Scope Creep & EnterYourHours.com

Scope Creep is a phenomenon that can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled.

One of my most recent client acquisitions is pulling a lot of this.  And while I have been re-iterating what is happening every phone call, I have a feeling there will still be questions about the next milestone bill. 

Enteryourhours.com, an online hourly billing and project managment tool, recently upgraded everyones account to manage what they call ‘activities’ within a project.  I’ve correlated their ‘activites’ to fall inline with the different sections of a scope of work that was originally presented to said client.  This helps keep both, me inline, and the client on par with what is happening within each section of a Scope of Work.

So great, I’ve got everything categorized by activity.  But what makes it better is that EnterYourHours.com has a recently improved invoicing tool. It has a new feature where you can break out the project in any hierarchy you want. Either by worker, project, activity or by project, then worker, then activity. 

This lets me pass along an invoice that has a grand total, followed by a detailed summary of the number of hours spent on each ‘activity’ within single and/or multiple projects currently active with the client.

When the client says, “Why are we over budget?”  We’ll both be able to see where things took longer than expected or where the “scope creep” truly started. Putting me in a stronger position when presenting the facts at invoice time.

Go Paperless

So I was recently at a Colorado Avalanche game having the best time when in between periods i thought, “Oh crap,  i need to get my accounting squared away for the accountant and soon.”  And while normally, hourly billing, is a pain to balance out – knowing that my hourly billing software was ready with features  to transfer all my invoices to quickbooks, my clients and all the other stuff comes with – i was able to watch the game in peace. 

Some of you might say, “Oh big deal.”  You are the people who are OCD about organization.  I’ve used scrap notebooks with time logs, notepad docuuments and others, but those notes usually get all mixed up with notes on phone calls, new projects, new tasks.  Somehow those time log/notes never get into any form of software for billing and sometimes get tossed during clean-up.  I’ve forced myself to enter these times into my hourly billing software solution, so that I can truly be a “paperless” office and not miss billing for any time.

“Greener” Invoices with EnterYourHours.com

While we all have those picky clients that will refute any line item in an invoice, there are those that drive us even closer to the edge.  I had one client in particular that was not too fond of a two page invoice. Page 1 showed the total hours and amount due, while page 2 had a breakdown of hours and the description of work done. 

Apparently two sheets of paper was too much for the owner too review when rushing through invoices.  On top of that, page 1, always stated: “Consulting: See attached sheet for details”.  While this generic description is accepted by most clients, this one in particular wanted it to say “Project X: Development”.  Completely understandable and adjustable under Settings >> Invoices >> Line Item Settings at EnterYourHours.com. 

That said, i was able to revise the invoices for said client and return them as they saw fit.  Well wouldn’t you know it, they wanted everything one page.  The totals and now the descriptions were to be on one sheet so that it could be easily looked over by the check/pen holder. 

After some discussion with the owner and developer of EnterYourHours.com, I was able to convince them that a 1-page invoice should be provided as a setting option. A few weeks later, they called to notify me that my wish had been granted.  It’s been weeks since i’ve started using, but recently i received an email from the owner that said, “The one page invoice seems to be one of the most popular settings amongst our  users.  Thanks for your suggestion!”  I was blown away.  I should have put some money on it. 

The 1-page invoice has not only made it better for my clients to quickly review totals and descriptions, but its also a “greener” alternative.  EnterYourHours.com has enabled me to run a truly paperless office.  Don’t Spend Hours Billing, Bill more hours….enteryourhours.com.

Really? There is a recession?

Business has been keeping my busy in spite of the current economic whirlwind.  Several new businesses have embraced Zapata Data’s design and development offerings stretching its client-base into the landscape/plantscaping, loan modifications and traffic ticket markets. 

Our recent project with Hot Calls Inc, a Florida-based call center, is now fully operational.  They have made over 35,000 calls on 37+ projects with 20+ callers.  Needless to say, it is Zapata Data’s largest accomplishment since opening its web doors in April of 2008.  Zapata Data is looking to integrate the Hot Calls Software system with EnterYourHours.com’s payroll and Quickbooks support.  The Hot Calls software program tracks when callers login and logout out of the system.  While the API is not yet available for EnterYourHours.com, it is certainly starting to show its face on the horizon.  I look forward to making the Hot Calls Software program integrate thru EnterYourHours.com and end up in their Quickbooks file.

EnterYourHours.com: Owner & Worker

I use EnterYourHours.com for both my own business, and as a contractor for another company using EnterYourHours.com for their hourly tracking solution.  We’ll call that other company, TheBiz. 

 

TheBiz hires me to do one-off projects for their customers, so my hours need to show up on their invoices to clients.  To keep records and hourly billing organized, we decided it would be best for me to enter the hours at TheBiz.enteryourhours.com over my own account mycompany.enteryourhours.com.  This lets TheBiz create invoices with my hours on them without me having to invoice the hours from my system and pass them onto TheBiz. This saves at least one step in between. 

 

While the work being completed is being entered at, thebiz.enteryourhours.com, my running weekly hour totals on mycompany.enteryourhours.com are inaccurate. It’s something I have to be mindful of when I am checking to see how many billable hours I’ve logged between theBiz and ZapataData.

 

The advantages are in favor of TheBiz. TheBiz can adjust my hours before invoicing if needed, choose not to bill for certain items and track his hourly totals by contractor (me).

 

As a user of both sides of the system, I find it easy to see how much work I’ve done for theBiz, while still being able to see what my own business is doing without TheBiz in the mix.  Sure I could track hours in both places, but there’s no need to since I will never create an invoice for TheBiz and tracking the hours in my system will throw off running totals on the billing screen during invoice time.