Glossary : Severa

Activity

Activities are tasks, assignments, to-dos or events that require attention. For example, activities can be calls, deadlines, meetings or holidays.

Annual revenue

Customer's annual revenue under represents the company size. Annual revenue is not updated automatically.

API

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.

Approved hours

Work hours that have been approved through Work hour approval (Advanced time tracking add-on required).

BIC

A BIC, or Bank Identifier Code, is the unique identification code used to represent a bank.

Billable hours

Billable hours are work hours entered for customer projects that have a price. Work hours entered to a customer projects with a price of 0,00 or for internal projects are considered as non-billable. Billable hours are not just work hours that are invoiced, it is a KPI to follow work hours which have contributed value for the projects. Especially when invoicing with fixed fees, work hours are often considered as billable even though they are not invoiced.

Billable hours %

Billable hours are work hours entered for customer projects and that have a price. The formula to calculate billable hours %: Billable hours / All hours * 100.

Billed

Invoiced amount of work hours, travels and products/fees.

Billed entries

Invoiced amount of work hours, travels and fees entered through Time & Expenses view by the user.

Billing

Billing is the sum of billed work hours, travel expenses and products that have been invoiced to the customer for payment. Billing may also refer to the process of sending a bill or invoice.

Billing forecast

Billing forecast is an estimate or a prediction of the amount of billing a project will generate and can be added in the Financials section of a project. The forecast can be based on a contract or on similar projects that were completed in the past.

Billing information

Billing information in the project settings section of a project is an alternative place to specify where invoices should be sent in the event that the billing address for a project is different from the billing address for the customer. If billing details are not specified on a project, invoices will automatically be addressed to the billing address of the customer.

Billing per hour

The formula to calculate billing per hour: Project's invoicing / Work hours entered for the project.

Billing per hour, based on invoicing of own work

Project's invoicing that includes only billing of work hours and products with product type "own work".

Business unit

A business unit is a segment of a company (e.g. accounting, marketing, sales) that represents a specific function in the organization. They're also known as departments or divisions. Business units can also be used to represent national branches of a multinational company.

Cost center

Cost centers are distinct units or departments within a company which recognize costs and budgets separately. In Severa, cost centers are used in conjunction with financial integrations.

Cost per hour

Cost per hour (also labor cost) is the cost of an employee per hour. The cost per hour is specified on employees work contract, which is located on user pages accessed through User management.

Costs

Costs are the sum of all labor, travel and product costs for a project.

Daily hours

Daily hours are the number of hours an employee is expected to work on a normal work day. When using the Advanced time tracking add-on, the daily hours act as a baseline for calculation of the Work hour balance. Work beyond the daily hours may be considered Overtime and can be capped on the Work contract with the Daily limit. Daily hours are managed through User management, by opening an employee's page and going to the Work contracts section.

Daily limit

The daily limit is a cap on the number of work hours an employee can enter that are recognized. The limit is only available when using the Advanced time tracking add-on, and usually includes a few hours beyond the daily hours that will still count toward the Work hour balance. Daily limit is managed through Settings > User management, by opening an employee's page and going to the Work contracts section.

Deadline

A deadline is the date on which a Project or Phase must be completed. The deadline for an Invoice in Severa is called the “due date.”

Due date

We use the term due date to mean the date on which an invoice payment should be received.

Email notifications

Email notifications are automatic emails sent by Severa to inform employees: - When user is added to a New activity - When an activity they created is Confirmed by other participants - About activities on Today's agenda - About highlights of the previous Week. Email notifications are managed through Settings > User management, by opening an employee's page and going to the Settings section.

Employee margin

Employee's margin is calculated as follows: Project margin * User's share in %.

Employee sales margin

Employee's sales margin is calculated as follows: Project sales margin * User's share in %.

Estimated margin

The estimated margin is the difference between the billing forecast and the expense forecast. The formula to calculate estimated margin: Billing forecast - Expense forecast.

Estimated margin %

The estimated margin is the difference between the billing forecast and the expense forecast, or 'billing forecast - expense forecast'. The formula to calculate estimated margin % is: (Billing forecast - Expense forecast / Billing forecast) * 100.

Expense forecast

The total expenses expected to be paid out in order to complete a given project.

Expenses

Expenses include work hours, travel costs and fees for products or services. They are normal business expenses that may or may not be charged to the customer.

Export

Data from reports can be exported as a CSV comma-separated values file or as an XLS Microsoft Excel file. Data is available for export when the CSV icon and XLS icon are highlighted, and can't be exported if the icons are greyed out.

Finances over time

Finances over time' is a filter on specific reports that produces a drop-down menu of time frames. Select a time frame to see financial data for projects during that time frame.

Finvoice

Finvoice refers to a standardized XML format for electronic invoicing.

Flextime

Flextime is same as work hour balance.

Hours billed

The quantity of hours that have already been billed on a project. The hours billed result column, when used with the 'Finances over time' filter on reports, will display the number of hours that have occurred in the time frame and have been billed.

IBAN

An IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is used to identify bank accounts in different countries in a standardized manner.

Join a project

Employees are able to join a project from work hour entry and travel reimbursement pages when they aren't currently a member. The ability to join projects is controlled through Permission profiles and on the project settings view (Joining allowed).

Joining allowed

Key Performance Indicator

A key performance indicator (KPI) is a measure that reflects the performance of a company. In Severa there are ready-made KPI values can be found under overviews. You can also create your own KPIs if you have Premium or Enterprise version of Severa.

Keywords

Keywords are words attached to Sales cases, Project, Contacts, Files & Links or Users. Keywords can be used in searches and reports to delimit the results. For example, an architecture firm that works with public, industrial, commercial and private projects may want to mark their project accordingly with keywords. Then by typing one of the keywords into the Search in the top menu they could quickly view all relevant projects.

KPI

A key performance indicator (KPI) is a measure that reflects the performance of a company. There are a few ready-made KPI values that can be found under Overviews. You can also create your own KPIs with Premium and Enterprise version.

Labor expenses

Labor expenses are the amount of money paid for work hours entered for a project.

Lost sales case

We use the term lost sales case to describe a sales case which doesn't result in an order. The Sales status of a lost sales case can be changed to “Rejected proposal,” and its Probability will automatically become null, or the sales case can be closed.

Margin

Margin (also known as the gross margin) is the difference between billing and total costs, such as labour expenses and fixed costs. The formula to calculate margin as a percentage is defined as: (Billing - Total Cost)/Billing * 100%.

When using the Revenue recognition add-on, you may also choose to display the In-house margin, the difference between billing for in-house revenue, in-house costs, outsourced margin and the difference between billing for outsourced revenue and outsourced costs.

Margin %

Market segmentation

Market segmentation is a way to identify, classify and categorize your customers for marketing and reporting purposes. Segments are managed in Settings > Market segments.

Not approved hours

The amount of work hours that have been reviewed but not approved. Only available if the Advanced time tracking add-on is in use.

Not reviewed hours

The amount of work hours that haven't been reviewed yet. Only available if the Advanced time tracking add-on is in use.

OAuth

OAuth (Open Authorization) is an open standard for access delegation, commonly used as a way for applications to grant access to their information without giving them passwords.

Organization

An organization is a record of an ongoing relationship in Severa, Customers are used to represent your own organization as well as customer, contractors and business partners whose information you would like to have on file. Customers can have multiple Contacts, multiple addresses and multiple Projects associated with it.

Other expenses

Other expenses are the amount of money paid for things other than work hours (e.g. products and travel expenses) in relation to a project.

Overdue interest

Overdue interest is a percentage of the amount due on an invoice that is added to the invoice total when it's past due. In Severa, overdue interest is specified through Settings > Organization >Business units, through Settings > Company details, under Document preferences or through Customer > Customer settings > Billing information.

Overtime

Overtime refers to work hours entered which are beyond normal work hours. Overtime rates are managed through Settings > Overtime rates, and can be adjusted on Price lists. Overtime is available for employees on the work hour entry form only if overtime rates have been created by an administrator.

Payment terms

Payment terms (default is 14 days) are conditions on a sale which allow for deferred payment. The buyer is given a specific number of days after the invoice date to complete payment. For example, entering 30 for payment terms means that every invoice on the customer or project must be paid in full within 30 days of the invoice date.

Per diem

Per diem refers to a daily fixed fee organization gives an employee to cover work expenses when travelling.

Permissions

Permissions define what information people see in Severa. There are four default permission profiles, and every employee is assigned a profile. Through Settings > User management, an employee's page can be opened and in the Permissions section, profile can be changed or the rights of that employee can be customized from the basic profile.

Phases

Phases are stages which represent different periods in project development, and can encompass activities. Phases belong to a Project, 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 project phase on the Work time entry form.

Price list

A price list is a list of fees charged for different hourly wages based on work types and people, as well as the default price, overtime rates, travel expenses and products. While the prices of travel expenses and products are set on respective settings pages, the prices can be adjusted here.

Price of hours approved

Price of hour approved is the monetary value of work hours that have been approved through Work hour approval but haven't been billed. Only available when work hour approval is enabled.

Price of hours not reviewed

Price of hours not reviewed is the monetary value of work hours that haven't been reviewed yet. Only available when work hour approval is enabled.

Probability

We use the term probability to represent the likelihood of successfully landing a case. The percentage of probability is linked to sales status, but can be adjusted manually through the sales section of a case. Probability and sales statuses are managed through Settings > Sales statuses. Probability can also be reviewed in relation to cases through reporting.

Productive

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 price in a price list and entered to a project, this work is then considered productive.

The formula for calculating: - Productive work hours = Hours entered to work types which are defined as productive on settings - Non-productive work hours = Hours entered to work types which are defined as non-productive on settings and where price per hour is 0 - All work hours = All entered work hoursProductive % = (Productive work hours + Non-productive work hours) / all work hours * 100

Progress

Progress is shown in Open projects report. For closed projects progress is 100%. For open projects (both customer and internal) progress is calculated using project start date and deadline. If deadline is not given we use current day + 30 days as a deadline.

In calculation one day is 24 hours and time stamps are used in calculation. Formula: (current date and time in hours) - (start date and time in hours) / possible hours * 100.

Project

A Project is the place where employees can add work hours and travel expenses. There are two main types of projects: Customer and Internal. Internal projects are in-house projects that can't be invoiced. Projects have deadlines, keywords, descriptions and may have other resources or forecasts associated with them.

Project completion

Project completion is the percentage of work completed on a project based on the calculation (the number of work hours entered/the number of work hours estimated) * 100. The percentage increases as hours are entered (even if the hours are not yet approved). Click the linked number associated with project completion to override automatic calculation and manually adjust the percentage in situations where the estimate appears too high or low to accurately reflect progress.

Project status

The project status is a tool to help identify and track projects. The project status section is located at the top of every project page, and statuses are selected from the drop-down menu and a description can be added.

Project success rate

Projects's total billing / Project's value of hours * 100%. This KPI is a constant, that cannot be reported on a time frame.

Project templates

You can use project templates to copy project plans. When copying the project plan, you can choose if you import phases, activities, resourcing, pricing and/or fees.

Project value

The project value is the anticipated revenue to be gained if a sales case is won and completed successfully. Value is specified in the Sales section of a sales case or project, and is termed 'expected value' in reporting where it can also be analyzed in relation to customers.

Ready to bill

The amount that is ready to bill in the top of project view is the sum of charges for approved work hours, products and travel expenses that are due on the project but have not yet been invoiced. Click the billable sum button to create an invoice for the project or go to New > Invoice to lists all projects that have charges for either approved work hours, products or travel expenses that are due. From the New > Invoice page it's possible to create invoices for multiple customers and projects at the same time and to group projects for the same customer onto one invoice.

Remaining billing

The difference between Billing forecast and total amount already billed, or 'billing forecast - billed'.

Remaining cost

The remaining cost is the difference between the Expense forecast and total expenses (how much the project has cost to date). The formula to calculate remaining cost: Expense forecast - Total expenses.

Remaining expenses

The remaining expenses is the difference between the expense forecast and total expenses (how much the project has cost to date). The formula to calculate remaining expenses is: Expense forecast - Total expenses.

Revenue

In general, revenue is the income a company generates from the sale of goods and services prior to the deduction of expenses. In Severa, revenue is the forecasted or actual revenue entered for a project through Financials section or through the Revenue recognition add-on. Revenue is displayed in the Financials, and may be analyzed by customer or business unit through reporting. By default, revenue is calculated automatically for every project based on invoicing. Revenue is recognized according to the Date of entry (specified on the invoice Config tab) when an invoice status is marked Sent.

Reverse charge

In relation to value-added tax, a reverse charge means that goods or services delivered across borders are not taxed by the seller. Instead, the buyer is responsible for calculating, reporting and paying taxes related to the transaction. In Severa, the reverse charge option can be selected on the customer under customer settings or from detailed information of an invoice. Applying a reverse charge removes taxes from the whole invoice, and entering Reverse charge as the description displays the words on the invoice according to European Union law. NOTE: If transferring invoices with a reverse charge to an accounting or billing system, the tax percentage of individual invoice rows will need to be manually corrected because reverse charge doesn’t remove the default tax associated with each row.

Sales case

A sales case is any case that has a Sales status that is considered In progress. Therefore sales cases aren't yet Won or Lost, and the sale should still be pursued actively.

Sales margin

The sales margin is the difference between billing and fixed costs and other expenses, such as fees. The formula to calculate sales margin is: Billing - Other expenses

Sales margin %

Sales margin percentage is defined as (Billing - Other expenses/Billing) * 100.

Sales probability

The sales probability is the percentage of likelihood that a sales case will be won based on the probability of the selected Sales status. In relation to Resource allocations, sales probability can be included to reflect both actual and possible allocations or excluded to reflect only actual allocations for won sales cases.

Sales status

The sales status indicates the progress of a Customer sales case through the sales pipeline to either an order or rejection. As a sales case moves through the process it's important for the sales person to manually update the sales status so that reports and the sales pipeline accurately reflect the current state of affairs. Sales cases that have been Won are Projects. The won status is called "Order” and the lost status is called “Rejected”. Cases that have been rejected or Lost have a zero percent probability. Statuses are managed through Settings > Sales statuses.

Share in %

Share in % is User's share of billing / Invoicing of the project based on what is included in the billing in Team productivity settings * 100%. Share in % can also be manually edited on project level, in Team productivity section on a project. It is usually done when project ends, and there is a need to adjust the share of billing for employees.

Share of billing

Share of billing means the invoicing that is divided for each team member based on their contribution to the project. Share of billing is the "master" value used in the organization and the way it is calculated is selected in Team productivity settings. The formula is (User's quantity of hours or User's value of hours or User's cost of hours) / (Project's all work hours or Project's total value of hours or Project's total hourly costs) * (Total invoicing of the project based on what is included in the billing in the team productivity settings (Work hours, Travels, Own work, Products, Subcontracting). Share of billing can also be manually edited on project level, in Team productivity section on a project. It is usually done when project ends, and there is a need to adjust the share of billing for employees.

Share of billing per hour

The formula to calculate share of billing per hour: Share of billing / Quantity of users all work hours.

Share of billing, by cost of hours

Sharing based on cost of hours means that each employee gets a share of the billing based on their internal costs. For example, someone who has internal cost of 40€/hour gets more out of the billing than a person who has 30€/hour. The formula to calculate share of billing, by cost of hours: (User's cost of hours) / (Cost of hours of case) * (Invoicing of the case based on what is included in the billing in settings).

Share of billing, by quantity of hours

Sharing based on quantity of hours means that each employee gets a share of the billing based on how many work hours they have entered for the case. For example, someone who has done 15 hours has contributed more to the case and to the invoicing than a person who has done 5 hours. The formula how this is calculated is (User's quantity of hours) / (Quantity of hours of case) * (Invoicing of the case based on what is included in the billing in settings).

Share of billing, by value of hours

Sharing based on value of hours is the most used one. It means that each employee gets a share of the billing based on what kind of work they did and how valuable the work was. For example, someone who has done consulting that rates 150€/hour has contributed more to the case and to the invoicing than a person who has done administrative tasks with 0€/hour. The formula how this is calculated is (User's value of hours) / (Value of hours of case) * (Invoicing of the case based on what is included in the billing in settings).

Total expenses

Total expenses is the sum of costs for work hours, fees and travels.

Total hours billed

Total hours billed is the monetary value of total work hours billed. If the Multi-currency add-on is in use, the price of hours billed is displayed in project currency.

Total price billed

Invoiced amount of work hours.

Uninvoiced

In reports, an amount that is uninvoiced refers to available charges that have yet to be billed to the customer. Including fees, travel expenses, work hours and flat rates.

Use sales probability

The drop-down menu Use sales probability appears in relation to resource allocation graphs on sales cases and reports. The default selection, Yes, affects the graphed resource allocations with a multiplier effect based on the percentage of Probability that the sales case will be won as specified in the Sales section of the related case.

For example, if the Probability of winning a case is 50% and Yes is selected for Use sales probability, then an allocation of 50% in the resourcing graph will display as 25% (0.5 * 0.5 = 0.25). If the sales case has already been won and the Probability is set at 100%, then the 50% resourcing will appear as 50% (0.5 * 1 = 0.5).

Use sales probability only affects the graphed display of resource allocations, not the actual allocations which can be viewed and edited by clicking on the edit icon to the left of a resource.

User

People that are using Severa are considered as users. Users can be active or inactive. User accounts are managed through Settings > User management.

User seats

User seats in Severa refer to the number of available licenses for active users. Administrators can view the current status of user seats and users through User management.

Value of hours

Value of hours is Quantity of hours * Price of hours. Value of hours is calculated for each employee, based on their entered work hours, and also for each project based on the work hours entered for that particular project. The value of hours is needed specially with projects that are invoiced with fixed fees, to see how much the entered work hours are worth.

Value per hour

The formula to calculate value per hour: (Value of hours) / (Quantity of all employees hours).

Won Case

Won case refers to 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 hour adjustments

Adjustments are manual changes made to employees Work hour balance. Work hour adjustments are made through Settings > User management by opening an employees page, and adding or editing the Work hour adjustments.

Work hour balance

Work hour balance is the difference between the number of work hours entered and the Daily hours specified on an employee's Work contract.

Work hours

Work hours are hours which employees or users assign to either a Customer or an Internal project. Work hours are entered in relation to specific projects and phases, and work hours can be billable or non-billable.

Work types

A the list of different roles or jobs people have within a company. Work types can be customized through Settings > Work types. When entering work hours, work type is added automatically after project and phase are selected. User can always change the default provided by the system.

Work type is selected using following order:

Default work type of a phase
Default work type of a project
Work type of a user

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