XML

Wanted to address XML today. As far as I know, no one has gotten a clean XML export out of their financial software (Deltek Vision, Ajera, Oracle, etc) that will work directly with the CARS XML structure.

The best case scenario is that you press a button on your software, and it exports out XML in a format exactly what you need. I'm sure that world doesn't exist now, but you should be able to export it out somehow, maybe to XML, maybe to Excel.

I've figured out a quick way to record a macro in Excel to get the labor in the format we need, and then a way to export it. 

What does this mean? It means that in a backward fashion, we can basically cobble together an XML that will work. Is it perfect, is it fast? No, but it should be way faster than entering everything in manually, and it should help to make sure you aren't mis-keying your labor. 

If it takes you a half hour to enter your invoices manually, I think that creating a macro for Excel and piecing together your invoice should take less than 10 minutes, which is a win. It still isn't where we need to be, but it is an efficiency. You would still likely need to manually type in some pieces to the XML, like the work order number, basis of payment, overhead rate type, etc.

If you have a direct export out of your XML that you want us to play with, let me know.

Also, if you want a list of other firms that have a similar software, let me know. I really don't want all of you on an island when it comes to figuring out XML invoicing.

Here is a list of all firms that have been trained in CARS, have an administrator so they can use CARS, or are signed up for future training.

As always, email me with any questions. I am not taking off much time during the holidays. Most of my days out of the office will be when I'm training.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

CARS Training and Website Update

We just finished CARS Training for consultants on November 18. We trained a total of 19 consultants from 12 different companies on Tuesday. I appreciate all of you attending training and your thoughtful questions.

The updated list of firms that have been trained in CARS is here

Speaking of questions, we will be updating the CARS website with a list of Frequently Asked Questions. You can find that list on the CARS website on Friday morning (11/21).

Looking forward to our Green Bay WisDOT training sessions on December 9 and 10, we have a total of about 60 people to train. The following week on December 16 we will be training consultants. There is plenty of room for consultants to sign up for that training. You can find the training registration on the CARS website.

If you have any questions you would like addressed, feel free to leave them here, or email me

Training Week

This week was a CARS Training week, meaning there's not much work I was able to do in CARS this week. We trained WisDOT employees in LaCrosse (about 30 people trained) and in Madison (about 15 people trained).

If you need to invoice in SW region, you should now be able to do this, as we are done training in that region.

Had some small developments. I'm trying to create a report to update local programs, and to create a maintenance plan to make sure that when local program contracts come in, that we can assign them to the proper Management Consultants. Right now, if you are the prime, you should be able to see all your contracts. I'm working on a report to help give you access to those contracts you are overseeing. I hope to get that done soon.

Consultant training is on November 18. We have a total of 21 consultants who will be learning CARS on that date.

Here is the updated list of consultants that have been trained (I've also included a list of consultants who are scheduled to be trained).

weekly CARS report

The big news of the week is that XML support is now on the web. You can download the XML files pertaining to each of your basis of payment type, and use that as an example of what your XML upload files should look like. We will help the best we can with XML. Regarding subcontractors, there still isn't an ability to upload those invoices via XML. That is something we are working on.

Otherwise, we're in a data clean up phase. Something that we need to work on is the constant updating of the Local Program projects, so those who need to view those contracts can get to them the moment they are authorized.

Training in LaCrosse and Madison next week.

Here is the updated list of firms who have some CARS Training, have a Consultant Administrator, or are signed up for future CARS Training.