Billables: Keeping It Professional

A sneak peek at Abak Mobile

abaksoft — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:15:04 +0000

We are finally (almost) ready to release Abak Mobile to our clients. The new Abak Mobile module allows smartphone owners (iOS and Android) to fill out their time sheets on the go!

Abak Mobile allows users to do basic operations with time sheets:

Display time sheets
Create new time sheets
Duplicate an existing time sheet
Edit an existing time sheet
Delete time sheets that are not approved or not invoiced

Abak Mobile will be available in February 2012.

If you’d like to know more about Abak Mobile or try a demo, email me!

Find the margin thieves in your projects

abaksoft — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:43:09 +0000

Projects can easily start off with a good profit margin, and end up at a loss. Even if the billable rate is twice the cost rate for a consultant. Even with plenty of margin for error when the contract was quoted and signed.

As the project moves along, margins thieves get into the project and eat away at that comfortable padding we added to the contract. These margin thieves can go undetected until the end of the project, when it’s too late. Margin thieves often take the form of non-billable items that are not logged correctly to the project. For example, it can be time logged in an internal project or not logged at all, or an expense mistakenly absorbed in the overhead costs of the business. When the project closes, the administration team corrects those mistakes, and our profit margin melts away.

How can we fix this and prevent the margin thieves from going undetected? Here are 5 suggestions:

Make sure all expenses are logged to the project. This includes non-billable expenses, like parking fees or employee’s expense reports.
Make sure all time worked on the project is logged to the project. This includes non-billable time, such as technical support time or administrative time.
Make sure to log all supplier and contractor costs to the project, even if it’s non-billable.
Run your budget control report religiously. If all expenses and work hours are logged, the report will tell you, in real time, how much the project has cost so far.
Set up a workflow alert to email the project manager when budgets are in danger.

Would you like to know more about these 5 tips? Let me know!

Abak 7.4 now available for download

abaksoft — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:19:46 +0000

Abak 7.4 can be downloaded right now from your Extranet account. This is a must for Abak Web users, and an excellent opportunity to start using our Web-based interface.

Here are the new features in Abak Web:

Purchase order
Datebook entries
Reference tables
Invoice open and printing

Download the release notes here.

Reserve your spot on the free webinar and learn about the new features: January 26, 2012.

Moving on: IE6, it’s over

abaksoft — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:25:49 +0000

Our new Abak Web product doesn’t support Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). This web browser was released on August 27, 2001. It’s been on the market for more than 10 years now, and still being used by many people around the globe even though Microsoft is urging users to drop it and upgrade to a more modern version. Currently, the most up-to-date edition of Internet Explorer is 9.0.

To this date, it’s almost mission accomplished: in North America, a little less than 2% of web users are still using IE6.

We decided not to support this web browser mainly out of concerns for security. We also considered the fact that it didn’t support many of the features of modern browsers that allows us to provide a rich user experience.

At Abak, we embrace the new web technologies and are fully committed to ensure the highest standards of security.

It’s now time to say goodbye to IE6!

Follow the countdown here:
http://www.ie6countdown.com/

Engineering Consultants, we’re coming to meet you!

abaksoft — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:44:42 +0000

Abak is happy to announce its participation in ACEC’s 2011 Fall Conference, October 19-22, 2011, in Las Vegas.

Abak will be exhibiting at booth 209. We’ll be showing our new version of Abak Time and Billing software, including the Abak Web module and Outlook integration.

If you’re looking for a project management and invoicing system, stop by our booth and we’ll be happy to show you how Abak can help engineering companies gain control over their projects.

Back by popular demand: New features in Abak 7.3

abaksoft — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:21:29 +0000

We are very proud to showcase our newest release, Abak 7.3 and the new Abak Web!

Outlook synchronization of project assignments and datebook entries
Highlighting projects that are over due or over budget
Copying invoice texts from an old invoice to a new one
…and much more!

October 3rd, 2pm, Eastern Time
Register here, it’s free!

Back to school with efficient Abak!

abaksoft — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:24:11 +0000

Do you feel lost in Abak? Do you feel like things should be simpler and easier? They are! You just need to learn the tricks!

AbaKast 101:Understanding how to use Abak efficiently

September 29th, 2011
1h30 – 3h30pm, Eastern Time

Learn all the time-saving tips and tricks in Abak:

Configuring Abak and understanding how all modules work together
Ergonomics: using the interface, column properties, filters, server requests, active windows, etc.
Time sheet tips and tricks

Only 69$

* We recommend being up-to-date with Abak 7.2 to get the maximum out of this AbaKast.

Also, check out the full training schedule here

Abak Web and Abak Classic, let’s clear things up

abaksoft — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:49:00 +0000

With the recent Abak Web launch, we received questions about the differences and similarities between Abak Web and Abak Classic, the software our clients use every day.

Here is a comparison that should clear things up!

	Abak Web	Abak Classic
Screen
Differences	No installation required on user’s workstations. Accessed via the Web browser (Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome, Safari, Opera). No update required for end users when the server is updated. Works on Mac and Windows. All new features to be released on Abak Web starting in 2012. Abak will be 100% Web in 2014.	The application is installed on the user’s workstation. Abak is accessed via the application on the workstation (a shortcut on the desktop, for example). Software updates are required for end users whenever the server is updated. Works on Windows only. Only bug-fix releases from 2012 – no new features.
Similarities	Abak Web and Abak Classic use the same database. Abak Web and Abak Classic can be hosted either on our servers or installed on yours. Abak Web and Abak Classic can be used at the same time, on the same Abak server. A user can work on Abak Web and Abak Classic at the same time.

Abak Web is the future of our software. By 2014, Abak will be a 100% web-based system. We’re currently porting Abak’s features to the web, which means that we Abak Classic will eventually become obsolete, once all features have been ported to the web.

It’s time to get the 7.3 upgrade!

abaksoft — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:25:43 +0000

Abak 7.3 is now available for download from our Extranet.

New features include:

Outlook integration of datebook entries and project assignments
Project Manager timesheet approvals
Highlights for late projects
Project invoices accessible from the project window
Copy invoice text
The new Abak Web module!

Download the release notes here.

My Favorite Abak 7.3 Feature: Outlook Integration

abaksoft — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:26:52 +0000

Abak 7.3 is right around the corner, and we’re very excited about that! Amongst all the new features, our new Outlook integration is the shining star. There are two reasons for this:

It was voted in by our users in our 2010 survey! 93% of all survey participants said they wanted Outlook integration, and there you have it. Have you filled out the 2011 survey yet?
It ROCKS! Abak sends project assignments and datebook entries to Outlook, so the information is where we spend so much time, Outlook!

Here’s how it works!

It’s easy to decide exactly what information will be transferred to Outlook, using the same type of variables as we do for building invoice texts. If you’d like to reference the project, the client name and the contact email, then add those variables to the text template!

Once you log in to Abak, the system will check if you have new or updated assignations and reminders, and update your Outlook calendar and tasks. And the result?

Ta-da! Appointments show up in your calendar, or in tasks. You decide what goes where.

Security is managed by user group. You select who should get Outlook integration (although in our book, everyone should!).

What do you think? Where should we take Outlook integration from here? Tell us in the comments!