Virtual Time & Expense Tracking Software: A Simple Online Solution

Virtual Software enhances the time and expense data entry of QuickBooks® or Peachtree® off-the-shelf products, providing additional security and controls needed to eliminate data entry errors. Employees can easily enter data online, ensuring accurate, approved data in your accounting software and/or payroll processor, delivering optimal results with minimal training.

This online application not only handles time entry but project management, automatic billing, class tracking, and expense reporting (including a paperless option available with SmartVault integration). In addition, Virtual Software offers one data source for transmitting to a payroll processor (such as ADP, Paychex, SurePayroll and others). Consider how much time you currently spend maintaining timer lists, managing project time and reporting, invoice creation, duplicating time entries to outsourced payroll providers, and expense reporting data entry. Virtual Software offers a solution for all of these, reducing administrative time by eliminating errors and utilizing one data source.

These simple features provide a Return on Investment within a month for most companies.

Note: Virtual Software interfaces with Sage’s Peachtree Complete Accounting, but for the purpose of this article, I will only refer to the interface with QuickBooks and the QuickBooks comparable add-on solutions. I compare Virtual Software to Time Tracking in QuickBooks, QB Timer and QuickBooks Online Time Tracker® as they are the most common QuickBooks time tracking methods used prior to the adoption of third party add-ons.

Easy Interface

Training employees to utilize Virtual Software is usually a straightforward process, similar to QuickBooks Online Time Tracker. Employees see simple screens beginning with a calendar (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 Virtual Time Calendar

Selecting the date opens a time entry screen similar to the QuickBooks Online Time Tracker (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 Time Entry Screen

Many companies choose to use Virtual Software as a simple online time tracker, similar to QuickBooks Time Tracker and QB Timer. However, Virtual Software may also be used as an employee tool for project management, expense reporting and billing. These tools are unlike anything found in QuickBooks Time Tracker. These tools can be turned on immediately or phased in over time. Utilizing the enhanced security and Project Management, employees and vendors only have access to the lists and services you allow as the Administrator. This limited access for subcontractors safeguards the company’s list of clients.

Expense Reporting entry is simple but can be controlled by project and user as well.

Figure 3 Expense Reporting Data entry screen: Attachments will integrate with SmartVault in QuickBooks

Accounting Software Integration

Employees, Customers, Vendors, payroll items, service items, accounts, customers messages, classes, and terms are uploaded from QuickBooks for one data source to map and control time and expense data entry. Information is controlled by the Administrator, setting User and Project preferences as needed online to provide accurate entry from the employee or subcontractor. The integration options are company choices based on their payroll processor, invoicing method, and if they are adding expense reporting with or without SmartVault. The timing of data downloads are choices the administrator can make (daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly). Sending time to the outsourced payroll provider from Virtual Software saves additional duplications of data entry.

Implementation in Six Steps

The first step of implementation is to clean up QuickBooks or Peachtree prior to uploading your lists to Virtual Software. Inactivate closed projects, customers and vendors. Then, all active employees, customers, projects, 1099 vendors, service items, inventory items, classes, payroll items, terms, customer messages, accounts, and employee email addresses will upload. Verify that QuickBooks items have double sides for job costing, and that expenses have been set up in preferences to track reimbursable expenses as income for billable expense reporting. Be careful not to inactivate any employee released and paid in the current year, or payroll reports will not be correct. These clean up procedures are considered a best practice for all implementations of third party applications. Discuss how your client wishes to implement the time, billing, and expense reporting options available prior to configuring the software.

The second step is to create the Administrator in Virtual Software online.

The third step is to download, configure and install VTSync, a small integration program. VTSync is Virtual Software’s simple interface to upload the Chart of Accounts, classes, inventory items, employees, and services into the company’s online account and download data.

The fourth step is to upload the accounting software data.

In the fifth step, the administrator configures the company, users, projects, clients, time tasks, time types, expense types, and payment methods, and then maps any appropriate fields to the accounting software. The company administrator is the manager of the software and must learn the preferences that need to be turned on in order to configure the software for the desired results. This is similar to configuring QuickBooks preferences. It is the company administrator or administrators that will spend the most time setting up projects and learning how to maximize this software for the preferred configuration. QuickBooks and Peachtree Preferences must also be reviewed.

Last, invite employees to enter time.

Project Management

By default, Virtual Software restricts users from entering time to all projects or expenses. This is designed so that a company can start using project management immediately. Those companies that wish to ease into project management can use the Mass Update feature to give all users access. Be aware that giving all users access means there is no added security. QuickBooks Online Time Tracker and QB Timer provide all users access, which is why a transition from either of these programs could be seamless. The evolution into project management can take place over a period of time moving from interfaces that are familiar to the employee.

Spend time configuring projects to maximize the benefits of this program. It is in the project that an individual user is granted access, including your 1099 contractors. It is also the project configuration that sets the override billing rate and accrued payroll expense if you are using the Billing interface or sending data to an outsourced payroll processor.

Figure 4 Project management user, billing, payroll expense and item controls

Projects can allow controlled time by employee, by day, by week, by user, by task, and provide warnings. Billing rates can be set by project and by item overriding the individual’s bill rate. Purchase order hours can be set for dollar amounts and hours which provide a tool to report against when using the billing module. The preference to allow expense reporting must also be turned on in each project, unless the mass update tool is utilized.

There are many configurations to consider, depending on the company’s project management needs. Remember to document all project management procedures. This is a best practice for any project management procedure.

Billing

 Virtual Software allows for multiple billing rates for one service item. The rate hierarchy is listed below:

• Project Billable – Rate or item relates to all time related to the project. (Highest)
• Project Task override – Project specific task item cannot be overridden
• Task/Project Task – Item and rate for each task
• Project/User – Project specific user rates and items
• User – Item and rate for user
• Global – Default item (Lowest)
• The Project Billable rate will always be used even if all 5 rates are populated.

Automating invoicing is a choice in the company and project configurations. Virtual Software provides for an easy transition into the Billing module similar to project management. Invoices can be generated weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and semi-monthly. This interface is meant to simplify invoicing. At the time of this writing Virtual Software only allows descriptions from time entry to 255 characters, where QuickBooks, QB Timer, and QuickBooks Online Time Tracker allow for 1000 characters of description data (Notes) to populate for invoicing. Virtual Software can automatically populate the highlighted fields.

Figure 5 Automatic billing using Virtual Software

Work Flow

Daily time entries are populated by the employee so an audit trail exists. Managers can approve or reject submitted time daily or weekly. Once time entries have been approved, the time must be processed to verify data for downloading. Data entry errors are found in the processing phase. This helps to identify any setup errors which must be corrected before downloading into the accounting software. Expense reports must also be approved by the manager set up in the employee’s configuration. Timecards and expenses are downloaded into QuickBooks and/or a payroll processor by exporting data from Virtual Software’s Payables screen. Invoices are downloaded into QuickBooks using the export from Virtual Software’s Billables screen. If the project has been configured to bill with the Virtual Software billing module, then all time downloaded will come into QuickBooks flagged already billed in the Weekly timesheet. Any invoice in Virtual uses the hierarchy of billing rates as shown above, overriding any QuickBooks default rate.

Best Practices

Once you have moved into this online timesheet, have your employee make any changes online, noting the reason and maintaining the integrity of the timecard. Requiring a reason for changing any time entry helps to provide compliancy with DCAA.

Have the Administrator and the Manager/Approver review current or new projects to select default tasks and or default employees to start project management. Test the system prior to going live and backup prior to downloading.

Back up your accounting software prior to importing data from any outside program.

Solutions Offered by Virtual Software and Comparisons

References to other more complex time and billing modules will not be made as their setup, training and interfaces are not similar in pricing or system requirements. A comparison of features of QuickBooks Online Time Tracker, QB Timer and Virtual Software is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Comparison of Software Features

Note: A Comparison to Bill Quick was not made due to its complex setup and training.

Best Fit

The ideal companies for this software include, but are not limited to, staffing companies, accounting, engineering, architects, consultants, legal, & direct sales teams. Virtual Software provides a phenomenal solution to companies that outsource payroll and use QuickBooks or Peachtree for billing time.

Pricing Value

Virtual Software offers online timekeeping with or without Project Management, Billing, and Class Tracking for the same price as the Intuit Online Time tracker (based on 10 users). QuickBooks Online Time Tracker and QB Timer only track time, and provide no security for accessing the QuickBooks clients and services, once access has been given. QB Timer is free; however, it is important to factor in the costs of the hours spent importing multiple files. No contracts are required for any of these applications, and minimal training is required for the both online applications. QB Timer requires more effort and training overall.

Expense reporting and integration with SmartVault can be turned on at any time for an additional $5/user/month (additional fees apply for the SmartVault account subscription). The pricing model is $5/user for time tracking and $5/user for expense reporting, with a minimum monthly subscription payment of $50. This $50/month subscription will provide a substantial return on investment by reducing data entry errors, importing and exporting of lists, manage projects, and automating the invoicing process. (Transmissions to local payroll processors may require programming with an additional setup fee.)

Considerations

Each company is unique, with specific billing and reporting needs. Professional service based companies inventory time. These companies need to protect their billable assets. Virtual Software is SAAS 70 and DCAA compliant, provides a backup of time that is downloaded into the accounting software, and an audit trail of time activities. Consider these factors when choosing any time tracking add-on software: the number of employees, clients or jobs, location of data storage, backup, price, software installation, hardware requirements, operating systems, setup and training. Analyze these requirements with your client to find the appropriate solution to maximize the best return on their investment. Virtual Software is certainly one of the solutions you can provide.

Take the Bait! Virtual Software has offered any Sleeter Group member a Free Virtual Software account for their Firm. You can become a referring partner or a VAR. Either way you will know firsthand how powerful this software truly is and offer your clients an alternative you can support.

Karen Siewert is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks Advisor, and the Principal member of The CertifiedQB Group. She is a member of Intuit’s Solution Provider Program, along with being a member of the Intuit Accountant Trainer/Writer Network. Ms. Siewert has over 30 years of accounting experience for both corporate and small businesses. Her support and solution specialties include professional services, contractors, and retail (Point of Sale) using Intuit accounting products.

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