CIMS - Jobs
The main purpose of CIMS is to help with the negotiation of Jobs and to deal with the subsequent financial management. In order to do this it has a rich set of features including a powerful Contacts Management System
To get the most out of CIMS and to ensure organisational needs and requirements are met it has to be setup and configured with various parameters.
The key attributes of Jobs in CIMS are as follows:
Client - The Client requesting the job and for who the work is being undertaken
Job Name - The name of the Job
Linked Jobs - This fields shows all jobs that have been cloned and are therefore linked. Holding the cursor over a linked job shows the job summary figures, and clicking on a linked job accesses the job
Client Contact - The contact at the client organisation who is dealing with the Job
Job Type - The type of Job being undertaken - e.g. Photography, Hair & Makeup, Stylist, Advertising - choice may determine terms and conditions which apply
Purchase Order # - The purchase order for invoicing if required by the client or by the accounts / finance department
Status - The status of the Job - from a list created during system configuration. For example Confirmed, Un-Confirmed, Cancelled
Published Pages - For Editorial Jobs it may be necessary to keep track of the published pages e.g. for billing
Artist - The Artist the Job is being assigned to
Producer - The Producer or member of staff dealing with this project
Currency - The currency the Job is to be negotiated in (Estimates / Quotes, Invoices and payments can be in alternative currencies
Purchase Order Required - Whether or not a purchase order is required. This defaults to the value set for the client
Fees Markup % - the percentage of markup if any to be added to the Artist Fee
Fees Artist Commission % - The commission if any to be paid by the Artist
Override Expenses % (default) This provides the ability to override the default markup if any on expenses
Start Date - Start date of the Job. Each of the Fee act ivies have dates an if any are set before this date the start date will be changed to match the earliest activity date
End Date - The end date of the Job. If any of the Fee activity dates end after this date, the date will be changed to mach the last date. In other words the end-date can not fall before the last Fee Activity date e.g. post production
Location - Where the Job is going to undertaken
Brief - The Brief for the Job. This is normally what is agreed between the Producer and the Client and is printed on the Estimate / Agreement / Contract
Comments - Any comments either party may have. These are printed on the Estimate / Agreement / Contract
Usage - This usually stipulates the usage the work is going to be put to, for example where and when work is to be published. It is normally agreed between the Producer and the Client and printed on the Estimate / Agreement / Contract
Internal Notes - These are notes internal to the organisation and are not seen by anyone external to CIMS. They can be used to record an aide memoir or observations that need to be seen by colleagues looking at this Job
Note: The internal notes have an additional special feature. If they have not been read by the person viewing the job they are displayed before the job can be accessed. In other words they are the first thing a user sees if new text has been added since the user last accessed the job.
To create a new job do the following:
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Select a client
4. Enter a currency
5. Select the "Create New Job" button
6. Fill in the Job form
7. Select the "Save" button to create the job
To create a new job by cloning an existing one
CIMS allows jobs to be cloned. This is useful where the profile of the job is similar to the new one to be created or if both jobs are related in some way. When cloning a job you can choose to include fees, include expenses or both. Jobs can also be cloned for "Optional Usage". This is where the Optional Usage agreed in the original job is requested by the client. The new job is an exact copy of the original except that the original fees are replaced with the agreed optional fees. Note that once created cloned jobs can be edited to suit requirements.
To create a job by cloning do the following
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Using the filters find the job to be cloned
4. Select the "Clone This Job" button at the bottom of the screen
5. Select the kind of cloning required. If cloning for "Other" choose the "Currency", "Fees" to include the original fees, and "Expenses" to include the original expenses. Note that these can be changed.
6. If cloning for ""Other" choose whether or not to link the cloned job to the original. This is useful where the jobs are related summary figures from related jobs will need to be accessed quickly
7. Make the required changes to the new "Cloned Job". Note that the Job Name defaults to "Clone of original" and you may want to change this.
8. Select "Save" to create the new job
CIMS provides a number of "Filters" that can be used to find specific jobs or groups of jobs. For example all jobs by a particular producer, or by a particular artist, or at a specific stage. The filters can be used individually or in combination. The filters are dynamic with jobs which meet the current selection being show on screen as the selection is made.
Finding Jobs - Back Button. When the filters are used the CIMS "Back Button" has a special function. It works with the subset found. So finding a set of jobs beg all those for one artist, then accessing one of these and pressing the CIMS "Back" button will result in the found set being re-displayed on screen. Clicking the main browser back button on the other hand will display all jobs and cancel the filters.
To edit an existing job do the following:
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Find the job to edited
4. Select "Edit Job"
5. Make the appropriate changes
6. Select the "Save" button to make the changes
Prior to generating an estimate of the cost of the job both fees and expenses need to be added. Fees are added from a pre-existing pick list created during the system configuration. The list would normally include an "Other" category for fees that may not fall into the list.
To create a fee profile and add fees to the job do the following:
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Find the job to edited
4. Either select the "Edit Fees" icon or go to the job and select the "Edit Fees" tab
5. Add the required Fees by selecting the main category, then entering the appropriate figures. Note that the Job Start date cannot be earlier than the earliest fee date and will be changed accordingly. The same rule applies to the Job End Date which will always be equal or later to the last fee date.
6. Additional Fees. Additional fees are a special category and show fees relating to usage over and above that agreed for normal usage. If this fee is used it will be displayed in the estimated costs and invoices as a separate line.
7. Optional Fees: Optional fees are a special category. They show an optional agreement to use the product in the future. This will be shown in the estimates as an option but not included in the figures as a line item. However should the option be taken up the job can be cloned to include the optional fee as the only fee item. Once cloned the job can be edited to include other fees.
Note that when invoicing has begun, i.e. the first fee invoice has been generated by the system, the fee amounts cannot be changed
To edit a fee item, do the following:
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Find the job to edited
4. Select Edit "Fees" tab
5. Select the fee to be edited
6, Make the required changes
7. Select "Save" to make the changes
The "Markup" on fees is applied as the fees are created using the figure in the jobs form. Once created the markup cannot be changed. To edit the markup, delete the fee, edit the amount in the job form and re-create the fee..
Note that when invoicing has begun, i.e. the first fee invoice has been generated by the system, the fee amounts cannot be changed
To edit a fee item, do the following:
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Find the job to edited
4. Select Edit "Fees" tab
5. Select the fee to be deleted
6. Select the "delete" button
Prior to generating an estimate of the cost of the job both fees and expenses need to be added. Expenses are added from a pre-existing pick list created during the system configuration. The list would normally include an "Other" category for expenses that may not fall into the list.
To create a expenses profile and add expenses to the job do the following:
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Find the job to edited
4. Either select the "Edit Expenses " icon or go to the job and select the "Edit Expenses " tab
5. Select an Expense category
6. Select a sub category
7. Fill in the expense form and save the expense item
Note that when "Final Invoice" has been issued the expense amounts cannot be changed
To edit an expense item do the following
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Find the job to edited
4. Either select the "Edit Expenses " icon or go to the job and select the "Edit Expenses " tab
5. Select an Expense category
6. Select a sub category
7. Select the expense amount
8. Make the required changes
9. Select the "Save" button to make the changes
To edit the "Expense Markup" on individual expense items do the following
Note that when "Final Invoice" has been issued the expense amounts cannot be changed
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Find the job to edited
4. Either select the "Edit Expenses " icon or go to the job and select the "Edit Expenses " tab
5. Select an Expense category
6. Select the expense markup rate by double clicking on it
7. Change it to the required rate
8. Select the save button to implement the changes
Note that when "Final Invoice" has been issued the expense amounts cannot be changed
To delete an expense item do the following:
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Find the job to edited
4. Either select the "Edit Expenses " icon or go to the job and select the "Edit Expenses " tab
5. Select an Expense category
6. Select the expense sub category
7. Select "Delete"
Jobs which have not had fees or expenses added can be deleted. If the delete button appears at the bottom of the job form it can be deleted.
To delete a job do the following
1. From the main ring menu select "View Listings"
2. Select "Jobs"
3. Find the job to edited
4. Select "Edit Job"
5. Select "Delete Job" to remove the job from the system