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| Features |
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Contract Description and Terms |
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Professional Services are provided in the
context of a contract (or project, engagement, etc.) on behalf of a
client. Each client has at least one but may have more separate contracts.
PSA offers a central point for managing all the data related to each
specific contract--the client data is maintained separately from the
contract data so that it, too, can be maintained in a single place and
still be applied to all contracts for that client.
Functions in the Contract Management area focus on
recording and maintaining the data that go to manage the contract terms
and make up the invoices: time worked, materials used, and costs incurred.
Setting up a new contract is as easy as entering a
description and selecting a client. More than 15 items that define the
contract terms and aid in managing it internally default automatically (to
settings you establish), but each can be easily overridden to set up each
contract just the way you like it.
Project numbers can be automatically assigned by PSA or
entered by an operator, at your preference.
Each contract can be assigned up to three responsible
persons: Contract Manager, Supervisor, Coordinator, etc. The number of
persons (from 1 to 3) and the titles used are all under your control.
Sub-Projects can be established for any major project to
track, for example, assignments in addition to the original contract, or
rework. This feature is useful whenever you need to track costs or invoice
separately for specific portions of the overall contract. When required,
the sub-project can be easily collapsed into the major project for
reporting or invoicing purposes.
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| Client Structure |
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Normally a contract consists of work to be
done for and billed to a single client. But PSA accommodates joint
ventures--Shared Cost Contracts--where each of several clients working
together is to be billed their portion of the total invoice. And for
smaller, miscellaneous contracts, PSA supports Multi-Client Contracts
where each client is invoiced for their own charges while still permitting
overall cost management.
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| Multiple
Billing Rates |
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The rate at which your hours are billed can
be governed and modified in many ways—you choose the combination which
best suits you.
Rates to be charged for work performed are established in a Rate Schedule.
As many Rate Schedules as needed can be created, with both a standard
schedule for the majority of your projects and special, perhaps even
individual, schedules for special projects.
Rates can be based on a particular person operating in a particular
position, role or function, but may be simplified to all persons in that
position or role.
Individuals providing services in more than one position (as when a senior
member takes on lower-level duties in order to hasten completion of a
project) can be charged out at a rate appropriate to each position.
Rates charged for the same work may differ in different work locations
(e.g., in the office, at the client site, in the field, etc.)
Work performed may be broken down (and identified) by activity, which may
carry a premium (or discount) of the normal rates. For example, Travel may
be 80% of an professional's normal rate, while special tasks may be 110%.
The rate calculated by the system for any particular item of work can be
manually overridden prior to billing.
Finally, entire projects can be billed at a combined or blended rate, with
or without a discount, or for a maximum or set amount, no matter how many
hours are worked.
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Focus for Data from Many Sources |
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Data is accepted into the Time and Billing
Transaction file for employee time, material and service charges, and
third party disbursements. The data entered is the raw data, that is
hours, quantities or, in the case of expenses, dollars expended. The
charge to the client is then calculated by the system at the time of
invoicing based on the rate schedules assigned to the project, and can
take into account percentage markups and discounts as well as currency
exchange rates. Time sheet data can be entered directly or imported from
PS Calendar (a Calendar and Time Keeping system available separately from
Second Person Plural Ltd); interfaces to other system can be created on
request.
All data is posted as billable, although some projects
themselves (e.g. for R&D or in-house use only) are not billable. The
implication is that all expenses are assumed, in the first instance, to be
valid and worthwhile and the operator entering the data is spared having
to decide whether something is billable or not. In the cases where there
is a management decision not to charge a client for particular hours or
expenses, these entries (or portion of them) can be easily converted to
non-billable, but the system ensures that the total amount posted remains
intact, only the distribution changes. The benefit of this is that reports
on the costs of hours and expenditures can be generated with the
confidence that the data is complete.
Contract Management includes the ability to adjust
entries, allowing charges to be written off (or up), without the original
data being lost to the system.
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| Invoicing |
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PSA understands that producing invoices for
customer approval is one of the hardest tasks to complete correctly and
efficiently. In order to make this task easier PSA provides an ‘Invoicing
Worksheet’ which includes
- a draft, or trial, Invoice, based on current unbilled
transactions.
- the terms of the contract or engagement,
- the billing and payment history,
- the current unbilled transactions, and
- the transaction history (optional)
Invoicing worksheets and trial invoices reflect the
transactions posted and the rate schedule effective at the time of the
transaction. That is, an invoice covering two fiscal periods between which
the rate schedule changed will be billed using the two rates as
appropriate. This also means that if the rate schedule is found to be
wrong on the invoicing worksheet, a change to the schedule or to the
schedule assignment for the project is all that is required to correct the
amount to be billed; the billing data itself will not need to be edited
nor re-entered.
When extending and accumulating amounts to be invoiced,
PSA provides the ability to bill straight hourly, hourly to a maximum, or
a fixed fee. Invoice amounts are automatically adjusted for fixed-price or
hourly-to-maximum contracts, with the profit or loss (over actual charges)
going to revenue for the project's division.
Invoices for particular projects can be produced at any
time during the month, or not at all: unbilled items are simply carried
forward to following months.
How much detail shows on an invoice, from a simple 'Our
Fee' total line to full details, can be set for each contract to fit both
your preferences and your client's demands. Unlimited lines of details are
possible, or charges can be summarized by category of employee or service.
Invoices carry both a static contract description and an invoicing
explanation specific to the period being billed.
When invoices are created, the income generated (or
expenses recovered) by the transactions being billed are automatically
posted to the appropriate accounts in your General Ledger.
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| Reporting |
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A Work-in-Progress listing reports a
summary of all time and materials posted but not invoiced.
Audit reports for Time or Materials assist in verifying the
raw data captured.
Invoicing Worksheets showing the history of the project
to-date (including project terms and invoicing and payments, as well as
time spent) enable quick and informed decisions about current billings.
An Invoicing Control list helps to ensure that no
worksheets are left behind, forgotten or lost on a manager's desk.
Over 25 other reports present work-in-progress data in
ways useful to managing your practice.
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