Redstone Government Consulting Blog | Deltek Costpoint (3)

The Redstone GCI Costpoint group recently attended a Deltek partner meeting to learn more about the changes coming in the latest 8.1 version release. A highly requested feature from our client base, this update contains real time integration of data between Costpoint and Time & Expense. The system will no longer need to pass data back and forth for UDTs (User Defined Tables) 1-11, which include the major master data of Account, Project, PLC, Pay Type, and Organization.

Source: Deltek blog

A full DCAA Business System Audit can be the longest and one of the most difficult audits a government contractor can experience. To provide some perspective, at a recent audit of one of our clients, DCAA sent 15 auditors to perform the audit. In general, our experience is that these audits take 12 months to over 18 months for DCAA to perform.

Deltek Costpoint Planning provides access to up-to-date, accurate information for developing, adjusting, auditing, approving, and re-forecasting project budgets and annual operating plans. We usually see three types of users in the Planning module: Business Development, Project Managers, and Project Control/Financial Analysts. Business Development users have access to develop new business budgets. Project Managers can create project budgets and run meaningful reports allowing them to make real time decisions and properly manage their programs. Project control/financial analysts can develop organization budgets and reconcile corporate and project budgets more accurately to better forecast their indirect rates.

As we approach the third quarter of the year, now is a good time to review your payroll setup and wages for accuracy. I often find that whether the client is a seasoned payroll processor, or new to Costpoint and payroll in general, there can be errors in wages that are not obvious in day-to-day processing. There are numerous actions you can take to prepare for a smooth year end. For example, start by ordering forms early in the last quarter of the year. Many sources for W2s, 1099s, ACA forms, etc. will sell out in January. Also, be sure to register for access to the Social Security Administration for W2 upload since this process can be time consuming waiting on the access codes to be snail mailed.

The Redstone GCI Costpoint group finalized participation in the Early Adopter 8.1 testing program at the end of June. In this wrap-up we want to focus on the Projects and Contracts modules of Costpoint, as well as some additional highlights for Time and Expense. We are thankful for the opportunity to partner with Deltek on this program and are excited to see the new release of the update in the future.

Redstone GCI has been pleased to be a part of the Early Adopter testing program for Costpoint version 8.1. There have been numerous changes and improvements within the system in all modules, but we would like to highlight the below areas that our consultants found most useful.

If having unbilled receivables is a new concept based on your experience with other software systems, you may find it a relief that having an unbilled balance is not necessarily bad or wrong. Unbilled Receivables is the offsetting account for billing and revenue postings in Deltek Costpoint. When a billing is posted, the Billed Receivables account is debited, and Unbilled Receivables account is credited. For the revenue posting, the Unbilled Receivables account is debited and Revenue account credited. Hence, if the billing and revenue posting amounts are the same, the offsetting Unbilled Receivables account will be zero. That sounds great, however, there may be situations where billing and revenue do not or should not match, which then creates a balance in the Unbilled Receivables account. So, when is it okay to see an Unbilled Receivables balance?

Thinking about running a utility in Costpoint to correct an issue? Proceed with caution and consider contacting Deltek or a Redstone consultant to assist. These utilities can sometimes purge, overwrite, or change master database information that cannot be recovered. Access to these screens should be carefully restricted.

Understand how rate changes and revenue adjustments can wreak havoc on your system when done incorrectly in this path to Costpoint Project success. These issues can be time consuming to correct and can affect all users, even down to the employee level.

As year-end approaches, you may be wondering if there is anything you can do ahead of time to prepare. Here we’ve outlined some quarter 4 checks and processing steps so you don’t land in jail! Find an issue on your FICA recon report or have trouble getting your 1099s to align? Redstone Costpoint consultants are here to assist and support you all the way through the year end process.