Microsoft Dynamics Customer Solution Case Study

Government Contractor Improves Insight, Reporting With Cloud-Based Project Accounting Solution

“Not only did Dynamics SL cost about 15

Customer: Shared Spectrum Company percent less than Deltek Vision, it is also flexible Website: www.sharedspectrum.com enough to support a commercial business environment Customer Size: 26 employees Country or Region: United States when our products catch on in the private sector.” Industry: Engineering—Electrical engineering Dan Simmon, Controller, Shared Spectrum Company Partner: Brittenford Systems

Customer Profile Business Needs Shared Spectrum Company. “With 16 Based in Vienna, Virginia, Shared Founded in 2000, Shared Spectrum simultaneous projects and reporting that Spectrum Company is a government Company (SSC) is a government contractor took as long as two hours per project, contractor focused on establishing new focused on developing technology that there wasn’t enough time to report at a technologies that leverage the radio dramatically increases the use of the radio faster interval and perform the rest of my frequency spectrum. frequency (RF) spectrum. Since its job.” founding, the company has become an Software and Services expert and innovator in the development At the same time the company aimed to  of cognitive radio technologies and ease project accounting, it also sought to − Microsoft Dynamics SL pioneered the development of Dynamic simply gain new functionality to support Spectrum Access (DSA) technology for the several key business processes. Of these, US Department of Defense. the company wanted to automate timecard processing and government As a small, growing company, SSC had reporting, primarily as it pertained to relied on Intuit QuickBooks for nine years Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) to manage accounting and Microsoft Excel compliance. for . For a company that once had a single, large government “Accounting for employees’ time was a contract, QuickBooks worked well. But, by manual process,” says Simmon. “It took me 2009, SSC juggled multiple contracts and about four hours twice a month to enter projects, making the tying together of employees’ time into QuickBooks to run financial and project management data an payroll.” increasingly cumbersome task. SSC also saw that, should its innovations “We had no insight into a project until we take off in the commercial space, the ran month-end financials and related company would need a more solid For more information about other those financials to a project by using infrastructure in place to accompany rapid Microsoft customer successes, please visit: Excel,” says Dan Simmon, Controller for growth. Says Simmon, “At any point in www.microsoft.com/casestudies

time, our technologies could become a management and accounting. Because of Achieve Government Compliance major hit as they become available to the this, we can work to streamline our As a government contractor, having a public, and we needed to be ready for that reporting and be ready for whatever central source of information has also growth with an integrated project opportunities the future may hold.” meant easing compliance, a particular management and accounting system.” benefit when it comes to DCAA. “With Establish Central Source of Truth, Microsoft Dynamics SL, we have all the Solution Streamline Reporting and Cash Flow information and functionality we need for For its new project management and Now, with all project and financial DCAA reporting,” says Simmon. “We can accounting solution, SSC chose Microsoft information in one system, SSC can also see our fixed and variable costs and Dynamics SL after also closely considering perform reporting with ease. “Managers determine the variance between our Deltek Vision. Says Simmon, “Not only did used to have to wait until the end of the provisional and actual rates and that Microsoft Dynamics SL cost about 15 month for me to run them a report; now variance’s financial effect on individual percent less than Deltek Vision, it is also they can see real-time reports with a few contracts.” flexible enough to support a commercial clicks,” says Simmon. “With Microsoft business environment when our products Dynamics SL, I can report on just about Enable Ongoing Growth Through catch on in the private sector.” anything that can come down the pipe, Flexible Platform which is a nice feeling to have. In addition, SSC is now developing its DSA technology Working with Microsoft partner Brittenford the solution makes it possible to get and expects that technology to have Systems, SSC has begun to deploy invoices out more quickly, which helps to commercial applications in the near future, Microsoft Dynamics SL in a cloud-based accelerate our cash flow.” leading to rapid company growth. With environment hosted by Data Resolution to Microsoft Dynamics SL in place, the eliminate IT support and infrastructure This central source of truth has also led to company eyes that future in confidence. requirements. Says Simmon, “As a company measurable improvements: Says Simmon, “For a growing company, with one person in IT and one person in  Saving 32 hours per month in project the inflexibility of QuickBooks was finance, it made a lot of sense for us to go accounting by eliminating the need to becoming a liability. With Microsoft with a hosted deployment of Microsoft combine project and financial Dynamics SL, we can adapt the system to Dynamics SL.” management information. meet the needs of our business as it  Saving eight hours per month by continues to change.” Already, the company has started to use eliminating the need to manually enter Microsoft Dynamics SL for core processes employees’ time for payroll. that span project management, accounting, and timecard processing. Says Simmon, “Now that employees input their hours into Microsoft Dynamics SL, managers can see project financials in near real time.”

Benefits With Microsoft Dynamics SL in place, SSC has improved project accounting, eased reporting, and laid a solid IT foundation for ongoing company growth. Says Simmon, “By using Microsoft Dynamics SL, we have been able to bring all facets of our business together under one solution— from timecard entry to integrated project

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published April 2012