JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW BY SHELDON NEEDLE

Transcription

1 JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW BY SHELDON NEEDLE

2 Overview Jonas Software, current version 12.2, written by Gary Jonas Computing Ltd. (Jonas) is an easy-touse, fully integrated system, specifically written for the construction & service industry. Jonas Software is available in a modular format. The modules available are: Job Cost Change Order Equipment Management Construction Management Project Management General Ledger Accounts Payable Subcontractor Management Accounts Receivable Payroll (Canadian & American) Purchase Order Inventory Service Billing Service Contracts Service Dispatch DataMart Master Generator Report Generator Mobile Jonas E-Timesheet E-Service Digio (Document Management) Procurement Executive Dashboard Silent Partner (Escalation Management) Fixed Asset Jonas is well suited for both specialty trades and general contractors. User Experience Web portals are Internet gateways that give customers and employees secure, direct access to corporate IT systems, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These automated information delivery systems improve customer service and employee productivity while cutting cost. With our eservice, etimesheets, ebackup and Construction BroadCast portal products, Jonas brings this concept to the construction industry via hosted Web applications. Value The base price of the core modules (general ledger, job cost or service, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll) starts at $8,000. Prices of add-on modules range from $ Strengths User-defined fields in all modules Flexibility in report printing and selections Strong detailed levels of security Fully-Integration Document Management Balanced Offering for both Job Costing and Service Management Requirements Limitations Written in an out of date programming language (Providex) Not suitable for a large number of users due to performance issues Transaction posting not date sensitive Cannot set purchase orders as inactive JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 2

3 Ease of Deployment & Training Setting up Jonas is very easy. Each module has a set of parameters that must be filled out in order to activate that module. Included with the software is a manual and a tutorial workbook. Many companies have experienced a less-than acceptable software conversion at one time or another. Because of this, Jonas has developed a detailed and systematic implementation process designed to tackle each step with precision. Jonas transfers data from your old system to your Jonas solution and includes 24-hour post-implementation support to make sure your transition is complete. Jonas hosts regular online webinars that give customers access to training on specific modules or new features in the software. Clients can login to webinars from anywhere they have an internet connection. These sessions are offered at both beginner and advanced levels to better suit the needs of a wider variety of customers. Further Reading Executive Summary Jonas Software, current version 12.2, written by Gary Jonas Computing Ltd. (Jonas) is an easy-touse, fully integrated system, specifically written for the construction & service industry. Jonas is fully Windows compatible, making full use of 32 or 64 bit technology. Jonas is a division of Constellation Software, Inc. Constellation Software is a publicly traded international provider of market leading software and services to a select number of industries, both in the public and private sectors. With headquarters in Toronto, Canada, and offices in North America, Europe and Australia, Constellation has over 3,800 employees generating consolidated revenues exceeding US$800 million. Jonas is well suited for both specialty trades and general contractors. The base price of the core modules (general ledger, job cost or service, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll) starts at $8,000. Prices of add-on modules range from $ Support The Jonas support team is comprised of industry, accounting, software and technology experts. They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition to logging support requests, the Jonas website also gives customers the capability of monitoring the status of their requests and adding additional information if applicable. Customers can also access application briefs, knowledgebase articles and frequently asked questions and download the latest software updates. Jonas hosts regular online webinars that give customers access to training on specific modules or new features in the software. Clients can login to webinars from anywhere they have an internet connection. These sessions are offered at both beginner and advanced levels to better suit the needs of a wider variety of customers. A newsletter is ed to Jonas users on a monthly basis and keeps them up-to-date on what is going on a Jonas. Many companies have experienced a less-than acceptable software conversion at one time or another. Because of this, Jonas has developed a detailed and systematic implementation process designed to tackle each step with precision. Jonas transfers data from your old system to your Jonas solution and includes 24-hour post-implementation support to make sure your transition is complete. JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 3

4 Systems Features Cons User-defined fields in all modules Flexibility in report printing and selections Strong detailed levels of security Graphics Web Enabled Easily interfaces with third party products Fully-Integrated Document Management Balanced Offering for both Job Costing and Service Management Requirements Slow response for large number of users Setting up Jonas is fairly easy. Each module has a set of parameters that must be filled out in order to activate that module. Included with the software is a manual and a tutorial workbook. Data entry is consistent from module to module. Each module includes the ability to add records on the fly to other modules. All transactions offer real time posting to the modules. Parameter settings ensure job cost, service, accounts payable; accounts receivable and general ledger postings stay in balance. Security is available on a function (menu basis) within each application. Jonas menus are automatically changed to only show the functions that an individual is authorized to use. All pre-defined reports can be displayed, printed, faxed, or ed. Jonas has a powerful report generator built into each module. A wide range of selection criteria is available for each report. This lets the user pull as much information as he wants from the database. With Excel, MS Access or Crystal users can join multiple tables and reports accordingly. You can also use DataMart SQL to easily access Jonas data fields and custom write reports. The reports can be saved and exported to a variety of spreadsheets and databases. Other Windows compatible report writers like Crystal Reports and MS Access, can also be used. JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 4

5 Up to 9999 companies can be running Jonas on a single installation. All companies have their own data files. Consolidation of financial statements can be prepared in the general ledger. Job Master and job related information, and the ability to include budget and actual costs from user-defined periods in your reports. Job Cost The Job Master is comprised of a Job Number/Cost Item and Cost Type. The total length of the 3 combined is set at 15 characters alphanumeric. This is a one-time set up during implementation. Therefore, it is imperative you spend some time understanding what lengths you want for your job numbers, cost items and cost types. Reporting The Jonas reporting modules include: The Executive Dashboard Summary management reports with full drill down capability to the initial transactions Report Generators Application-wide and module-specific report writers that allow users to quickly create custom reports Silent Partner Report automation that allows users to schedule reports to be printed or ed to specific users on a set schedule, or based on a set threshold (escalation management) DataMart A SQL tool that allows for direct access to Jonas data fields for advanced users that wish to work with third party reporting tools Master Report Generator With the Master Report Generator, you can design any financial report you need quickly and easily. This simple financial report writing tool allows you to create your own custom financial reports to supplement the standard reporting options within the Jonas solution. The Master Report Generator gives you complete access to summary financial Strong inquiry and reporting Job Master Computation of percentage of completion Drill down capability in inquiries Integration between job cost and the other Jonas modules is seamless. Vendor and subcontractor invoices are posted to job cost from accounts payable. Job billings are posted and printed from accounts receivable. Change orders can be posted from either accounts receivable (AIA and contract JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 5

6 billings) or job cost. Purchase orders update committed cost on reports. Employee hours (regular and overtime), gross pay and labor burden are posted to the category level from information posted in time entry. Posting to jobs can be realtime or when payroll is run according to how the system is configured. Job notes including files such as digital pictures, Excel spreadsheets or Word documents can be attached to each job. These can be transactional or merely informational. External estimating packages easily interface with the Jonas import function. Standard upload programs will upload the estimate according to a certain format. Most estimating solutions can produce a file that Jonas can upload Jonas allows you to see the true labor cost by posting actual labor burden, in addition to direct wages to job cost. The burden is predefined to include all payroll taxes; workers compensation and general liability insurance, union fringes as well as other company paid benefits established in payroll. In addition, the user also can choose a percent of burden to use, either by itself, or in conjunction with the actual. This would be a percent of actual labor dollars. The user can also choose to allocate indirect costs as a percent of one or more of the cost types, for example, material, equipment, labor, subcontracts, etc. Subcontractors are tracked through accounts payable and job cost, using a setup in job cost. Subcontractor retention percentages are set through the Subcontract module. Jonas allows the user to copy from one job to another, even if the jobs are different formats. Billing line items for a schedule of values is defined at the phase level in the job setup. Jonas handles time and material billings, AIA, Contract, Unit, and unformatted billing, through the accounts receivable module. Jobs are either active or inactive, allowing the system to screen out the closed jobs, but maintaining the data. Job Cost Transactions Job cost estimates can be entered for each cost distribution or can be duplicated from another job (or master job) template. Users can duplicate the phases and or categories from this template. Users will normally enter the transactions in a source module. All transactions are posted to the general ledger in either a detail or summary format through one of the modules, either from Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable or Payroll. When making adjustments between jobs or to the wrong phase within a job, or to the wrong period, a single transaction is required. The user can either use a general journal entry to make the correction or use the module that was originally used to correct the error. Change Orders User definable fields and extensive note capabilities make the change order system flexible. Pending, Approved, and Denied change orders both internal and customer are accounted for. Change orders are easily edited and changed as the job demands. They can be printed for the approval process. Change orders are tracked as they progress through the issue and approval stages and from delivery to the architect, customer, and subcontractor. Reports can be obtained showing pending, approved and denied status. JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 6

7 entry screen. One of the strengths of Jonas is the ability to run reports from prior periods, and have the data reflect just that information. This enables a user to re-run a report when needed and use it in reconciling to the general ledger. Accounts Payable Flexibility in selection of invoices to pay Workers compensation expiration date warning General liability explanation date warning Subcontractor Payables Job cost with drill down Posted entries of both costs and quantities automatically update job cost, inventory, purchase orders, and can be batch posted to the general ledger. The payment process can be done either manually or by selection criteria. The module offers standard vendor reports. Inquiries and reports Jonas offers many standard reports, most of which can be broken down by either a posting date, posting period, cost type, job number, cost item, category, or active/inactive. These sorting criteria are available on most of the standard reports. All summary reports have a drill down feature to the original entry. Job analysis provides the opportunity to view multiple selected reports for a single job rather than having to specify a job for each report you wish to print. Percentage of completion is calculated at the cost distribution level. The software compares the budget for each line item to actual costs, and figures the percent complete from there, including costs remaining. This can be overridden in an AP invoice Batches JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 7

8 Vendor Master File Vendor payments, purchases and workers compensation deducted is tracked on a yearly basis. Default payment terms and general ledger account numbers can be assigned to each vendor, as well as discount and 1099 information. The system also tracks if the vendor is a supplier or subcontractor. User defined fields are available in the master file. The system prompts the user for a worker s compensation expiration date and general liability insurance and warns you when this date has expired (a feature not found in many systems). For those companies that have an arrangement with their state to pay sales and use tax directly, Jonas provides Direct Pay features that will keep track of sales and use taxes by taxing authority. Invoice Entry Invoices can be entered in batches or individually. The posting period will default to be the month of the invoice, but can be overridden. Invoices can be posted to multiple posting periods in the same batch. Each invoice can either be payable, on hold, or a credit memo. Each purchase order can be accessed by accounts payable. If receiving is not done in the inventory control module, it can be done in accounts payable. When applying a voucher to a purchase order there is now an option to receive and invoice all items. Each invoice can be sent to an unlimited number of jobs and cost distributions as well as general ledger accounts. The system will default to the purchase order for job information, and the vendor master file for default general ledger accounts, and verifies that the codes match the defaults set up. It is possible to override the defaults. In addition, the system will not permit you to enter an invoice if the same invoice number exists in open payables or vendor history. The system will also warn you if you try to enter line items to be posted to a non- related-to account (such as posting job transactions to the wrong cost type). Vendor information fills in the middle part of the screen with the purchase discount, retention percentage, and the workers compensation to be withheld. The system will keep track of the different posting periods that the invoices are being sent to, and when the batch posting report is run, it will update all periods. If a temporary vendor is needed, you type a miscellaneous code to enter the needed information without setting up a real vendor. You can also setup a joint check in the entry process. Recurring invoices can be set-up and posted on a period-by-period basis to the general ledger and job cost. Payments Jonas provides a lot of flexibility in the selection of invoices for payment. Invoices may be selected by all vendors, range of vendors, specific vendor, jobs, jobs/project, subcontractors vs. suppliers, specific voucher, by discount dates or by due dates. You may force the system to take the discount even if the discount date has expired. You can also choose whether or not to pay retention, or how much retention to pay. In the selection screen, you can choose to issue joint checks by invoice, and still use temporary vendor information. This system also allows partial payment to vendors and prints lien waivers (partial and final) for suppliers and subcontractors. Once invoices are selected, the system allows the user to print a cash requirements report, either to a printer or to the screen. When the checks are printed, the system prompts for a posting period to be selected. The default is the current general ledger period. A check register JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 8

9 may be printed after the checks have been posted. You may have multiple checking accounts, and can print from one account at a time. When checks are printed they can be sorted by vendor name or vendor code. History is maintained for all vendors and vouchers, until deleted by date. You can run paid invoice reports by job or vendor, and include unpaid invoices. When a check register is run to screen, you can drill down to the original invoice entry. General Ledger Cons Custom financial statements are easy to produce Post in summary or detail by account Financial Center Transaction posting not date sensitive Inquiry and Reporting A variety of options are available for reporting on open payables. You can run the reports by job or by vendor and then select other selection criteria. History is maintained on the system until the user decides to delete it. The open payable reports can be run with either a cutoff period, or cutoff date as of a past period to assist the user in reconciliations at month end. Aging periods are pre-defined in the system. Reports are available in a detail, summary or totals only format. In addition to open payable reporting accounts payable includes a cash flow report, showing open payables by vendor shown in day increments for the next 30 days into the future. Cash flow reporting include projections of inflows from AR, outflows from AP showing the projected cash balance for the month. Since subcontract control features are maintained in accounts payable you can also obtain a subcontractor report in detail or summary and a committed cost report. The general ledger is the backbone of the Jonas accounting system. Job Costing and the general ledger are on the same level. Transactions from each module update the general ledger and job costing. One potentially useful feature, for companies with experienced bookkeepers, is the ability to work in multiple periods. Payroll can be in one period and the general ledger in another period. Using parameters you can control the number of periods forward or backward which may be posted. Reports can be sorted by posting date or source code. JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 9

10 Chart of Accounts A maximum of 14 characters are available when defining your G/L chart of accounts and your department codes. The size of the account number as well as the number of characters for the department codes are completely user definable. Each account is defined as a financial statement type, for example, asset, liability, equity, sales, cost of sales, expenses, etc. Each account can be set-up as either a summary or detail posting. Reports can be selected based on Active, Inactive, or All. Budgets can be set-up on either a monthly basis, or a yearly basis. If the yearly basis is used, the system will automatically allocate the budget equally over all of the periods. Chart of Accounts Inquiry Entries from all of the other modules update the general ledger. The general journal entry screen is presented showing account number, account description, debit or credit amount, and date and entry description. Each entry is posted to a specific period. Each entry can be automatically reversed. In addition, these entries can be posted to any period or year that is not specifically closed. There is no month end close menu option; you just run certain reports. The system will automatically open the accounts for a New Year. No special steps are needed to open the next year. Inquiry and Reporting For inquiry purposes, there is a report that will show all activity since the system was started for all accounts, or a specific account. In the general ledger report, only the current year s activity will be shown if a date range is selected. The beginning balance for the period will always print first. Pre-defined monthly and yearly statements for the balance sheet and the income statement come with the system. Users can easily format financial statements without having to use a special report writer. Users have control over report titles, line items, and subtotals. The standard income statement will print by department(s), company or consolidate multiple companies. The system can consolidate unlike charts of account. Jonas has a full-featured bank reconciliation module built into the Accounts Payable. In addition to providing outstanding checklists, Jonas includes the ability to clear deposits and enter bank charges. Payroll Confidential payroll Ability to enter and post quantities from time entry to job cost and equipment costing Direct deposit transmission and reports Ability to run termination checks in middle of cycle Reissue a lost payroll check easily Handles all local and state reciprocities Handles all complex union calculations Jonas Canadian and U.S. Payroll systems provide exceptional flexibility to meet the needs of virtually any payroll situation, including processing of unionized payroll, certified payroll and apprentice work. Multi-direct deposit/check features offer flexibility for both your employees and your business. Jonas provides the ability to define a confidential payroll along with all the other payrolls that are required for your operations. The confidential payroll is password controlled, and if the user does JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 10

11 not have password authority, then they cannot access any information about those employees. Employee Master File The master file allows setup of employee information, pay rates, taxes, unions, and nonunion fringes and deductions. It supports pay rates based on skills and skill levels. 401(k) plans can be established to handle both the employee and employer contributions as a fixed amount, percent of gross, or hourly. All deductions and fringes can be calculated as a fixed amount, percent of gross, or at an hourly rate with a formula. User defined fields can be set-up to track any additional information that the user desires. Benefits and Deductions Jonas provides the ability to compute benefits and deductions for unions and workers compensation insurance based on a variety of different methods, such as a rate per hour, percent of gross, percent of net, or fixed amount per pay period. Miscellaneous deduction and fringe amounts are entered at the employee level. Jonas tracks hours worked by risk category and will calculate and report on worker s compensation insurance premiums. Payroll does not allow for entry of a modification factor or premium discount. It will also calculate general liability insurance premiums. Both workers compensation and general liability risk categories can be tied to either the job or the employee. If they are tied to both, then the job will take precedence. Payroll Processing Timecards can be entered by the employee or by the job. There is a non-job entry screen available for non-job employees. Time can be entered as a variety of types, regular, overtime, double-time, sick, vacation, holiday, other, and non-taxable. The nontaxable method allows the employer to reimburse an employee on his paycheck, without affecting payroll tax computations. Job types are established by the system and cannot be modified by the user. etimesheet With the etimesheet module, you can dramatically improve billing and payroll cycle time and eliminate double entry by allowing your field staff to enter their timesheets directly into Jonas via an easy-to-use website. Time entry can include equipment and associated costs for the job, the operator s gross pay and related burden. All this will update the job master. You can also select an hourly billing rate for that piece of equipment used to update time and material billing information. After the time has been entered, there are several reports available to proof the distribution of the costs and hours to the employees and jobs. Once the proofing has been done, the payroll register is run. This calculates the taxes for each employee, and figures out the tax deposit that is due. If this is a termination batch, then the user changes a field, and the report will only print for the employee or employees selected. After the payroll register is run, the checks are printed. There are options that can be set up in the parameters to have employees social security number and payroll period dates printed on the check stub. After the checks print, the system prompts the user if the checks printed okay, and asks for permission to post. Since each deduction and fringe posts the expense to different accounts by payroll department, it does not require additional allocation of payroll taxes and fringes. Gross payroll, hours and quantities are posted to job cost files along with the labor burden after the payroll checks are processed. Earnings and taxes are updated for each employee during posting. Payroll checks can be voided in any past JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 11

12 period and manual payroll check adjustments can be easily prepared. Inquiries and Reports Jonas has a broad selection of reports available. Most of the state and federal reports are available on a quarterly basis. The workers compensation reports are available by a date range, and a code selection. The system will also report the W-2 s on both forms and magnetic media. Certified payroll reports are available for any period that the user needs to specify on a weekly basis. The only requirement is that the job was set up as certified before the payroll was run. There is a month, quarter, year to date report available for each employee. Complete date sensitivity is available throughout the payroll module, providing the ability for all prior pay periods to be recalled. History of fringes and deductions are maintained on each employee. Union reports are available with a date selection, and either detail or summary format. Accounts Receivable Flexible billing methods User-defined fields Unit billing available Invoices can be ed Billing is performed with Jonas s accounts receivable module. Six basic types of invoicing are available, time and material, AIA, Contract, Unit, Freeform and batch. Accounts receivable also can accommodate payments, adjustments, and retention. Sales and Use tax files are set-up in the accounts receivable module for use by the other modules. Change orders for AIA and Contract billing is entered through here, so that the invoice correctly reflects the change order. Customer Master File The system will track month to date, year to date, previous year s sales, and last payment date. Statements can be printed, and finance charges generated. The customer master file also has two discount types available, trade and finance. The retention percentage is not set up here, but rather job by job. When you enter a zip code in the customer or site maintenance city field the complete city, state and zip is automatically entered. A separate table is available to track sales representatives. Data Entry Jonas provides the option of manual invoice numbering or automatic invoice numbering in some forms of billing, but not in others. Customer numbers can be defaulted from the job set up. Prior to working on the AIA invoice, you can obtain an AIA worksheet listing all of the amounts, and percent complete by phases previously billed. Space is available on the worksheet for the project manager to simply enter the amount or percent that is to be billed for the current period. Contract billing is done exactly like the AIA, but the schedule of values does not print. Information from the worksheet can easily be entered into the system via either a percentage complete or dollar amount of work done this period. You must update the period date for each billing. Retention can easily be computed based upon a percentage established for each phase in job cost. Time and Material invoices can be used to bill a job for the dollar amount of labor and materials. Multiple line items can be billed per phase. This billing can be pulled in from job cost, with edit JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 12

13 capabilities before creating the invoice. Once the billing is created, you can use the freeform invoice screen to finish the bill. Markup percentages can be established at the job level. The job file can have standard bill rates to expedite billing. History is maintained for all customers until deleted up to a certain date. However, you can choose to delete various types of data, invoices or payments. Unit billing allows the user to bill based on quantities in place. This is especially helpful for the heavy highway contractor, whose job costing is based on units. This information will also update the percentage complete. Non-job billing is handled through the Freeform invoice entry, and is very similar to time and material billing. In addition, non-job invoices can be used to bill for items sold out of inventory. When billing inventory items, the system will default to the description and unit price of the item. The inventory is automatically relieved at this step. Invoices can be printed an unlimited number of times prior to and after posting. AIA invoices are printed on preprinted forms. All other invoices can be printed on plain paper or pre-printed forms. Cash payments can be applied to a specific invoice, or to on account. Apply payments screen shows customer balance, name, phone number and address. In the applied payment screen there is an ability to adjust an invoice. Inquiries and Reports Progress Billing Report Service Management The electronic dispatch board, which is a simple tool to proactively manage your service team The option to use Jonas Mobile and eservice to automate your service The option to bill work using a variety of contracts, including time and material, flat rate, progress and pre-paid warranty Allows for maintenance schedule for customer s equipment Generates scheduled work orders On-screen inquiry of open receivables and paid customer history is available by customer. Aged trial balances are available by customer or by job, in detail, summary or totals only. The aging periods are controlled by the system. Other reports include a sales register, which can be run several different ways. Statements can also be printed by customer. JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 13

14 work to be performed. Estimated time to complete a service call is requested per work order. The total time scheduled per tech is shown on schedule board. The user then assigns the work order to a service employee and schedules the date to perform the work. Service Call Work Order The Jonas Software Service system is a fully integrated work order management solution that combines work order billing, preventative maintenance contracts, flat rate pricing and dispatching capabilities into a single system designed specifically for service contractors. By utilizing the Service system, you can manage work orders, customer service and technician productivity to increase the profitability of your service operation. Jonas allows for the scheduling of repairs needed without forcing the user to create a job. The system also enables tracking of scheduled maintenance for customer s equipment as well as warranty tracking. Customers, jobs, sites can all be entered without moving in or out of the work order program. Data Entry The user creates a work order that includes pertinent information such as: customer, date requested, date required, purchase order number, who promised the work, and a description of the After the work order is finished, an invoice is created to update accounts receivable. The system allows for a variety of invoice types including: contract billing for service contracts, work order, and freeform invoices. During billing, (entering work to a work ticket), warranty information and aging of customer s accounts receivable is available. Multiple work tickets may be added to a single invoice. Cash receipts may be recorded when entering work from a work ticket. The system takes care of all postings and prompts for correct GL period. Jonas includes a warranty tracking system. Warranties are maintained by type of warranty. For example: parts only, labor only, etc. Warranties may have multiple user definable JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 14

15 fields. Special notes may be maintained for each warranty and accessible from the warranty report. Service Contracts Can set billing and costing rates per piece of equipment Equipment Center The Service Contracts module gives you the ability to create and manage prepaid service contracts and pre-schedule required visits so they appear directly on the dispatch board. Service Contracts automatically matches revenue to work performed and allows you to easily track service history by customer and piece of equipment. In addition, strong reporting tools help ensure that your contracts are profitable. Tasking The Tasking module allows you to create checklists for technicians to use onsite to record numeric values, such as pressure and temperature, and create a record to indicate that each service task was completed as contracted. Tasking is also available for Jonas Mobile (see below), which allows checklists to be completed on a handheld device and automatically attached to the work order in the back office system. Inquiries and Reports Jonas has a wide selection of reports available for the user. The reports include unscheduled work orders, customer histories, equipment histories, site histories, contract and equipment master reports, scheduled services, contract expiration report, and a work order report. Profitability reports are available by technician, site, customer and work order. Equipment Costing Preventive maintenance scheduling Updated by time card entry Equipment Record Equipment Management tracks and reports profitability, ownership, maintenance, cost, revenue and location of equipment. Cots can be accumulated in the accounts payable module and posted to each individual piece of equipment. In payroll, the hours of usage are calculated and the appropriate revenue and costs for the use is sent to the job. Certain types of inventory adjustments can also be posted to the equipment module. The user can directly affect the job cost in the equipment module. Service schedules are tracked by piece of equipment with inquiries available on service history and future service scheduling. The service schedule can be established based on the miles of use, hours of use or date for service. For each piece of equipment you can establish equipment codes that are the operations that are either done to, or by the equipment. There are JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 15

16 three types of equipment codes available: revenue, cost to own, and cost to operate. These codes determine how the equipment transactions are posted to general ledger and job cost. Revenue codes are used to post an equipment-billing rate to the job and to a customer-invoicing file for T&M billing. Cost to own codes capture actual equipment cost transactions from accounts payable, payroll and inventory. This module comes with four standard reports to track the costs for each piece of equipment. The equipment list will show basic master file information relating to the equipment. The Equipment Usage report is used to print the detail postings to revenue codes while the Equipment Cost Report includes detail transactions to cost to own and cost to operate codes. An Equipment Cost Summary report is also available. Pricing service links The Inventory module offers a flexible way to track and cost parts and other materials. Inventory can be charged to jobs and work orders directly through the Inventory module, or from the Job Cost and Service modules. In addition to standard construction inventory functionality, such as min/max quantities, non-stock items, purchase history, multiple valuation methods, the Inventory module also has advanced functionality for building kits and assemblies. Links from the Inventory module to pricing services like Allpriser and TRA-SER ensure that you always have access to the most up-to-date pricing available for your industry. Item File A scheduled service report is available in summary or detail and includes the next service, last service and current status of hours, miles and date by service code. Fixed Assets The Fixed Assets module allows you to closely monitor the location and value of your fixed assets and simplifies the management of depreciation and amortization. You can track assets by category and location with related purchase and selling prices, and calculate depreciation with automatic monthly journal entries using a variety of rates and methods. Inventory Control Multiple pricing levels Flexibility in tracking to multiple locations and warehouses Ability to purchase and sell in different units of measure Part Master Up to 15 alphanumeric characters are available for defining item numbers. Items can be assigned a secondary item identifier, a class, unit of measure, minimum reorder point, unit cost, six resale prices, and a primary vendor. The inventory can be bought in one unit of measure, and sold in another, JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 16

17 for example, 1 box of bolts to purchase, but 1000 bolts to use. Inventory provides the capability of storing items in multiple locations and multiple areas within locations Data Entry A number of different transactions are possible within the inventory module. You can receive items into inventory, transfer them to multiple locations, sell or adjust inventory, or place inventory on a job site. You can also transfer material from a job site back to a truck or warehouse. Tools Tracking for contractors that store inventory in multiple locations. Standard reports include inventory history listing all transactions for a single item, range of items, all items within a given class or by job. A stock status report provides a listing of quantities on hand, while a purchasing has an under stock report to list items below the minimum quantity. Other reports include a physical count worksheet and inventory valuation (using the average cost method). Purchasing/ Purchase Orders Entry of receipts not required to process purchase orders Handles backorders Multiple vendor pricing Multiple purchase orders can be created from a master pull list. Shares database with inventory Cons Cannot set purchase orders as inactive Tool Tracking Tool Crib is a complete tracking system that aids in locating your tools in the shop, at the job site or out being repairs Inquiries and Reports An on-screen inquiry allows you to view current data, regarding each item, such as quantity on hand, average cost, and total value. This same information is available for each location and area The purchase order module enables users to create purchase order(s), from a material list, which can be shopped between multiple vendors for the lowest pricing. Pull lists can contain non-inventory items. It is easy to work on receipts and inquire and report on purchase orders. Invoice entry transactions entered in purchase orders can be automatically transferred to accounts payable. Information from inventory allows the user to purchase in one unit of measurement and maintain the inventory in another unit. Inventory does not have to be active to use the purchase order module. JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 17

18 Data Entry Header information such as purchase order description, category, shipping terms and address, purchase order number is entered on the first screen. Vendor address and other related information is automatically transferred from the accounts payable vendor file. The ship-to address defaults as the job address for job purchases, and company address for all others. Inquiries and Reports Reports include a shortage report for when items need to be ordered based on minimum quantities specified, on order, status report, an expediting report, and a purchase order balance report. All of these reports have a variety of ways to be selected, purchase order number, vendor, job, date, and specific options available. Outstanding purchase orders are listed as committed costs. Outstanding subcontract orders are listed as committed subcontracts. Procurement The Procurement module offers the opportunity to auto generate Purchase Orders that come from Procurement and Requisition Orders that are generated based upon Min/Max levels in inventory or Jobs/Work Orders being bid on. The new Executive Assistant module is a powerful tool that integrates all aspects of a project, from initial customer contact, estimate and correspondence to costing, reporting, invoicing and project control. The Foreign Currency Module has been re-written to work with Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and General Ledger together or separately. Project Management (PM) The PM module is fully integrated with all aspects of the Jonas core system and is used to manage the workflow of a project from start to finish. Project Management tracks items that must be fulfilled under a contract, including RFIs, transmittals, submittals and change orders requests. Designed as a central location to track cost and non-cost related information for a project, PM allows vital information and documentation to be at the users' fingertips. This module will greatly assist with the planning; organizing and controlling of resources related to a job and is essential for construction companies looking to complete time consuming projects. The Change Order Management module tracks requests-for-information (RFIs) from inception through approval to ensure that money is not left on the table. Creating and monitoring potential changes to the scope of work couldn t be easier. And when change orders are created, the Change Order Management module automatically updates the estimate, progress billing and subcontract if applicable. Jonas Document Management Fully integrated with the entire Jonas solution, Document Management allows you to electronically capture, file, organize, retrieve, share, manage and generally control all documents generated from your Jonas system and third party applications, such as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and Outlook) and Adobe Acrobat (PDF files). The Document Management system streamlines day-to-day operations and lowers administrative costs by eliminating the time spent on manually copying, routing, filing and searching for paper documents. It also mitigates the risk associated with not finding the critical documents you need to JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 18

19 support issues like change orders, work site delays and supplier disputes. Key features include: Jonas Software Integration Automatically saves and stores all documents created in the Jonas solution, including invoices, work orders and reports. Documents are electronically filed by customer, job number, work order number and any number of other user-defined classifications schemes. Microsoft Office Integration Tight integration with all Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook, allows users to archive messages, Excel spreadsheets and other documents using a simple drop-down list located directly within the office application tool bar. Search and Retrieval Full text and tagbased search options allow you to quickly find the document you need even if you can t remember where it is stored. Paper Integration Use a scanner to capture paper documents and archive them within Document Management to create electronic files that are easy to locate and retrieve. Reporting Create summary level financial and other reports using a new, easy-to-use report generator, and export directly to Excel. Approval Work Flow Electronically route documents, such as AP invoices, to managers and supervisors for approval. This eliminates lost or misplaced paper documents and expedites the approval process. Version Control Tracks document changes by user to create an audit trail for error corrections and annotations, and prevent accidental deletions. Burn to CD Quickly and easily burn all documents related to a single job, individual customer, time and material billing or userdefined criteria to a CD for easy document sharing outside of the organization. Security and Access Control User level security controls access to documents on a user-by-user basis. For example, designated documents can be shared among the entire project team for enhanced collaboration, while access to private documents can be restricted to retain confidentiality. Storage Capacity Virtually unlimited storage capacity offers the scalability you need to create a complete digital archive of all your paper and electronic documents, photos, correspondence and more. Mobile Jonas Complete maintenance checklists/tasks Equipment lists with serial numbers and full model details Complete customer lists Full inventory lists with quick search Service visit history Customer signature capture and storage On-the spot invoicing for flat rate work Print or work orders on-site Automatic updates to the Jonas Dispatch Board Mobile Jonas is Jonas s field force mobile application. Mobile Jonas uses wireless transmission from a tablet, smart phone or laptop to offer remote dispatch of Work Orders to field technicians. Rather than having the technician come to the office daily to pick up his work tickets, Mobile Jonas provides the technician with the Work order ticket which includes the customer s address, and problem description. The technician is able to do the work and apply the costs to the ticket, have the customer sign off and ultimately produce an invoice on site that the customer can pay from. Mobile Jonas JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 19

20 provides you with a single source entry, and also provides transaction ownership to the technician. Jonas Web Portal Products Web portals are Internet gateways that give customers and employees secure, direct access to corporate IT systems, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These automated information delivery systems improve customer service and employee productivity while cutting cost. With eservice, etimesheets, ebackup and Construction BroadCast portal products, Jonas brings this concept to the construction industry via hosted Web applications. eservice Jonas eservice is a portal that service contractors can offer or sell to their customers. With eservice, your service customers use a secure login to access the portal, where they can log new work orders, view work order status and equipment history and see outstanding accounts payable invoices. eservice automatically notifies your customer via when their work order has been dispatched, when the technician arrives on-site and when the technician completes the work. etimesheets Jonas etimesheets is an employee time entry portal that allows your staff to enter labor hours online via any Internet connection. With etimesheets, employees or foremen use their own secure login to enter hours for themselves and/or their crew, and view submitted hours for previous pay periods. Full integration with the Jonas solution modules, including Job Cost and Payroll and the corresponding codes, and support for your necessary approval processes, ensures that etimesheets effectively streamlines and automates payroll time entry. ebackup Jonas ebackup is a unique alternative to traditional backup methods, replacing conventional tape-based systems with a fully automated online solution. It provides centralized and automated backups of PCs, file servers and application/database servers, with secure offsite storage and online restoration capabilities. ebackup is secure because data is electronically vaulted and moved via the Internet to a remote location. If needed, data can be accessed instantly once there is an Internet connection. About Sheldon Needle A former CFO, consultant and software designer, Sheldon Needle has authored or co-authored more than 20 books on software selection and has contributed articles to major publications, including the Journal of Accountancy and Nation s Business. CTSGuides.com has the distinction of being the very first company to do hands-on, independent evaluations of software for the middle market. Sheldon speaks with business owners and managers every day about software selection and makes personalized recommendations based on their needs and budget. He is widely known and respected throughout the business software community for his independence, integrity and expertise. As part of registering for our free software selection kit, you receive a 15-minute consult with Sheldon. Sheldon understands financial and business issues and speaks your language. He knows the leading software companies how they compare, their strengths and weaknesses, where they fit into the market and which ones would be suitable for your business. JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE REVIEW CTSGUIDES.COM PAGE 20