Intersoft Systems has had excellent results using Tandberg Data’s AccuGuard™ data protection software for reliable automated backup and recovery. The integrated powerful data deduplication will help you to increase your effective storage capacity allowing you to store up to 20 times more data. AccuGuard optimizes the data at the source, resulting in dramatically improved backup windows and network bandwidth.

Whether you need a simple backup solution just for your INTERAC accounting data, or you want an enterprise wide backup solution, AccuGuard has a solution for you. Not only is it powerful, but it is also easy to implement and use. 

Tandberg Data AccuGuard™ Server for RDX® is a Windows®-based backup and recovery software which works with Tandberg Data RDX® QuikStor™ and RDX® QuikStation™. It is an easy-to-deploy solution that protects physical and virtual Windows servers and desktops. AccuGuard data protection software delivers reliable, automated backup and recovery utilizing a powerful data deduplication engine designed to increase your effective storage capacity, allowing you to store up to 20 times more data.

Key Benefits

• Automated data protection - Set it and forget it data protection with point-in-time recovery and automated verification that ensures every file is saved correctly and without corruption
• 20:1 data deduplication - Increases effective data storage capacity for maximum value
• Bare Metal Recovery
• Integrated Microsoft SQL & Exchange Protection - Specialized protection plans provide full protection with optimized data reduction
• Protection of Network Shares - Protects NAS devices and other accessible file shares
• Browsable Backups - Enables searches down to the version level for quick file discovery
• Drag and Drop Restore - Simplifies file recovery by eliminating the requirement to run a "Restore Job"
• Point-in-Time Recovery
• RDX® Media Manager - Makes managing media for offsite and archive a breeze
• Simple User Interface - Removes the pain and frustration associated with traditional backup software
• Email Notification - Sends a backup- and recovery-report to an email address

Tandberg Data AccuGuard™ Enterprise is a powerful Windows®-based backup and recovery software. It is an easy-to-deploy solution that protects servers*, virtual servers* and desktops* and even remote computers*. This robust data protection software delivers reliable, automated backup and recovery utilizing a powerful data deduplication engine designed to increase effective storage capacities by up to 20 times compared to traditional data protection methods.

          * additional licenses are required for add on servers and desktops
 
Product Overview

• Client Server Backup - Supports all servers and workstations even if they are at remote locations
• Source based Deduplication - Decreases size of backup datasets at each client for minimal network bandwidth consumption and backup target utilization
• Single Instance Storage - Eliminates data redundancy across all clients for even more storage savings and more recovery points
• Scale as you grow - Easy integration of additional Clients, no need for more processing resources in Backup Server due to client based deduplication
• Multiple Backup Targets - RDX, local Disk and Network Shares can be used as backup targets
• Backup Copy Jobs - Enhances disaster recovery capabilities creating off-site copies on RDX
• Flexible Data Retention - Number of kept recovery points can be specified to free up space on your backup target and help with compliance requirements
• Agentless Client Backup - No additional software to install, easy addition of further clients, simplified software maintenance
• Data Seeding - Possibility to perform initial backups at remote location and incorporate them to the backup server
• Easy User Interface - Removes the pain and frustration associated with traditional backup software
• File verification, quarantine and repair ensures files are saved without corruption

RDX Family Brochure

Knowing that an accounting system is only as good as the information you can get out of it, structuring your Job Cost system can be critical to getting meaningful reports. The primary purpose for having an integrated system is to empower project managers and the management team to make the organization more efficient and profitable. Following are a few things to consider.​

What Job Cost Information Do I Need?
It is always a good idea to begin with the end in mind by defining what kind of job cost reports are needed from the system. Using these reporting requirements as a guide will define how the job cost information needs to be captured, and how much detail will be required. The INTERAC system offers a great deal of flexibility on how the Job Cost module is set up, allowing job cost reporting to be as detailed as necessary to properly manage the jobs. How is a job cost system structured?

Jobs / Phases / Categories (cost codes)

• Jobs are the top level breakout in a typical job cost system. Everything is assigned to and rolls up under a job. 
• Phases are the next level. Each job is subdivided into phases, which are user defined and can be different for each job, or similar jobs can use a set of common phases. Phases are typically used to define distinct portions of a job like site preparation, foundation, framing, roofing, electrical, plumbing, etc… Every contractor and trade specialty will have their own way of defining what phases are meaningful. 
• Categories or Cost Codes are the lowest level of the job cost breakout. Each phase is further subdivided using categories like labor, materials, equipment, subcontractors, etc… In INTERAC, the Job Cost system will accommodate up to 16 different categories, supporting job cost reporting at a very detailed level, where needed. 

How Much Detail Is Enough?
Some contractors choose to keep it simple and use only two phases, one for cost and the other for revenue, utilizing the categories for the rest of their job cost reporting breakout. With 16 categories, this may be sufficient. Keeping it as simple as possible will make it easier in the field, in accounting, and for management. 

Many contractors need more detail and need to utilize more phases on a job to adequately monitor and manage their job cost. For some this may mean several phases, where other more complex jobs may require hundreds of phases. Use as many as are necessary, but as few as possible to keep the system manageable. 

If all jobs are similar, they may be able to share a common phase structure, allowing job cost reports to be formatted the same way from job to job. This can make interpreting reports much simpler. In some cases, there may not be enough similarity between jobs for a common structure to make sense. The categories remain common to all jobs for the company, but simple jobs may only have a few phases, while complex jobs have many more. In these cases, each job can have its own set of phases, independent from other jobs. For example, a new construction build will be much more complex and long running than a simple service call repair job. 

It is important to keep in mind that someone has to keep track of all the activity on the job, capture it, and get it into the system. The more complex the job cost breakout, the more difficult it will be to accurately capture, the greater the time required for input, and the more likely it will generate resistance from users.  Too much detail may be as bad, or worse than not enough. 

A Word of Caution: Often management teams dream about all the detailed reporting that will be possible, but the burden of capturing all that detail on a daily basis becomes overwhelming for the field staff who end up being responsible for it. This alone causes too many job cost implementations to fail.​

What About Setting Up New Jobs?
In most cases, an estimate was created during the proposal phase, before the job is awarded. It can be very helpful to utilize this estimating data to measure the actual production on the job. With this in mind, it is common to model the phase and category structure of the job cost system to the estimate. This will allow the information from estimating to be used in creating a new job, and then to compare the actual job costs to what was estimated for each phase and category.

The INTERAC Job Cost system supports comparative reporting, making it easy to measure production performance to budget all through the project life cycle. Keeping a close watch on the job costs will help to spot potential problems and avoid costly overruns. Integrating the Purchase Order system will make it possible to track committed costs which have been ordered, but not yet paid for. Outstanding purchase orders are shown as committed costs until the invoice is received and paid. 

Where Does All This Data Come From?
With an integrated Job Cost system, most of the data flows in from interfacing applications. Labor costs come from Payroll. Materials costs come from Accounts Payable. Equipment costs can come from the Equipment Cost system. The beauty of an integrated system is that the information only needs to be entered one time, in the primary application, and will flow through the system to all the interfacing applications from there. 

What About Job Cost Reporting?
Getting meaningful data out of the system is the whole reason to go to all this trouble. Generating job cost reports formatted in a meaningful way can make all the difference in the bottom line. Realizing potential issues before it is too late to react, avoiding costly errors, and managing cash flow are all benefits of a properly configured Job Cost system. 

With INTERAC’s Job Manager and Report Manager all this job cost information is readily available through a very user friendly, point and click interface. Job Manager provides a one screen job summary and the ability to drill down to transaction level detail and even documentation with just a few clicks of the mouse. Any Job Manager information is easily printed or exported to a spreadsheet, allowing users to generate their own custom reports in seconds. 

Report Manager provides a user specific menu of job cost reports right in Job Manager, making it very easy for non-accounting users to run their reports on demand. Not only does this give them instant access to the management information they need, it eliminates all the disruptions in the accounting office requesting updates. 

When it is time to upgrade, give Intersoft Systems a call and let us show you what the INTERAC Construction Accounting System can do for your organization.

​If your company processes payroll in excess of $2,000 for employees working on government funded construction projects, Certified Payroll reporting will be required to comply with the Davis-Bacon Act. To be in compliance, it is important to know the “prevailing wage” rates for the contract, and how to generate and submit the appropriate reports. Your Payroll software plays a critical role in managing this process.
Here are a few things to look for in a certified payroll solution:

• A Rate File 
  Because there are differing rates based on the locale, as well as the different classifications of work, keeping track of the appropriate pay rates is best automated using a rate file. This will allow the payroll system to define appropriate rates by any combination of job, phase, work classification, and union. Pay rates and fringe benefits for certified jobs are likely to be different from non-certified jobs. 
• Certified Jobs automatically utilize certified rates. 
  With the rate file implemented, the payroll system automatically selects the appropriate rates based on the defined criteria. This eliminates the need to manually key the appropriate rates and all the potential data entry errors that come with it. There may be cases where an employee is making more than the prevailing rates. The payroll system should be able to compare the employee’s standard rate with the defined certified rates, to select the higher of the two.
• Certified reporting is included in Payroll
  A construction payroll system must be able to generate the mandatory certified payroll reports for the various agencies. These reporting tools should be integrated, making it a simple part of the routine payroll process.

If you are struggling with certified payroll requirements, we would invite you to let Intersoft Systems show you how the INTERAC Construction Payroll System can make it easy. Our Construction Payroll system is tailored to the unique requirements of the construction trades and integrates with our complete INTERAC Construction Accounting System.