Good news! Your company was awarded another project and now the fun begins with project purchasing. Easy enough, just pull out the bid recap and start issuing purchase orders and subcontracts, right? But what if this project has General Conditions requirements for vendor compliance?
Do you dread tracking your vendor compliance requirements on spreadsheets? Who’s submitted, what and when, or who’s still missing? Do you know which of your vendors qualify for SBA reporting, especially when you are required to submit reports on a quarterly basis to your project owner or the SBA (Small Business Administration)? How do you know if all specialty requirements in a project are covered by your approved vendors or subcontractors?
With SIS Construct 365 Project Cost Management (PCM) and Microsoft Dynamics 365, Vendor Compliance Management is simplified and systematically enabled. No more manual spreadsheet tracking. We’ll look at three main areas in this blog post: Insurance and certification tracking, MWBE tracking, and Vendor specialty tracking.
Insurance and certification tracking
Typically, upon request from you, vendors will submit insurance information at the start of a project. That insurance certificate may or may not be project specific and by default, could cover insurance requirements for multiple projects. Depending on your insurance requirements, you track this information at the vendor level, and then notify your vendor to resubmit prior to expiration each year. With the addition of Project Cost Management from SIS to Dynamics 365, you can track Vendor insurance certificates or licensing at either the Vendor level or the Subcontract level (when required by Project General Conditions).
To facilitate Vendor compliance, during invoice processing, automatic holds can be activated if any compliance items are expired. Additional filters allow you to select specific vendors or projects when evaluating compliance. Notifications are available to users and could be programmed to send to the non-compliant vendors. Prior to invoice payments, holds can be released if the compliance items are updated properly.
MWBE tracking
In native Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, on the Vendor setup record, under Vendor profile are several check boxes which allow you to track Minority/Women-Owned/Business Enterprises or MWBE. In addition, you can also track veteran status and HUB (Historically Underutilized Business) enterprises. Although no specific reports exist for reporting MWBE use by project, metrics and reporting could be designed easily using PowerBI.
Specialty tracking
It’s bid time, and you need to confirm that all trades are covered by your preferred vendors. How do you know if everyone has submitted a bid in each trade or if you’ve missed someone?
Utilizing the SIS Project Cost Management solution and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations to track your vendors is now simplified. Upon implementing PCM, create Vendor Specialty groups, and add your preferred vendors to the list. As new vendors are added to your system, they can be tagged to the appropriate specialty group.
Again, PowerBI can be leveraged to enable reporting of Vendors by their specialty.
Vendor and Subcontract Management
Dynamics 365 provides Vendor Management, but PCM from SIS takes it to a new level with Subcontractor Management. Enable your Project and Accounting teams with these additional tools to monitor both Vendors and their subcontracts for compliance requirements.
For More Information:
If you have any questions or would like to know how Project Cost Management can work for your company, please reach out to SIS and we will be happy to show you. SIS Construct 365 Project Cost Management application is Certified for Microsoft Dynamics and listed on the Microsoft AppSource website.
About SIS:
Founded in 1996, SIS (Strategic Industry Solutions) is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner providing and implementing financial and operational software for Contracting and Professional Services focused companies.
We continue to develop and deliver ERP, CRM, and PM solutions for project and service-oriented companies today, with an emphasis on ease of use and flexibility while meeting Industry functional requirements. From planning and discovery to design and implementation, and then to training and support, we are committed to surpass our customers’ expectations at every step.
About Laurie Jimenez, PMP – Dynamics Sr. Solution Architect & Consultant
Laurie Jimenez has almost 30 years of experience in the construction industry, having worked in accounting and office administration with a general contractor, and as a certified accounting consultant. Clients have included developers, general contractors, and home builders along with specialty contractors and property management organizations. She specializes in project management, particularly ERP accounting software packages, business process improvement and end user curriculum development. An exceptional communicator and presenter, in 2013 Toastmasters International named Laurie a Distinguished Toastmaster. That same year, the organization’s District 56 (Houston) named Laurie Outstanding Toastmaster of the Year. Laurie currently serves as a Regional Director on the National Board for the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC).
