DATOPIAN

How to submit invoices

Last updated: 12th May 2021

• We have a check-list (slide 16)
• We have clarified how Unit price & Qty should be calculated (slide 10) and how they should be split between projects (slide 11)
• We have confirmed that we only need approximate billing to projects: ~0.05 FTE is good enough. No project should have less than $100 allocated to it (slide 11)
• We included some screenshot to show you how to upload a PDF (slides 12 & 13)
• We have an example of an invoice that is submitted well (slide 14)
• The FAQs has been updated (slide 15)
• Rest periods information included (slides 17, 18, 19 & 20)

What’s changed in this update (April/May 2021)

This is a step by step guide that shows you how to submit your invoices correctly so that you can be paid on time.

Getting paid

We want to promote a culture of:

• Self-service
• Trust
• Simple process (or at least as simple as it can be :D)

Why we do this the way we do...

1. Log in to Xero

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You need to log in to your Datopian account.

We have invited you to Xero when you were onboarded.

Log in and set your password.

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New payment timeline starting from the 1st of July 2020

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You should submit your invoice by 12 CET/CEST on the last day of the month, and we will transfer the money by the 5^th. If the 5^th falls on a weekend, we will transfer the money on the following Monday.

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The latest you can submit your invoice is the 3rd, and then you will be paid by the 10th. Any invoices that are not submitted by the 3^rd will be paid the following month.

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Many Datopians are paid a set monthly fee and we only want approximate (to the nearest ~0.05 FTE, with no project having less than $100) so many of you can invoice a few days before the end of the month.

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Timeline

Create New Bill

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Enter details

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Fill in the boxes:

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From: Your name

Date: Last date of the CURRENT month if you’re invoicing for this month or PREVIOUS month if invoicing for the previous one

Due date: 30^th of the month (Our word is to pay you by the 10^th, but contractually payment is due 30 days after invoicing)

Reference: Reference should be {First Initial}{Last Initial}{optional hexadecimal disambiguate}-YYYY-mm

• Eg. PW-2020-02 (ie Paul Walsh Feb 2020)
• Eg. PW1-2020-02 (ie Paul Walker Feb 2020)
• Your specific reference code with your initials and assigned hexadecimal disambiguate is viewable in the Datopian Phonebook on the Xero Invoice Ref Code tab.
• You can check in the phonebook to see if you are the only one with your initials. If in doubt, ask the Ops team

Currency: Enter your correct currency

Amounts are: “Tax Exclusive” See red box

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Item - Not required.

�Description - Brief description of the services provided.

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FTE - If you worked full-time this should be 1 FTE (and pro-rata’d if you worked more or less). Note that all overtime needs to be agreed by Project Lead in advance. If you need rounding then the FTE unit should not be greeted than 0.01.

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Qty / Unit Price Please refer to the two next slides which explain how to calculate the unit price and quantity, and how to split between projects.

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Account:

“5111 COS Contractors” - If you are working on a client project.

“6331 Contractor” - For internal project (Ops, Finance, Onboarding, Datopian core) or product work (eg CKANv3)

"1111 - Datopian Contractors" if you are unsure which one to choose.

• Check the list of the full projects and accounts here

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Project - Search for the project code that matches the project you have been working on. Please always remember to add project and be careful to select the most recent project. NB Do not create a new project if there is not one listed in the dropdown box, write to office@ to request that a new project is added if you think one is missing. If you have worked for more than 1 project, create different lines with the correct account and the clear description in the description box (see slide 11 for an example).

Splitting projects to an accuracy of ~0.05 FTE is good enough, please don’t bill any projects if it’s less than $100.

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PDF invoice - Please also remember to include your PDF invoice and check that the total amount invoiced (bottom right) matches to your attached invoice. You can use your own but if you do not have one there is a Datopian invoice template that you can use - Invoice template for Viderum Inc & Invoice template for Viderum OU (please DO NOT directly edit this template but copy to your personal drive and then edit it).

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Amount USD - This will be calculated for you. Please don’t include any projects for under $100. We aim for data which is roughly accurate. Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)

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Total - You need to enter this yourself. Xero will not let you submit if it’s not an exact match. However, if you have a few cents difference Xero will calculate the rounding for you

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Monthly fee: If you receive a set monthly fee per month then your unit price will equal your monthly fee.

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Hourly fee: You calculate your unit price by multiplying your hourly rate * 174. Why 174? Because that is the average number of working hours in a month. Eg if your hourly fee is $10 then your unit price would be $1,740

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Daily fee: You calculate your unit price by multiplying your daily rate * 21.75.

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Quantity: �The quantity is the amount of hours that you worked relative to the total hours in the month. If you receive a monthly fee and you work full-time then your FTE will be 1.0. But if you receive a per hour or per diem rate then you FTE will depend the number of working days in that month. For example, in March 2021 there were 23 working days so the total hours available are 184 (23*8). If you worked full-time then your FTE will be 1.057 (184 / 174).

If you worked less than full-time then you do the same calculation. Let’s say in March 2021 you had a 5 day holiday. Then your hours worked will be 144 (18*8). So your FTE will be 0.828.

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Qty / Unit Price: What should my unit price & quantity be?

Rounding

The total invoiced amount should equal the exact amount so you will sometimes need to use rounding. If you are close enough, Xero will do the rounding for you.

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This is actually the best way to do it. If you need to do the rounding yourself, please make sure that the quantity is around 0.01 so that it does not affect total FTE calculations that we make when reporting.

Qty / Unit Price: How to split between projects

Bill is on 1 FTE contract of $3k per month. He has spent 50% of his month on Project A and 50% on Finance / Ops work.

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Accounts should be:

• 5111 for the client project A (it’s really helpful to put your # hours / days here)
• 6331 for the Finance / Ops work (it’s really helpful to put your # hours / days here)

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This is what he enters in Xero:

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🔥🔥🔥 NOTA BENE 🔥🔥🔥

We want this to be approximately accurate so doing it to an accuracy of ~0.05 FTE is good enough. If you have spent less than $100 worth of time on a project, it’s not worth splitting it out in your invoice. The time spent on such a small project allocation can be rolled up into a similar project you have already billed for or the project you spent the most time on.

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(X hours)

Add your PDF invoice

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Step 1: Click of the attachment icon to add your PDF invoice

Step 2: Then add via the “Upload files” button

(You can use your own invoice template or if you don’t have one there is a template for you to copy & use)

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• You can press Save if you want to amend it later.

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• When you are ready to submit, click “Submit for approval” — that way the finance team can pick up your bill and get it approved and paid.

An example of an invoice that’s well done 💪

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In this example, Mickey Mouse is on an hourly rate of $12. So his unit price is $12 * 174 = $2,088.

In April 2021, there are 22 working (ie non-weekend) days so 176 hours (22*8). He worked full-time.

So the total that Mickey Mouse will be paid is $12 * 176 $2,112, and the FTE is 176/174 = 1.0115 (to 4 dp)

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Sums to 1.0115 ☑

Even though the project is unbillable, it is still a client project and should be 5111

Pls ignore typo! 🤦

Bonus: It’s super helpful to include the number of hours worked 😸

Thank you!! 🤗

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• The “Rest Period” initiative does not impact the type/status or legal agreements of any Datopian contract. This is not a legal document.
• The “Rest Period” initiative does not impact any pre-existing paid holiday arrangements/agreements made prior to the Holacracy management structure. However, any future amendments to pre-existing paid holiday agreements are governed by this initiative unless pre-existing agreements are explicitly stated in the Datopian contract agreement(s). (May 2021)
• All Datopians have 2 days of “rest periods” per calendar month provided the Datopian have planned to work 1 FTE in the month and have been with the organisation for more than 60 days (from the date of their contract).
• Rest Periods are only applicable to Datopians allocated and working full time and (1 FTE).
• Rest Periods are only available to new Datopians from the PROCEEDING calendar month after they are eligible. i.e. after 60 days (from the date of their contract).
• Any rest period not consumed during a calendar month is rollovered to the following month.
• Any rest period not consumed by the last day of the Calendar year (December 31) is forfeited and cannot be applied to a new calendar year.

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“Rest Periods” initiative

• If a rest period is being consumed by a Datopian in a month, then only a maximum of 5 consecutive weekdays can be consumed from accumulated rest periods.
• Datopians can use a maximum of 6 days of accumulated rest periods per month.
• All rest periods to be taken must be agreed upon with the individual’s team as is our culture/style.
• To consume rest periods of up to 2 consecutive weekdays per month, Datopians must give at least 1-week notice.
• To consume rest periods of more than 2 consecutive weekdays per month, Datopians must give at least 2 weeks’ notice and a backup person to cater to the accountabilities of the resting Datopian must be installed.
• Any Datopian under a contract termination notice is NOT eligible for any Rest. All Rest Periods are immediately forfeited once such notice has been provided. Unless at the discretion of Datopian Leadership.
• The People Person is accountable for reporting/tracking how rest periods are consumed by any Datopian per month.
• In order to take some rest from the rest period, Datopians must comply with any reporting/tracking process installed by the People Person.
• Rest periods are separate from “off days” which Datopians intend to make up at a later time in the current working month
• For internal tracking purposes, The cost of rest periods will be billed to the Project(s) to which the resting Datopian is currently assigned to.

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How to add “Rest Periods” to monthly invoice

• Datopians should enter any rest periods taken during the month as part of their invoice.
• The amount of FTE taken as rest should be prorated across the projects the individual worked on for the month and assigned to those projects accordingly.
• E.g.

If Developer X takes 4 days of rest during the month, and works on both NHS at 0.6FTE and Vital Strategies at 0.4FTE then the �4 days * 8hrs = 32h

Divided by total number of hours in a month (174h). 32/174 = 0.184

Actual FTE the person worked is 1 - 0.184 = 0.816 FTE

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Rest FTE prorated across the 2 projects:

0.184 *0.6 = 0.110 FTE assigned to NHS

0.184 * 0.40 = 0.074 FTE assigned to Vital Strategies

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Check the Rest Periods are added correctly

Check-list ☑

These are some of the things that people often miss:

• Is your currency correct?
• Is the data of the invoice the last day of the month (or the previous month if you are submitting late)?
• Is the due date the end of the following month (not the 5th or the 10th)?
• Is the tax set to tax exclusive?
• Is the reference correct eg AA-2021-01
• Is the account correct?
• “5111 COS Contractors” - If you are working on a client project.
• “6331 Contractor” - If you are working on an internal project or product (Ops, Finance, Onboarding, Product work, CKAN v3, Datopian core)
• "1111 - Datopian Contractors" if you are unsure which one to choose.
• Have you calculated the unit price and quantity correctly? Eg with the unit price based on 174 hours if working on a per hour basis or 21.75 if working on a per diem basis. (See slide 10.)
• Ideally the Xero calculated amount will be equal to Total in the top right corner. And if it’s not exact, it’s a few cents off so that Xero calculates the rounding. If you have calculated the rounding, the Qty should be no more than 0.01
• Have you included your PDF? Is the amount on the PDF equal to the total amount on Xero?
• Have you remembered to submit for approval? (Save if you want to keep as a draft to come back to it later, submit it when you are ready for it to be reviewed.)

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• What if I’m on an hourly rate? => Convert it to an FTE equivalent (174h in a month), you could have a Qty greater to 1 FTE if you worked more than 174h in 1 month. See slide 10.
• What if I’m on a daily rate? => Convert it to an FTE equivalent (times day rate * 21.75). See slide 10.
• What about fixed price contracts (e.g. some design work)? => Input time spent in FTE and agreed price.
• What about meetings? FTE allocation for meetings should be allocated to the project that was the reason why you had the meeting. Eg if you have a meeting about a client project, the time should be booked to the client project, if it’s a general meeting about delivery, it should be booked to delivery. Only Holacracy, all-hands meetings should be booked to ‘internal meetings.’ Though remember we don’t want a project to be billed if it’s less than $100. KISS.
• What happens if I work longer than 1 FTE? => Firstly, working overtime requires Project Lead sign-off. Then it depends: If you are on a monthly contract then enter 1 FTE as it averages out. If on an hourly or daily basis then see slide 10 for an explanation (basically the unit price is based on 174 hours so if you worked full-time your FTE will depend how many working days there are in a month

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FAQs

FAQs

• What do I do with projects that are less than $100? The time spent on such a small project allocation can be rolled up into a similar project you have already billed for or the project you spent the most time on.
• What happens if there is no project that matches the project I have been working on. Please don’t create a new project; write to office@ to request that a new project is added if you think one is missing.
• How do I calculate my total days worked if I am on a per diem rate? If you roughly work 8 hours per day every day then you can just sum the number of days that you worked as they average out overall. But many staff enjoy working flexible hours so their workweek might look like: Mon 8 hrs, Tues 4 hrs, Weds 9, Thurs 8, Fri 6, Sat 2, Sun, 0. So the total number of days worked that week would be 37/8 = 4.625 days. (This is an example for a week but the idea is you sum the total hours work worked during the month divided by the total hours in that month.) As noted above, if you work more than 8 hours per day on average in the month that qualifies as overtime and you need prior approval from your project lead(s).
• What happens if I go on holiday? => You get paid for the time you work and so bill for the pro-rata FTE that you work.

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