FOUNDATION

FOUNDATION^® is America’s #1 construction accounting software and the flagship product of Foundation Software’s total construction back-office solution. Built specifically for the needs of the construction industry, FOUNDATION’s base modules mix standard accounting features like Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and General Ledger with construction-specific features like Job Costing and Purchase Orders/Subcontracts. With fully integrated modules, data from one area of the system seamlessly flows to other impacted areas–like Payables to Job Costing and Receivables to the General Ledger–removing the need for double entry.

Video Overview

FOUNDATION users can further customize their own personal solution with the purchase of additional modules and integrated tools. With modules like Scheduling, Inventory, Equipment, Time & Material, Unit Price Billing, Fixed Assets and Service Dispatch, as well as an Executive Dashboard and Consolidated General Ledger for multi-company financial reporting, users can get the exact setup they need for their business.

When combined with other Foundation Software products like ProjectHQ®–the standalone, web-based project management software for contractors–and Payroll4Construction–the payroll service built just for construction–FOUNDATION users can upgrade to a fully integrated ERP solution.

FOUNDATION Features

FOUNDATION offers a variety of modules to help contractors get the level of control they need out of their software.

Base modules include:

• Job Costing
• Accounts Payable
• General Ledger
• Payroll
• Accounts Receivable
• Purchase Orders & Subcontracts
• CPA Audit/Review

Additional modules include:

• Time & Material
• Unit Price Billing
• Inventory
• Equipment
• Fixed Assets
• Project Management
• Scheduling
• Service Dispatch
• Executive Dashboard

Mobile tools include:

• FOUNDATION Mobile
• eAccess
• Service Dispatch mobile®

Services include:

Payroll Processing with Payroll4Construction

Job Costing (J/C)

• Flexible report designers
• Bonding, over/under and WIP reporting
• Unlimited user-defined phases and cost codes
• Change order processing
• Track actual vs. estimate costs, hours and quantities
• Production and unit-cost reporting
• Automated overhead and labor burden allocations

FOUNDATION’s Job Costing module is thoroughly integrated with the other modules in the program, eliminating duplicate entry. Vendor and subcontractor invoices are posted to Job Costing from Accounts Payable and job billings from Accounts Receivable. Purchase orders instantly update committed costs on reports. Employee hours (including regular and overtime), gross pay and labor burden are posted to the cost code and cost class level (phases optional) automatically through timecard entry.

Accounts Payable (A/P)

• Recurring invoices
• Flexible selection of invoices for payment
• Check voids, adjustments and credit memos
• Automatic lien waivers
• Sales and use tax tracking
• Subcontractor retainage tracking
• Printable and electronic 1099s

The Accounts Payable Module handles invoice and cash-disbursement processing as well as essential utilities to assist tasks like bid selection, 1099 reporting and expense distribution. Data automatically flows from A/P into other modules.

General Ledger (G/L)

• Flexible financial statement designer
• G/L account budgets
• G/L by job reporting
• Overhead allocation
• Automatic bank reconciliation
• Recurring journal entries
• Simple year-end closes (no hard closes)
• Consolidated and multi-company financial reporting with Consolidated G/L Module

Users can create a virtually unlimited number of accounts and define each account’s statement category, so companies are free to use their own unique accounts structure. In FOUNDATION, job numbers are attached to all income and expense transactions, allowing for the extraction of G/L data by job and the printing of income statements by job.

Payroll (P/R)

• Certified payroll in multiple federal, state and agency formats, print and electronic
• Prevailing wage rates and reductions
• Workers’ compensation and other burden
• Customizable timecard entry screen
• Multiple jobs, states, localities and pay rates
• Multiple unions, including home/away logic
• Executive payroll security
• Accrued PTO tracking
• Easy check voids and adjustments
• Print and magnetic W-2s
• Minority, federal and state tax reporting
• ACA reporting

Payroll is one of FOUNDATION’s major strengths, and the module is built to satisfy the complex requirements of labor-intensive contractors. Information flows automatically from Payroll into the General Ledger, Job Costing and Equipment Modules. Labor hours, dollars, union fringes and benefits, equipment usage, quantities, and burden automatically flow into Job Costing.

In a single payroll run, an employee may work on any number of jobs in multiple states and localities, resulting in different rates, taxes and fringes. P/R allows for crossing union boundaries, varying trade classifications, and changing pay rates and tax authorities. Even with these numerous complex variables, FOUNDATION accurately computes earnings, taxes, burden, deductions and fringes.

Accounts Receivable (A/R)

• AIA billing with easy rollback and printing
• Percent complete billing
• Track and release retainage
• Custom-design invoices with user-defined logo
• Recurring invoices
• Service charges

Accounts Receivable records and reports income with complete J/C, I/N and G/L integration.

Purchase Orders/Subcontracts (PO/Sub)

• Supports multiple jobs/cost codes per PO
• Customizable PO/subcontracts printing
• Flexible change order tracking
• Prevents overbilling by vendor
• Reminders of certificate expiration dates
• Committed cost reporting

PO/Subcontract integrates directly with the A/P, I/N and J/C Modules. Within PO/Subcontract, users can enter, print and manage purchase orders and subcontracts, as well as receive related inventory. The PO/SubGenie can also design basic and detailed custom PO and subcontract templates to print from within the system.

CPA Audit/Review

• Easy access to key reports
• Journal adjustments
• Easy access and fast exports

The CPA Audit/Review module is specialized for construction CPAs to easily access key reports. With remote access through FOUNDATION Hosted, CPAs can check their clients’ financial health and make necessary journal adjustments, all without having to leave the office.

Additional Modules

Additional modules include:

Time & Material (T/M)

• User-defined markups by job, by customer or global
• Simple to use complex markups
• Add/edit billing from register
• Automatically prevents re-billing

The Time & Material Module allows a wide variety of markups and billing rates based on job, customer, cost code or company. Billing rates and markups work for all activity against a job, including employees, trades, subcontractors, material suppliers, inventory and equipment. The T/M invoice designer allows detailed and summary invoices based on user preference. Invoiced transactions are marked as invoiced to prevent duplicate invoicing. Cost-plus jobs are also readily handled in T/M.

Unit Price Billing (U/P)

• Creates estimates for billings
• Quantity or lump sum per item
• Attach subcontractors to each item
• Import line items from estimating software, spreadsheets and government/DOT websites

Unit Price Billing enables contractors who perform work for government agencies to submit specialized invoice formats. The module follows standard procedures for most state DOTs, and the U/P BidGenie gives the ability to import bids from the different state agency websites.

When a job is awarded, users can set up a job record and its bids along with information like bid status, dates of award and completion, quantity unit price or lump sum, and subcontractor names. Once a bid is awarded, you can enter quantities to update the status. Quantity information can be automatically sent to the J/C Module. Receivable invoices can be created automatically from unit price estimates or entered manually.

Inventory (I/N)

• Unlimited stocking locations
• Tracks UPC/DCI code
• Integration with pricing service
• Integration with PO/Subs
• Integration with bar coding software
• Automatic unit of measure conversion
• Billing integration
• Perpetual inventory with physical count reconciliation
• Receiving options in Inventory and A/P

The Inventory Module includes detailed tracking of quantities, types, price levels and locations, with the option of perpetual quantity tracking or job-costing only methods. With quantity tracking, the on-hand, on-order, allocated, back-order and available quantities are displayed in a simple summary format. With either method, a detailed cost history may be posted directly to Job Costing.

Users can define an unlimited number of items, and flexible, multi-level categorization provides a powerful look-up function with report filtering. Different units of measure for purchasing, stocking and delivery can be used for each item. The system automatically converts these units based on user-defined conversion tables.

Multiple pricing levels also offer great flexibility in reporting. A simple import utility integrates with major pricing services. Pricing and costs can be based on average, standard or last cost, and costs can be maintained by item and vendor.

In addition to the main stocking location, the I/N Module allows for an unlimited number of locations, such as warehouses and trucks. I/N also allows for simple recording of transfers from one location to another, from location to job, or from job to location. Integration with bar-coding software is also available. I/N has the ability to post costs directly to job history through journal entries, A/P transactions, purchase order receiving, A/R transactions or equipment. All posted inventory is retained in an inventory usage table.

Equipment (E/Q)

• Track usage hours and costs in J/C
• Schedule routine service and maintenance
• Retain service and maintenance history
• Equipment cost history with drill-down detail
• Printable work orders
• Enter equipment hours through P/R
• Fuel tracking and consumption

The Equipment Module provides for detailed accounting on equipment usage, cost, location and condition of your equipment, regardless if it is owned, rented or leased. The system identifies equipment items with a unique code and includes the following information:

• Job costing rates
• Manufacturer
• Category
• New or used
• Owned rented or leased
• Make, model and year
• Distributor
• Purchase price and date
• Warranty information
• Insured value
• Market value
• Serial Number
• Attachments

The E/Q Module can also record more detailed vehicle information such as use (commercial or private), gross weight, number of axles, license plate, etc. It integrates with J/C, P/R, I/N and, optionally, G/L and A/P.

Costs and usage quantities can be sent automatically to J/C by cost class. Actual usage and idle time can be recorded by phase, cost code or cost class. Variable rates can be recorded by the hour, day, week or month, and idle and down time can be costed at different rates.

Equipment hours can be entered through timecards or through the Equipment Usage Journal, and usage can be costed by hour, day, month or week. Users can send equipment costs to the general ledger to balance G/L and J/C data, and G/L accounts can be set separately by category, equipment item or attachment.

Contractors can track equipment usage for idle time as well as actual use time. A history is accessible by equipment item, classification, job, cost code and date range.

Equipment also allows users to define service/expense codes to facilitate the automation of scheduled routine maintenance. Work orders can be automatically generated based on hours of use, odometer readings or lapse of time. Each equipment item will maintain a detailed history of all service and repair.

Fixed Assets (F/A)

Unlimited depreciation methods Automatic depreciation calculation Powerful reporting

Fixed Assets allows the user to track the acquisition, depreciation and retirement of fixed assets in accordance with current law and sound accounting principles. It accommodates an unlimited number of depreciation types and methods, allowing different depreciation for internal, tax and other purposes. It fully integrates with the E/Q and G/L Modules.

Project Management (P/M)

• RFC, RFP, RFI and submittal tracking
• Punch lists, meeting agendas and field logs
• RFI and Submittal Logs
• Correspondence Log
• Integration with Microsoft Outlook®

Project Management allows FOUNDATION users to control projects and manage their documents through the centralized Job Center. In the Job Center, contractors can see real-time document statuses and create and track submittals, transmittals, requests for proposals (RFPs), requests for information (RFIs), requests for change orders (RFCs), purchase orders, subcontracts, and more. Job Center field logs record weather and site conditions, delays, tasks completed, employees on site, materials received, equipment mobilization, and miscellaneous notes. Project Management also features punch-list tracking, custom status creation and Outlook integration that copies project-related emails into FOUNDATION when sent.

Project Management allows additional document management through logs and image attachments. Users can also create and print meeting agendas and notes from information stored in the system, make custom forms, and link documents, creating a complete communication trail.

The P/M quick copy feature allows users to copy document formats. For example, an entire submittal package can be copied from one job to another, saving substantial time and effort.

Scheduling

• Interactive Gantt charts
• Allocation of resources to tasks
• Assign predecessors to tasks
• Integrates with job budgets
• Assign resources like equipment, employees and subcontractors
• Lead-time and lag-time tracking

The Scheduling Module helps contractors track tasks and resources to keep jobs on schedule. Users can set up, track and view project schedules for budgeted and non-budgeted jobs, pinpoint exact resource requirements of each project with Gantt charts, and change the time frame and order of tasks with a simple drag-and-drop interface. Resources such as employees, subcontractors, equipment, materials and more can be assigned to tasks or reassigned to resolve misallocation. Assigning predecessor or successor relationships can help assure the correct sequence of work, and the Detailed Schedule and Summary Schedule Reports make it easy to analyze project data.

Service Dispatch (S/D)

• Graphical, drag-and-drop dispatch board
• User-defined time and technician options
• Technician messaging, mapping and routing
• Document scanning
• Equipment warranty tracking
• Track service contracts and expiration dates
• Inventory handling and quantity tracking
• Create invoices to bill for equipment installed, new contracts sold, labor and material costs
• Optional recurring billings and dispatches
• Track profit by location, service type, technician and customer
• View billed vs. unbilled jobs
• Track and manage daily schedules, types of service and unassigned dispatches
• Color coding by priority, technician or status
• Integration with Service Dispatch mobile

FOUNDATION’s Service Dispatch Module is designed to handle the daily demands of service contracting. Service Dispatch features a color-coded, drag-and-drop dispatch board that’s easy to read even at a glance and provides a comprehensive view of all service jobs and each technician’s workday.

As the dispatch operator navigates the board, he or she can easily schedule and assign new calls, extend or cancel appointments, change technicians, send messages, provide maps and routing information, track time, and perform various other activities.

As the call progresses and closes, the billing process can begin. A/R and I/N are automatically updated with information from Service Dispatch, ensuring seamless, timely management of receivables

Executive Dashboard (E/D)

• Instantly view job cost and financial data
• Interactive, colorful graphics and charts
• Drill down into transaction-level detail

The Executive Dashboard provides owners and project managers with convenient, high-altitude job performance reporting. Users can access a range of information including contract data, profit, to-date billings, costs and gross margin.

Mobile Tools

Mobile tools include:

FOUNDATION mobile

With FOUNDATION mobile, supervisors from the field can enter and approve timecard data, daily logs, material transfers and PO’s right from the jobsite and sync it directly to their FOUNDATION database.

FOUNDATION Service Dispatch mobile

Service Dispatch mobile allows service technicians to clock in and out and record materials as well as capture customer payment information and signatures.

FOUNDATION eAccess

With FOUNDATION eAccess, employees have instant access to their payroll information right from their own device. Employees can check pay history, deductions, accrued time off and more.

Payroll Service

FOUNDATION integrates directly with Payroll4Construction, the payroll service built just for construction. Timecard data, payroll history, job costing and general ledger information update seamlessly in FOUNDATION when processing payrolls through Payroll4Construction.

FOUNDATION Target Market

FOUNDATION is used by over 25,000 construction professionals across the United States. With its powerful features, FOUNDATION is typically best suited for small- to medium-sized, labor-intensive contractors, although the system is still used by much larger construction businesses. Companies on FOUNDATION traditionally range from 10 to 1,500 employees and have an annual revenue between $1 million and $250 million.

Of the total number of FOUNDATION users, approximately 80% are trade contractors and 20% are general contractors, with 17% working Heavy Construction.