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From the Desk of Bernard Mustafa
Two Government Contractor Events to Consider Attending
There are two upcoming events I'd like to make you aware of. Next Tuesday, May 20, we will be holding our quarterly lunch and learn for high-growth government contractors. This event will be held at the Microsoft Executive Learning Center in Reston. The lunch and learn is often the first place many of our customers see Dynamics NAV for Government Contractors up close and personal. The lunch and learn is open everyone in your firm although attendance is usually made up of business owners, chief financial or accounting officers, and financial and accounting professionals. Pre-registration is required and lunch will be served.
When we demonstrate Dynamics NAV, we'll discuss the following:
Microsoft Executive Dashboard/Business Analytics
--Use the executive dashboard to take the pulse of your business, including tracking new bookings, backlog, and contract completion percentages
Project Accounting
--A DCAA-compliant solution that handles the most unique reporting requirements
Microsoft Office Integration
--Learn time savings tools and tips to print and e-mail government invoices and integrate with Microsoft Excel to perform custom analytics
We are also excited about exhibiting at the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce GovCon Symposium on May 29 at the McLean Hilton. The keynote will be done by Michael Thomas, President of Global Security Solutions at Lockheed Martin. This is a first-class event that everyone in the government contracting space attends.
Best regards,
Bernard Mustafa
CEO, Pleasant Valley Business Solutions
www.pvbs.net |
| Software Requirements Q&A with HHB CFO Sherry Craighill |
Sherry Craighill, the CFO at government services provider Higgins, Hermansen, Banikas, LLC (HHB), has selected, implemented, and managed many project accounting and financial management solutions for companies, non-profits and government contractors. We posed the following questions to her.
PVBS: Why are companies still using project accounting and financial management software solutions that do not meet their needs?
Sherry Craighill: There are many reasons why companies possess software solutions that do not match their business needs:
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Company outgrows software that cannot scale.
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Company changes business direction and software no longer matches the model.
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Software is antiquated, with few revisions, too many bugs, too inflexible, and poor reporting capabilities.
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Companies merge and maintain multiple systems rather than integrate.
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Persuasive sales people oversell for the need. In these cases, the software may be too complicated for the business.
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The software might otherwise fit but the implementation was poorly or incompletely executed.
PVBS: What advice do you have for companies to help them select the best solution to meet their needs?
Sherry Craighill: The first step in identifying a best fit is to map a company's business processes. You need to examine how things get done and why and then how you'd like to get things done. Then you need to win acceptance from the management and accounting and finance teams on the best fit solution, and map a plan to get from A to B before purchasing a system. Acceptance is important for successful, committed change.
PVBS: What other critical things should be considered?
Sherry Craighill: You need to know that the right implementation team is equally as important as accounting software. You're buying a solution, not a package. The best software in the world is only as good as the fit for your particular purpose. Select a solutions provider that understands your business needs and can design the backbone of the software to meet the requirements. |
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Government Purchase Card Usage Rising: Grow Profitability through Level III Processing |
By Larry Allen, Executive Director, The Coalition for Government Procurement and Wade Tetsuka, Executive Vice President, Diamond Mind, Inc.
(This article originally appeared in the The Government Contractors Council Report, a monthly newsletter distributed by the Northern Virginia Government Contractors Council, an initiative of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce.)
Each year more companies and government agencies expand their purchase card programs (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX). While the federal government's SmartPay® program is the largest, state and local government purchase card programs combined are nearly as large. And a full 72% of Fortune 500 companies pay extensively with purchase cards.1 In fact, spending on Government and Commercial purchase cards in 2005 reached $110 billion, a 37.5 percent increase over 2003.
Looking forward, purchase card spending is expected to reach $180 billion by 2010.2 In most cases, accepting purchase cards is required in order to do business effectively with the organizations that want to pay this way. Purchase card acceptors value the faster payment, streamlined A/R, and increased float that accompanies credit card payments. At the same time, they are increasingly scrutinizing the rates and transaction cost they incur. Switching to Level III processing is a concrete and cost-saving step that will provide an opportunity to better serve your existing customers, and possibly open new doors. (More) | |
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Sincerely,
Bernard Mustafa
Pleasant Valley Business Solutions
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| Nominations Due June 13 for Government Contractor of the Year Awards |
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PVBS is proud to be a silver sponsor along with Microsoft for the 6th Annual Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards, which will be unveiled at the Awards Gala at the McLean Hilton on October 7th. The deadline to submit applications is June 13, 2008.
There will be four contractor of the year awards presented to Greater Washington Government Contractors for distinguished financial and operational accomplishments, and for outstanding contributions during the past year to its employees, the government contracting industry, and the U.S. Government. Other awards will be made to significant individual achievers in the industry. PVBS customers have been recipients in the past including Oberon Associates.
Four awards will be presented in this category, stratified by gross annual revenue using the most recent fiscal year-end revenues:
- Contractor of the Year (less than $25 million)
- Contractor of the Year ($25 million to $75 million)
- Contractor of the Year ($75 million to $300 million)
- Contractor of the Year (greater than $300 million)
Good luck! |
| About Dynamics NAV |
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Microsoft Dynamics NAV is an ERP solution that offers: Project Accounting, Web Based T&M, Inventory Control, Order Processing, Fulfillment, Warehouse Management, Human Resources, Financial Management and more. The software has been designed specifically for government contractors to help meet Federal Government requirements. | |
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