Estimation Inc., another Maxwell acquistion

Once again, Maxwell Systems has acquired another estimating software company, Estimation Inc. For a number of years, Estimation products have co-existed with the Maxwell Management Suite to provide excellent estimating and accounting resources, and that should continue to be the case, now that Estimation is part of the Maxwell family.

Welcome aboard, Estimation.

Resources:
Maxwell Systems
Estimation Inc.

2007 Maxwell End User Conference Highlights

The 2007 Maxwell End User Conference in Orlando was a great success with over 300 attendees. In particular, Maxwell provided information about features and functions for coming releases of the Maxwell Management Suite product line.

Some of those features slated for the next release are:

  • Allow multiple AIA Laser Formats with various coversheets
  • Generate Laser and Plain Paper Invoice for Equipment Rental
  • General Ledger Capital Asset Tracking if using Equipment Costing
  • Ability to accrue payroll
  • Exclude specific Timecard lines from Certified Payroll
  • Generate recurring pay items such as Car Allowance
  • Enhanced EEOC Reporting
  • Service Management Proposal Interface tied to American Contractor SmartEstimator
  • PM Materials Required by Equipment
  • Support for Tax Distributions for Service Contracts
  • View by Serviceperson in Calendar view Dispatch Board
  • Current and historical activity more accessible from Dispatch Board
  • Ability to view completed work orders in Dispatch Board
  • Calendar view Dispatch Board expanded to view 14 days
  • Enhanced copy and paste of WorKOrders in Dispatch Baord
  • Create Subcontract Pay Requisitions
  • More automated workstation installation process

Subsequent releases will see:

  • Enhanced Departmental Processing
  • Enhanced Menuing abilities

Congratulations to Maxwell on the success of their conference.

Resources:
Maxwell Management Suite
Maxwell Systems

Estimating Software Vendor, Quest Solutions, Purchased by Maxwell Systems

Continuing their recent practice of acquiring construction software products, Maxwell Systems recently purchased estimating software vendor, Quest Solutions.

Quest Solutions estimating product is a modular, easy-to-use, takeoff and estimating system geared for specialty contractors. Thousands of companies have purchased Quest products.

In the near future, look for Maxwell to allow the Quest estimating product to interface with the Maxwell Management Suite product line.

Resources:

Quest Solutions
Overview of Quest Solutions Estimating
Maxwell Systems
Maxwell Management Suite
Maxwell Systems

Maxwell Management Suite Version 6.4

The lastest version of the Maxwell Management Suite Version 6.4 is released by Maxwell Systems.

Among the new features are:

  • Missing Timecard Report
  • Automatically assign Employee Numbers
  • Automatically generate payments for Employee Deductions such as garnishments
  • Union Agreement designations assignable by Job
  • Davis Bacon fringe benefits assignable by Employee
  • Automatically covert hours to overtime hours if daily/weekly limit is reached
  • Payroll Reports can be sorted by Employee Number or Employee Name
  • Designate Joint Check information during Pre-Invoice and Vendor Invoice Entry
  • Can exclude Subcontract related invoices in Automatic Payment Selection
  • Enter a string or range of check numbers to be cancelled in Bank Reconciliation Entry
  • Allow entry of hours related to AP payments in AP invoicing processes.
  • Recurring Journals allowed anytime or just once a month
  • Support for Blanket Purchase Order
  • Discount Date field in Cash Receipt Entry to help determine if payment was eligible for discount
  • Include/exclude Discounts in Project Cash Receipts Report
  • Expanded Job Billing Line Item field to 20 digits`
  • Import Billing Items
  • T&M Billing Lines can be set to tax exempt
  • Import data from XLS and XML files
  • Print Order Processing cash and direct sales invoices in one-easy-step
  • Daily Transaction Report in Order Processing
  • Multiple Vendors and Vendor Items assignable to Inventory Items
  • Material Report by Job and by Plant in Material Handling

Resources:
Maxwell Management Suite
Maxwell Systems

What is the Discussion Board?

One of the new features on this web-site is the Discussion Board. The Discussion Board, powered by Simple Machines Forum software, is a community forum where you can ask (or answer) questions related to your Maxwell Systems Software.

Because of the ‘sharing’ aspect of the Discussion Board, other people can view the question you ask and they can answer your question. Once a question is asked and answered, other members will be able to benefit from that exchange.

So, if you have a question, or a comment, or a solution, please feel free to contribute to the Discussion Board. The more questions, the better!

Live Help Chat

To offer another avenue of support and to better assist visitors to this site, I’ve installed the Live Help software from Crafty Systems. Essentially, this allows you to start a chat session with me by just clicking on the “Click for LIVE HELP!” icon over to the right. A window will be displayed; there you enter your name, your e-mail address, and your question. Then, click on “Send” to initiate the chat process.

Live Help first screen

Once the chat session has begun, as each of us responds, you will see an ongoing display of our converstaion. I will see whatever you type, and in turn, you will see what I type. Click the “Say” button at the end of each of your reponses. At any time , you can end the chat by clicking on Exit. At that point, you will be afforded the opportunity to receive a transcript of the chat session via email.

Live Help chat screen

So please, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to “Click for LIVE HELP!”. I look forward to hearing from you.

Maxwell Systems Acquires Construction Management Software Vendor, Cheetah Advanced Technologies

On March 6, 2006, Maxwell Systems announced the acquisition of Cheetah Advanced Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of software for highway heavy contractors. Founded in 1996, Cheetah develops business management enterprise software solutions for the Heavy Highway, Utilities Construction, and Materials Production industries.

Cheetah StreetSmarts now joins the family of Maxwell Management Suite, Colonial Systems Property Management, and The American Contractor construction and property management software products delivered by Maxwell Systems.

Resources:
Maxwell Management Suite
Cheetah StreetSmarts
Colonial Systems Property and Construction Management
The American Contractor

Maxwell System Purchases Largest Dealer

After 21 years as a Maxwell dealer, Paragon, has been bought by Maxwell Systems.

Paragon has always been one of Maxwell’s top selling partners so it is with some sadness that the Maxwell community will say goodbye to Peggy McCain and most of the team at Paragon.

Best of luck to all at Paragon and congratulations to Maxwell.

Subsequent news: Maxwell has also purchased Maxwell Dealers, Sunrise and CIT.

National End-User Workshop 2006

It is exciting to annouce that Maxwell Systems is holding their National End-User Workshop for 2006 in Orlando, Florida on May 8th and 9th.

The Workshop is designed for users of the Maxwell Management Suite software. The Workshop is designed to be informative and engaging for all skill levels of Maxwell
users.

There will be two tracks to follow at the Workshop. The Service Track is designed to tie together the aspects of dispatching, managing of contracts, and invoicing, together for service organizations. In the non-Service Track, the Workshop will instruct users on how the Maxwell Management Suite can better assist in the intregration of accounting and project management roles in a construction company environment.

Both tracks will help users learn how to make better use of the tools they have available in their systems. In addition, there will be several roundtable discussions that will allow attendees to share their knowledge and learn about the experiences of other Maxwell users.

Listed below are the links to a brochure describing the Workshop, a link to Maxwell’s registration, and a link to Caribe Royale hotel registration. Please join us in Orlando. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Resources:
Workshop Brochure
Maxwell National End-User Workshop Registration
Caribe Royale Hotel Registration

Taxable Car Allowance

Assumption:
Employee must be charged with $1,000.00 taxable car allowance for a tax year. The $1,000.00 will be charged in one lump sum to the employee.

1. If you don’t have one, in Standard Rate Code Maintenance, setup a Rate Code called CAR as a Miscellaneous Pay Type.

2. If you don’t have one, setup a Deduction called CAR in Fringe/Deduction Maintenance. Make all flags for federal and state(s) Yes. If you feel the Car Allowance is not susceptible to FICA, FUTA, SUTA, or Worker’s Comp, please discuss that with your accountant.

3. In Employee Deduct/Fringe Maint. assign the CAR Deduction to the employee with a Fixed Dollar Amount of $1,000.00.

4. During the entry of an employees’ weekly TimeCard, add a Line, using the Rate Code CAR, for $1,000.00.

Note: the employee will be ‘charged’ with $1,000.00 because of the Miscellaneous Pay and the $1,000.00 will then be ‘deducted’ out because of the Fringe/Deduction. As a result the employee gets taxed for the Car Allowance.

5. If Car Allowance is to appear in a special box of the W2, you will have to put that amount manually in that special box in the W2 under Adjust Empl. Year End Earnings. The Gross Wages will already reflect the $1,000.00.