3 Data Audit Areas That Will Help Keep Your FinancialForce Data Clean

Why have data audits? The simplest answer to that question is that when it comes to data if you put garbage in, you get garbage out. You can collect all the data you want to collect and pull all the reports you think you’ll need, but if the data you collect isn’t clean, your reports are worthless to you.

For that reason, we want to make sure that our data is clean at the point of data entry. Leveraging controls available from FinancialForce PSA as well as processes to support best practices go a long way to ensuring clean data. Regular data audits confirm the controls in place are working or identify additional controls needed to ensure clean and accurate data.

Resource Cost Updates

Resource cost is one area where change is inevitable. When was the last time you updated your resource costs? How can we track the updates? Almost every year, for example, most jobs get a salary increase. Are you actually putting that into your employee cost rate? Are you updating what HR is giving you? An audit of resource costs can answer many questions highlight the need for updates.

Timecard and Expense Compliance

We all struggle with timecard compliance. Let’s just be honest. Not only do we strive to get timecards, we also strive for completeness of timecards. Did they complete a 40 hours timesheet in a 40 hour work week?

We also often have problems with expense submission. Is it within the right date frame? The proper types of data audits can make sure that everyone is complying with timecard and expense policies and procedures.

Project Compliance

FinancialForce PSA gives us tools to ensure project compliance. We can use validation rules to make sure that our projects are getting filled out completely, for example, or confirm dependent field requirement based on other form actions taken. Timestamp fields support the ability to find out when someone updated a particular field, so we can keep track of field histories to further confirm compliance.

We can also look at audits for project closeouts. The end date field associated with projects is key, but how do we make sure that our projects get closed out properly? Who’s keeping track of that in your company? Are you making sure that projects are completed?

Setting up data audits and reports can provide quick confirmation that all actions are completed, projects are closed when work is complete, and metrics are valid to base strategic business decisions on in future engagements.

For details about how to use FinancialForce PSA to conduct these and other data audits, check out this recorded webinar “FinancialForce PSA Auditing Techniques to Keep your Data Clean.”