FYI @marina and @alberto, I just updated the wiki above again to reflect the switch to the proper, monthly signing of time records.
Alberto was keen on including (1) “what did you do in this time slip” information into the time records and also to (2) have the time records attached to invoices. So I have kept in these two requirements, even though the authoritative source (with the damn auditable log) can only be SignRequest, still.
The effect is that we cannot use the SignRequest Templates feature but need to sign different documents every month for every collaborator. And there is the manual work on the Edgeryders admin side of combining them with the bills and adding that to FreeAgent.
So in total we have a pretty awful process now and I don’t see a way to improve it (SignRequest attachments and team accounts do not make anything better). Still I propose we keep the process as it is, except @marina finds that the manual workload it creates is totally unacceptable.
In that case, if we really want a proper process with the current features and low manual workload, we could create a custom tool using both the FreeAgent and SignRequest APIs. But then, instead of investing that work and money into a special-purpose tool that connects two arbitrary SaaS solutions, we’d be better off to develop something based on the Kimai v2 open source time tracking platform that I looked into above. Expensive as well, but at least generally useful and cleaner.
I don’t mind doing extra admin work to comply with the EU rules and limits of the existing tools, let’s see how it will go. The cooperation of everyone would really help in the sense that we get used to the process and I don’t have to explain everything again each month to everyone individually
Thanks. Yes, let’s see how it goes. And please have a detailed look at the wiki above. I added for example the need to link from FreeAgent to SignRequest documents, because the list in SignRequest (with all the different filenames, also signed contracts etc.) is already so messy that it would not serve us well in an audit.
Yes ok for the future invoices I’ll be doing that. Once we receive all the timesheets for the period January-April correctly dated and signed in paper, I should scan them and attach to the invoices already paid?
Also for all H2020 invoices by collaborators that have been paid already. The idea is to make things easy to audit. Sorry for that kind of work … it’s arguably of the worst kind …
Yes, exactly. That’s possible in FreeAgent as you can download, delete and re-upload attachments even for invoices that are already paid.
There are some Commission requirements for signed time records that are not met by the PDF reports generated by FreeAgent. That was solved by SignRequest Templates before, but since we want to add the full details now, we needed a copy & paste solution instead now …
Edit: Actually, with that change this process is probably too complex / unusable now. It will probably save Marina 3 hours a month if we switch back to the SignRequest Template system where people enter some information into provided fields:
month
name
work hours per work package
total work hours
date and signature
But this time, we would also require them to add a PDF timesheet as an attachment, exported from FreeAgent or whatever tool they use. This is possible in SignRequest.
The problem with this is that it is not clear if attachments are legally part of what is signed, but we can add a line saying “I confirm that the attached time reporting details reflect my use of the reported working hours.” Also it is not clear if attachments can be changed or deleted after signing, and if this is part of the auditable log. But the attachments with the detailed time records are only additional information anyway, formally not required by the Commission. So it should be fine. It will be much better than the current mess of a process …
So, stand by please, I’ll create the SignRequest template tomorrow and update the instructions again again …
Oh, I already changed it. The process from yesterday was really unusable. Now it’s quite ok (I still have to document in the wiki above though).
Sorry for all the bogus SignRequests you got while I was having ever new ideas for improving the form. Only the last two e-mails with SignRequests (from abut 20-40 mins ago) are relevant to sign. The others don’t work anymore, anyway.
ok, so everyone keeps their time tracked in FreeAgent or using any other tool but when it comes to signing time records with signrequest they fill-in the template and only the template is signed. When it comes to invoices I attach then both the signed template and the pdf “detailed time reporting data” or just one of those two?
This new process with the template now means we need to re-do all the timesheets already signed for May?
@matthias, I don’t like this much. Reason: what you did is PURE FORM FILLING. If people write how they used their time we have a kind of management tool. What it gives us more is some redundant information like “natural person” and “supervisor name” (they should both be in the contract). So, now we show the Freeagent timesheets and your new templates, by way of comparison) to a couple of people in the know. If they approve them, we stay with them, and I hope this to be a closed matter.
It’s not my fault that this stuff is required. Look into the list and template with the Commission’s minimum requirements for time recording sheets that you posted above.
To add this information to reports generated by FreeAgent, Marina would have to copy & paste it into a word processor document and then use SignRequest without templates. That’s arguably worse.
In addition, the reports generated by (for example) my time tracker do not contain the required information that is already in the FreeAgent report. And I’m not going to switch to FreeAgent because that is pure form filling: copy & pasting numbers daily or weekly from a proper desktop software that can be toggled in the taskbar. So there has to be a way to let people use a time tracker of their choice, and this is so far the best I came up with.
Edit: We also save the form filling for the yearly financial reporting, as we can take over the form data exported from SignRequest. This only works when using SignRequest templates, though. Without a single dedicated tool for time tracking, there will always be some form filling, so the question becomes who has to do it. So far our “policy” with FreeAgent access etc. has been to let collaborators do it, as much as possible.
There is no official requirement to attach timesheets to the invoices. We do it to make the work of an auditor simpler. I’m not sure what makes sense here, so I defer to @alberto for this. Options include:
Attaching only the signed template, which would be enough as it contains all the minimum information for EC time reporting,
In addition, attaching the “detailed time reporting data” PDF, which would be better as it also explains in more detail to the auditor what was done when.
In addition to both of the above, also attaching the SignRequest audit log PDF, which means that an auditor would not have to look into SignRequest itself (except he or she is more knowledgeable about computers and knows that any audit log PDF that is not cryptographically signed can be forged and modified).
Not really, as we certainly don’t want to re-do timesheets signed on paper either. It has to be ok that our process was evolving in the beginning.
I sent the example of our timesheet (pdf generated from the FreeAgent) and received feedback from the UCL - it seems fine for them. They also provided a document related to audit procedures (uploaded on the Drive).
So if you want, you can make some changes to the process as it stands, according to that new information. I don’t care too much, as long as the process is ok for the client and works for you and the signed documents are stored orderly.
Ideally the process should also allow people to use a time tracker of their choice rather than locking us in with proprietary SaaS software like FreeAgent. But that’s not essential – right now, I think only me and Daniel use a different time tracker, and since I have full access I can always create the sign requests for the two of us all by myself.
ok, let’s try without template+attached timesheet and go only with the timesheet either from the FreeAgent or any other timetracker as long as it contains relevant information such as grant number etc. I’ll edit this step above and make sure I name each file correctly in the signrequest so it’s not messy. Thanks Matt!
@matthias heads up: today I edited this wiki to document a process that I think is useful for monitoring projects. It is based on a combination of FreeAgent’s data export feature and pivot tables on G Sheets.
Maybe this process is “good enough” for reporting, and you can save the time necessary to develop a reporting tool?
@alberto@matthias, @marina, there is contradictory information in this manual. The manual for invoicing says (correctly, I believe) that all H2020 invoices require that timesheets be attached. This says there is no need to do that. I think we should stick to requiring timesheets, for when we get audited and for easier/less error-prone invoice review by the person approving it.
2.2 also doesn’t exist in the H2020 manual anymore.
This happened because at one point we tried to make it easier and drop one step, but I agree after the whole experience it’s important to keep this rule.
Manuals need revision. And that’s on my list for the upcoming month, to improve our management procedures…
) version of the process in the wiki above. This affects the tasks for 