It’s Government year-end, meaning government contractors are working overtime to process contract awards and modifications. Taking the necessary steps to set up Unanet correctly will save your business time later and ensure the program managers can track their projects properly.
Contracts
Utilize the Contracts Module to set up any new Contracts Awarded or modifications to existing contracts. Add in the applicable contract provisions so you can reference back later. Unanet is consistently pushing updates, so there’s a possibility that this list will continue to evolve. Having your Contracts information in Unanet will allow you to utilize pre-populated ICS schedules within your Unanet Analytic Reports.
Project Setup
Prior to setting up a new project in Unanet, review the contract and deliverables for reporting requirements, CLINs, ACRNs, options, billing, etc. This will allow you to pull reports needed for customers and management. Should I track my funding or option years and the project or task level? These considerations depend on reporting requirements and how the contract needs to be managed.
Verify that all labor categories with rate escalations for each option year are added to the project even if no employees will be working it initially. Is the bill rate true for the Labor Category company-wide, or is the bill rate project specific? These are considerations depending on what type of contracts you have.
For billing purposes, does this project need to be a stand-alone, lead, or contributor project? What information am I required to provide on the invoice?
Notes
Use the notes section of your project to remind you why the project was set up in a particular way. Create a note with an action item for the PM to review a funding modification or award. Assign the note to the PM, so a notification is received. There are numerous options in the section. Make sure the Unanet Administrator sets up the system note type. You can also attach relevant documentation to the project in this area.
People Plans
Developing People plans for future work is integral in establishing the data needed to accurately forecast revenue and costs for Provisional Bill Rates and other management decisions. It also provides a metric of performance that gauges the expectation from the original cost proposal back to the actual performance.
Dashboard
We run 20% of the reports 80% of the time. Save your favorites to your Dashboard so it’s easy to run them often.
If your company needs assistance setting up any of these areas in Unanet, our team can help.
Katie is the Unanet Practice Lead at Redstone Government Consulting, Inc. based in our Huntsville, Alabama office. Her areas of expertise include supporting government contract businesses with a special focus in DCAA-compliant Unanet Time and Expense Tracking, Project Portfolio and Financials. QuickBooks, and Deltek GCS. Katie is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Certified Unanet Systems Implementer and has completed the Unanet Advanced Project Management training. Katie was one of the first Unanet Certified Implementers and was part of the initial pilot offering to non-Unanet consultants. As part of her certification process, Katie invested over 300-hours of instruction, out of class database development time and testing to obtain her certification. Since certification, Katie has assisted numerous Redstone GCI clients with implementation and post-implementation support services. Katie is frequently called upon by Unanet to join their implementation teams as an external resource and is considered a subject matter expert in the implementation of all Unanet software offerings. In her role with Redstone Government Consulting, Inc., Katie not only provides software systems expertise, but also frequently assists clients with preparation and support of DCAA audit activities including SF1408 pre-award accounting system audits, provisional billing rate submission, development of forward pricing rates for proposals, incurred cost submission preparation and development and design of policies and procedures necessary to support an adequate (DCAA-approved) accounting system. Katie serves as the primary point of contact for many small business clients in government cost accounting/compliance and assists monthly with the close of those contractor’s accounting systems and reporting to program management and executives. Her industry experience, software systems expertise and compliance knowledge provides a rare combination of knowledge to clients looking for a consultant to become an integral part of their team. Professional Experience Prior to joining Redstone Government Consulting, Inc., Katie worked in public accounting as well as small to mid-sized government contractors. She has prior operational experience with the many types of software such as Unanet, Deltek GCS, QuickBooks, SpringAhead, Deltek T&E, ADP, Paychex, and QB Payroll. Education Katie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from The University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2010, where she was President of Beta Alpha Psi (an honor organization for finance and accounting students and professionals). She received her Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The University of North Alabama in 2014, graduating Cum Laude. Decades of Consulting, Training and Helping Government Contractors Succeed Redstone GCI offers a variety of services for large and small government contractors including evaluation, education and training, monitoring and DCAA audit preparation. Through our consulting and training programs, government contractors develop and learn to maintain compliance processes that help them succeed by mitigating risk and maximizing profitability. Our consulting team is comprised of senior leaders from government agencies and industry executives creating balance and an informed approach to our client services. Our services span the entire government contract lifecycle from proposal assistance, accounting, audit readiness, purchasing, project controls, contract administration, system implementation through to contract closeout. We specialize in preparing contractors for growth through our deep knowledge of common pitfalls companies face as they progress from small business in CAS, DFARS Business Systems and other common gates to contractor growth. In addition to almost 30 full-time consultants we also maintain a trusted network of independent contractors and other service providers who work with our team on specialized areas like ITAR, facility security, EVMS and other areas.