Support for DCAA

Unanet has features and functions that directly support the requirements stated in the Automated Time keeping Systems section of the Defense Contractors Audit Agency (DCAA) regulations.

Note that DCAA requires that the time keeping process (collectively including policies, manual procedures and tools) be compliant; software applications alone are not audited for compliance nor certified or approved as DCAA compliant. The Unanet product suite has been reviewed by auditors at customer sites in conjunction with customer policies and procedures and approved as supporting the DCAA regulations.

DCAA - Knowledge Center Topic

The following features and functions support DCAA time keeping guidelines:

Access

Timesheet users have access to their individual timesheets (labor charging instrument), only, through security controls - username and password.
Timesheet users are limited to authorized projects/activities/tasks through the My Projects feature and subject to charging restrictions set by Unanet project managers.
Approvers can be restricted from editing a user’s timesheet - a global setting Allow Managers to Edit Timesheets (unatime.manager.edit).
Passwords have key security features such as number and type of characters

Control

Time may not be reported in advance – a project level setting (Allow Future Charges) .
Comments feature to describe and substantiate time reported for each timesheet entry (cell level comments).
Delinquent time (daily time entry required) report is available (via the Minimum Hours Email Reminder).
A Status Report is available to list % of pay period time reported to ensure complete paid and non-paid hours are reported.
A stored procedure is available on the submit to implement your organization's time reporting rules
Weekly overlap time period support for flexible work weeks (e.g. every other Friday off)

Work Flow

Changes to ’saved’ time are captured in a timesheet audit trail supported by comments containing the reason for the change and the before and after image of the changed items.
Automated work flow event process to support and expedite the approval process.
Automated timesheet approval (disapproval) audit trail for both manager and project managers and event log with comments.
A post submittal review feature is available for users that have had an alternate perform a timesheet submittal or approval for another user (note this feature is also available for expense report reviews)
User initiated adjustments (as permitted by the administrator) with adjustment audit trail

Contract Support

User-defined pay codes and associated reports to track and report time against authorized earnings and leave categories
General and project specific labor categories
Total Time Accounting options are available to calculate diluted project cost rate information
Assignment reports
Project performance reports comparing actual to budget
Project status reports for on budget and on time checking
Teamwork notes collaboration

Required Properties

You may wish to specifically consider the following property settings when setting up your site for compliance with DCAA guidelines. This first set of 6 properties are considered required in order to maintain DCAA compliance.

Enable Timesheet Audit Trail (unatime.audit) - must be enabled.
Allow End Users to Delete Timesheets (unatime.allow_timesheet_delete) must be disabled (this property is ignored if Enable Timesheet Audit Trail is enabled)
Require Approval for Expenses (unasense.approval.required) - must be enabled
Require Timesheet Approval (unatime.approval.required) - must be enabled
Require Approvers to View Details (unanet.approve.force_view) - must be enabled
Allow Self Approvals (unanet.approve.self) - must be disabled

Optional Properties

The properties listed below are optional for DCAA compliance.

When enabling the Timesheet Audit Trail feature, you have the option to include an additional "Other" Change Reason by including the following property:

Include Other Audit Trail Change Reason (unatime.audit.allow_other_change_reason)

Depending on how you would like to control how users can perform work on behalf of others, you will need to include one of the two sets of properties below.

If you intend to allow managers to edit their user's time and expenses and/or allow alternates to perform work on behalf of other users (e.g. alternate approvers), you will need to consider the various review required properties below in order to remain DCAA compliant. Enabling the following properties allows for the ability to have other do work on one another's behalf (so long as the original user reviews the work).

Alternatively, you can leave the review required feature disabled and instead control which users can act on behalf of other users by limiting who can become an alternate, and removing the manager's ability to edit their user's time and expenses by considering the properties below.

Further, the various roles within Unanet can be configured to not provide the ability to assign an Alternate (on a role by role basis). For example, you may desire to disable the capability to have any timesheet users delegate their time reporting responsibilities. This feature cannot currently be configured via a property or via the Unanet user interface, however, the customer service team can provide instructions (e.g. a SQL script to make the necessary database update to make a particular role 'un-delegatable').

The following properties facilitate your ability to display a custom message on the timesheet that will appear in a popup dialog box upon submittal. This feature can be used, for example, to display a policy statement that the user must accept: