Catégories

Digital transformation

Digital transformation has been part of our daily life for over 20 years.

Our software enables transformation by optimizing processes, working methods, and procedures within organizations.

Timesheet – Speed up your day

By Calendar, Digital transformation, Employees, Timesheet

It is possible to speed up timesheet entry for all employees with these three options.

  • Copy the previous day
  • Duplicate an entry
  • Adding hours to a future date

Copy the previous day

This option allows you to copy the previous day’s activity to your current timesheet. Of course, the day before a Monday is Friday! This feature is designed to make your life easier: it copies the entry and project selections, start times, end times and comments from all of the time entries from the previous day.

Efficient and easy to modify the new entries are normal entries, which can be modified or deleted without consequence. Perfect for accountants on one-week assignments, or for those returning from a 2-week vacation. In a few clicks, he can update his timesheet.

 
Two conditions must be met to see this button appear under the comments of the timesheet : 1- to have entered timesheet entries the day before and 2- not to have entered any entries in his timesheet today.

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Duplicate this entry

The second way to speed up your timesheet entry is to use the “Duplicate Entry” option. This copies, in the same day, a time entry (project – service – comment). An example of use: 2 working sessions on the same project on the same day: select the entry (the little bar will turn red), the “Duplicate this entry” button will appear under the note:

Entering a timesheet: later date

It is possible to fill in timesheets for later dates, for example for upcoming holidays. Every employee can easily access this function. But first, a little setup is in order!

First, select “Organization” from the Preferences tab in the main menu at the bottom left of your screen.

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Location of the "Organization" tab in the main menu

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Among the options available to you, choose the “Info” tab.

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View of the "Info" menu

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Then, please select the option “Allow time sheets to be filled in for future dates”. That’s it!

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Check box

The Collabox timesheet, a clear advantage for the management of your company!

Product management with Collabox

By Digital transformation, Products, Products and inventory

Collabox has everything to help you manage your products and inventory.

It should be noted that depending on your sector of activity and your management tools already in place, your needs will be specific and different from a company that looks like you. Since Collabox is a customizable software that serves its customers, nothing is impossible!

Collabox adapts to your needs thanks to a team of dedicated programmers. We are also here to guide you and answer your questions.

Management by products.

Here are the main features of the “products” in the Collabox.

1- Establishing your budget items associated with your products and related to your billing.
2- The development of your service offer (tender) by products

3- The detailed “product” sheet

The product sheet allows you to manage the product specifications in addition to managing the inventory. In the same form, information about prices (minimum, list price), commissions and others.

5- Managing your inventory by product
6- The report “history by products” which gives you a display of everything that is active, among other things to manage the inventory.

Managing products is easy with Collabox!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you! info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

State of results by department

By Accounting, Configure your Collabox, Digital transformation, Result status

Collabox allows you to set up a budget and income statement by department in its Accounting Module. If your organization operates with independent budgets per department, this option is for you!

Set up a department

Start by setting up your departments. Go to the main menu “Configuration”.

In the left-hand menu, select “Departments”.

Then add a new department.

Fill in the required fields and repeat the last two steps until all your departments are created.

Create budgetary positions

Then create your budget items. The budget and income statement work closely with the budget items. It is therefore important to configure them well and link them to the right transactional accounts of your company. The following video explains how to properly create your budget items.

To view the video, click here.

Add a budget

Now go to the “Accounting” menu.

In the left-hand menu, select “Statement of Results”.

Add a budget or select one from your list.

Choose the “Revenues” tab and then select the department for which you want to create or modify a budget.

Add your forecast by line item for the year. Start with income, then go to the “Expenses” tab. This is your projected budget.

Consult the results by department

At any time during the year, view your statement of results by department. Return to the main “Income Statement” menu and click on the link of the same name rather than the budget.

Check the box of the department you want to view and that’s it!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Exporting the customer list

By Digital transformation, Import and export of data, Tips and tricks

Collabox has taken care of everything by allowing the export of the customer list to a .csv file that can then be transformed into an Excel or PDF file.

How to export the customer list

First, select the “Configuration” menu at the top of your screen.

Then, go to the left menu and click on the “Export” feature.

A page is displayed and an action is required on your part. Choose the “Export to CSV text file” option. Then click on the “Export” button.

Save the file in a place that is easy for you.

Open a CSV file

To open your CSV file in the easiest way, use the Excel software of the Office suite. For Mac users, open the “File” tab, then select the “import” option. Choose your file and open it.

PC users must open an Excel document and then go to the “Data” tab. Then you have to choose the option “From a text file/CSV”. Choose your file and open it.

That’s it, you have successfully exported your client list! At any time you can save it in PDF format from your Excel file.

Watch several tutorials and videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Electronic signature tool for service offers

By Digital transformation, New arrivals, Service offerings

Are you wasting a lot of time getting your service offers signed electronically? Collabox has introduced a feature that allows your customers to sign the service offer you send them directly in the email. Here is how to use this function.

Write a message

When your service offer is ready to be sent to your client or prospect, go to the “Email” tab of the form.

Emailing" tab in the form for creating a service offering.

Then, write your message with a subject and a sending email. Note that your service offer is automatically added as an attachment.

An example of a message to be sent to a client via the Collabox email platform.

Add the option of electronic signature

Below the message are several options in the form of check boxes. First choose who will receive a copy of the message, then select the “Signature Required” box.

Check box to determine to whom the copy of the message will be sent. In addition, a "signature required" box is checked to allow customer signature.

When the customer opens the message, they will have the option to sign the service offer by clicking on a link.

This is an image showing the text sent to the customer for the online signature of the service offer.

Here is a preview of the Collabox signature visual.

This is an image showing how the customer will be able to sign the service offer.

When the customer has signed the offer, you will receive a notification.

Message sent to the Collabox user when the customer has signed the online offer.

In addition, the service offer icon turns green. This way, it is easily identifiable and you don’t have to open the document to check that the signature is present.

When the service offering is signed by the customer, a green icon appears next to the service offering number in the Collabox list.

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue using Collabox!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Service groups

By Configure your Collabox, Digital transformation

The service groups are used to have by default the services by project type. Use them to save time when setting up your projects and entering timesheets!

Preconfiguration

Before creating your service groups, go to the “Organization” menu at the bottom left of your screen. Then select the “Projects” tab.

Image showing the tabs of the organization update. The "Projects" tab is highlighted.

Scroll down the page until you see the “Use service groups” function. Make sure the box is checked.

Image showing the service group usage function that must be checked.

Add service groups

Go to an existing project or create a new project. Then click on the “Services” tab.

You will see the option to update the service selections at the top of the page, as well as a list of all the services in your organization. Click on the update.

Image showing the location of the link to the service selections update.

Then add a new selection of services.

Image showing the link to select to add a service selection.

Give it a name and select the desired services.

Image showing an example of a new service group.

Collabox keeps your selections in memory. So, when you start a new project, you only have to select the desired service group!

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you. info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Adding your signature: configuring your Collabox

By Configure your Collabox, Digital transformation

Since you are a serious company, you certainly want to add your corporate signature to your emails. It can easily be added to your Collabox to send your service offers and invoices with signature.

Add your signature

First, go to the “My Preferences” menu at the bottom left of your screen.

Image showing the left menu with the "My preferences" function framed in red.

Then click on the “View” tab.

Image showing the tabs in the "My preferences" menu. The "Display" tab is selected.

A series of options are available to you. As you scroll down the page, you will see several places to add your signature.

  1. Bill
  2. Service offer
  3. Order form
  4. Account statement

You are free to fill in one or more of these signatures. The system allows several font and style options. You can also copy and paste your logo for a corporate customization.

Examples of signatures for invoices and service offers.

Default message

In the signature fields, you can also add a default message. This feature is optional, but it can save you a lot of time when sending out account status notices. Here is an example of a message.

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274

Report of work in progress

By Digital transformation, Progression, Reports

The work in progress report allows you to quickly view all of your billable projects by transaction (timesheets) with their status. Not only will you see the tracking of amounts in real time, but you will be able to see the percentage of hours completed.

This will allow you to manage your business well. It requires the use of several ERP (enterprise resource planning) functions of the Collabox.

Preliminary checks

To get the “real” numbers for your company, first make sure you have made the following entries for each project in Collabox:

  1. Service offerings
  2. Invoices
  3. Disbursed
  4. Time sheets

Also, make sure that the updates on the projects have been made and that the “billable by transaction” box is checked in the project form.

Produce the work in progress report

First, select the “Reports” menu.

Reports tab in the Collabox main menu.

Then click on the “Work in Progress Report” tab in the left grey menu.

Image showing where to find the access to the work in progress report in the left grey menu.

There are several filter options available to you for creating the report. Check the desired items and select options from the drop-down menus, if applicable. Transactions refer to the timesheet entries of your employees.

Work in progress report creation page with the different possible search filters.

The basic table generated by the Collabox looks like this.

Fictitious example of a table generated by the work in progress report.

Field description

The table produced in the report is divided by column. Each column is associated with a particular field. The first fields refer to the context of the project. First, see the client’s name, project number and name.

Excerpt from the first three columns, or first three fields, of the work in progress report. They contextualize the project with the client's name, project number and name.

The second portion of the table refers to the financial aspect of the project. It shows the expected amount of money from the service offering. The amount already invoiced to the customer is shown, as well as the amount still to be invoiced.

Progress refers to the percentage of completion handwritten by the employee in the project sheet. In turn, the calculated progress refers to the percentage of the planned money (fees, equipment, product, subcontracting, etc.) that is actually spent based on the information in the service offering.

Then comes the actual profitability of the project. The “Work in Progress” column refers to the amount of money worked but not yet invoiced. Be sure to update the percentage of progress on your projects to get a real time number. Finally, a quick glance at the “hours worked” field allows you to see the progress in hours of the project and to anticipate cost overruns before they occur!

Excerpt from the first line of the work in progress report table that mentions the names of the fields related to the monetary portion of the projects.

Watch several videos on our Youtube channel and visit our Tips and Tricks section in the Blog to continue your Collabox configuration!

If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer you.

info@collabox.com (418) 907-9274