Unanet Integration with Microsoft Dynamics SL - SSi Consulting

Unanet is a best of breed Professional Services Automation solution designed to help organizations manage people and projects for improved profitability. Integrated with Microsoft Dynamics SL superior Project Accounting & Core Financial Accounting Package, the UnanetMS Dynamics SL combined solution offers project-based organizations unique capabilities in optimizing project performance. Unanet provides initial opportunity planning and resource forecasting, through detailed budget planning and staff scheduling, time and expense capture, and real-time reporting. Microsoft Dynamics SL provides project and financial accounting capabilities including revenue recognition, invoicing, financial reports and business analysis, while helping increase efficiency, accuracy, and customer satisfaction.

Example of a Unanet real-time project management dashboard delivered via a web browser

A natural fit to Unanet’s extensive Professional Services Automation software, the integration with Microsoft Dynamics SL empowers organizations to view project profitability, revenue, expenses and financials in one place, giving management greater visibility into project and workforce performance. The integration ensures a single point of entry for data on projects and people with no duplication of effort, with automatic replication between Unanet and MS Dynamics SL to ensure data integrity between the systems. In an April 2009 report titled Microsoft Moves Dynamics Forward With New Releases And Simplified Pricing Strategies, Forrester Research writes, “A new partnership with Unanet Technologies provides resource forecasting and opportunity planning capabilities that complements the project and financial accounting solution of Microsoft Dynamics SL.”

How does Unanet add value to Microsoft Dynamics? 1. Planning and Forecasting with Bottom-Up Budgeting • Unanet offers comprehensive support for resource planning as a means of determining total anticipated labor effort and cost on a project. Labor can be planned based on capacity, skills and existing commitments. • Non-labor project expenses (ODCs for travel, materials etc) can also be planned on a periodic basis in Unanet at the project or task level. • Project-specific labor categories are supported with rate-effective dates. 2. Real-Time Project Management, Dashboards and Reporting • Unanet provides a robust set of real-time graphical and tabular reports for project tracking, at summary and detailed levels. • Reports include data on unsubmitted timesheets and expense reports, Project Costing Reports and Earned Value Management, and a range of tabular and graphical periodic reports. • Project alerts to notify users when key performance metrics have been reached. 3. Resource Scheduling/Planning and Forecasting by Availability and Skills • Plans, budgets and actuals are managed and can be compared with variances in a single system • Real-time reporting on actual and forecast utilization is available. • Reporting by project and by person organization is available. • Robust controls are provided to manage access to data and functions based on roles and by hierarchical 

organizations, ensuring that users and managers only see the information necessary. 4. Robust Time and Expense Tracking • In addition to outstanding ease of use with minimal need for pop-up screens, Unanet provides extensive filtering to show only data of relevance to the end user. • Unanet supports all the time periods organizations may need such as weekly, 9/80, semi-monthly, or monthly. • Unanet provides rules such as automatic reminders, and requiring comments and change reasons to enforce data entry in compliance with DCAA timekeeping regulations. • Unanet ensures streamlined and fast project approvals by providing consolidated timesheet views which allow quick management review and decision-making. Alternate managers can be defined for time and expense entry and approval. • Expense reporting ensures correct Per Diem expenses are entered using Per Diem Rate Tables. Expense reports also allow attachment of receipts to speed approvals. • Other features include Pre-fill of holiday in timesheet, leave accruals, leave balance and leave liability, and subcontractor interfaces.

Integration Overview Dataflow from SL to Unanet is automatic and is initiated by a suite of database triggers that fire when information is added, modified or deleted in the SL database. These triggers capture and write the information associated with the data element to a series of database tables created to support the interface. Database views have been created that map the SL data elements to the Unanet import file formats. Data flow from Unanet to SL is initiated by running exports from Unanet once timesheets and expense reports have completed their approval processes by the various project and line managers. SL specific exports have been created for time and expense. These exports are run from the export option of the Unanet Administration Menu.

Unanet Technologies, 45240 Business Court, Suite 300, Sterling VA 20166 Phone: 703 689 9440; [email protected]; www.unanet.com