Contract Management project

[TheEngineer]

Hello,



I've got a project that I need some direction on. I have a contract in which work is delegated to 6 subcontractors. I receive monthly invoices from them and have been manually entering their hours/expenses into an Excel spreadsheet that calculates their current balances. I then use these total numbers to compile one single invoice that I then send to the contract provider.

I am looking for ways to make this process more efficient, as it takes a long time to manually enter all the data. The best idea I have come up with so far is to set up an Access database and, using SharePoint or something similar, have each subcontractor log in and enter their own data so that I can simply download the compiled report. Unfortunately, I have never used Access but am familiar with MySQL and the like.

So, I am looking for direction as far as where to start/look for templates, ideas, tutorials, etc. I would also welcome any other thoughts on the project in general.

I have downloaded a couple Contract Management templates but none seem to be very useful. I will need simply a form for subcontractors to fill out with their hours/expenses and then a report of the total hours.


Thanks for your help!


Brandon

[TheShabz]

I'd only use Sharepoint if the company already has it and it is not too much of a hassle. You mentioned you are familiar with MySQL. Are you familiar with the who XAMP stack? If so, you can create a website (with logon requirements and such of course), forms in PHP and have it dump into the MySQL backend you can report off of later.

You really have a multitude of options to get this done. The thing I'd recommend though is that if you arent proficient in the software, to get professional help. Anything you put on the web that contains confidential info better be near flawless in security else you run massive risks.

[TheEngineer]

I'd only use Sharepoint if the company already has it and it is not too much of a hassle. You mentioned you are familiar with MySQL. Are you familiar with the who XAMP stack? If so, you can create a website (with logon requirements and such of course), forms in PHP and have it dump into the MySQL backend you can report off of later.

You really have a multitude of options to get this done. The thing I'd recommend though is that if you arent proficient in the software, to get professional help. Anything you put on the web that contains confidential info better be near flawless in security else you run massive risks.

Great thoughts!

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with XAMP but I like the idea of your forms. Security is definitely an issue as well so you're right in that professional services would be the way to go.

As a side note, can anyone think of something that might make the accounting more efficient in a different way than I have suggested? That is just the first thing that came to mind and I haven't been able to come up with anything else


Thanks!

[TheShabz]

xamp is just your operating system of choice (WAMP for windows, LAMP for linux, MAMP for mac) Apache, MySQL, PHP. it lets you build and host your own website. As far as accounting software, it all depends on how much you're willing to pay.

[TheEngineer]

xamp is just your operating system of choice (WAMP for windows, LAMP for linux, MAMP for mac) Apache, MySQL, PHP. it lets you build and host your own website. As far as accounting software, it all depends on how much you're willing to pay.

Oh I see. Since each of the subcontractors have their own accounting software in place (as do we), I'm not looking for anything that will replace it. This will simply be some sort of form that will have essentially the same data (although abbreviated) entered into it and then compiled to one invoice.