Featured Costpoint Functionality
Costpoint’s Supplier Portal – Not Just for Materials Heavy Businesses
Communicating with and maintaining vendors can be a monumental and endless task. Reliance on email can easily result in missed or disconnected communications. Costpoint’s Supplier Portal seeks to close these gaps and improve the experience of supplier, procurement, and accounts payable personnel.
Costpoint’s Supplier Portal was released in version 7.1.1. Initially, the module consisted of basic capabilities, such as the ability to view the status of Purchase Orders, request changes to Purchase Orders, and review and approve Purchase Orders.
In version 8.0, visibility of shipment status and the ability to view Subcontractor Purchase Order Invoices and submit requests for changes were made available. The status of the Subcontractor Purchase Order Invoices was made available on the Dashboard.
With the release of version 8.1, RFQs could be sent to vendors through the Portal and the vendor could provide their quote in response. A dash part, which is a section on the Supplier Dashboard, was added for visibility to RFQ status.
The ability to interact with the Manage Vendors Application was added in version 8.2. Supplier Portal Vendors are able to view their vendor profile, add new contacts and vendor employees, attach documents via CMI, and request additional changes through the notes via the Manage Vendors Application. In addition, Supplier Portal users can now preview or print an invoice or a range of invoices from the Manage Invoices screen.
In 8.2.15, to be released in Fall 2024, when a Prospective Vendor (which is itself new functionality) is approved, selected contacts can be automatically added as users or an email request can be sent to the System Administrator to create the users. This is based on different system settings and can also be done from existing Vendor Contacts or when new contacts are added. For more detail, you can read the Release Notes and there will be a Materials training video in Help > Customer Information Center.
As the capabilities of the Supplier Portal have grown, so has user adoption. Users see improved efficiencies, clearer and more timely communications, as well as real time visibility into the status of Purchase Orders, Invoices, and Payments. If you would like more information and insight into the Costpoint Supplier Portal please contact us.
Featured Costpoint Domain
Insights into Lesser-Known Capabilities
Accounting is the first of the nine Costpoint Domains. As the name suggests it contains the fundamental accounting functions – General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable as well as Cash Management. In addition, the Accounting Domain holds Fixed Assets, Multicurrency and Consolidations, which are not part of the Costpoint Core and are available through various licensing bundles.
Here is a list of a little-known features in each of the Accounting Domain’s Modules.
General Ledger > General Ledger Controls > General Ledger Settings - Allow Reversing Entry Creation in a Not Available FY/Period/ Subperiod Checkbox.
If you select this check box, you can use the Manage Journal Entries, Post Journal Entries, and Import Journal Entries screens to enter reversing journal entries for future periods without having to open the period.
Multicurrency > Multicurrency Controls > Manage Currency ISO Codes - Obsolete and Replaced by ISO Code Checkboxes
Should a currency be replaced by another, for example as the Croatian HRK was with the EUR in 2023, this feature allows retention of the historic HRK currency marked obsolete and replaced with the new currency, the EUR. This selection does not automatically update historic financial information, but it can be used to configure historic financials in Costpoint Business Intelligence.
Accounts Payable > Voucher Processing > Manage Accounts Payable Vouchers in combination with Create Recurring Accounts Payable Vouchers – automate your accounts payable voucher creation.
The use of the Recurring Accounts Payable Voucher functionality in Costpoint is great way to increase the efficiency of processing those vendor invoices that you receive on a recurring basis. The combination of an Accounts Payable Voucher Template and the Create Recurring Accounts Payable Voucher allows you to preconfigure a voucher for such things as rent, utilities, insurance, etc.; those repetitive bills that get allocated based on a factor like square footage or headcount, for example. If the amount or the allocation changes, it is easy to change the template or use the “Voucher Line Distribution Recalculation Method” to automatically calculate the new allocation values.
Accounts Receivable > Accounts Receivable Interfaces > Import Cash Receipts – utilize Extended Matching to automate matching of cash receipts with outstanding bills in Accounts Receivable.
Extended matching is a two-way match which you can apply through any combination of two of the following: Invoice ID (or partial Invoice ID), Balance Due, Invoice Amount, Customer Name, and Bill Number (which is different from Invoice ID).
Cash Management > Bank Account Management > Manage Bank Statement Information – utilize Costpoint to perform your bank account reconciliations.
Use this screen to store statement and timing information for a bank account and upload a bank statement. In this setup screen, there is the ability to skip specified bank activities when importing the bank statement.
Fixed Assets > Asset Master Records > Create Autocreation Transactions – utilize Autocreation Transactions to reduce duplicate entry on fixed asset purchases.
This screen can be utilized to specify defaults and set the criteria for the collection of data from the Costpoint Purchasing, Receiving, and/or Accounts Payable tables. When you execute this process, the system copies applicable data to the Manage Autocreation Transactions table window, where it displays for your review and editing before you convert the temporary data into Asset Master records.
Consolidations > Consolidations Processing > Create Project Summary Balances – the Consolidations Module moves summary data from the consolidating companies to the consolidated company. In addition to the general ledger information, Costpoint:
- Transfers summary project information for inquiry and reporting
- Transfers Account, Organization, and Project Master tables so that reports and inquiries show names and related project data
- Summarizes and transfers Project Summary Report (PSR) and Revenue Report tables
These transfers provide the consolidation company with summarized project reports and inquiries.
If you find any of these capabilities of interest and would like to explore their applicability to your organization, please contact us.
Industry Happenings
BDO Presentations at Deltek ProjectCon 2024
Optimizing Deltek Systems: Healthcheck and Design Strategies for Peak Performance [CPSPON-08]
In this session, we will explore essential strategies for conducting system healthchecks, optimizing performance, and designing robust Deltek systems, specifically focusing on Costpoint 8.2. Attendees will learn how to identify and resolve common issues, implement best practices for system design, and utilize Deltek tools to ensure their systems operate at peak performance. This session is ideal for IT professionals, system administrators, and project managers who want to enhance their system's efficiency and reliability. Join us to gain actionable insights and practical techniques to keep your Deltek systems running smoothly.
Proactive Business Process Alignment: Beyond System Design & Configuration [CPSPON-09]
BDO transformation specialists will delve into the importance of focusing on business process optimization alignment beyond the design and configuration of your Costpoint environment. This session will provide insights into the strategic advantages of implementing business processes that align with organizational goals and customer needs. We will provide an overview of a forward-thinking approach that can lead to enhanced efficiency and reduced operational costs. We will explore relevant case studies that address how to identify key business processes that would benefit from transformation or improvement by learning from BDO's proprietary Costpoint business process taxonomy.
Power Up Your Compliance: 2024 Legal & Accounting Updates for Government Contractors [CPSPON-10]
Government contractors face a dynamic regulatory environment that requires constant vigilance and adaptation. This session will provide an update on the latest legal and compliance changes affecting the industry, ensuring you have the knowledge to stay compliant and competitive. Topics to be discussed include recent legal decisions, changes to CMMC and FedRAMP requirements, FAR and CAS developments, new considerations under the Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon Act, and updates to Uniform Guidance for federal grants. Our knowledgeable speakers will provide actionable insights and practical advice to help you navigate these updates effectively.