Professional services firm
cuts costs and improves productivity
with integrated software system.
"I could satisfy the government,
but I couldn't give managers
the information they needed
to do their jobs," says Shannon
Winston, Controller for Apex
Environmental. Apex Environmental,
like many professional services
firms with a competitive edge,
offers a widely diverse group
of services to both government
and commercial clients. Managing
and accessing data is critical
with every contract. Recently
– after years of using multiple
software systems, supplemental
spreadsheets, and manually
transferring data from one
incompatible system to another
– Apex Environmental purchased
and deployed a single software
system (developed by Wind2
Software – www.wind2.com)
that handles the entire operation
and serves both public and
private sector clients with
an integrated package. The
new system streamlines planning,
management, and reporting
requirements for the entire
company. It also helps contract
managers win more contracts,
manage them more efficiently,
and make them more profitable
because it automates the entire
process – addressing everything
from the initial technical
proposal to the DCAA close-out
audit with greater efficiency
and reliability. Business
Complexities: As a comprehensive
health, safety, and environmental
services firm, Apex Environmental
specializes in consulting
and remediation work. The
firm’s professional, technical,
and field experts are located
in 10 offices across 25 states,
and services include compliance,
environmental assessments,
remediation, health and safety,
program management, energy
management, and information
technology. All clients, of
course, require careful tracking,
reporting, and invoicing of
actual labor and direct project
expenses. The company’s government
clients, however, also demand
strict adherence to a host
of requirements as defined
by CAS, FAR and DCAA. In working
with their government contracts,
Apex staff members must meticulously
account for allowable overhead
expense (which can vary considerably
from contract to contract);
they must follow strict guidelines
for time and expense entry;
and they must report project
direct and overhead charges
on pre-approved government
forms. In addition to being
an environmental consultancy,
simply charging fees for professional
services, Apex also has a
$6 million construction division
that performs actual remediation
work in the field. In support
of this division, Apex staff
must also handle construction-related
activities -- generating purchase
orders, managing subcontractors,
and hiring and paying construction
workers. Searching for Solutions:
Apex Environmental has attempted
to handle this complex mix
of data tracking and reporting
requirements in a variety
of ways over the years. During
its first few years in business,
the firm used a manual record-keeping
system. Quickly outgrowing
the manual system, company
leaders purchased a basic
accounting program in an effort
to automate the operation.
That program managed the financial
aspects of the business, but
it offered no support for
the governmental reporting
requirements. Thinking they
had found the answer, Apex
purchased an accounting system
designed specifically for
government contractors. While
this program did a better
job of managing information
needed for government reporting,
its project management and
general reporting capabilities
were weak. In an attempt to
make up for the lack of functionality
in the accounting software,
office personnel used several
spreadsheet and word processing
programs to generate reports
and other documents in the
formats they needed. As a
result, staff members were
constantly re-entering data
from the accounting system
into these supplementary programs
– a time-consuming and frustrating
duplication of effort. "I
could satisfy the government,
but I couldn't give managers
the information they needed
to do their jobs," says Shannon
Winston, Controller for Apex
Environmental. When the firm
decided to replace this piece-meal
system with a more powerful
and useful software system,
the most important requirement
for the new software was flexibility.
"We didn't want different
software for different types
of work," explains Winston.
“The software we were looking
for had to have the flexibility
to do everything we needed
it to do on both private and
government-sector work." Cost
was another consideration.
Apex leaders wanted a system
that could meet all current
needs, expand its functionality
to meet future needs, and
still sell for a reasonable
price. The company simply
did not want to spend $100,000
for a software system, even
one that could handle their
needs. Meeting Contract Requirements
and Business Goals: After
extensive investigation and
product comparisons, Apex
Environmental decision-makers
chose a business system from
Wind2 Software that fully
integrates general accounting
functions with project invoicing
and reporting, budget control,
profit analysis, employee
management, cost proposal
development, accounts receivable
tracking, and government contract
management. The system is
flexible enough to handle
the company's mix of clients
and activities today, and
its scalability makes it capable
of doing more as the company
grows. “We needed an application
that would let us focus on
being a smart business first,
while still handling our government
contract specific needs completely,”
says Winston. “Wind2 enables
us to efficiently handle all
of the requirements of our
federal, state and local government
projects, without sacrificing
good, solid and simple business
practices. That flexibility
is really what makes this
program so well suited to
a company like ours that has
so many different activities
and a mix of government and
private sector work.” Like
all government contractors,
Apex Environmental must comply
with all government accounting
requirements (e.g., FAR, CAS,
Incurred Cost proposals, DCAA
guidance) and prepare for
government audits. According
to Winston, the company is
saving hundreds of man-hours
every month by eliminating
the use of spreadsheets and
simple accounting software
to meet the stringent audit
and reporting requirements
of their government contracts.
These resources are now freed
to support ongoing work and
to land new contracts. Apex’s
new software is fully equipped
to meet the 17 contract and
billing types defined by DCAA,
including fixed price, cost-plus,
and time and materials. It
addresses “Other Transaction
Authority” (OTA) contracts
and handles timekeeping practices,
direct and indirect costs,
overhead and G&A rates, unallowable
costs, pre-award costs, incurred
cost proposals and invoicing
properly. Within two months
of installing the new software,
Apex was able to reduce its
accounts payable staff through
attrition from six people
to five. Staff members no
longer need to manually calculate
expense rates or enter data
into two systems to prepare
reports. And they have immediate
access to financial and project
data that has been unavailable
to them in the past. Winston
explains it this way: “When
a vendor calls asking about
a payment, staff members can
now query the database to
find the answer. Instead of
searching through old hard
copy reports and files, we
simply find the vendor record
and drill down into the database
to see all the related invoices
and payments.” According to
Winston, Apex Environmental
now has the system it needs
to handle its complex spectrum
of government and private
sector work. And company leaders
know that as their business
continues to grow and evolve,
the Wind2 system’s inherent
flexibility and scalability
will let them expand its functionality
in any direction they chose
to go. Case study provided
by Wind2 Software, Inc. in
conjunction with Virtual Contract
Manager, LLC (www.virtualcontractmanager.com).
Wind2 has more than 3,000
client companies in North
America, Wind2 delivers software
solutions for government contract
management, timekeeping, contract
costing, billing, project
management, financial accounting,
customer relationship management,
and marketing automation.
Contact: Nicholas T. Bettis,
Tel: 800-779-4632. Fax: 970-493-4578.
E-mail: nbettis@wind2.com.
www.wind2.com Virtual Contract
Manager, LLC is a one-stop
“information” shop for and
about Contract Managers. We
provide a suite of FREE locator
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Let us help you find a Contract
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