InFocus Processes

The following discusses special processes available in InFocus.

Activities

Marketing>Activities

Activities are an appointment system. While listed under Marketing, they could be used by anyone in the system with the required permissions. Activities can be entered directly into the calendar or can be entered when recording Notes. The main activity navigation is a calendar. The type of calendar (daily, weekly, monthly) can be toggled from the tool bar. You cannot only view your own activities but activities for other employees. On  the left hand side of the screen there are check boxes to control whether to see all activities or certain users' activities. If you check the Group by Owner option you will see a separate calendar for each selected user. To understand entering activities, go to the "How to Enter an Activity" section of this manual.

Work Orders

Project Management>Work Orders

Work orders are used by project leaders to communicate with team members. Work orders are normally an assignment of work to be accomplished, but can also be requests to internal employees for quotes. There are two work order applets: Work Orders and My Work Orders. For more information about Work orders, see either the Work Orders or My Work Orders sections of this manual.

PM Bill Review

Project Management>PM Bill Review

The PM Bill Review (Project Manager Bill Review) applet is used by project managers to communicate billing and charging instructions to the project accountant. Only project managers have access to this applet. For more information about PM Bill Review, see the PM Bill Review section of this manual.

PA Bill Review

Accounts Receivable>PA Bill Review

This applet is used by project accountants to perform time and expense modifications on a project-by-project basis prior to invoicing. Only project accountants can access this applet unless the logged-in user has the special permission "Can Override Project Accountant Restriction". For more information about PA Bill Review, see the PA Bill Review section of this manual. To make adjustments on PA Bill review, see the "How to Make Adjustments to PA Bill Review" section of this manual.

Labor Distribution

Human Resources>Labor Distribution

The purpose of labor distribution is to post labor to the general ledger and mirror payroll. For more information about Labor Distribution, see the Labor  Distribution section of this manual.

Revenue Recognition

Project Administration>Projects

This utility serves two purposes: (1) It posts earned revenue and (2) It performs profit sharing within projects. For more information about Revenue Recognition, see the Understanding Revenue Recognition / Profit Centers section of this manual.

Project Planning

Project Management>Project Planning

The project planning applets allows project managers to plan, schedule and allocate resources to their projects. For more information about Project Planning, see the Project Planning section of this manual.

Resource Projections

Human Resources>Resource Projections

The resource projection is used to aggregate and analyze schedule data from project planning. Scheduled hours can be viewed by employee or job title and compared against available hours to show predicted utilization.  For more information about Resource Projections, see the Resource Projections section of this manual.

Accounts Payable Check Writing

Accounts Payable>A/P Check Writing

Checks processes from A/P check writing are generated from the vendor invoices entered into the purchase journal. The checks themselves are posted into the disbursements journal. To understand more about writing A/P Checks, see the A/P Check Writing section of this manual.

Employee Reimbursable Check Writing

Accounts Payable>E/R Check Writing

Checks processed from E/R check writing are generated from the employee reimbursable entered into the employee reimbursable journal. The checks themselves are posted into the disbursements journal. To understand more about writing E/R Checks, see the E/R Check Writing section of this manual.

Automated Invoicing

Accounts Receivable>Automated Invoicing

Automated Invoicing streamlines the billing process. Invoices are printed and posted into the Sales Journal based on User-entered criteria. To understand more about Automated Invoicing, see the Automated Invoicing section in this manual.

Collections

Accounts Receivable>A/R Collections

The A/R Collections applet is used to facilitate the collection of outstanding invoices. To understand more about collections, see the A/R Collections section of this manual.

Overhead Allocation

Utilities>Overhead Allocation

There are two ways to view overhead on project management reports. The most common method is to use the job cost rate to include any overhead burden, which allows the user to view figures down to the transaction level (i.e., employee and work date). The second method, overhead allocation, can be used in the event that you use the job cost rate for other purposes, or if rate calculations do not yield the desired effect. Overhead allocation can be made only to the bottom nodes of the WBS and to an accounting period. You cannot apply it to an employee or work date. When you use this method, you now can use the specific overhead variables in Project Management Report Design. These are not used in the default shipped reports. To understand more about Overhead Allocation, see the Overhead Allocation section of this manual.

Form 1099

Accounts Payable>Form 1099

Form 1099 can be sent to vendors and employees. The system will fill out the forms automatically by the user and can override any information, including financial amounts. To understand more about using Form 1099, see the Form 1099 section of this manual.

Recalculate Labor Rates

Human Resources>Recalculate Rates

The Recalculate Rates Utility is used when you set up rates or rate schedule after you enter timesheets. This is, of course, not the preferred method. The three different types of rates (pay, job cost, and bill) can all be recalculated. To understand more about using the Recalculate Rates Utility, see the Recalculate Rates section of this manual.

Convert to Cash Basis

General Accounting>Chart of Accounts

Cash basis conversion is accomplished by the use of two screen-less journals: one for disbursements and one for receipts. The utilities scan the Disbursements and Receipts Journals. Any transactions that are applied against an accounts payable or accounts receivable account are researched in the Purchase and Sales Journals, based on the invoice number of the transaction. The non-subledger accounts (income and expense) found in the Sales Journal or Receipt Journal are then transferred to the Cash-based Journal for the G/L period in the Disbursement or Receipt Journal. In the case of partial payments, the amount of the receipt or disbursements is proportionately spread against the income and expense accounts. This conversion is a "point in time" conversion. If a Purchase or Sales Journal is revised, depending on the G/L periods involved, you may need to re-run the utility. Automated cash base conversion cannot address all possible conversion scenarios. Adjustments can be made by entering cash only adjustments in the General Journal. To use the CCB utility see the "How to Run a Cash Based Conversion " section of this manual.

End of Year Closing

Utilities>End of Year Closing

End of year closing in InFocus is an automated journal entry. The purpose is to take the year-to-date amounts in all income and expense accounts and reverse them into retained earnings. This effectively zeros out the income and expense accounts for a fiscal year. To understand more about using the End of Year Closing utility, see the End of Year Closing section of this manual.

Project History

Utilities>Project History

Project history is used to enter historical labor against a project. Metrics can be entered through the accounting journal (General Journal). A special screen is needed for labor, since it would be difficult (sometimes impossible) to enter this in timesheet adjustments without going down to the detail level. Entries in this screen are transferred into the timesheet tables. They are flagged as historical entries so they will not appear in timesheet adjustments; neither can they be invoiced or be part of labor distribution. They will appear on project management reports. To understand more about using the Project History utility, see the Project History section of this manual.