INTUIT QUICKBOOKS JOB COSTING SOFTWARE OVERVIEW


Intuit first entered the software market in 1983 with Quicken, a personal finance solution. The company then expanded into the small and medium-sized business (SMB) accounting, job costing and tax preparation arenas, which helped generate $2.67 billion in revenue for Intuit in 2007.

To meet the specific needs of the construction industry, Intuit developed QuickBooks Contractor Edition 8.0 with a number of capabilities designed for contractors. In addition to standard accounting tools, QuickBooks Contractor allows users to track job costs for employees, vendors and sub-contractors, and to create job costing reports for job status and analysis of costs and profits, according to Intuit. QuickBooks Contractor also includes a single-screen job costing center for simple project review. This offers the ability to easily track and print orders on construction estimates as well as flexible billing rates with different rates for different employees and tasks, the vendor said.

Meanwhile, QuickBooks Premier Contractor, used by the majority of Intuit's clients, was created for contractors that must track change orders; manage job costs and track job status, and apply different billing rates for employees or sub-contractors, the company said.

In addition, QuickBooks Simple Start Plus Pack is available for small contractors, while QuickBooks Pro was designed for contractors that need to organize their business centrally and want to quickly create job costing reports and invoices, according to the vendor.

The final member of the Intuit family is QuickBooks: Enterprise Solutions: Contractor. This, Intuit said, is targeted at medium-sized firms that must track inventories of more than 14,500 items, vendors or customers; need multi-user controls for up to 20 individuals, and require advanced reporting capabilities.

For support, Intuit offers a message board, where contractors ranging from home-builders to painters, tile companies and start-ups discuss an array of topics and questions. Other forums on specific topics, as well as Webinars and training, are part of the toolkit available for users of QuickBooks software, according to the vendor.

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PRODUCT DETAILS

BASIC COMPANY INFORMATION
Support Offered:
       On site Yes
       Web Yes
       Phone Yes
Core Product Areas:
       Collaboration / workflow management  
       Project management  
       Scheduling and resourcing  
       Cost estimating  
       Document control / management  
       Job cost accounting Yes
Construction Types Supported:
       Commercial Yes
       General Contracting Yes
       Heavy and Highway Yes
       Industrial Yes
       Mixed Use Yes
       Residential Yes
       Specialty - MEP Yes

PROJECT MANAGEMENT DETAIL
Document Management and Control:
       Log & track plan changes  
       Log & track contracts and contract changes  
       Log & track correspondence, memos, etc.  
       Track submittals  
       Track submittal revisions  
       Submittal additions / changes trigger notifications  
       Scan images  
       Read CAD files  
       Capture / index image files  
       OCR text images  
       Direct links to documents (plans, drawings, contracts, etc.)  
Change Order Management:
       User-defined status codes  
       Ability to consolidate multple requests into single CO  
       Link plans, notes, etc. to change order  
       Historical tracking and commending  
       Change order triggers events such as cost revisions Yes
       Approval management and tracking  
Calendar Management:
       Schedule integration with Microsoft Outlook Yes
       Task notifications / updates  
Scheduling:
       Critical path management  
       Exceptions and alerts  
       Cross-project roll-ups  
       Cross-project resourcing  
       Schedule variances  
       Dependencies analysis & management  
Resource Management (subs and suppliers):
       Customize standard subcontractor forms Yes
       Resource costing Yes
       Resource leveling  
       Time reporting and approval Yes
       Contractor / vendor contact management Yes
       Vendor performance tracking  
Reporting and Analysis:
       Reports sent by email Yes
       Key metrics reports Yes
       Cross-project reporting Yes
       CPM analysis  
       Gantt charts  
       PERT diagrams
Budgeting and Forecasting:
       Earned value analysis
       Track actual costs / expenses to date Yes
       What-if analysis  
       Forecast cost-to-complete Yes
       Cash flow forecasting Yes
       Cost / budget variances Yes

JOB COST ACCOUNTING DETAIL
Basic Acounting:
       Accounts payable Yes
       Accounts receivable Yes
       Billings Yes
       General ledger Yes
       Job costing Yes
       Payroll Yes
Equipment:
       Equipment maintenance Yes
       Equipment / asset management Yes
       Fuel accounting
       Unit price billing Yes
Extended Accounting:
       Cash management Yes
       Change order management Yes
       Fixed assets Yes
       Proposal management Yes
       Subs management Yes
       Subs payable Yes
Human Resource and Safety:
       HR / staffing  
Integration:
       Estimating interface  
       Project management  
       Scheduling  
Materials:
       Counter sales Yes
       Inventory Yes
       Materials management Yes
       Purchasing Yes
Service Management:
       Dispatch  
       Trucking / transport  
       Work orders Yes