More about QuickBooks integration...

Typically the process of integrating with QuickBooks is something that we work through with our users, so we usually do the setup process for them. The main reason is because there are some issues regarding how Smart Contractor integrates with QuickBooks that need to be discussed and decided before proceeding. If you are familiar with QuickBooks, you can read about these issues below, and decide if you want to proceed. In either case, you should definitely make a copy of your QuickBooks company file with which to test the Smart Contractor integration so your QuickBooks data won't be affected if you don't like the way it works.

The first thing to note is that QuickBooks has to be running on your computer with the company file open the first time you connect to it.

To get to the QuickBooks setup in Smart Contractor, go to the menu at the top of the screen and click on Setup > Other > QuickBooks Integration. If you press the F1 key, the help system will appear and display the documentation pertaining to setting up QuickBooks. Everything discussed below is contained in that.

One of the first things that form asks you for is to browse to the QuickBooks company file. Which brings up something I need to mention if you are running on Vista. Vista actually prevents Smart Contractor from opening the QuickBooks company file when you browse for it from Smart Contractor. This is not a problem with Smart Contractor, and there's nothing we can do to change it. The problem is that the Windows browse dialog actually locks the file when you select it. When you click "Open" in the browse dialog, you get an error that says QuickBooks can't open the file because it is in use. So the only way you can connect to QuickBooks under Vista is to actually type (or copy and paste) the full path and file name into the prompt for the file name in the Setup QuickBooks Integration form. Great fun!

Once that's done, then there are two main issues to decide...

Source of QuickBooks Item List:

Smart Contractor allows you the choice of using your pre-existing list of items in QuickBooks, or letting Smart Contractor create the item list that it will use based on the list of Job Phases defined in Smart Contractor. This option exists for users who are really married to their QuickBooks item list (we get all types), but we strongly recommend against it. In order to use the pre-existing QuickBooks item list, it is necessary to map Smart Contractor Job Phases to Items in QuickBooks. I won't go into it here, but this approach provides several opportunities for confusion and problems in synching the data between the two systems. The best way to go is to simply allow Smart Contractor to create the item list in QB; that way Smart Contractor automatically maintains the synchrony between the SC Job Phases and the QB Items, and the user does not have to think or do anything about it.

Post Job Item Cost Categories To:

As you know, Contractors need to track and report their construction costs by "cost category" (materials, labor, subcontract, equipment, and other). One approach to doing this is to post job costs for each category to a separate GL account, but this is not so easily done in QuickBooks because each Item can have only one account associated with it. As a result, we have seen QuickBooks users either enter job costs as "expenses" so that they can select separate accounts for each costs category. Another approach we have seen is to assign job cost entries to separate QuickBooks Classes and then use the Classes to separate our the costs by category in the financial reporting. So this is why we offer the option to Post Job Item Cost Categories To: QuickBooks Classes. But that's not what we recommend.

We believe that a better approach for all things considered is for the Item list to be composed of a separate Item for each combination of cost item and cost category, so that each item/cost category could be posted to its own appropriate GL account. The down side of this from the user's point of view is that it would require an item list 5 times as long. But this is not a problem when using Smart Contractor because Smart Contractor automatically generates the QuickBooks Item list, and it automatically creates 5 sub-Items under each item - one for each cost category, and each cost category item is associated with a different GL account.

The rest of the QuickBooks setup process is fairly straight forward, if you are familiar with QuickBooks, and are pretty clear on how you (want to) do things in QuickBooks. You can read about this in the F1 help documentation, or I can work through it with you in an online meeting. If you want to go ahead with it on your own, have a it, but if you'd like some assistance, please don't hesitate to let me know.