Management Software Holiday Schedule 2009

One of the season's greatest pleasures is thinking about those who have made this year memorable. We're delighted to take a moment to thank you for being a valued client of JobOrder. We would like to wish you a wonderful holiday season and a bright new year.

Management Software will be closed on December 24, 2009, and December 25, 2009 for the Christmas Holiday. We will be open from December 28, 2009, through December 30, 2009.

We will be closed on December 31, 2009, and January 1, 2010, for the New Year's Day Holiday. We will be back at work on Monday, January 4, 2010.

All of us at Management Software wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Selecting the Right Business Productivity Suite for Project-Based Organizations Involves a Team Effort

      In an ideal world, all project-based organizations, such as advertising agencies, architectural firms, and engineering companies, work in an atmosphere of maximized business productivity. In this state of business euphoria, creative types become more creative, programmers become more innovative, and team leaders have more control of managing money, time and people.

      Unfortunately, often times in the real world, business processes have a tendency of getting in the way, limiting the ability for members of project-based organizations to optimally use their talents to deliver the best possible end products for their customers. Therefore, in order to be successful, it is essential for project-based organizations to find a way to get business processes out of the way.

      Business Process Management (BPM) software can solve many business process problems throughout the organization. But before giving the IT department the task of implementing a BPM solution, it is important to initiate an organization-wide team investigation.

      This white paper provides the reader with information on what project-based organizations need in a business productivity tool and how to go about selecting the right tool for their organization’s unique needs.


Paths To the Right Solution: Team-based Search Initiative

      The road to maximized business productivity involves some work. In the case of selecting the right tool, it is important that representatives from different teams and departments are involved in the search process. A critical step in choosing the right solution involves the creation of an internal team whose goal is to decipher which solution is best for their organization.
    
      In order to be successful in this initiative, project-based organizations must form a complete core team that not only knows about the current business processes which run their organization, but also intimate with it. Core team members should consist of those individuals who will live with the deployment of the project and who will most likely be using the tool every day.
    
      This core team brings in the IT architects for tool evaluation into the selection process, but should not base their choice solely on what the IT people say. Above all, it is not recommended to simply hand the tool selection process over to the IT department and wait for a response and final implementation.
    
      Before the search begins, project-based organizations should make a list of what’s needed by all departments. Their evaluation should consider the opinions and motivations of all parties involved, which in all likelihood, is everyone that is part of the organization.


The Right Tool Maximizes Business Productivity
    
      In order to be successful, project-based organizations must maximize business productivity. This means that business processes, the underlying tasks necessary to run a business, must get out of the way of those whose focus is to produce and deliver quality work to their customers. Simply put, maximizing business productivity in a project-based organization releases the grasp that repetitive work has on creative and innovative energies crucial to the success of a project-based and customer driven organization.
    
      Project-based organizations need an extensive and increasingly adaptive set of business processes to run cost-effectively and at the most optimal level possible. Technology can certainly help in this endeavor. The challenge, however, lies in the challenge of finding the right technology that not only meets the needs of your organization, but that can be adapted to personal preferences of individuals using the system.

      High on the list of selection criteria among project-based organizations are Business Process Management (BPM) tools. There are many solutions on the market today that emphasize a few disparate capabilities often tied to BPM tools. However, ideal BPM tools have evolved beyond the technology basics of business process management and have converged multiple capabilities into a single software suite of tools.
    
      The right solution should enable project-based organizations to streamline the execution of business processes by automating workflow tasks, eliminating redundant steps, and supporting congruent execution of tasks. Additionally, managers should feel empowered to take full responsibility for designing and optimizing their end-to-end processes. When a cost-effective tool enables process managers with direct control and management of executing processes, there is minimal reliance on the IT organization.
    
      To make the IT organization’s life easier, it is also important that the chosen system enable organizations to initially set up the tool once – with core functionality to automate the whole business process for the entire organization for a long period of time. If the system needs some alterations in the future, data should be secure and the process of change should be easy and not require a rewrite of the entire business process.


The Ideal Solution

      Since the goal is to get business processes out of the way, the right BPM software tool should offer an easy-to-learn, multi-platform, multi-user management tool which offers project-based organizations a full array of powerful tools to streamline and refine the entire business process – from the moment a prospective client calls to the moment the final invoice is sent.
    
      Ideally, because everyone in the organization will use the tool, it should make everyone happy. It should offer a cross-platform, client-server solution for estimating, time and expense tracking, prioritizing, resource scheduling, invoicing, accounting, and reporting. Additionally, the tool should include accounting functionality with A/R, A/P and G/L, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Professional Services Automation (PSA), and more. Therefore, everyone, whether they use Macs or PCs for their design, drafting, programming, or accounting, should be able to learn and use this tool for maximum business productivity throughout the organization.

      The ideal BPM Software tool yields numerous benefits. With the right business process management automation tool, project-based organizations can:
* Unify and streamline all your business processes for greater productivity and profitability
* Provide immediate access to all information
* Eliminate clerical inefficiencies
* Cut administrative overhead
* Deliver work more reliably and cost-effectively
* Realize improved profitability and sustainable growth

      While all the above benefits can be realized with an ideal BPM Solution, the top three benefits for project-based organizations, especially small to mid-sized companies, are increased reliability, cost savings, and improved efficiency.


About Management Software

      Management Software is a leading developer of business process management software for service businesses on Macintosh and Windows. Management Software is based in Homer, New York, where it has provided vertical software applications, custom programming services, consulting, and training since 1989.

      Using the technology of 4th Dimension, a relational database programming environment, Management Software develops affordable software applications for automating business operations and procedures.


About JobOrder

      JobOrder is comprehensive and robust software that automates the flow of information throughout your entire business – from the moment a prospective client calls for a proposal until the final invoice is sent.
 
      JobOrder provides state-of-the-art functionality and automation capabilities for project-based organizations, including advertising agencies, architectural firms, construction companies, consulting firms, design firms, engineering companies and job shops. JobOrder is an easy-to-learn, multi-user management tool that is designed to maximize business productivity. With JobOrder, your organization will:
 
    * Create accurate estimates every time
    * Systemize jobs with detailed specifications
    * Prioritize traffic and reschedule staff in seconds
    * Manage change orders
    * Monitor resources effortlessly
    * Send invoices out promptly
    * Streamline accounting
    * Generate reports instantly
    * Identify problems before they get out of control
    * Plan for the future with confidence

      Unlike other products on the market that emphasize one or another of these functions, JobOrder offers its users a full array of powerful tools to streamline and refine your entire business process.
    
      Everyone, whether they use Macs or PCs for their design, drafting, programming, or accounting, can use JobOrder. JobOrder offers a cross-platform, client-server solution for estimating, time and expense tracking, prioritizing, resource scheduling, invoicing, accounting, and reporting.

      JobOrder includes Accounting with A/R, A/P and G/L, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Professional Services Automation (PSA), and more.

For More Information
    * Call us toll-free at 800-734-9143.
    * Send us email at sales@joborder.com.
    * Visit our website at www.joborder.com.

Victor Siegle
Management Software, Inc.

© 2009 Management Software, Inc. JobOrder is a registered trademark of Management Software, Inc. All other trademarks are registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Customer Support Policy

Management Software has unbundled our Customer Support services for our current clients so that every JobOrder client can specify the exact Customer Support services they require.

In order to be eligible for Customer Support, each customer must maintain an active JobOrder Software Update Contract, which provides you with all major and minor updates to JobOrder and to our database language, 4D, for one year or longer. Please see our Software Update Contract document for more information.

In addition to the Software Update Contract, please either purchase a Customer Support Contract or provide an open Purchase Order number for billable support time. We will bill time against your Customer Support Contract or your open Purchase Order only when appropriate.

If you choose a Customer Support Contract, we will email a monthly Support Contract Status report showing how much time has been used and how much time remains.

We provide multiple levels of Customer Support, both non-billable and billable:

Non-billable:   Problem reports emailed to support@joborder.com

Non-billable:   Feature requests emailed to support@joborder.com

Non-billable:   Short, straightforward email questions or telephone calls under 5 minutes long with clear answers.

Non-billable:   Minor changes to JobOrder forms or fields.


Billable:  Long telephone conversations or email responses.

Billable:  Custom forms programming.

Billable:  Custom programming for specific enhancements requested and authorized by customer.

Billable:  Training at customer site or GoToMeeting classes over the Internet.


Non-Billable Time 

Because some problem reports and some feature requests are not an “urgent” priority, we have established a non-billable email address to deal with low priority questions.

Problem reports emailed to support@joborder.com, and feature requests emailed to support@joborder.com will be handled on a “time available” basis. If Management Software determines that a problem reported to support@joborder.com affects a major process in JobOrder, problem resolution efforts will escalate to our highest priority response level. When issues are resolved or completed, an email reply will be sent to the requestor at no charge.

Time spent investigating and solving problem reports emailed to support@joborder.com is not billable. Except for the billable time explicitly described below, time spent programming in JobOrder to resolve problems reported by JobOrder clients is not billable.

Time spent programming feature requests emailed to support@joborder.com is not billable. All new features added to JobOrder are described in the New Features document updated with each release of JobOrder.

Reasonable conversations requesting price quotations for future paid enhancements to JobOrder are not billable to our customers or resellers. If the time required to prepare a price quotation will be more than 30 minutes, we will quote a fixed price estimate to develop the specifications and bid document.

Please Note: If a problem cannot be reproduced or if a feature request requires elaboration, all telephone conversations and emails about these subjects will be billable under our normal Customer Support terms described below.  If you are not sure if your report or request will be considered billable, please contact Brandon Regard at Management Software for clarification via phone at 800.734.9143, extension 17, or via email to brandon_regard@joborder.com.

Minor changes to JobOrder forms or fields are non-billable if they don’t interfere with form appearance or function.


Billable Time 

If the telephone conversation or email writing time exceeds five (5) minutes, all time spent by our Customer Support staff on the telephone or responding to emails about the following topics are billable:
Customer Support Questions
Feature Requests
Implementation Questions
Hardware or Networking Questions
Problem Reports
Training Questions

When problems are reported via telephone or email directly to Customer Support, these problem reports receive our highest priority response and remain active until resolved.

Option One for Customer Support Time prepaid
Customer Support time can be purchased in advance in blocks of 10 hours, 50 hours, 100 hours, or 250 hours, which do not expire until used. Customer Support time is subtracted from your Customer Support Contract by the minute as time is used.

Option Two for Customer Support Time with open Purchase Order
Customer Support time will be billed monthly on your open Purchase Order when time used exceeds one hour or is unbilled for more than three (3) months.

Please let us know your preferred method of billing.

Whenever appropriate, we will quote custom programming on a fixed-price basis after approval of specifications. Authorized custom programming time will be billed on an hourly basis if a fixed price has not been previously quoted. Problem-solving time and additional programming time on previously authorized hourly custom programming work is billable.

Custom Forms design and programming are billable, either with a fixed fee for new forms, or on an hourly basis for modifying existing forms.

Non-billable feature requests are programmed according to Management Software’s priorities. The priority for a specific feature can always be escalated if the client is willing to contribute to the development costs.

Customer Support Hours are from Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM through 5:00 PM, Eastern Time.

This document may be updated at any time to reflect improvements and changes in our Customer Support Policy. Please check with your JobOrder representative for the latest edition.

Management Software, Inc. 
75 South Main Street 
Homer, NY 13077 USA 

Software Update Contract

In order to be eligible for Customer Support, each JobOrder customer must maintain an active JobOrder Software Update Contract, which provides you with all major and minor updates to JobOrder and to our database language, 4D, for one year or longer.

At Management Software, we make a world-class commitment to creating "best in class" software. Recognizing that nothing stands still in our industry, we work to continuously improve JobOrder and to increase its value to you.


What is a Software Update Contract?

Management Software offers you the opportunity to license in advance and to automatically receive updates to JobOrder. This is provided to you in the form of a contract called a Software Update Contract. For the term of your contract, Update Contract provides you with a license and an opportunity to receive all major and minor updates to JobOrder and to our database language, 4D.

A new Software Update Contract begins on the day JobOrder software licenses are purchased and renews on the day after the expiration of each old Software Update Contract. Each Software Update Contract expires based upon the date of original purchase.  When you first purchase JobOrder licenses, purchasing the accompanying Software Update Contract is mandatory for the first year.

If your Software Update Contract has expired, you can either purchase a new Software Update Contract beginning at the expiration date or a multi-year Software Update Contract beginning at the expiration date. Multi-year Software Update Contracts are discounted as follows:
     5% for 2-year Software Update Contract
   10% for 3-year Software Update Contract

Our enhancements to JobOrder are continuous. You will get the benefits of all the enhancements, no matter when you renew.

If you don't renew ANY licenses, then you can use ALL the existing JobOrder licenses, but you will not receive ANY support or any updates from us. You will not be able to update your structure with any JobOrder releases after your Software Update Contract has expired.

If you renew some licenses, only the licenses that you renew will be usable during the renewal period and you will receive regular support and updates.

JobOrder's licensing works the way you expect it would work. If, for example, you have 25 licenses and you only renew 20 for the next year, then only 20 users can login at any one time. If economic times improve and you renew 24 licenses the following year or the year after, there is no penalty for the licenses that are re-renewed, you would just pay the regular Software Update Contract price per license.

The only case where you would have to pay retroactive fees is if you don't pay for ANY licenses in your Software Update Contract. In that case you would have to pay for your next Software Update Contract retroactively from the date of expiration.


The Benefits of a Software Update Contract

A Software Update Contract is very valuable. In fact, it may be critical to the success of your project. Technology changes rapidly. Microsoft and Apple regularly release new versions of their operating systems technology that is incompatible with prior versions.

We absolutely commit to continually adapting our software to accommodate changes in the world around us, but we cannot afford to do this for free. Software Update Subscriptions are one of the mechanisms by which we are compensated for our efforts.

Additionally, later versions of JobOrder will include new features that have been requested by our user community. They also incorporate other fixes that may have been developed during the same period. Our Software Update Contract is the mechanism for you to obtain a license for these updates.


Purchasing and Fulfillment

Update Contract updates are available to registered customers with a currently in-force Software Update Contract. Update contracts are available at the time you acquire your initial license of the base product, or by renewal.

Management Software does not automatically ship updates to customers. When an update becomes available, we will notify your main contacts by email. Once the contacts receive notice, they can download from our ftp site. Or, they can ignore it. If your systems are running well, and the new features are of no interest to you, there is no obligation on your part to accept or apply any updates.


Update Contract vs. Customer Support

A Software Update Contract provides only software updates. Our Software Update Contract does not include, nor does it otherwise provide an entitlement to, any type of customer support. Software Update Contract is simply a software license to new versions of JobOrder, provided for in advance of their release.


Contract Term

Your Software Update Contract entitlement period is the term specified in your contract, normally one year. The contract term starts on the date you first license JobOrder, regardless of whether you acquire additional licenses mid-term.

This document may be updated at any time to reflect improvements and changes in our Customer Support Policy. Please check with your JobOrder representative for the latest edition.

Management Software, Inc.
75 South Main Street
Homer, NY 13077 USA

Secrets of Success with JobOrder implementation

JobOrder differs from most other computer software because it involves your entire organization, not a single person or department. Implementing JobOrder requires a clear commitment from everyone in your organization. The value of JobOrder is comparable to the value of exercise; the more you use the features of JobOrder, the more your organization will benefit from the synergies they will find in easily accessible and clear information. Likewise, non-participation by key members of your organization can dramatically reduce the significance of JobOrder to your productivity growth.

Experience has taught us that the deep examination of your organization's processes during the implementation of JobOrder requires careful thinking and some extra work. We will be accessible to you via on-site consultations, telephone support, or email correspondence whenever necessary to support your implementation of JobOrder.

Preparation

Top management support

Support from top management is the single most important secret of success with JobOrder. Because the analytical reports from JobOrder will affect every member of your staff, strong commitment from the top acts as a clear signal for everyone else to participate actively in JobOrder.

Responsible System Manager for hardware and software

In most organizations, users adopt JobOrder at an individual pace. It's important to have a responsible System Manager who can train new users and answer questions.

Recommended or optimal hardware configurations.

In most organizations JobOrder will be the only Client - Server software. Because Client - Server software sends a lot of information rapidly across your network, it can expose bottlenecks in your network. Please consult with your JobOrder representative to make sure that your hardware and network are optimized for JobOrder.

Training

Thorough training of JobOrder concepts for key staff

Initializing System Preferences in JobOrder requires your JobOrder trainer to gain a clear understanding of your organization and your organization's key staff to master the concepts and terminology in JobOrder.

Detailed training of daily procedures for all staff

JobOrder is simple to learn and is very consistent, but takes a few hours to master. Please make sure that you schedule training classes for all of your staff who will use JobOrder daily.

Detailed training for new staff

New staff sometimes enter a  job without proper training. Please be sure to schedule JobOrder training for them.

Ongoing training about new topics

Management Software releases new versions of JoOrder regularly. Sometimes we will add major new features that can revolutionize your business processes. Please be sure to always read our Release Notes carefully for an overview of new features.

Ongoing communications

Review of database during startup

When setting up JobOrder for the first time, you will discover that many business functions can be accomplished through many different pathways in JobOrder. As you begin using new areas in JobOrder, please send us your data file so we can make sure that you are following the optimum pathways for you.

Effective coordination with accounting staff for JobOrder"s internal accounting system or with reseller for link to external accounting system

A big advantage of JobOrder is that many accounting entries are made automatically, just by keeping job-costing up to date. Please take advantage of the time-savings this offers by linking JobOrder with your accounting system.

Preventative Maintenance

Regular and frequent Preventative Maintenance with 4D Tools, DataCheck, and your preferred hard drive maintenance utilities is crucial to keeping your JobOrder database in optimum health.

Just like changing your oil is crucial to keeping the engine of your vehicle in optimum condition, running preventative maintenance tools in JobOrder is crucial for the speed and accuracy of your database.

Billing Levels

JobOrder allows you to set up multiple Billing for Activities or Inventory Items that are billing at different rates for different types of Clients. For example, you can set up separate Billing Levels for Wholesale versus Retail, or Government versus Commercial, or Pro Bono versus Regular. You can have up to 9 Billing Levels.

Generally, a default Billing Level is copied into a Job or Estimate from a pre-existing Job, Estimate, or Template, and can then be changed.

The Billing Level in the Client record is a default Billing Level, to be used when a new Job or Estimate is prepared for that client.

Unlike Jobs and Estimates, Templates are not linked to specific clients, so Billing Levels in Templates are used only for specialized functions, not for the normal flow of information.

In Proposals, the initial Billing Level is copied from the Client, and can then be changed. In Estimates, the initial Billing Level is copied from the parent Proposal, and can also be changed.

When you copy a Template to an Estimate, the Estimate already has an initial Billing Level taken from the parent Proposal and is not affected by the Billing Level in the Template.

In Jobs, the initial Billing Level is copied from the Client, and can then be changed. When you copy a Template to a Job, the Job already has an initial Billing Level taken from the Client's Billing Level and is not affected by the Billing Level of the Template.

However, when you approve an Estimate to create a Job, the Billing Level of the Job is taken from the Estimate, overriding the client's Billing Level.

Available Hours

The powerful scheduling features in JobOrder allow you to schedule staff, rooms, and equipment linked to activities in Jobs.

To track resource availability and utilization and to help with scheduling, JobOrder needs to know when each of your resources is available. This information is stored in the Available Hours Area, one record for each combination of resource and date. You can manually change a resource's availability by adding or editing records in this Area. Usually you will use JobOrder to generate most of these records automatically using an administrative function.

Whenever you add a new Resource, you specify the days and hours it is typically available on the Hours page of the Resource record. The defaults are stored in a special Resource record created by JobOrder called Working Days Standard. You can change the default working hours by editing this record.

You should specify any days your organization does not work by creating records in the Holidays area, one record for each ordinary workday that most everyone in your organization will not be working. If there are a few people who will be working on a certain holiday, you can manually add Available Hours records for them.

Adding Available Hours for a Year
Before each year begins, you should have JobOrder create Available Hours records for all your resources. You can create Available Hours records for many years at once if you like, but we suggest doing only one year at a time. If your fiscal year matches the calendar year, you can do it at the same time as you close out accounting.

NOTE: Adding Available Hours for all your Resources can take a long time if you have a lot of Resources. We recommend starting the process at the end of a workday and letting it run overnight in this case.

You should also add Available Hours records for each new resource you add to JobOrder. This is most easily accomplished by clicking Add Hours on the Hours page of the Resource record, but can also be done using this procedure.

To add Available Hours records for a year:
  1 Bring JobOrder's main palette to the front.
  2 Choose Holidays from the Administration menu to open the Holidays Area. Add a record for each ordinary workday that most everyone in your organization will not be working.
Holidays are for exceptions: days you would normally expect to be working, but won't be. "Normal working days" are defined in the Hours page of each Resource record. If none of your Resources are marked as being available on weekends, for example, it is not necessary to define each weekend as a Holiday.
  3 Close the Holidays Area. At the main palette, choose 'Add Available Hours for Year' from the Administration menu.
  4 Choose to add 'Available Hours records for all Resources'.
You may also choose to add Available Hours for one Resource, or for all Resources in a particular Department. If you are not adding Available Hours for all Resources, click Choose Resource or Choose Department as appropriate to choose the Resource or Department for which you want to create Available Hours records.
  5 Enter the year for which you wish to add Available Hours.
  6 Click Add Available Hours.
JobOrder begins creating the Available Hours records for the specified resources for the specified year. Any existing Available Hours records for those resources in that year are deleted first.
  7 If there are any exceptions (for example, people who will be working on holidays), open the Available Hours Area and edit or add records to handle them

Notification Rules

In most Organizations, management constantly worries about deadlines and budgets 'slipping through the cracks'. JobOrder offers a consistent, automated feature called 'Notification Rules' to watch for all important deadlines and budget problems, and many other items, to make sure that they are not ignored or missed.

Notification Rules tell JobOrder to notify certain individuals or groups whenever certain conditions are met, allowing you to inform staff members of important milestones, events, and problems related to Jobs. For example, you may want the entire Job Team to be notified whenever a Job is complete or want the company president to be notified whenever any Job goes more than 20% over its budget. And that’s just the beginning.

There are dozens of specific types of Notification Rules. JobOrder divides them into five broad categories:

Deadline:  A deadline is nearing or has passed.

Amounts:  Excessive costs, insufficient profit margin, etc.

Hours:  Excessive time spent on an Activity, Job, etc.

Leave:  Staff leave request has been approved or rejected.

Workflow:  A Job or one of its components has been changed.

When creating a new Notification Rule, JobOrder first asks you to choose what kind of rule you are adding. You can select a broad category of rule using the pop-up menu above the list, or select All Types. Then double-click the specific kind of rule in the list to display the Notification Rules form.

Notification Rules has two pages, Resources to Notify and Rule Details. The Resources to Notify page is the same for all types of Notification Rules. The Rule Details page varies slightly for each kind of rule.

Resources to Notify

On this page, you can choose who should be notified when the rule is triggered, and also specify comments about the Rule.

Rule Details

On this page, you can specify the values that trigger the rule. For example, for a Deadline rule, you can specify that the rule should trigger when it is within a certain number of days of the deadline. For other kinds of rules, you can often specify that the rule triggers when a certain absolute threshold is exceeded or when a ratio (of, for example, actual to budgeted amount) is exceeded. You can also choose to trigger the record any time its constraints are reached, or to apply it only to one particular record (Activity, Material, Job, etc.).

Billing Rules

Organizations often have a problem with making sure that Invoices are generated appropriately and on-time. JobOrder has a mechanism called 'Billing Rules' to automate the generation of Invoices. Invoices will not fall through the cracks when Billing Rules are enabled.

Billing Rules govern the automatic creation of Invoices. You can define Billing Rules in Templates, Estimates, or Jobs. You can print the generated Pro Forma Invoices in the Reports Navigator (go to the Billing category, then choose Print Invoice)—you'll find a checkbox for printing only the Invoices generated by Billing Rules.

You can choose to have Invoices automatically generated:
n at the beginning, completion, or closing of a Job
n at the completion of a Phase or Activity
n when an Expense Detail exceeding a particular dollar amount is entered
When the Billing Rule is triggered, you can bill the total unbilled amount, or a specified dollar amount or percentage.
You can also choose to have the Invoices generated immediately, or a day or more after the rule is triggered.

Billing Rules created in one area will be copied to another when appropriate. For example, copying a Template to a Job will copy the Billing Rules in the selected Template to the Job.

Billing Rules have the following options:

Amount to bill:
Dollar amount to bill
Or
Percentage to bill
Or
Bill entire remaining unbilled amount

Billing is triggered by:
Initiation of the Job (signing of the contract)
Or
Completion of the Job
Or
Closing of the Job
Or
Completion of a specific Activity in the Job


When to bill:
Immediately
Or
Xxxx Days after the Billing has been triggered


Billing Rules in Jobs will generate the following Invoices.

Amount to bill:

1. ‘Dollar amount to bill’ generates a ‘Prebill’ Fixed Charge for the amount specified. The Work Center will be the Work Center defined in System Preferences: Invoices: Work Center for Billing Rules.

2. ‘Percentage to bill’ will generate a ‘Prebill’ Fixed Charge for the amount calculated. The Work Center will be the Work Center defined in System Preferences: Invoices: Work Center for Billing Rules; or

3. ‘Bill entire remaining unbilled amount’ does the following:

For ‘Bill by Budget Fees’, it bills all unbilled Activities.

For ‘Bill by Actual Fees’, it bills all unbilled Time slips.

For ‘Bill by Budget Expenses’, it bills all unbilled Expenses.

For ‘Bill by Actual Expenses, it bills all unbilled Expense Details.

It then generates Applied Prebills for all Prebills generated by previous Billing Rules for this Job.

Documentation with Multiple Approvals in Jobs

    Managing the approval of documents by multiple users can be a difficult task. JobOrder offers a powerful business process to handle document approvals. Here is an outline of the steps to do this.

1. Set email preferences

Go to System Preferences - Email Sending & Receiving.

a. In order to send and receive emails in JobOrder, you need to check the boxes “Start Email Sending Services” and “Start Email Receiving Services”, as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1


b. Next, click the “Edit Email Account Settings” button to display the Email Account settings dialog so you can define the email accounts to be used for sending and receiving (see figure 2)

Figure 2


c. The top section, Outbound email settings, is for filling out the information for your SMTP server, used for sending emails out of JobOrder.
     i. From Address – this is the email address JobOrder will use to send its emails


     ii. Account ID – this is the account name JobOrder will use to log onto the SMTP server, generally matching the first part of the ‘From Address’


     iii. Server – this is the address of your SMTP server. It can be in DNS format (ie ‘mail.myhost.com’) or in TCP/IP address format (ie 192.168.1.200)


     iv. Password – this is the password for the SMTP server account


     v. Email attachment limit – many email servers impose a limit on how large an email can be. This size limit includes both the body of the email, all headers, and any attachments included with the email. This needs to be set in order to help reduce the number of failed emails that JobOrder attempts to send because the attachments are too large.


     vi. SMTP Server requires authentication – this is a special setting that may or may not be required by your mail server. Ask your email administrator if you’re unsure.


     vii. Send Test Email -   use this button to test the settings you’ve entered by sending an email to someone (generally yourself so you can check it immediately)


d. The bottom section, Inbound email settings, is for the email address used by JobOrder to receive emails for automatic processes. This should be an email dedicated to this purpose so that email replies don’t get lost.
     i. Reply-to Address – this is the address to which email replies will be sent. This can sometimes be different from the actual account id used for retrieving your email.


     ii. Account ID – this is the account name used to log onto the specified POP or IMAP server for downloading emails.


     iii. Server – this is the DNS name or TCP/IP address of the POP or IMAP server being used to receive messages.


     iv. Password – this is the password for the account.


     v. Protocol – this is the email receiving protocol to be used for downloading messages. POP, or Post Office Protocol, is designed to dowload messages and delete them after downloading. IMAP, or Internet Message Access Protocol, is designed to leave the messages on the server to allow access from multiple locations.
         1. See http://www.emailaddressmanager.com/tips/protocol.html for a good description of the differences between IMAP and POP.


     vi. TCP Port – this is the port used to communicate with the IMAP or POP server. When choosing the Protocol above, the default port for that protocol will be set here. In exceptional cases, non-standard TCP ports are used by mail servers as an extra security measure.


     vii. Test Login – click this button to try logging into the email account specified by the above settings. JobOrder will simply attempt to connect to the server and log out without actually downloading any messages.


2. Set Documentation handling preferences 

Figure 3


Go to System Preferences - Documentation (see figure 3)
a. If multiple people need to approve a particular piece of Documentation in order for it to be considered approved, select “Approvals are by Workgroup”.


      1. If selected, the Approvals tab in Documentation will have a list of the approvers with appropriate controls for adding them from Vendor Contacts, Organization Contacts, and Staff Resources for Internal Approval.


     2. If not selected, the Approvals tab in Documentation will have sections for choosing a single Vendor Contact, a single Organization Contact, or a single Staff Resource for Internal approval.


b. Choose the path to the folder where all Attachments are to be stored.
     i. When running in a Client/Server environment, you will be navigating the disk drive(s) attached to the SERVER, not the CLIENT machine on which you are currently operating.
         1. The SERVER handles the storage and all future access to the Attachments.


         2. If a network volume is to be used, it needs to be accessible to the SERVER, not all the individual CLIENT machines connecting to the server.


     ii. Keep in mind that these Attachments are also used in other areas such as Contracts, Emails, Email Requests, Invoices, Requisitions, Resources, Priorities, and Estimates. JobOrder organizes each of the types of Attachments based on the area name, and then the internal sequence number within that area.
        1. In other words, all Attachments for Estimate #7392 will be stored in a folder hierarchy as follows
             a. Attachments - Estimates - 7392
             b. In order to avoid potential file name conflicts, all files are stored in the folder using a date/time stamp. JobOrder handles the translation automatically.


c. Set the Letters to be used for the emails being sent out
     i. Approval Request Letter – this is the letter in the Letters area which is used as the body of the email sent to the approver (or list of Approvers when using Workgroups)
         1. In order to be used as an Approval Request Letter to which a reply can be sent to JobOrder and properly processed, the body of the Letter must contain one or more of the following lines
              a. [  ] Approved
                  i. Place an X (case does not matter) between the brackets in order to “Approve” the files attached to the email.


                  ii. Note that the line in the Letter must have a single space between the “]” and the word “Approved” in order to work properly. Any extra words after “Approved” are ignored.


                 iii. File attachments may be returned with the reply email sent back to JobOrder.


              b. [  ] Approved with changes
                 i. Place an X (case does not matter) between the brackets in order to “Approve with Changes” the files attached to the email.
                      1. This item is intended to specify that changes have been made to any files returned with the reply.


                 ii. Note that the line in the Letter must have a single space between the “]” and the phrase “Approved with Changes” in order to work properly. Any extra words after “Approved with Changes” are ignored.


                 iii. File attachments may be returned with the reply email sent back to JobOrder.


           c.  [  ] Rejected
                i. Place an X (case does not matter) between the brackets in order to “Reject” the files attached to the email. 


                ii. Note that the line in the Letter must have a single space between the “]” and the phrase “Approved with Changes” in order to work properly. Any extra words after “Approved with Changes” are ignored.


               iii. File attachments may be returned with the reply email sent back to JobOrder.




2. Text just before comments – this is a specific phrase contained in the Approval Request Letter which is used to show where freeform comments may be entered in the reply to the email.
          a. Comments may also be simply entered at the beginning of  the email reply. Specific phrases automatically inserted by common email applications (Outlook, Outlook Express, Mail.app, Eudora, Entourage) are used to find the end of the comments at the top of the email reply


3. Text just after end of comments – this is a specific phrase in the Approval Request Letter which is used to mark the end of the freeform comments area.
           a. It should be located AFTER the ‘Text just before comments”. If not found after the ‘Text just before comments”, the comments will end up being ignored.


ii. Confirmation Letter – this is a Letter sent in response to a received Approval Request email to let the approver/rejecter know that the email was received.
         1. Leave this blank if you do not want to send out these confirmations. Depending on the amount of emails going in and out of JobOrder, sending this email can become an annoyance to the Approvers.


iii. CC: Recipient Letter – this is a Letter that gets sent to any people included in the CC: list of a Documentation letter.
         1. This Letter should not contain the lines for approving or rejecting the Documentation. The CC: recipients are meant to be people who receive the attachments as an FYI type of courtesy.


3. Check Security Access for Jobs
         a. Check your Security Access records to be sure that the Documentation page in Jobs (see figure 4) allows the Documentation page to be seen either in the list of Related Areas or, preferably, as a tab on the Jobs page.

Figure 4


4. Add desired Notification Rules
     a. The following Notification Rules are available for assisting in the Documentation workflow
           i. Job Documentation has been approved or rejected for…
                 1. This rule creates a message for the JobOrder Message Center to let specified Resources know when an Approval or Rejection email reply has been received and processed by JobOrder.


                 2. Messages  created by this rule are also emailed to the specified Resources whose Personal Preferences specify to send Notifications as email.


            ii. Documentation Approval Reply Received after Completion…
                1. This rule creates a message for the JobOrder Message Center to let specified Resources know when an Approver has emailed a reply AFTER the Documentation record itself has been marked with a Completion Date


               2. Messages  created by this rule are also emailed to the specified Resources whose Personal Preferences specify to send Notifications as email.


5. Add Documentation Records to Jobs
       a. Modify a Job and switch to the Documentation tab (or Related Areas tab with Documentation selected). See Figure 5.

 Figure 5


i. The list in Figure 5 shows
     1. Documentation records sent out to the Approver(s) in black text.


      2. Documentation Approval Requests returned by Approvers in Magenta text if the reply contained attachments.
          a. The name of the Documentation Item is the root of the original that was emailed out with the name of the Approver appended for easy grouping.


          b. These records differ from the originals in that they do not allow for approval requests. They are there for storage and historical trail.


3. Create Next Revision
         a. Use this button to duplicate the Documentation record currently selected in the list, adding an appropriate revision number to show that it’s based on the record being duplicated.


4. Create a Document for each Activity
         a. Use this button to automatically create a Documentation record for each Activity in the Job Overview. Revision number 1.00 is automatically added to signify it’s the first revision of the Documentation associated with the Activity.


5. Clear all
         a. Deletes all the Documentation records, their Attachments, and Documentation Approvals


ii. Add a Documentation Record

      
      Figure 6


1. In Figure 6, we see that the General Information for a Documentation Record
      a. Item
         i. the descriptive name of the Documentation


      b. Job Name
         i. the name of the Job to which the Document is associated. This is for information only here.


     c. Description and Location
         i. notes on where the physical Document is located, if it is not in the list of Attachments.


     d. Comments
         i. Freeform comments regarding the Document.


     e. Activity to complete automatically after Approval
         i. If this Document is associated with an Activity, this field specifies the next Activity which is marked as complete if this Documentation is approved.


        ii. If this Activity has a Simple Dependency, the Dependent Activity will be automatically set to start on the same date as the Activity being marked as Completed. The entire Dependency chain will be traversed and updated accordingly.


     f. Activity to start automatically after Approval
         i. If this Document is Approved, you can specify an Activity whose Scheduled Start date will be set to the date of the Approval.


         ii. If Simple Dependencies are specified for the Activities, DO NOT USE THIS FIELD. Simply setting the “Activity to complete automatically after Approval” will take care of this


      g. Scheduled Creation
          i. This is the date you expect the Documentation record to be created
         ii. Mostly important when the Documentation records are tied to actual Activities in the Job Overview (the Item name matches the Activity name)


     h. Scheduled Completion
         i. Used to show the expected completion date on calendars and timelines so that the workflow can be more easily managed.


         ii. Matches the Activity Scheduled Completion date where applicable.


     i. Actual Creation
         i. Used when Routings are involved. Currently inactive.


     j. Actual Completion
         i. The date the Document is completed and no longer used.


     k. Attachments
         i. Add Folder
            1. Used to add all the files in a selected folder on your hard drive (or any mounted network volumes)


         ii. Launch selected Attachment
            1. Downloads the attachment from the server and tells your computer to open it. This requires the computer to recognize the file creator or extension automatically.
               a. When attached from a MacOS computer, the file creator and file type are stored in fields of the Attachment record in order to aid in this.


               b. When attached from a Windows computer, the extension of the file name is used. The Windows registry of the computer launching the file would need to know how to handle the document based on its extension.


              c. If a MacOS computer is opening a file attached by a Windows computer, the extension may or may not be recognized and handled automatically. Likewise when opening a file Windows that was attached by a MacOS computer. 


2. Documentation Approvals by Workgroup. See Figure 7.
     a. Select a Letter for ‘Approval Request’
         i. Allows you to choose a Letter to be used for this Documentation Approval Request.


         ii. The selected Letter overrides any Letter currently set in System Preferences - Documentation.


         iii. Leave this blank to use the one in System Preferences




     b. Approvals
         i. This is a list of people who will be sent emails requesting their Approval or Rejection
            1. Mail merges the Letter specified above or the one in System Preferences
         ii. Add Approvers using controls along the right of the list


        c. Add Approvers
            i. Use the controls to add whole workgroups of Contacts, or individual Staff members or Contacts.
              1. Only those Staff Resources and Contacts with email addresses can be added.


          ii. Choose Staff
             1. Choose a Resource of type Staff to be added to the list of Approvers


          iii. Add Workgroup Members
             1. Presents a dialog of all Keywords used in the Contacts area which begin with the word “Workgroup”
                a. Choose a Workgroup from this list to get a list of all Contacts (from both Vendors and Organizations) which use the selected Keyword


               b. Accept the list of  Contacts to have them added to the list of Approvers


               c. Cancel the list of Contacts to return to the list of Workgroup keywords and select a different Workgroup.
                  i. This loop can be repeated as many times as necessary to get to the correct Workgroup


            2. Choose by Organization
                  a. Select an Organization (by name or id depending on System Preferences) to get a list of Contacts at that Organization


                 b. Then select the Contact at that Organization to add him/her to the list of Approvers


           3. Choose by Vendor
                a. Select a Vendor (by name or id depending on System Preferences) to get a list of Contacts at that Vendor


                b. Then select the Contact at that Vendor to add him/her to the list of Approvers


     d. Email Request
          i. Sends the approval request emails to the list of Approvers
          ii. Marks the “Request Sent” date of each record
              1. As each Approver replies to the email sent, the appropriate fields for “Request Returned” and “Approved On”  or “Rejected On” will be marked.
                   a. If attachments are returned with the reply, a new Documentation record is created to store the returned attachments. The name of this Documentation item will be that of the current Documentation record + the Approver’s name.
                       i. These Documentation records will not have an Approvals page


     e. Send to Submitter
          i. Send Selected Approval
               1. Select an Approval in this list and an email will be sent to the submitter indicated in the Job Record to show the submitter the status of that Approver’s reply


         ii. Send All Approvals
               1. The submitter gets a list of the Approvers showing the dates the request was sent, returned, approved, rejected, etc, as well as any attachments returned and any comments from the email.

      
      Figure 7
      
3. Documentation Approvals (by an Individual)
      a. To be documented in the future.


4. Archival Information

      
      Figure 8
        a. Storage Archive ID
           i. The storage identifying information used to locate the hard copy


        b. Storage Location
          i. Where the hard copy is located


        c. Storage Medium
          i. The type of medium on which the hard copy is stored


        d. Date to retain until
          i. Date when the hard copy can be destroyed


        e. Date destroyed
          i. Date the hard copy of the Documentation was destroyed


        f. Approval page displayed
          i. The type of Approval being used
              1. Workgroup
              2. Individual


        g. Created by
           i. The Resource who created the Documentation record


        h. Sequence #
          i. The JobOrder internal sequence number of the record