Why use KEY2ACT Job Cost over Project Accounting?

By Allen Phillips | September 28, 2018

In the 18 plus years I’ve worked with Dynamics GP and KEY2ACT (formerly WennSoft), I’ve often been by asked by customers why they should use KEY2ACT Job Cost over Project Accounting in Dynamics GP.

KEY2ACT Signature Job Cost gives project-based businesses the ability to control projects with easy-to-use tools that control costs, manage labor and ultimately improve your bottom line. With KEY2ACT Signature Job Cost, you can manage costs by tracking all components of projects, which includes subcontractors, labor, materials, equipment and more.

Below is a brief description of the main differences between Microsoft Dynamics GP Project Accounting and KEY2ACT Signature Job Cost.

  1. Job Status/tracking
    1. GP Project Accounting’s project status window shows the accumulated costs of the project.
    2. Signature Job Cost’s status window has drill-down capabilities, allowing viewing of the originating transactions without having to leave the window and look up individual transactions.
  1. Production Tracking
    1. GP Project Accounting does not have Production Unit tracking.
    2. Signature Job Cost can track production units in costing for items that are produced rather than purchased from an outside vendor. This process can be used to measure the percentage of completion.
  1. Forecasted Costs
    1. GP Project Accounting – Revenue Recognition and forecasted costs are based on the original estimate.
    2. Signature Job Cost maintains the original budget and forecasted costs are independent of that budget. Forecasted costs are used for revenue recognition based on the true costs of the jobs while leaving the original estimates intact.
  1. Month-end Percentage of Completion
    1. GP Project Accounting runs the process one job at a time.
    2. Signature Job Cost runs the process on all jobs at once, including grouping jobs together in a project. This process is less time-consuming.
  1. Change Orders
    1. GP Project Accounting can only use new cost codes and follows the same billing/revenue schedule as the job.
    2. Signature Job Cost allows for creating new cost codes or using existing cost codes and can create separate billing schedules, retention amounts, and revenue calculations based on the job.
  1. Payroll
    1. GP Project Accounting can enter labor transactions against a project.
    2. Signature Job Cost can enter labor, travel and expense reimbursement transactions against a job and project, Certified Payroll can be tracked, Union pay/benefits/overhead and reporting is available as well as the automatic calculation of wages based on prevailing Wages.
  1. Billing
    1. GP Project Accounting does billing at the job level, which then flows up to GP’s A/R Module.
    2. Signature Job Cost does billing at the job level, which then flows up to GP’s A/R Module. Allows AIA billing and multiple invoice types and has an option to use standard GP SOP invoicing per job if desired. Project level billing can also be used for billing of multiple jobs into a single invoice.
  1. Subcontractors
    1. GP Project Accounting can track time and create subcontractor costs codes.
    2. Signature Job Cost can schedule and track subcontractor time, track and withhold retention, print and track lien waivers, hold payment for pay when paid options, and track insurance documents, contracts and other documents with the ability to withhold payment if not all the required documents have been collected.

There are many, many more great features in KEY2ACT Signature Job Cost that can help you manage your projects better.

Hopefully, the above information gives you a better overall understanding of some of the differences in KEY2ACT Signature Job Cost and Dynamics GP Project Accounting.

If you are interested in learning more about KEY2ACT Signature Job Cost and other Signature modules, please contact Stoneridge Software and speak to our experts.


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