Getting Started

Before you can begin using Unanet, there are a few 'setup' steps that must be performed. This Getting Started documentation will help walk you through these steps to get you up running fast! To get started quickly, check out:

If you haven't setup and configured the application, check out the Installation and Setup help topics. These steps must be completed before you can proceed with using Unanet.

The following links will provide additional overview information about moving around in Unanet.

Once the system has been installed, you will need to populate a number of screens with data to match your organization's needs. You will need to consider other systems that will be feeding data to Unanet (Importing), or that will be receiving feeds from Unanet (Exporting) when determining how to configure your site's installation.

Below is a list of data elements that you will need to provide in preparation for end users to begin using the system. As certain elements rely on other elements to exist, the sequence of these steps is important -- so please start from the top, and work your way down.

These activities require a Unanet user with Administrator (and further down Project Manager) roles / authorization. You will initially need to log in as an Administrator. Once you have some of the data entered, you may want to create a Project Manager user to perform some of the later steps.

Depending on which licenses you have installed at your site (e.g. UnaTime, Una$ense, UnaSource, etc.), you may not be required to complete all steps. The table below will indicate which steps are required for each of the major modules (T for UnaTime, E for Una$ense and S for UnaSource).

The steps above are required for setting up the basic data for using the UnaTime, Una$ense, and UnaSource modules. The table below includes a few additional (optional) setup items that you may consider. These are useful for using the Purchase Order functionality and UnaTouch (for contact management) and more.

One of the steps included in the Installation and Setup section addresses configuring the various Unanet property settings. Now that you've had some time setting up the data, it may be a good idea to re-visit the list of properties to see if there are any others that you may now find useful. These properties can be used to control many aspects of the system's functionality.

When first installing and configuring the system, it is not uncommon that administrators want to experiment with using the system once the data has been loaded (which we encourage). If you plan to 'experiment' with the application, you might want to consider taking a snapshot of the database before proceeding further (now that it has the basic configuration data populated).

In this way, you can add test users, create test time and expense reports, and experiment with the many features of the system. Once you have completed your initial testing phase, you could then restore your system to a clean (test data free) state -- ready for use by your end users.

Once the basic data configuration and setup steps have been completed, you're now ready to use the system. The links below will provide additional information about some of the more common processes in Unanet.

27	Maintaining Organization, Person, Project, Task, Assignment and Approval Group data Use the various Import capabilities to help keep data up to date, including the Organization Import, Person Import, Project Import, Task Import, Assignment Import and Approval Group Import. In addition to these imports, you can also import time and expense data (e.g. from an external system) using the Time Import or Expense Import.
28	Entering Timesheet data Learn more about end users entering and submitting time into timesheets as well as the administrative time populate functionality. Available with the UnaTime module. In addition to manually entering time data, the administrator can also import time date (e.g. from an external system) using the Time Import.
29	*Entering Expense Requests and Reports* Learn more about the options available for end users to enter and submit expense requests (authorization for an expense) and expense reports. See the various built-in Wizards and learn more about Expense Types. Available with the Una$ense module. In addition to manually entering expense data, the administrator can also import expenses (e.g. from an external system) using the Expense Import.
30	*Understanding Statuses* Timesheets and Expense reports are always in a particular status as they are being created, submitted, approved, etc. Learn more about the various system statuses.
31	*The Approval Process* As timesheet and/or expense reports are submitted, the Approval Process may include approval by Managers, Project Managers and even Customer Approvers. For more information about the Manager approval process, see the Approval Group help. The Project Manager Approval, Manager Time Approval, Manager Expense Approval and Customer Approvals links provide additional information regarding the approval process. Also see the Project help for additional information on setting up a project to require Project Manager or Customer Approval.
32	*Using Alternates* Users can assign other users as 'alternates' (also known as Delegates) to perform system duties in their place.
33	*Scheduling Resources* Learn more about how UnaSource can be used to plan resources for future projects. Project Managers can search for available resources, and plan these resources to projects and tasks. Once planned projects get the go ahead, this module can also transfer select assignments to the standard project assignment screens. This data can be very valuable for forecasting revenue and comparing planned time to actual time.
34	*Exporting and Extracting data* The Unanet database contains a wealth of project information. To access this raw data in just about any format you would like, the system has a powerful Export and Extract capability.
35	*Unanet Reports* Unanet comes with a standard set of reports which include the ability to dynamically specify who and/or what should be included in the result set. Many of the Reports are available depending on a users role.
36	*DCAA Compliance* If your Unanet installation must comply with DCAA guidelines, there are a number of settings that you may be interested in learning more about (see Support for DCAA Compliance).
37	*Cost Dilution (Total Time Accounting)* If your Unanet installation will be used to feed a payroll system, and that system requires that cost rates need to be diluted based on the total number of hours reported for a time period, check out the Unanet Dilution help pages.
38	*Project Collaboration (Sharing Project Documents)* Project Managers, Customers and Users can all share documents and exchange project information via the powerful Project Notes capabilities (See Adding, Listing and Searching for more information). Have anytime, anywhere access to this important project information.
39	*Per Diems* Two wizard expense types can be enabled to provide support for recording per diem expenses in the Una$ense module (Lodging Per Diem Wizard and M&IE Per Diem Wizard). Also, check out the help for importing per diem rate schedules, viewing per diem rate schedules, importing M&IE Breakdown rates, and viewing M&IE Breakdown rates.
40	*UnaPDA* With a separately licensed product, users can enter Time and/or Expense data via a PDA device. Check out the UnaPDA help for additional information. Note that this product has additional Installation and Configuration steps.

You might also want to check out the topics in our Unanet Business Practices help area. This section addresses how common processes / practices can be addressed within the Unanet framework.

One final recommendation --- in your plans to rollout Unanet to your work force, you may consider initially rolling out to a smaller / pilot group. In this way, you can work out any of the data flow issues (e.g. feeding HR information from an external system into Unanet --- or --- your new approval process flow --- or --- the feeding of data from Unanet into your downstream accounting systems, etc). Many of our successful customer implementations have pursued this approach.

#	Data Element / Comment	Module
1	Define Time Periods (e.g., time reporting or payroll periods -- weekly, semi-monthly, etc.)	T
2	Define Organization Types (e.g., Internal, External, Customer, Vendor, etc.)	T,E,S
3	Define Organizations (e.g. divisions, departments, customers, staffing companies, etc.)	T,E,S
4	Define Project Types (e.g., type of work performed: billable, non-billable, development, etc.) Unanet has one predefined type = ‘A’ for Administrative	T,E,S
5	Define Pay Codes (e.g., earnings and leave categories to classify reported hours – regular time, overtime, vacation as defined in payroll system)	T
6	Define Approval Groups (e.g., setup the names of the groups of managers who approve timesheets and expenses -- this is a necessary step before adding individual users)	T,E
7	Define Labor Categories (optional) (e.g. labor categories such as Programmer, Engineer, Analyst, etc. can be set up with associated rates and can be assigned to user's at the project or task level)	T,S
8	Define People (e.g., the employees, customer approvers, subcontractors, suppliers, etc.)	T,E,S
9	Assign People To Approval Groups (e.g. assign Unanet managers to Approval Groups and assign an Approval Group to each Unanet user) (optional for timesheet users)	T,E
10	Define Projects (This is done by the *Project Manager*) (e.g. define internal projects, leave, activities, events, overhead define customer projects define a Holiday project {with project type = A (administrative)}	T,E,S
11	Define additional Project Statuses (optional) (e.g. Proposal, Pending, Planning, etc.) Unanet has two predefined project statuses (’Open’ and ‘Closed’)	T,E
12	Define company Holidays (optional) Required for automatic timesheet pre-population of holiday time	T
13	Define Current Mileage Rate If you plan on using the built in expense mileage wizard	E
14	Define Vendors for expense types (optional) (e.g. ValueJet, TWA as vendors for your AIR expense type) If you would like a pre-defined list of vendors to appear for an expense type	E
15	Define additional Expense Types (optional) (e.g. Office Supplies, etc.) Unanet has a number of predefined expense types built into the system that come with an accompanying wizard. By default, a number of these expense types are disabled. You can enable the ones you'd like to use and add additional custom expense types to meet your needs.	E
16	Define Business Rules for Expense Types, such as Thresholds, Receipt Required, Display of Policy info, etc. (optional) (e.g. set a monetary limit for lunch expenditures, specify that receipts are required, display a policy statement along the top of each expense wizard)	E
17	Customize E-mail templates for subject and message content (optional) Add customized ‘subject’ and ‘messages’ (including links to your Unanet) in each enabled e-mail event template	T,E
18	Define Skills (optional) This includes defining Skill Types, Skill Levels and Skills (e.g. Administrators define the various skill values. Subsequently, Users can associate these Skills with their own skill profile. This can be particularly useful in the UnaSource module.)	S
19	Customize Business Week (e.g. In order to calculate available time, a standard definition of a business week must be provided. This screen allows you to define the standard work days in a week and number of hours in a day.)	S

20	Define Purchase Orders for subcontractor services
21	Define Contact Type
22	Define Address Type for Contacts, People and Organizations
23	Define Phone Type for Contacts, People and Organizations
24	Define Email Type for Contacts, People and Organizations
25	Define Note Type for project notes
26	Define Currency Type for the various currencies you may use in Una$ense

Getting Started with Unanet