Foundation Software Integration with Rhumbix: Complete Guide for Construction Contractors

Introduction: Connecting Your Field and Office

For construction contractors using Foundation Software as their ERP backbone, the gap between field operations and back-office systems has always been a challenge. Time cards get lost, data entry takes hours, and by the time you see labor costs, it’s too late to act. The Rhumbix-Foundation integration changes all that, bringing real-time field data directly into your accounting and project management system.

In this guide, we’ll show you how this integration works, why it matters, and how it can transform your construction operations.

What Is Foundation Software?

Foundation Software is a construction-specific ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system designed for small to mid-size contractors who need powerful accounting and project management capabilities without unnecessary complexity.

Core Capabilities:

Financial Management

Foundation’s top-rated financial features streamline workflows from billing and payroll to cost tracking, giving construction teams more control over cash flow, reporting accuracy, and project profitability without adding complexity.

Job Costing

Track every dollar, hour, and quantity for each project with automated alerts to help manage budgets. Foundation’s job costing gives you real-time visibility into project expenses, enabling accurate cost tracking and proactive budget management.

Payroll Processing

Handle multiple jobs, localities, rates, and trades on a single timecard, ensuring compliance with wage laws and union regulations. Foundation excels at union payroll support with certified payroll reporting built in.

Accounts Payable/Receivable

Simplify invoice routing and approval with paperless workflows. Enable accurate vendor billing, historic transaction tracking, and retention management, all integrated with job costing and general ledger for full financial visibility.

Billing & Invoicing

Support cash flow tracking and automated billing with customizable invoice templates. Get real-time accuracy through integration with general ledger and project management. Includes AIA billing and invoice-level notes.

Why Contractors Choose Foundation

• Industry-Specific Design: Built specifically for construction, not adapted from generic accounting software
• User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive navigation that reduces training time and improves productivity
• Strong Support: Foundation earns 4.3 out of 5 for customer support and 4.2 for functionality
• Modular Pricing: Choose only the features you need, keeping costs within budget
• Proven Track Record: Trusted by small and midsize contractors nationwide

What Is Rhumbix?

Rhumbix is a field-first workforce management platform that consolidates your most critical field workflows, giving trade contractors and GCs real-time visibility into labor and job costs while there’s still time to act.

Rhumbix Specializes In:

• Digital Timekeeping: Mobile time tracking with facial recognition and GPS location stamps
• T&M Tracking: Capture billable hours, equipment, and materials in real-time
• Daily Reporting: Field teams document work, safety, and progress from their phones
• Production Tracking: Measure quantities installed against budget
• Custom Forms: Digitize any field form and deploy in as little as 2 weeks

Why Field Teams Love Rhumbix:

• Works offline (critical for job sites with poor connectivity)
• Intuitive mobile app that workers actually use
• Reduces administrative burden on foremen and PMs
• Captures data at the source, eliminating paper and double-entry
• Gives immediate visibility into labor costs and production rates

 

 

 

The Power of Integration: Rhumbix + Foundation

As an official Foundation Software integration partner, Rhumbix connects seamlessly with your Foundation system to create a closed-loop workflow from field to back office.

How the Integration Works:

1. Field teams clock in/out using the Rhumbix mobile app with facial recognition and GPS verification
2. Time is allocated to specific jobs, cost codes, and work types in real-time
3. Foremen review and approve timecards on their phones at the end of each day
4. Data flows automatically into Foundation Software for payroll processing
5. Job costing updates in real-time, giving you accurate WIP and project profitability

What Gets Integrated:

• Time & Attendance: Clock in/out times, breaks, overtime
• Job Costing Data: Labor hours by job, cost code, phase
• Equipment Time: Equipment usage tracked to specific jobs
• T&M Billing: Billable hours and rates for client invoicing
• Production Quantities: Units installed linked to budget line items
• Daily Reports: Field conditions, safety notes, and work completed

Key Benefits of the Rhumbix-Foundation Integration

1. Eliminate Double-Entry and Errors

Without integration, office staff manually key in field time cards—a process that’s slow, error-prone, and costly. The Rhumbix-Foundation integration cuts down on double-entry and mistakes, giving you clean data automatically.

Before: Office staff spend 10-15 hours per week entering timecards manually
After: Data flows automatically, freeing up staff for higher-value work

2. Real-Time Labor Cost Visibility

Most contractors don’t see actual labor costs until payroll is processed—often a week or more after the work is done. By then, it’s too late to make adjustments.

With the integration, you get a real-time view of labor costs, project progress, and profits while there’s still time to act.

3. Faster, More Accurate Payroll

Foundation’s payroll processing handles multiple jobs, localities, rates, and trades on a single timecard. When fed with accurate, pre-approved data from Rhumbix, your payroll runs faster and with fewer errors.

Benefits:

• Reduce payroll processing time by 50%+
• Eliminate timecard disputes and corrections
• Ensure compliance with wage laws and union regulations
• Reduce risk of FLSA violations from inaccurate records

4. Better Job Costing and Bidding

Foundation’s job costing tracks every dollar, hour, and quantity for each project. When integrated with Rhumbix, this data is captured at the source and flows automatically, giving you accurate cost-to-complete estimates and helping you bid future work more competitively.

5. Improved Project Profitability

When you can see labor costs in real-time, you can:

• Identify overruns before they spiral out of control
• Reallocate crews to more profitable work
• Make data-driven decisions about overtime and staffing
• Have informed conversations with clients about change orders

6. Get More Value from Your Existing Systems

You’ve already invested in Foundation Software. The Rhumbix integration helps you get more value and longevity out of your existing system by populating it with more accurate and timely data from the field.

Rather than ripping and replacing your ERP, you modernize the field data collection layer, the most error-prone and labor-intensive part of your workflow.

Who Benefits Most from This Integration?

Electrical Contractors

Electrical contractors often rely on ERP systems like Foundation and need detailed job costing by phase and cost code. The Rhumbix-Foundation integration is ideal for electricians who need to track:

• Labor by project phase (rough-in, trim, commissioning)
• T&M work for service and change orders
• Multiple trades and rates on a single job
• Certified payroll for prevailing wage work

Specialty Trade Contractors

HVAC, plumbing, mechanical, and other trades benefit from the same capabilities—particularly those managing multiple job sites, complex cost structures, and tight margins.

General Contractors with Self-Perform Work

GCs who self-perform concrete, framing, or other trades need accurate labor tracking for their own crews. The integration gives them visibility into both GC administrative time and field labor costs.

Implementation: What to Expect

Timeline

Many of Rhumbix’s field forms can be trained and deployed in as little as 2 weeks. The integration setup typically takes 2-4 weeks depending on your Foundation configuration and specific requirements.

Setup Process

1. Discovery: Rhumbix team reviews your Foundation setup and workflow requirements
2. Configuration: Map jobs, cost codes, and payroll settings between systems
3. Testing: Run parallel processing to ensure accuracy
4. Training: Train field teams on the Rhumbix mobile app
5. Go-Live: Switch to automated data flow
6. Support: Ongoing support from both Rhumbix and Foundation teams

Change Management Tips

• Start with a pilot crew before full rollout
• Show foremen how much time they’ll save (not just office staff)
• Emphasize accuracy and visibility benefits, not surveillance
• Celebrate quick wins (e.g., faster payroll, fewer disputes)

Integration Best Practices

1. Align Cost Code Structures

Ensure your cost code structure in Rhumbix matches Foundation exactly. This prevents mapping errors and ensures data flows cleanly.

2. Establish Clear Approval Workflows

Define who reviews and approves time in Rhumbix before it syncs to Foundation. Typically this is foremen or project managers.

3. Set Up Exception Reporting

Configure alerts in Foundation for unusual labor costs or variances, now that you’re getting real-time data, you can act on it immediately.

4. Train Consistently

Invest in thorough training for both field and office teams. When everyone understands the workflow, adoption is faster and errors are minimized.

5. Monitor and Optimize

Review integration performance monthly. Look for bottlenecks, data quality issues, or opportunities to capture additional field data.

ROI: What Contractors See

Time Savings

• Payroll processing: 50-70% faster
• Office admin time: 10-15 hours saved per week
• Timecard corrections: 80% reduction in disputes

Cost Savings

• Eliminate time theft: 2-5% payroll savings from accurate clock-in/out
• Reduce overtime: Better visibility leads to smarter crew allocation
• Improve job profitability: Catch overruns early, adjust course

Operational Improvements

• Real-time WIP: Know exactly where you stand on every job
• Better bidding: Historical data improves estimating accuracy
• Faster billing: T&M invoices prepared automatically
• Compliance confidence: Accurate records for audits and certified payroll

Common Questions About the Foundation Software Integration

Does it work offline?

Yes. Rhumbix works fully offline, which is critical for construction sites with poor connectivity. Data syncs automatically when connection is restored.

What if my cost codes change?

Updates to cost codes in Foundation can be synced to Rhumbix quickly, ensuring field teams always have current options.

Can we track more than just time?

Absolutely. Beyond time tracking, you can capture production quantities, equipment usage, materials, safety observations, and custom data through Rhumbix forms, all flowing into Foundation.

What about union payroll?

Foundation excels at union payroll, and Rhumbix supports complex rate structures, fringe benefits, and certified payroll requirements. The integration handles all of this seamlessly.

How secure is the integration?

Both Rhumbix and Foundation use enterprise-grade security. Data transfers are encrypted, and role-based access controls ensure only authorized users see sensitive information.

Getting Started

If you’re a Foundation Software user struggling with manual timecard entry, data accuracy, or delayed visibility into labor costs, the Rhumbix integration could be the solution you’ve been looking for.

Next Steps:

1. Assess your current workflow: How much time do you spend on timecard entry? How often do errors occur?
2. Talk to Rhumbix: Schedule a demo to see how the integration works with your specific Foundation setup
3. Review with your team: Get buy-in from field and office stakeholders
4. Plan your implementation: Start with a pilot crew and expand from there

The construction industry is moving toward real-time, data-driven decision-making. The contractors who can see labor costs while there’s still time to act will have a significant competitive advantage.

Conclusion: Modernize Your Field Operations Without Replacing Your ERP

Foundation Software is a proven, reliable ERP trusted by contractors nationwide. The Rhumbix integration doesn’t replace it—it makes it more powerful by feeding it with accurate, real-time field data.

The result? Faster payroll, better job costing, improved profitability, and the confidence that comes from knowing exactly where you stand on every project.

For Foundation users ready to modernize their field operations and eliminate the manual data entry bottleneck, the Rhumbix integration offers a clear path forward, one that delivers ROI in weeks, not months.

The integrated systems cut down on double-entry and mistakes, giving a real-time view of labor costs, project progress, and profits without adding complexity.