Like any other Visual Dolphin product, Visual Dolphin Job Costing ensures that rights to use all crucial business processes is secure. Security groups are created to restrict users’ access to specific functions or programs: a handler is given a limited access to the institution jobs; he can only view his allocated jobs. Staff in a branch part of a multi-branch organization has access to the branch jobs but not the whole organization.

Access limitations can even be defined at the level of certain fields in Visual Dolphin Job Costing where, for example, a production manager can see the cost but not the sales conditions while a sales manager sees the sales but not the cost.

Visual Dolphin Job Costing has streamlined and complete work cycle consisting of multiple satellite functionalities and features. This work cycle is highly flexible and can be adapted to the different business processes of agencies with their different work progression that use some features and not the others.

Quoting the client is an easy and complete procedure in Visual Dolphin Job Costing. It starts with the creation of jobs with all the related information such as client name, brand, market, contact person, job type, campaign, cost center, job brief etc…

A collaborative communication and tracking tool is also available for emailing client quotations directly from Visual Dolphin and to keep track of all communication related to the job by using predefined remarks, revision remarks, notes and internal memos.

When done, the quotation is generated using several user-defined layouts. Visual Dolphin Job Costing keeps track of the different versions issued for reference. A specific quotation for a client can be even saved as a template for future use. Are liable built-in system allows centralizing and archiving all important documents related to the job from job brief to client approvals, creative copies & supplier LPOs.

In Visual Dolphin Job Costing, the cost elements/sub cost elements, representing the production types, are the billable and cost components of the quotation. For example, for a radio production job, a cost element may include expenses such as radio script, voice-over, mixing and music rights…Markups can be added on the overall cost, while agency fees and discounts can be applied to the selling elements.

A rate card can be defined at the entire agency level or it can be specified by client. These rate cards comprise the agency services price list and the agency fees agreed with the client.

Friendly and fast way to define tasks, and assign them to team members with scheduling in date and time. Tasks may be linked to a job or simply to a customer.

Pleasant way to clicking the start button on a task, then clicking again when it ends.. No more hassle in entering your timesheet manually, at end of day. The system does it for you!

Through a calendar, view the individual tasks of any team members over weeks & months, or, view all tasks given simultaneously to a team on a specific day.

By dragging and dropping you may move tasks between teams, reschedule the starting date & time, and stretch a task length to estimate its duration.

Monitor and review all tasks in the pipeline, the ones under execution, requested or accomplished. Monitor the queue of tasks for each employee and compare the estimated time against the one spent during execution. Sending mail to concerned account handlers every time a task is created, assigned or accomplished.

As soon a task is assigned & scheduled, it may send a notification to the concerned person through Job DOR mobile app. From a mobile, the team member may review his tasks, start a new one, write notes, enter his time sheet, and schedule his client visits accordingly.

Several graphs and analysis reports to measure employees performance and productivity.

An indispensable feature in Visual Dolphin Job Costing is cost estimation. It can be done at the cost element/sub cost element level and down to their cost component breakdown (supplier expenses & time sheet). During the job execution phases, all expenses related to the job are allocated to the Work in Progress accounts. These expenses consist of the local purchases from suppliers and employees’ time sheets. At any time, the realized cost of the job can be checked and compared to its initial estimation. When the job is delivered, the expenses are reallocated from the WIP accounts to the expense accounts.

Visual Dolphin Job Costing offers a tendering function that issues several requests for quotation (RFQ) for the execution of a specific task. It tracks and compares the proposals submitted by the different suppliers before preparing an LPO to the supplier selected for the job.

Visual Dolphin Job Costing includes a workflow functionality that helps in defining the work cycle through which the purchase requisitions will go through to get a final approval. Notes can be even exchanged between actors to improve communication and turn the office to a paperless environment.

Easy tractability of the history of prices received from various suppliers on a certain item or service is also included.

Visual Dolphin Job Costing Timesheet allows the management to measure and track employees’ productivity on one hand and client profitability on the other. Time sheet is designed to adapt to the creative and design agencies’ non-conforming individuals.

Key Features:

• The timesheet is extremely user friendly and also accessible through the web and mobile.
• It may be assigned to a client in general or to a specific job.
• The timesheet analysis report may be done by selecting a combination of employees or clients or reasons, for approved or cancelled jobs between any 2 dates.
• Reports may be in the shape of a listing or summarized over 31 days, monthly or across several years with the possibility to compare estimated hours to realized ones.
• Reports highlight the employees’ vacations & official holidays clarifying the productivity analysis.
• Time Sheet entries can be subject to managerial approval process and then locked to stop changes onwards.

Invoices are issued totally, partially or by cost element where you can add markups, discounts and agency fees.

It becomes very common practice  in the communication industry where advertising agencies work for companies on retainer basis. Visual Dolphin Job Costing offers  you this option where you can  issue invoices on monthly basis or any other frequency.

Visual Dolphin Job Costing provides client, supplier & employee relationship management (CRM) functionalities which are fully integrated into the job management system. Consequently, there is no need to re-enter the third parties’ information data; a benefit which dramatically improves its uptake amongst users.

•  Detailed company information including name, location & address, classification& company phone numbers          (private and public).
• Contact definition including names with titles, positions, personal phone numbers & email addresses.
• Advanced search for a customer by any of the above elements.
• Analysis for all companies related to the same group or holding company.
• Any change to the third party information is recorded and saved for review. Details, down to the user making the changes, the date and the time the action took place are kept in an audit log.
• Sensitive third party information such as the supplier bank details and client credit limit scan only be changed by users having the appropriate privileges.
• Records of Third Party Changes – SOX anti-fraud compliancy.

Prior to dealing with third parties, certain agencies may require a financial and legal investigation as part of their internal procedure. After gathering and reviewing the required information, Management approval is needed to render the third-party active and available to the operation.

• Sensitive third party information such as the supplier bank details and client credit limits can only be changed by users having the appropriate privileges.
• Copy of financial & legal documents such as company registration, trade license, tax license, authorized signatories and banks documents can be stored for each third party.

Listing of jobs, invoices, LPOs, supplier expenses& time sheets showing the financial (SOA, TB, Aging, etc…) and workflow status (awaiting approval, approved, under process, lost or cancelled, etc…)

• Clients
• Suppliers
• Employees
• LPO’s
• Time Sheet

• Time sheet data entry, attendance sheet Check in/Check out
• Client contact info
• Supplier contact info
• Client & Supplier financial positions
• Client jobs list with their status.

Visual Dolphin Job Costing presents a powerful set of reports that helps the agency analyze the profitability of each job.

Some sample reports:

• Monthly Profit Margin
• Monthly Billing
• Revenue by Client
• Monthly Analysis by Cost Element & Sub Cost Element
• Cost Accrual
• WIP Aging
• Cost Control – Comparison between estimate and realized
• Cost Accrual
• Time Sheet
• Planned Vs Actual Billing/Profit
• Top 10 clients based on turnover – gross margin

Media agencies, using Visual Dolphin Media booking along with the Job Costing module can benefit from a consolidated report detailing client profitability.

Visual Dolphin Job Costing seamlessly integrates with all Visual Dolphin Financial modules. Therefore, management of receivables from clients and payments to suppliers on pre-defined due dates is possible, affecting the appropriate accounts in the General Ledger.

The integration with Visual Dolphin Financial modules provides access to the following modules and features:

•  General ledger
• Accounts Payables
• Accounts Receivables
• Clients& Suppliers aging
• Payments & Receipts
• Budget &Forecast