Accounting Module Index (click to jump to specific software)

• General Ledger
• Cash Management
• Multi-Currency
• Business Partners
• Inter-Company Posting
• Accounts Payable
• Inventory

• Hired Truck Payroll
• Sub-Contractors
• Purchase Order/Accruals
• Accounts Receivable
• Time and Billing
• Payroll

• Job Costing
• Estimating
• Personalizer
• Utilities
• Built-in Reporting
  Capabilities
• Personal Menu

General Ledger Continued...

It is imperative, at heart of any accounting system, that a General Ledger system be powerful, flexible, and informative to management, yet still be easy to use and operate.

• Any number of companies can be set up
• Companies can be consolidated
• Companies may have multiple Divisions
• Multiple General Ledger periods may be posted to simultaneously - you do not have to close one month in the General Ledger in order to proceed to the next
• Posting into previous fiscal years is supported
• The General Ledger is fully integrated to other Explorer Enterprise Solution modules
• Recurring journal entries can be set up
• A full, detailed audit trial of transactions from all modules is automatically produced
• Work in Progress can be calculated and printed automatically
• Federal and State tax calculations, Reporting and electronic submissions are accounted for and can be automatically remitted.
• Budgeting and revisions are a snap
• Take control of the future of your organization. Meet business objectives and gain competitive advantage with budgeting and planning capabilities. Plan more effectively and respond to changing business needs easily throughout your organization. Familiar spreadsheet format provides intuitive user interface.
• Quickly adjust to new opportunities as they arise – budget revisions show you exactly where you are and where you are going to be.
• Create your own financial Reports with Explorer’s Financial Report Writer or use one of the many included financial Report

Cash Management Continued...

• Save time by downloading bank transactions in electronic XML or ASCII format for automatic bank reconciliation.
• Integrate to Explorer Enterprise Solution Multi-currency Management to set up, manage and reconcile accounts in any number of currencies in addition to your home currency.
• Maintain an unlimited number of banks and bank accounts
• Simplify reconciliation of bank transactions
• Import electronic records of cleared transactions from your bank account for automatic reconciliation
• Use the quick reconciliation feature to select or deselect transactions
• Security - establish access permissions to include those responsible for cash management, limiting access to a defined group of users
• Calendar interface – at a glance understand your cash inflow and outflow. Improve your financial decisions – make better educated, day-to-day financial decisions with your cash flow details presented in a user-friendly calendar interface.
• Multiple cash flow scenarios – what-if analysis – forecast multiple scenarios to better manage your current cash inflow end outflow.

Multi-Currency Continued...

Contract Manager's multi-currency and analysis capabilities optimize your international opportunities. You can maintain an unlimited number of currencies and exchange rate schedules, giving you the ability to update exchange rates daily and post realized and unrealized gains or losses due to currency fluctuations.

An invoice may be carried in Accounts Payable in one currency and ultimately paid in a different currency. The balance is displayed in the home currency, and the currency exchange amount is recorded automatically to balance the transaction.

An Accounts Payable Trial Balance Report or inquiry showing this transaction can be produced in either the foreign currency or home currency as desired. When the invoice is paid, any gain or loss arising from a change in the exchange rate is automatically recorded. Any number of foreign currencies can be accounted for.

• Setup bank accounts and enter transactions in currencies other than your home currency
• Override exchange rates on a transaction basis
• Transfer cash between bank accounts with different currencies
• Import electronic bank files of cleared transactions and automatically reconcile
• As your business grows and expands Explorer Enterprise solutions grow with you. Explorer Multi-currency simplifies transactions in any currency. Exchange amounts are stored by transaction, simplifying restatement of amounts at month end

Business Partners Continued...

Business Partners is an add-on module that is available in both Explorer Enterprise Solution Advanced and International versions. Aimed at larger corporate structures with multiple companies and departments, Business Partners simplifies the maintenance of contact information.

The underlying concept of Business Partners is to recognize entities with which you transact business at a level that is above the module or company level.

Using the Business Partner model ensures that the same code is used in every company, and in Payroll, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable Modules. When a change in common information, such as address or telephone number is made, when you modify the address in any module in any company, Business Partners makes the address change in every module and every company. You can edit outdated information anywhere you come across it, and be assured that it gets corrected everywhere as a result of a single entry.

Accounts Payable Continued...

With Accounts Payable, you can easily determine when a bill needs to be paid in order to take the discount being offered if you pay the invoice on time. The system assists you in: paying your bills, printing checks or paying electronically, recording new invoices, and analyzing, recording, and summarizing the results.

• The Explorer Enterprise Solution Accounts Payable module integrates with the following Explorer Enterprise Solution modules: Purchase Order, Job Costing, Time and Billing, and General Ledger.
• Trial Balance handles hold-backs and unapproved invoices.
• Post expenses using the General Ledger account numbers, which automatically controls distribution to Job Costing, Equipment Control, and other sub-ledgers as required.
• Projects weekly cash requirements based on current information in the Accounts Payable sub-ledger.
• Automatically selects payments by week due, by payment type, by specific vendor, by individual invoices, or by any combination of these methods.
• Generates checks by computer, records hand-written checks, and reverses any checks previously processed.
• Accesses vendor accounts quickly to answer inquiries about current payables and invoices paid.
• Prints an outstanding check listing for checks that have not been reconciled.
• Prints a detailed sub-ledger of all or selected vendor accounts, or a sub-ledger of invoices in suspense.

"We often get more than one copy of an invoice. If we attempt to post the same invoice again, Explorer immediately advises that it is already in the system-even if the invoice was paid weeks or months ago."

Inventory Continued...

• Tracks materials, from sand and gravel to brake shoes.
• Tracks inventory quantities on hand, on order, and on reserve at any number of locations, for any number of companies.
• Automatically updates the value of your inventory - based on current average cost - each time a purchase or adjustment is made.
• Posts transactions in any unit of measure, and automatically converts them to a standard unit of measure for each item.
• Distributes inventory transaction costs to General Ledger account, to a job and cost code, or to a piece of equipment or component.
• Allows you to make inquiries on items by entering either a Primary Material Code, a Location Code, or an Item Code or description.

"Contract Manager modules share data easily, allowing you to track equipment and job profitability immediately."

Sub-Contractors Continued...

• Tracks change-orders and progress payments.
• Sets up and maintains sub-contracts by job and sub-contract number.
• Prints a Sub-Contractor sub-ledger listing to show not only invoices but also change orders, holdback amounts, amounts payable, and actual contract information for each sub-contractor.
• Prints a detailed Back Charge Revenue Report detailing the revenue that originates as a back charge to your sub-contractors.
• Reports sub-contractor costs on our Job Cost Report in unit costs.

"The Explorer system makes it easy for us to track changed orders and extra work orders. We maximize profit by making sure that all extras get billed and none fall through the cracks."

Purchase Order and Purchase Accruals Continued...

• Know your costs before the bills come in.
• Accrued costs can be included in Job Cost Reports and operating statements.
• Tracks partially accrued purchase orders.
• Can record all purchases to a specific job.
• Inquire by PO status, number, requisition number, General Ledger account, job, inventory item, equipment number, work order or vendor.
• Shows quantity ordered, received and back ordered.
• Integrates with Inventory Control, Job Costing, Equipment Control, Work Order, Accounts Payable, and General Ledger Modules.
• Create multiple Purchase Orders in "open" status for comparison purposes.
• Updating an "open" Purchase Order automatically creates accruals in integrated modules.
• Adjusts for received quantities, back-orders, and non-received items during invoice posting.
• Posting of Accounts Payable invoices changes accruals to actuals.
• Automatic back-order of outstanding items.
• Print Purchase Orders based on multiple selection criteria.

"We have Explorer's training staff visit us at least once a year to help sharpen up our skills and make sure we're doing things the easiest way and getting the most out of the information gathered by the system."

Accounts Receivable Continued...

It is critical that Accounts Receivable transactions are recorded in a well-organized manner. You must be able to obtain, at any time, a record of who owes your business money, how much money is owed, how long the money has been due, and when you expect to receive payment. Concise Reports of all (or a specific customer’s) outstanding Accounts Receivable must be available in order to ensure the timely collection of payments. Delinquent customer or client accounts and uncollected receivables are likely to cause cash flow problems if left unattended.

The Explorer Enterprise Solution Accounts Receivable module is fully integrated, but is generally used together with the following modules: General Ledger, Job Costing, Time & Billing, and Scale Plant Management.

• Posts contract and cash sales invoices with complete revenue distribution to jobs.
• Accommodates contract claims and refundable deposits.
• Prints an aged sub-ledger with a separate column for holdbacks on contract invoices.
• Reports estimated cash receipts for projects that expect incoming cash on a weekly basis.
• Accesses customer accounts quickly to answer inquiries for both current receivables and invoices already paid.
• Prints accruals and deferrals posted for the General Ledger period desired.
• Uses an open-item account statement format.
• Create and print invoices on-the-fly.
• Create collection letters automatically with Write Letters Wizard
• Customer inquiry across all companies to see amount customer owes in total, or pick one or more companies and see total receivables

"When we have software or accounting questions, Explorer support people are just like an extension of our own staff. They are familiar with our issues, and always eager to help."

Time and Billing Continued...

• Invoice for everything you do. Nothing gets missed.
• Extracts details from Job Costing, thus assuring that no items are missed for purposes of invoicing.
• Allows individual mark-up by type of labor, type of equipment, or by a company-wide mark-up rate.
• Automatically prints invoices and updates all applicable modules.

"I use the Time and Billing module to automatically create invoices for my hourly work directly from job costing entries. It's easy, and I'm sure that everything gets billed and nothing is missed."

Payroll Continued...

Explorer Payrolls modules are available for United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Malaysia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates and other countries, and meet all governmental Reporting requirements.

Whether your company prepares payroll on a daily, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly basis, in-house payroll preparation can be simplified by using the Explorer Enterprise Solution Payroll modules.

Both Payroll modules work together, and are designed for construction and heavy equipment companies that hire many different types of employees, with different rates, union agreements, and work schedules. This module provides you with the unique ability to post employee time, equipment time, and production quantities,as well as earnings and deductions for an employee through a single entry screen. This means that you can post information from individual time cards or a Daily Foreman's Report on one screen instead of posting employee time on a payroll screen or equipment usage on an equipment screen. Payroll information that is entered daily allows you to generate job and equipment costing on a daily basis.

• Total integration with Job Costing, General Ledger, Equipment Control, Highway and Bridge Maintenance, Equipment Servicing, and Work Order modules.
• Employees' time is costed to jobs at a fully burdened rate.
• Fully accrued payrolls simplify accounting where payroll periods cross month ends
• Mechanics' time may be costed to a piece of equipment and component.
• Equipment time is costed to jobs and a corresponding offset amount is credited to the equipment sub-ledger.
• Production (by quantities) is posted to bid items from time cards or daily foreman's Reports.
• Four basic payroll types - weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly. Payroll information for hourly employees can be entered daily, weekly, or by lump-sum time cards.
• Generates computer checks, posts payroll adjustments, cancels any check previously processed, and uses a complete check reconciliation system. Users can define hourly rates by work classification.
• Hourly Payroll is designed to accommodate all U.S. State and Federal tax and Reporting requirements, including FICA, SUI, and Minority Reports, and Davis Bacon.
• Canadian tax, EI/CPP calculations and deductions can be set up for any combination of Canadian provinces including Quebec (all tax, EI, and CPP, QST parameters can be user defined and maintained).
• Accumulation of EI information for hourly employees, so that a record of employment information can be displayed or printed on government forms upon termination of employees.
• Payroll modules for Malaysia, Mexico, Costa Rica, UAE and South Africa are also available and modules for other countries will be provided as our client base expands to include more countries around the world.

"We work in multiple states and counties and have both unionized and non-union payrolls. The Explorer system deals with all the jurisdictional requirements automatically. Once I set things up, I don't have to worry about where the employees are working. All the Reports I require for each level of government, Worker's Compensation Board, union, etc., are kept separate."

Job Costing Continued...

• Know daily how you are doing on each job.
• Daily Job Costing, with costs automatically updated from Payroll, Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable sub-ledgers, Hired Truck Payroll, Scale Tickets / Plant Management, Inventory, and General Ledger - so you get immediate job costing.
• A flexible Reporting system allows you to choose either basic or advance job cost Reporting, and management information Reports can be provided in either summary or detailed formats.
• Cost comparisons can be done on a unit cost basis - estimate versus actual costs - such as labor hours and dollars per cubic yard of earth moved.
• Sets up budget estimates by item, with job cost classifications for each item including owned equipment rental, outside equipment rent, labor hours, labor costs, permanent materials, subcontracts, services, tools and supplies, fuel, oil, and grease, equipment repairs and production quantities - with costs stated in dollars as well as in unit cost.
• Budget items can be set up by 20-digit cost codes, with automatic sub-totaling of sub-items.
• Production may be posted and Reported in three ways - by actual production, by pay quantity, and by projected over and under run quantity.
• Supports work breakdown structure
• Sets up Reports with headings and job cost classifications based on job type.
• Report Generator.

"We get our job costing information daily! Production is posted daily so we have accurate and up-to-date unit costs. We can enter PO accruals so that jobs show the cost of materials for which we have not yet been invoiced. Job costing information always balances with information in the General Ledger. Both the project managers and the accountants are happy."

Estimating Continued...

Enterprise Solution Estimating is a computerized system that standardizes the estimating process for heavy construction companies. Once you have created estimates for a particular type of job, Enterprise Solution Estimating allows you store information about the resources you have used, such as labor, equipment, and production rates. You can use these resources on your next job, or alter them slightly for your current estimate.

• Allows you to build a crew composed of labor and/or equipment, specifying hours and production capacities.
• Defines labor and equipment escalation factors.
• Builds the main body of your estimate from individual resources, with separate items for each bid item, as well as indirect costs.
• Allows you to set up sub-items within any bid item.
• Successful bids are automatically set up in job costing sub-ledger
• Allows you to enter permanent materials, subcontractors, and other costs.
• Allows comparisons with past bids or estimates.
• Allows "What if?" cost change analysis.
• Allows you to enter competition bids, so you can perform an historical comparison

"The estimating module is crew-based. It works the way I would build the estimate manually."

Utilities Continued...

Advanced query engine
Advanced inquiries – flexible inquiries and Reporting, personalized view by user. All inquiries customizable by user to get the information you want in the format you want

Casual user / Power User
Reduce cost of ownership and still get the information in the right hands to make decisions. Casual users have real time inquiry and Reporting capability increasing the value of financial and project data without the administrative overhead of producing Reports. Power users based on access rights, employees can enter, edit, and view information.

Security
Explorer Enterprise provides your organization with enhanced security. Security by company, division, job, payroll, documents and more, lets you freely provide access to company information secure in the knowledge that employees see only the information they are suppose to and helps you protect sensitive financial data. Easily manage security and access rights for an employee or groups of employees.

Right mouse click integration to Microsoft Office
Increase the return on your technology investment. Connect information and streamline processes with integration to Microsoft Office applications. Integration extends the reach of Explorer Enterprise Solution for Construction by making data accessible to Microsoft Office applications. You save valuable time that would otherwise be spent with redundant data entry, repetitive searches and laborious Report creation. You enhance your workers’ productivity, allowing them to work more effectively. Tight integration to Microsoft Office simplifies collaboration and analysis.

Explorer Smart Tags
Context sensitive links let you drill back to detailed customer, vendor, employee, project and equipment information instantly.

Create tasks by a simple right mouse click
A straight forward streamlined approach to managing your personal tasks or work-related errand you want to track through to completion. Manage your tasks easily with Explorer Tasks – integrates to Microsoft Outlook Tasks.

Write Letters Wizard
Take the inconvenience and expense out of common tasks. Write Letters Wizard integrates Microsoft Word to Explorer Enterprise Solution Database and simplifies creation of letters. Create letters to employees, customers, vendors, in human resources and estimating. Collections never were easier - automatically create collection letters from within Explorer Enterprise software solution.

System preferences end user selectable
Many customizable features out of the box, check your preferences. Adaptable solution - Explorer Enterprise Solution for Construction is software that works the way you work. Easily manage process change by selecting from over 300 user preferences. Change the behavior of the software and enhance user productivity with while protecting sensitive financial data.

Map Point Integration
New intuitive map interface, graphical information system, with drill-down to project information and costs locates projects easily. Drill down to detailed costs any-time, anywhere in the web browser.

Explorer Reports Continued...

• Financial Report Designer, create and modify financial Reports for your organization. Create your own employee, job cost, equipment Reports.
• Advances Query Engine – create, display, and save your favorite views of data from across your business, and then export data to Microsoft Excel for further analysis. With Explorer Enterprise make the information meaningful and actionable.
• ODBC Report Writing – utilize any ODBC compliance report writing tool (such as Crystal Reports or FRX) to create customized reports displaying the exact information needed in a presentation quality format. User defined reports can be added to the Global or Personal menu for any user and run from within Contract Manager.