and Division Manager s Approve Project Charges screen and the Division Manger s Approve Timesheets screen available to managers for all pay periods. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com PH:

12 In Conclusion Light3 Capture electronic timekeeping is a comprehensive - yet simple to administer and use - solution that addresses all important timekeeping concerns of the Company, including compliance with government (DCAA) timekeeping requirements. Capture s functionality - it s interface - helps insure that employees and Company management can effectively record, monitor and approve time charges on a timely basis. It s focus is rightly on the employee and the collection of their time entries on a daily basis. It s communications and reporting capabilities maximize the organization s potential to fully and effectively manage labor costs with a minimum of effort. Copyright 2012 CCAS, Inc. All Rights Reserved. CCAS, Inc. PO Box 1800 Spotsylvania, VA info@ccas. com PH: