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An account is a customer, contractor or business partner whose contact information you would like to have on file in Severa 3. An account may have multiple contacts, multiple addresses and multiple Cases associated with it.
Active users are users that have a valid User seat license with access to the Severa 3 system. If you have administrator rights, you can purchase seats for more users from the Users section in Settings (you must be logged in to Severa 3 to successfully be redirected to the Users link).
Activities are small jobs or events that require attention and help move a Case toward completion. Activities can include phone calls, meetings or picking up prints. When Activities are added to a case an entry is also made on the calendar to remind you about it.
Advanced time tracking is an add-on feature used to manage the processes involved with collecting work hours. With Advanced time tracking you’re able to define the work week, create work contracts with expected hours and control absences to automatically calculate employee work hour balances. Advanced time tracking may be considered part of Flextime management systems. For more information, please read the Advanced time tracking article.
API stands for application programming interface, and is a way to enable interaction between different software applications. The interaction is created through programming code to retrieve and transmit data. For more information about APIs, please see our Wiki article Severa API or Wikipedia's article API.
A BIC, or Bank Identifier Code, is the unique identification code used to represent a bank. It is string of 8 alphanumeric characters without spaces, and may contain an additional 3 characters to identify the branch. BICs facilitate the electronic transfer of money, and can usually be found online or by calling your bank. For more information about BICs, please see the ISO 9362 article in Wikipedia.
Billable hours are hours entered on the Work hour entry form that can be invoiced to a Customer case. Hours entered for Customer cases which have a price of zero are not billable. Hours entered for Internal cases are not billable.
The calendar in Severa 3 functions to schedule activities such as meetings, phone calls and other tasks. It's accessed by double clicking the calendar in the sidebar or from the Activities & Phases section of a Case.
See also calendar synchronization settings.
A Case is a project or assignment to which employees bill work hours and travel expenses. There are two main types of cases: Customer and Internal. Customer cases can be further divided into sales and project cases depending on the sales status. Internal cases are in-house projects that can't be invoiced. Cases have deadlines, keywords, descriptions and may have other resources or forecasts associated with them.
We use the term company for any commercial or non-profit (educational or charitable) organization which uses Severa 3.
A contact is a person whose information is on file in Severa 3 in relation to an Account.
We use the term currency to denote the various forms of money. Financial information in Severa 3 is entered and displayed in the default currency as specified by the user in Settings. The multi-currency upgrade allows users to switch between different currencies for international Cases.
Severa 3 can be customized to meet the needs of individual users and whole companies. Users can modify saved searches, the Dashboard and other personal settings. Company administrators can adapt the system default settings for different users.
A deadline is the date on which a Case or Phase must be completed. The deadline for an Invoice in Severa 3 is called the “due date.”
Disk space refers to the amount of server space allocated to your account for file storage. Severa 3 offers 5 MBs of disk space free of charge with every account. Additional disk space can be purchased.
We use the term due date to mean the date on which an invoice payment should be received.
Expenses in Severa 3 may include work hours, travel costs and fixed fees. They are normal business expenses that may or may not be charged to the customer.
Severa 3 allows you to export data and reports in Microsoft Excel (.xls) format. Data is available for export when the active Excel icon 
is displayed. Data can't be exported if the icon is gray 
.
Finvoice is a contraction of the capitalized letters in the words FINancial and inVOICE, and it refers to a standardized XML format for electronic invoicing. For more information, please see the Finvoice article in our Wiki.
A fiscal year is any 12 month consecutive period as defined by a company or government for determining earnings and profits. It does not necessarily coincide with the calendar year. Please see Fiscal Year in Wikipedia for more information.
Fixed pricing is the fee option in which there is one set hourly rate for all work hours regardless of the work type. The default fixed price can be specified in Settings, and may be chosen on a case by case basis.
We use the term Advanced time tracking instead of flextime. For more information please read the Advanced time tracking definition.
Severa 3 offers forecasting for certain financial aspects of Customer cases. For example, you can view the revenue or billing forecast of a case. You can also create Advanced searches to display combined forecasts for all cases or certain types of cases.
The Gantt chart is a way of displaying project schedules to clarify the relationship between activities and phases over time. For more information, please see Gantt Chart in Wikipedia.
An IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is used to identify bank accounts in different countries in a standardized manner. An IBAN identifies the country and bank where an account is located, and the account itself. For more information, please see the International Bank Account Number article in Wikipedia.
Account information, such as customer details and contacts, can be imported to Severa 3 as comma separated values (CSV) from other software or systems.
Inactive users are users that have been added to the system, but don't currently have access. Users can be switched from active to inactive if the person will be on a leave of absence or no longer works at your company, and Severa 3 will archive the inactive user's data. If you have administrator rights, inactive users can be activated after purchasing another user seat. To activate a user now go to the Users section in Settings (you must be logged in to Severa 3 to successfully be redirected to the Users link). Or, to read more please see Adding users.
An invoice is a formal document which is sent to the customer. Otherwise, invoicing and billing may be used interchangeably.
A key performance indicator (KPI) is a measure that reflects the performance of a company. In Severa 3 you can create numerous KPI reports with Advanced search. For more information, please see the Key Performance Indicator article in Wikipedia.
We use the term lost case to describe a Case which doesn't result in an order. The Sales status of a lost case can be changed to “Rejected proposal,” and its Probability will automatically become null, or the case can be closed.
Mixed pricing is a method of charging customers that combines a fixed fee package with hourly work rates depending on specific criteria. An example of mixed pricing is when a company offers 10 hours of consulting per month at a flat rate, but charges an hourly rate for all additional consulting time.
Multi-currency is a Severa 3 upgrade that allows you to switch between currencies freely. Once multi-currency has been activated you can specify the default currency for every Account and every Case.
Per diem is Latin for “per day,” and usually refers to a daily fixed fee an employee is allowed to spend on work expenses. Please see Per diem in Wikipedia for more information.
A Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) chart is a project management tool for scheduling projects and illustrating task dependencies within the project. The project is shown as a network diagram where nodes represent tasks and arrows show the sequence of tasks. For more information, please see Program Evaluation and Review Technique in Wikipedia.
Phases are stages which represent different periods in case development, and can encompass activities. Phases belong to a Case, or another Phase, and have a start date and deadline. Phases can be given a main Work type, and work hours can be entered directly to a case phase on the Work time entry form.
A price list is a company's set of charges for different types of work, including hourly wages, overtime rates and the default single price. In Severa 3 you can establish multiple price lists to employ different rates for different Accounts.
Pricing options in Severa 3 are the different ways of charging customers for work hours, and include fixed pricing, variable hourly pricing and a combination of these, mixed pricing.
We use the term probability to represent the likelihood of successfully landing a case. By default, the percent of probability is automatically reconfigured for certain stages of the Sales status. Probability and Sales statuses can be customized in the Sales process section of Settings.
Productive refers to work hours that directly lend to the completion of a case. Work is identified as Productive or Non productive in the Work types section of Settings. An exception exists when work identified as Non productive in the Work types section is given a value in a Price list and billed to a case, this work is then considered Productive.
A project can be simply a synonym for case, or more specifically it can refer to a “Project Case” in which an order has been made and the “Sales status” has been changed to “Order.”
We use the term resourcing to mean allocating human resources, employees or users, to cases. In Severa 3 users can enter work hours according to cases, and the customers are then invoiced by case.
Sales status is a way to indicate whether the case is still pending or already a confirmed order. “No sales,” “Request for information,” “Proposal,” “Order” or “Rejected proposal” are the default settings, but these can be customized in the Sales process section of Settings.
Severa 3 has many Settings for users to adjust their system. Administrators can control what information different users can access; as well as general, company-wide settings such as language, currency and default price lists. Other settings allow the individual to control personal details, preferences and passwords.
In Severa 3 Services refers to seminars, training, consulting or other work for which a company charges the customer.
A sidebar is a widget anchored to the right side of a view. Sidebars may be mini-applications or simple links, but they're always located in the same place so that they're easy to find and use.
A person who has sufficient access rights to his or her subordinates to lock or approve work hours, or adjust Activities & Phases scheduling.
SWIFT (also known as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is a worldwide messaging system for banks and financial institutions. For more information, please see the SWIFT article in Wikipedia.
We use the term Activities instead of tasks. For more information please read the Activities definition.
A monetary charge on goods or services rendered which is imposed by authorities to maintain public entities. See also VAT.
A team is a group of two or more people working together on a Case.
A tree view is a graphical illustration used to present and navigate hierarchical information. The main element, or trunk, has items that belong to it which are known as branches. These items can have other items that belong to them, ad infinitum. Items may be expanded or collapsed to show or hide the items which belong to it.
There is a 30 day trial period after a new account is registered. During the trial period you can add users and test add-on features at no cost. After the trial period, users and add-ons will become inactive unless you upgrade the service.
Upgrades are ways to enhance system functionality by purchasing additional features or user seats.
All people that have a valid User seat license and access to Severa 3 are considered “users.” If you have administrator rights, you can purchase seats for additional users from the Users section in Settings (you must be logged in to Severa 3 to successfully be redirected to the Users link).
The User invoice allows Severa users located in SEPA to create an invoice for their Severa account, and then pay the invoice immediately through electronic banking.
User seats in Severa 3 refers to the number of available licenses for active users. If you have administrator rights, you can increase or decrease the number of seats at any time. To purchase additional seats for more users please go to the Adjust Features section in Upgrades (you must be logged in to Severa 3 to successfully be redirected to the Users link).
Variable hourly pricing is a pricing option that accommodates different types of work billed at different hourly rates.
The value added tax (VAT) is an consumption tax which is levied on various business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions. For more information, please see Value added tax in Wikipedia.
In Severa 3, you can enter and change the percentage of VAT on fixed fees and work hours to be included on customer invoices.
A web service is a type of API that is hosted remotely and offered as a service through the Internet. For more information about web services, please see the Web service article in Wikipedia.
In Severa 3 we use the term won case for a sales case which results in an order. The “Sales status” of a won case is changed to “order” and its probability is 100%.
Work hours are hours which employees or users assign to either a Customer case or an Internal case in Severa 3. Work hours are entered in relation to specific Cases and Phases, and work hours can be billable or non-billable.
We use the term work types to signify the list of different roles or jobs people have within a company. Work types are usually particular to an industry or company, and can be customized in the the “Work & Travel” section of Settings.
