How Can Contract Billing Help my Business

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This is the age of automated processes and software’s that are geared towards business process automation of BPM. There are different types of automation software including the time and billing programs. Time and billing software’s are available online as well as offline and you can choose any one of them depending on your requirement. If you are looking for an Internet hosted time billing and project management software then there are several options available.

An Internet hosted time billing and project management software is basically a high-end solution that helps organizations to meet their requirement of internet and VOIP based services. This software will allow your organization in managing several back-end processes like duplicate bills to clients, recurring bills, management of the entire accounting system, and much more. Using a top-of-the-line Internet hosted time billing and project management software will help in enhancing the overall profitability of your organization.

The key function of any Internet hosted time billing and project management software is to keep your company accounts clean and well sorted out so that important information is available online to you from anywhere and at anytime. This helps indirectly in increasing the customer relationship factor to a great extent and the end result is happy customers. With the help of a time, billing and project management software, you will be able to handle several aspects of your day-to-day operations with ease and efficiency. You will be able to create useful and important management reports that will throw light into the productivity and efficiency ratios so that you can enhance them in the near future.

Internet hosted time billing and project management software will help you to set up a role-based security system where you will have administrators for the software with each of them assigned a specific role. Each of the administrators will be able to log in with their username and password. This to a great degree will enable you in designating a specific role or task to your administrators and minimize chaos. You can even have special billing administrators for accessing the software’s billing interface. The Internet hosted time billing and project management software can also take back-ups of your entire database at various time intervals so that you won’t be at a risk of losing any important data.

Some of the main features or functionalities of Internet hosted time billing and project management software include:

Recurring billing: There is a built-in feature that supports recurring billing and standard cycle-based billing.

Consumption billing: You can configure your Internet hosted time billing and project management software using unlimited rate specifics as well as their components and each of the rate components will consist of fixed charge, per-day and stepped-range components.

Time-based billing: Using the software, you can even calculate the billable hours from the client’s point of view and the employee point of view as well. You can create reports of the total time an employee worked on a certain project and also record their efficiency and productivity levels.

The Internet hosted time billing and project management software is the new age paperless solution!

For further information, please visit Internet Hosted Time Billing Software

Author: Hayi Mansoor

Technorati Tags: microsoft project, property management, software development

No matter where you live in North America, you must have seen some humoristic vignettes depicting a not-so-trustworthy Realtor intent at selling a house to some innocent-looking couple. My favorite vignette, which still makes me chuckle today, goes back to a few years ago when I was practicing real estate at United Realty. It involved a Real Estate Agent of Pompeii Realty, briefcase in hand, in the process of selling a house to an ancient Roman couple sometimes around 100 BC . The house is overlooking Mt. Vesuvius. There is a black, threatening, ominous plume of smoke coming out of the top of the volcano, and the Roman couple looks somewhat startled when the Real Estate Agent - big smile on his face - delivers the punchline: ” Plus, with a view like this what could possibly go wrong” !

What is it exactly that you do when you sign a ‘contract’ . The term ‘contract’ means a promise or a set of promises made by one person to another, which the Courts will enforce. A contract can contain a number of promises or ‘terms’ to be performed by either party. The person who makes the promise is called the ‘promissor’ and the person who can enforce that promise is called the ‘promissee’ . If the contract contains several mutual promises, each party will be both a promissor and a promissee. Contracts of Purchase and Sale of land and interests in land usually have lots of mutual promises.

Contracts are a crucial part of every business transaction, but not nearly as much as in Real Estate. For instance, some contracts are made verbally while others are made by simply exchanging letters or even e-mails. This is not the case in Real Estate, where it is a requirement at Law that contracts be written down in usually lengthy legal forms to avoid uncertainty, ambiguity and to be binding .

A contract has seven essential elements:

Offer.

Acceptance.

Consideration

Legal Intent.

Capacity.

Legal Object.

Genuine Consent.

Each of these elements must be present for a contract to be binding and enforceable. Let’s examine them individually.

OFFER

An offer is the promise made by one party to another. Save and except in Real Estate where the offer must be in writing, an offer can be made in any form. In all circumstances, however, an offer must be made in clear an unambigous terms. If more than one interpretation can be given to an offer, neither interpretation will be followed by the Courts. There are ‘unilateral’ and ‘bilateral’ offers. Offers to purchase real property are bilateral, i.e. containing the exchange of mutual promises.

An offer is not made forever. Offers can either be finalized, when all mutual promises are fulfilled. Or they can expire, if not timely accepted. Or they can be released, if one of the parties does not - or cannot - deliver on the promise. Offers can also be revoked after acceptance, unless a term of the offer stipulates that revocation is not allowed.- as it is now the case in British Columbia for offers involving land. A ‘counter-offer’ is simply an offer from the offeree back to the offeror. The legal effect of a counter-offer is to terminate the original offer and substitute the offer of the offeree. What this means in practicality is that if the counter-offer is not accepted, the offeree cannot try to accept the first offer unless it is tendered again by the offeror. This is a point often times neglected in Real Estate, which has caused several tears to be spilled.

ACCEPTANCE

The acceptance, like the offer, must be given in clear terms. It must be a positive act. For instance, an offer cannot state “If I don’t hear from you, I will assume you have accepted”. Doing nothing will never be considered legal acceptance. The rule at Law is that where an offer is req 1a18 uired by statute to be in writing, then also the acceptance must be in writing in order for the offer to become a contract binding on both parties. Such is the case in Real Estate. An acceptance has no effect until it is communicated to the offeror. Communication can be made by ‘instantaneous means’ as in the case of telephone or teletype or fax communications, or e-mail or hand-delivery and by ‘non-instantaneous means’ such as postal mail. The Law gives the responsibility to the offeror to specify how he wants the offer to be accepted. If the offeror chooses a method like slow mail, then he assumes the risks involved in that type of service (such as misdelivery).

CONSIDERATION

For an offer and acceptance to form a contract there must be consideration or the contract must be signed under seal. Consideration is defined as ’some right, benefit or profit accruing to the promissor or some forebearance, detriment, loss or otherwise responsibility suffered by the promissee’ . What this means is that the party trying to enforce the contract must have ‘paid’ something in exchange for the promise of the other party. Consideration must be of real value, but it does not have to be money. For example, a mutual exchange of promises is consideration per se.

LEGAL INTENTION

For a person to be bound to a contract, he must seriously intend to create legal obligations. For example, inviting a guest for dinner would normally not be considered a contract intended to create legal obligations. The Law presumes that there is legal intention in a contract involving total strangers. On the other hand, if the contract is between family members the Law presumes that there is no intention to be so bound (non arm-length transaction). However, this presumption can be reversed if there is evidence to show otherwise.

CAPACITY

Even when all the foregoing essential elements exist, a contract can still be void, voidable or illegal. A void contract is one which is deemed at Law never to have existed. A voidable contract is slightly different: it exists until it is repudiated by one of the parties. An illegal contract is one which is made for an illegal purpose, and which is therefore always void. Examples of voidable contracts are the ones made when one of the parties is an infant, i.e. a minor or under the majority age. In this case the contract can be voided by the infant. Likewise, when one of the parties is legally insane, the contract is voidable. A special case is a contract stipulated when one of the parties is a limited company or corporation. Three questions must be first answered before the contract can be enforceable: 1) whether the corporation does in fact exist and 2) whether it has the capacity to enter into the contract and 3) whether the person signing on behalf of the corporation is, in fact, the authorized signatory.

LEGAL OBJECT

Quite aside from blatantly illegal contracts such as, for examples, contracts to commit a crime or tort until recently here in British Columbia certain other types of contracts where considered illegal. For example, until the mid-80’s contracts involving the sale of land made on a Sunday were deemed to be a contravention of s.4 of the Lord’s Day Act(now repealed) and, thus, illegal and void. Since then, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the application of s.4 - in fact the entire Lord’s Day Act - is unconstitutional in that it infringes on the freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.

GENUINE CONSENT

If one of the parties makes a misrepresentation or if the contract contains an inherent mistake, the contract may still not be binding. A misrepresentation is, by definition, a statement which is false and which must have induced one of the parties to enter into the contract. A misrepresentation can be innocent, negligent or fraudulent and different remedies are available to the party suffering damages because of the nature of the misrepresentation. If the representation is innocent, the party can sue for rescission of the contract. In the case of negligent or fraudulent misrepresentation, the affected party can sue for damages as well. Although misrepresentation requires a statement to be made, in Real Estate silence too can result in some form of misrepresentation. Disclosure of latent defects is one such example: failure to disclose latent defects on the part of the Seller will not, by itself, affect the consent of the parties but will have similar consequences as misrepresentation.

In the case of inherent mistake, true consent of the parties does not exist. The logic behind this notion is that the parties were negotiating for a subject matter other than the one stipulated in the contract. A specific type of mistake is sometimes referred to as ‘non est factum’ , Latin for ‘this is not my deed’ . This occurs when a person executes one form of document thinking the document is something else. Duress and undue influence both affect the genuine consent element of a contract. Duress occurs when a person is forced to enter into the contract against his will. As a result, the Courts will find the contract voidable at his option. Undue influence, on the other hand, is more subtle. Like duress it results in one party losing his free will to contract out. However it occurs more frequently when a person is in a superior or dominant position in relation to another and uses this influential position to induce the other to enter into the contract. Again, if undue influence is found, the contract is voidable at the option of the innocent party.

Author: Luigi Frascati 

Technorati Tags: business contract, business contract law, employment contracts

Written music business contracts are the best way to protect your legal rights while working in the music industry. There are many reasons why you need a music contract. This article will explain the purpose of these contracts and how you can draft a music contract without spending a lot of money.

Music contracts are extremely important in the music industry. These music agreements are necessary because oftentimes many businesses may be working together and they are the only way to keep track of the details of the working relationship. Without a solid written contract, the parties involved in the working relationship would have no idea as to the terms of the relationship.

As a newcomer to the music industry you may be considering all the options as to how to protect your legal rights while conducting business. It doesn’t matter whether you are a band member, musician, producer or sound engineer, you should make sure that you always have a written music contract to protect your interests. There are several reasons why you should consider drafting a contract immediately if you do not have one.

I don’t need a music contract because I’m working with my friends

First, many amateurs in the music industry think having an oral agreement between their colleagues is perfectly fine for doing business. This is especially true with musicians that are building a career with friends or family members. Just because you have a close personal relationship with the person you are working with doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a written music business contract. Having a written music contract does not mean that you do not trust the person or people you are working with. It simply means that you want to spell out in writing exactly what the terms of your relationship are and who is entitled to what.

Isn’t an oral contract enough?

What many people do not realize is that having an oral contract between business partners is simply not good enough. The problem with oral contracts is that the memories of the parties involved may change as time passes and each party involved may remember the terms of the music agreement differently. This will eventually result in a dispute over money or rights. When the business partners take this dispute to court they may end up finding out that their oral agreement is not going to be honored by the judge. In some states oral contracts aren’t even considered legal agreements.

I’m working with a large company so I don’t have to worry about legal problems

Some music industry amateurs think that they won’t have legal troubles if they are working with a large company like a record label. Even here you should take the time to draft your own music contract instead of simply accepting the contract that is offered to you by the large company. What many people fail to realize is that the company will always draft the music business contracts so that they are in favor of the company. The company will always be protecting its own interests, not yours.

If you sign a contract that you do not understand or you fail to bring your own modifications to the contract, you will almost always get less from the relationship in terms of compensation then you deserve. Therefore even in this situation you should draft your own contract.

How can I draft a music contract without spending tons on an entertainment lawyer?

You could hire an entertainment lawyer to draft your music contract. But, hiring an entertainment lawyer can be extremely expensive and time consuming. You could end up paying hourly rates of $600 or more to have your music contract drafted.

In many cases it is not even necessary to spend that kind of money if you are just starting out. First of all you may not be able to afford these expensive fees if you haven’t yet made any money from your music career. You will want to spend the money that you have promoting your career instead.

The best solution is to download a standard written contract from a website that sells entertainment contracts. You can download the contract and then modify it to meet your specific situation. This method is significantly less expensive than hiring a lawyer to do it for you and the downloaded contract will most likely be similar if not identical to what the lawyer would create for you.

Even if you decide that hiring a lawyer is the best solution for you, it is still a good idea to purchase a downloaded standard music contract because you will want to be familiar with that way that such agreements are written so that you will be able to tell your attorney what terms should appear in the agreement that he or she is preparing for you.

By taking the steps to protect your legal rights, you can ensure that your music career will be very profitable with little or no legal troubles along the way.

By Amanda Amos

Technorati Tags: legal documents", management agreement, partnership agreement form

Improving upon the service quality requires a lot of understanding on part of the customer service managers and the services staff to be successful at any business. An organization who can not understand or keep up with customers’ expectations can not flourish for long. Also it must be noted that not a single customer should be left out who can be valuable to your business, for ultimately it is the ‘word of mouth’ reputation which works your way towards a growing and healthy business.

In today’s organizations, often a customer service software is installed in order to maintain customer database and to take care of the existing customers. IBM is one such hot example of good service delivery organization where the Netcool software provided by them lends quality service management and customer experience management. This kind of software enabled management help the service providers to lower the operations costs and enhance the service quality. The employees at IBM are privileged to have the service management capabilities like real-time service status management, service performance management or customer experience management.

Apart from having a software to improve the service quality, there are other strategies which should be studied and implemented.

Always ask the customers for feedback: Whenever the customers come to you, ask them about your products, whether they purchase or do not purchase your products. If they have used your products previously and are satisfied, you have an extra edge to win over your customer. You can get the feedback forms filled by them and also ask them to give their suggestions

Maintain a record of complaints and act upon them: Maintaining a record is one thing but acting upon them is very vital to get more business from them. Study each complaint carefully, talk to each customer and take adequate actions.

Discuss the ways of service improvement: The employees of any organization should actively discuss the problems accrued by any customers. Regular meetings should be conducted in order to address every particular problem. If changes to be brought about has to be effected at the top level management, the necessary elements of meeting should be conveyed to them. Occasionally, role play should be taken up by employees in orde to understand the potential problem of the customers.

Reward your service staff: The service employees who work towards building a good relationship with the customers and also fetch business from them must be rewarded. If your employees are happy, indirectly your customers will also be happy. Also these employees must be motivated to perform on a regular basis.

Hire people who are interested in services industry: Many times, you hire people who do not have a knack to excel in the services sector. Those who have an experience in this line but no liking for services, will ultimately fail to deliver performance. So, it’s better to know and understand people during the time of interview.

Take heed of the above tenets of service and adopt them as your long-term or short-term goals. Do maintain a good rapport with your customers but do not stoop too much to their demands. Also, let your customers know clearly about the service practices so that they do not take undue advantage.

By: piru

Technorati Tags: business marketing, leadership training, management quality

Once you’ve found the home you want to settle down in, the next step is to make is yours. This is done with a series of steps one of which is signing the sales contract. The sales contract is a legally binding document. If you are intimidated by signing one, you are perfectly right to feel so. Nevertheless, as long as you make sure the information contained in the sales contract is in your best interest, then you have nothing to fear.

The sales contract should include several pieces of information that have an impact on the sale. Here are the key pieces of information that most sales contracts will include.A legal and physical description of the property being purchased. The legal description is used by the county government to identify the property even if the street address changes. The legal description of the property will never change.

The selling price and method of payment should be included. In most cases, a mortgage is the method of payment. In this section of the sales contract, there should be details about the amount of the down payment, mortgage loan, and earnest money deposit. The name of the escrow that will hold the earnest money must be included. If you have any contingencies about the mortgage, they should be listed as well.

The closing date must be laid out. Details about when and where should be included in the sales contract.What’s included and what’s not included in the sale should be detailed. If the seller agrees to throw in appliances, it must be listed in the sales contract. Otherwise, you could end up purchasing your own appliances.

Any warranties that are included with the home should be detailed in the sales contract. A description of the warranty should also be listed.If there is a well and septic, they must pass testing.Termite and pest inspection should be conducted. The sales contract should detail not only who will pay for the inspection, but also the party responsible for any repairs if infestation or damage is discovered.

The exact date that the buyer will take possession of the home should be included. This date can be anytime before, at, or after closing.The sales contract should include the amount of time that the seller has to respond to the offer, whether it is to accept or counter the offer.

Provision for arbitration is sometimes included.Either the seller or the buyer will have to pay for property insurance up until closing date. The sales contract should stipulate the responsible party.Any property disclosures pertaining to the house should also be included in the sales contract.

In many cases, the seller will have the sales contract, especially if he or she is working with a real estate agent. You might also want to have sales contracts on hand. You can purchase these from an office supply store like Office Max or Office Depot.

By: mcgraw

Technorati Tags: employment contracts, property purchase, sales contract

Contract management tracking is made easy using our online contract management software. People can view, update, or search for contracts using a variety of search and filter columns as well as export contract data to generate custom contract management reports. We offer all the necessary software to make contract documents available online so your company may access contract documents from any location.

Track contracts and group contract data by vendor, contract type, contract status, or a number of custom fields which your administrator can add as needed. Our online contract management software offers tremendous flexibility to your organization for contract tracking by allowing your organization to define contract management fields most suitable to your needs. This flexibility lets your user set default contract data entry values to reduce contract setup time, customize contract tracking and search filters, and give all contract parties access to contract information.

Our contract management software sends any person responsible for renewing the contractreminder notifications when a contract due date is near. Contract managers and project managers can also set scheduled reminder email notifications for those contracts that require regularly scheduled follow ups, such as maintenance agreement contracts, management contracts, licensing contract agreements, or subscription contract agreements.

For companies who manage multiple related contracts, and multiple levels of contracts, our contract management tracking software lets you organize contracts into a hierarchy where contracts are related and have an order of priority. This allows a company to track contract agreements that fall under other umbrella contract agreements. The relationship between contracts may be critical in defining which contract manager is responsible for specific contract requirements. When organizing your contract documents online, your effectiveness in contract management is greatly enhanced while your costs of data entry labor, communication issues, paper filing, and storage expenses are reduced.

By: Chris Day

Technorati Tags: contract management software, inventory management