Procim

Mohammed’s Special Version of Support

Hey Mohammed, thanks for chatting to us today. So, how did you end up at Procim? What led you here?

I studied Computing at college which was the first step to my collision course with Procim. Although I ended up with a degree in Accounts and Finance, I was never able to shake my fascination of the IT world. Combining my interests in Information Technology and my higher education in Finance, it seemed like a match made in heaven for Procim. Procim is a mystical bond between information technology and numbers and I enjoy working with the two very much.

Your form of support is a little different from everyone else’s. Could you please tell us a bit about what you do?

I support our clients with queries relating to integration between Procim and external accounting software, making sure the two are talking to each other. These queries come in all shapes and sizes via the phone and email. At times, one glance is enough to know how to solve the puzzle and other times, it can be really challenging. But that’s what I love the most about working here, there’s always little puzzles waiting to be solved.

You said you’re involved in Procim integrations, could you explain a bit about how the information flows between Procim and other integrated accounting packages?

Procim integrates with a range of Accounting software such as Sage, Xero and QuickBooks. Projects, sales/purchase invoices and expenses are just some of the transactions exported. To grant users control of this process, information is only transferred across automatically once approved in Procim. This removes the need to enter the same information twice as well as ensuring only approved transactions are exported. From a technical view point, there are multiple ways in which this is managed. Some integration setups utilize web services and for others, we use the methods made available to us by the software we are working with as this varies from software to software. For each integration, we test and document each setup thoroughly as any error on either end could lead to inaccurate data being transferred across so this is a crucial step, but strangely one I enjoy the most!

If you’d like to join our team please head to our careers page.

To find out about the impressive support we offer, book a demo.

Are You MTD Ready?

On the 1st of April 2019 VAT-registered businesses will be required to use HMRC’s new Making Tax Digital service to keep their tax records digitally. Any VAT returns that begin after the 1st of April will need to be submitted using approved compatible software.

Troublingly, Accountancy Age published a report highlighting that “over 40% of businesses that will be affected by MTD for VAT are not yet aware that this will be the case, despite the fact that these changes will be mandatory from April 2019.” It is hoped that MTD will benefit businesses large and small by encouraging real time record keeping, limiting costly tax errors and creating more clarity across tax returns.

If you haven’t already done so, you should ensure that your accounting/financial software is approved as compatible with Making Tax Digital by HMRC before the deadline. For more information refer to the HMRC website. They have provided an introductory video on their website (we’ve attached the video below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSHbDjWZl3w&feature=emb_title

Our Procim® project software as a front-office tool, integrates seamlessly with MTD compliant financial software such as Sage, Xero, QuickBooks, Access Dimensions, Oracle, SAP and PeopleSoft amongst others. Procim projects and transactions are once approved, exported into the financial application without user intervention.

HMRC have published a full list of the software they’ve approved as being ready for Making Tax Digital. We’ve attached their search tool below so you can check if your current software provider is ready for the change.

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/making-tax-digital-software

Book a free demo to find out more about how Procim integrates with MTD compliant software.

Tips for Building your Event Budget

Building your first event budget can be hard, not to mention scary. It can be difficult to know what to do when you’ve never budgeted for a client before. Don’t worry! We’ve got your back, here’s our top tips for buidling your first event budget.

What is the purpose of a budget?

This sounds like a silly question but understanding the why will help clarify the what. An event budget serves several purposes:

Laying out everything the client needs

Building a budget will help you manage resources. Budgeting for everything at the beginning means you have a list of all the things your event’s going to need that you can consistently refer to if you get a little lost. Keep this in mind while you’re building your budget and you’ll be more motivated to remember each little thing.

Beating the competition

During the pitch process, there will often be several companies competing for the same project. Your budget is one of the ways to give yourself an edge over the competition. When done properly, your budget will show clients what they’ve got to look forward to and give them a transparent understanding of the costs they’re paying for. Understanding this before you start building your budget will ensure you place more emphasis on coming up with imaginative ways of lowering costs at this early stage of the event process.

Preventing overspend

Any overspend is going to leave you with either a lighter pocket or some bad reviews. A strong budget will prevent this. Use the budget as an opportunity to research costs and ensure that your client will be pleasantly surprised when it comes to reconciliation.

Seeing your profitability

Whether you’re adding a management fee or marking up costs, the budget should help you understand and keep tabs on your profitability.

Starting your budget with these purposes in mind will help you get the most out of the process.

Getting started

Categorise the different sections of your budget. For example, venue, food and drink, per diems (the daily expenses of you or your team), logistics etc. Then expand on each category, using the category structure to help you think of anything you might need to add. Include a column for adding resources. Add each item as its own line. It’s easy to think you’ll remember what something means now and then forget in the rush of planning your clients’ event. Include number of units and cost per unit for each line item in your budget plan.

Don’t forget!

Expenses

How much is it going to cost you and your team to get to and from the event? Are you going to be surprised by a huge cab bill on the day of? What’s everyone having for lunch? New event planners can easily forget to budget for their own expenses. You’re not travelling to the event for fun, you’re doing it for work and your client should be paying for that.

Contingency

Contingency is your emergency just-in-case fund. It’s important to include a contingency number. There are a lot of different suggestions regarding how much you should add on as your contingency number. As long as you’ve budgeted carefully 10% should be okay. If your client’s given you a specific amount you have to adhere to, subtract 10% as your contingency number before you start budgeting and only use the remaining 90% to budget for your event.

Ask Questions

Sometimes, new event planners can feel too awkward to ask important questions. One trick that can help is to ask your venue or suppliers if they have any information available on how much the last event of the same size cost.

Actual costs

Once you start the project, track every cost against your budget. Do this against each line item so you really understand where your money is going. You’ll get very busy, but keeping track of your costs is still important. If you don’t, you can easily end up spending more money than you have and being unable to explain why to the client, leaving you as the person liable for some of those extra costs.

Raising a PO for your costs is the best way to keep track of your budget. It may sound tedious but doing this consistently can easily be the difference between a profitable event and a loss making one. If your client asks for anything extra, get it in writing and keep the emails in a safe place to refer back to during reconciliation.

With a strong budget, any event can be a breeze. Outline all your costs and you won’t be caught out when reconciliation comes around.

Why your Freelancer’s Values Matter

Event management can be a surprisingly high-risk industry. The core nature of event planning involves long periods of preparation with a couple of pivotal days at the end. As with any other high-risk environment you need to trust your supporting players.

A shared understanding amongst team members goes a long way in the success of an event. A project co-ordinator who values conscientiousness and discipline is going to have a very different effect on an event when compared to a co-ordinator who values openness and creativity. Both have their qualities and benefits, but each will impact the event in their own unique way.

Properly analysing and evaluating a freelancer’s values before you hire them will give you the strength to know how to use that freelancer in a way that’s going to provide maximum benefit to the event. You’ll be better equipped to plan the best work breakdown structure if you understand everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, a freelance co-ordinator who values organisation could be asked to look over the planned day of timetable to give an opinion, whereas a freelance co-ordinator who values innovation could be asked to look at the creative elements of the event.

One of San Tzu’s 5 essentials for victory is “[h]e will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks”. To win at event planning, you need your team to be as dedicated to the end goal as you are, at least while they’re on the clock. Hiring can be a tedious process, but so is paying through the nose for a freelancer who overspends indiscriminately or is really sweet but can’t do the job. Not selecting freelancers with careful attention to their values is just subjecting yourself to more stress later.

How Project Process Automation Software Can Help Reduce Cortisol Levels

The power of organisation

Evidence suggests that hiring a cleaner will make you a happier person. Darby E. Saxbe, Ph.D., and Professor of Psychology Rena Repetti used linguistic analysis software to discover that people with tidier homes have lower cortisol levels. Cortisol is your stress hormone, you know that nagging feeling of unease and irritation even though everything’s going fine, the feeling that makes you snap at your partner for not taking the dog out even though you didn’t really care that much and kind of wanted a walk anyway, that’s your cortisol. The same works the other way around, ever had something unpleasant occur without you feeling the anxiety attached, you can see this is a stressful situation, but you’re more focused on resolving the problem and generally feel quite relaxed throughout, leading to a better outcome. Cortisol affects lives without anyone noticing a lot of the time, having dodgy levels of cortisol can govern your emotions and those increased levels of stress often lead to a wide range of health problems. What Saxbe and Repetti found was that the state of your home affects these stress hormones; when your house is messy, it can heighten your stress levels and create health problems, when it’s tidy, you feel happier in your relationships and less neurotic.

Paying for productivity

However, why does that mean you should have to spend your one Sunday a week cleaning the house? Ashely Williams and Michael Norton at the Wall Street Times found that people “feel happier when they pay to save time than when they buy something nice for themselves”. So not only does having things organised make you happier, so does paying someone else to do it. In fact, Elizabeth Dunn, UBC psychology professor says it’s still a good decision to outsource your cleaning even “if you don’t have tonnes of money”. If you’re paid £10 an hour, spending four hours on your Sunday cleaning comes up to £40. That’s four hours you could have spent learning a profitable new skill or just resting so you know you’ll be at your optimum productivity level for work on Monday.

Organised businesses encourage efficiency

It’s worse for businesses, businesses are physically, rather than just theoretically, paying for time spent labouring over disorganised processes. Employees are using outdated spreadsheets to plan all their work. Handing over administrative and organisational tasks to an intelligent project process automation software made specifically for the creative industries liberates teams to work together in an organised collaborative environment. Letting the software take control of lowering costs, driving revenue and increasing profit leaves everyone free to work on what they’re passionate about.

Small businesses

The same applies to small businesses, paying for something that’s going to save countless hours and massively boost productivity is never going to be a bad idea. It’s a shame that some software companies have demanded the same of small businesses as of large ones, and that’s the great part about Procim’s cost being calculated by individual licence, you only pay for what you need.

Stop letting your employees waste their time with repetitive tasks when project process automation software can do it for you.

Event Tech Trends for 2019

VR

I remember the first time I experienced virtual reality. It was early 2016, at an experiential marketing event in Westfield. They were marketing the Samsung Galaxy S7 and if I’d had a penny to my name I would have bought it, I still kind of want one now. No job and a penchant for laziness left me and a friend hanging around Westfield looking at Lush products every afternoon, so we got a front row seat on, what was literally the front row seat. Both the virtual reality roller coaster we went on, and the brand that stood behind it, is something I’ll never forget.

The VR tech that will be available by 2019 is leaps and bounds ahead of what was going on in 2016. For big companies, that means more exciting event tech to get people invested. For small companies, it means the headsets that were originally reserved for those with money to burn are now cheaper, but the interest in virtual reality is still growing. So many people still haven’t experienced what VR has to offer, and are desperate to try it. Meaning smaller events companies can provide an immersive experience without breaking the bank, and on a smaller budget can achieve a level of excellence affiliated with high quality brands. In fact, for about 2 quid you can now get a bit of cardboard off the internet that turns your customers’ phone’s into VR headsets. Jump on the bandwagon, get some VR.

Project Process Automation Software

I used to hate that I couldn’t watch all my Sims characters at the same time. Someone had to go to work while my other sim had to blow up the toaster and feed the baby. Fortunately, The Sims game would let you focus on what mattered while your other characters could do stuff like feed themselves, go to bed, break the shower and desperately wave their hands in the air all by themselves. You would occasionally have to intervene, like setting them up with a house or getting them to woohoo, but mostly you could organise from afar and let the system automatically run itself.

Also fortunately, project process automation software creates a lot less disasters than the Sims did. Budgeting, resource management, project planning, forecasting and reconciliation are all easier, quicker and safer now with the assistance of automation software, leaving project managers with the space and time to focus on stuff that matters. With Procim, data is entered at a live rate into industry and business specific templates. The data is then used by the system to create payment schedules, notifications, forecasts, revenues, analytics, purchase orders, documentation and comprehensively assist in a wide variety of administrative, sales, financial and project planning needs. If you’re still living in the world of outdated spreadsheets, stop it. Boost your margins and organise your workflow by automating all your front office requirements.

Facial Recognition

Ironically more affordable than RFID, this will give any event an exciting edge. When we tried to go to New York, my boyfriend and I were stopped and he had to undergo a facial recognition scan against his passport, the result was a 26% match. In border control’s defence, his passport picture was about 11 years old and I have no idea why the passport office let him use it in the first place; the picture was older than the passport. Fortunately, facial recognition services in the events industry are more accurate; they’ve got access to pictures taken yesterday! Having a secure, fun and interactive way of checking people in will give any event that futuristic edge.

Beacons?

Beacons have been talked about a lot recently, always added in as a side note at the end of some “what’s the next best thing” article. Here’s the disadvantage with beacons. Event planners love them! Of course they do, beacons would provide a wealth of incredibly useful data. However, when was the last time you enjoyed a company being able to track your movements? Someone I know took a picture of a store’s front the other day and within a few days was receiving personalised marketing from that store. He was inevitably, creeped out. Beacons offer an incredible opportunity to market in a whole new way, they’re exciting and the benefits are obvious. However, it will take a gradual shift in mentality before the average attendee switches on their Bluetooth.

How the Cloud has Revolutionised Small to Medium Project-Based Businesses

Procim’s resource planning and management software has been hosted on the cloud for a number of years now, so we’ve had the privilege of watching how key companies have transformed since moving their budgeting processes on to the cloud. Dan Cordingly, CEO at Teradici, told Forbes that “just about every enterprise CIO has cloud migration and security in their top strategic mandates”, and we’ve seen the benefits of this strategy time and again in the increased profit margins of our clients once they make the transition. But why has migrating processes onto the cloud made such a difference in profit margins?

Rogers, B. (2014). Dan Cordingley’s Teradici Enables the Virtual Workspace. [online] Forbes.

It’s More Secure

For smaller businesses. Unless you have a team of network security officers at your disposal, your data is probably at risk. Think of network security as housing. If you’re a small business, you’ve probably hired someone to put a system in your house to protect it. The system gets installed and you hope it’s going to stop any robbers coming to get your grandmother’s engagement ring. You know it’s a good system for the price, but as the criminal class becomes more and more innovative at turning the alarms off, and as you can only afford to improve the system every few years, there’s a lot of leeway into which a skilled thief can come and take what they like. What if there’s a community down the road with professional security and huge brick walls?

Let’s say a team of particularly paranoid families with lots of experience in alarms decided to get together and build a collaborative community into which people move their houses? There would be constant improvements to the security systems that would work with the flow of criminal activity, and everyone would have access to the most impregnable technology as and when it became available because the alarms would be connected through and across the entire community. That’s how cloud technology protects smaller businesses, it moves their data under the protective umbrella of the hosting company, giving participating businesses automatic access to their constant protection. According to the FBI, just one scam has caused a collective loss of $5.3 billion since 2013, most of it came out of the pockets of small to medium businesses, and that’s just one fraudulent idea. Nothing’s ever really going to be 100% secure, there’s always a risk attached to everything in life. But there is safety in numbers.

Operations Run Smoothly

Traditionally, with software that is bought outright and implemented into the company’s physical infrastructure rather than subscribed to, any technical issue requires either long periods of waiting and repetitive requests for assistance from the provider or worse, the need to learn how to configure and fix an entire system. Often, operational issues are merely the result of a small misunderstanding, but project managers are expected to spend hours alone learning and testing a huge complicated software to figure out one issue when someone probably could have just answered their question and saved time and stress. With software like Procim, part of the business model is constant support and debugging, so that all the technical operations are done for the businesses. Since the cloud can be configured by your remote provider, all the technical issues are either resolved for you or with you, leaving your tech team to innovate and move the company forward rather than constantly having to help everyone with software issues.

Enhanced Growth Potential

The right providers use cloud based technology to accommodate growth that works with the company. Moving away from static downloaded systems and into a constantly evolving global platform allows businesses, regardless of size, to move from the physical into a far reaching scalable community. For example, when using Procim companies can easily begin budgeting in any currency; employees can enter the budget into the system in a currency of their choice and Procim will automatically convert the amounts into base currency. This means taking on projects in other countries no longer requires huge shifts, and businesses can expand globally a lot faster. People in different parts of the world are able to work on the same projects on the same platform within minutes of one another. The software adapts to the current situation because it’s online and is hosted by the providers, leaving businesses with the freedom to move in whichever direction they like without having to worry about administrative limitations.

Put your budgeting on the cloud today and revolutionise your business.

How does Project Budgeting Software for Creative Agencies Increase Profit?

It’s a new year. Around this time, businesses will start to consider revamping their processes. During audits, creative agencies may realise they lost money due to inaccurate budgeting, inefficient control over spending and tricky reconciliation conversations with clients.

Project budgeting software for creative agencies doesn’t only improve internal company processes and streamline workflow, it can also be used to increase profit margins in a measurable way. Having a tactical system in place for upselling and cost control provides creative companies the perfect platform from which to boost profit successfully. Here’s how budgeting software can increase profit.

Tracking costs

Budgeting software that is designed for creative agencies tracks costs against budgeted line items, when a line item goes over budget, adjustments can be made quickly and accordingly before money is spent and lost.

Approve purchases

With project budgeting software, creative agencies can secure the purchasing process and prevent accidental overspend. Whether you’re hiring freelancers or permanent employees, budgeting software allows you to place purchasing limits. Notifications ensure management stay in control of all expenditure, while the approval process give creative project managers the freedom they need. The more control over spend, the higher the profit at the end of your project.

Optimise decision making

Accurate reporting gives creative agency owners and senior members of the team the perfect platform from which to make profit boosting decisions. For example, understanding which freelancers are creating value and which aren’t positions you to hire effectively based on accurate data. Budgeting software also prompts informed contractual negotiations with suppliers by providing in depth procurement analysis. These are only two examples; when management have a clear view of what’s going on in their company, they’re better situated to make impactful decisions.

Clear understanding and presentation of optional additions

When managing projects, offering the client optional extras as suggestions to enhance their project can be a great way of boosting revenue beyond the originally agreed scope. Budgeting software provides the framework from which to promote revenue enhancing ideas in a convincing, strategic way.

Effective reconciliation procedures

Along with line by line reconciliation, budgeting software designed for creative agencies provides clear contractual documents for ongoing reconciliation. A Project Acceptance Form is generated when a client accepts the budget which creates a line in the sand allowing comparison between the original agreement and any changes from here on.

It’s inevitable the scope will change even though the budget has been agreed to and signed off. This is where Project Change Notices come in. They are generated to provide the client with budget changes. For example, if a client required additional graphics or beverages, a contractual change notice can be generated automatically which includes the new cost to the client as well the overall cost.

When final reconciliation comes around, any confusion is easily managed by taking the client through the cost journey, facilitated with the Client Estimate Comparison report. This flexible document automatically displays all contributing changes by highlighting them and illustrates to the client how the creative budget has evolved over time.

Projects can become hectic and providing the client with their requirements often takes precedence over long hours of managing the budget. Yet, when an account manager can’t explain why there’s an increase in cost during reconciliation, it can be the agency that has to absorb any additions. With Project Acceptance Forms and Project Change Notices, creative professionals stay in control of the budget, resulting in a higher profit and a less frustrated client at the end of the project.

Start your year with the best resources to boost your profit margins by booking a demo.

How to Structure Strategic Planning for 2019

Whether you’re running an event agency, managing projects or have just started your career, a strategic plan for 2019 will help you achieve your goals with clarity and decisiveness. Work life often has an ebb and flow to it. It can be very easy to forget goals in the stress of a busy period and then continue to forget those goals into the slow period. Even if you don’t have to plan to get funding approval, or to outline your departments yearly strategy, making yourself a 2019 strategy plan will keep you motivated during the slow period and help you finish this year with successes to boast about.

Reflect on what did and didn’t work over 2018

Spend some time looking over any plans you did manage to accomplish throughout 2018. Objectively evaluate the evidence of how your strategies worked. Anything that worked, keep. Be careful to look at variables. For example, if a project crashed and burned, is that because a coordinator with a penchant for overspending was working on it, or because you were sick that week and found it hard to keep everything running? Question some of the results so you have a holistic understanding of your own analytics.

What plans and goals did you set yourself last year that didn’t happen?

This is different from figuring out what did and didn’t work. What plans didn’t happen at all? Can these lost plans make a difference in 2019 if executed properly?

For example, if you’re an event planner and you came up with an innovative idea that your client rejected, can that idea be recycled in 2019? If you believe in your concept, and your team believed in the concept, it doesn’t have to die on an uneventful day mid-2018. While you’re building your 2019 folder, put the lost concepts in there so that you have a file of quick fire ideas next time you’re in a relevant pitch meeting.

What else didn’t happen? Would better planning have brought unlived plans into fruition? If you planned to post every day on social media, what prevented that? Even if you don’t see an answer to last year’s strategic blocks, write the reason down. It’s easier to tackle a problem if you see it in writing. Bring these plans back and evaluate their relevancy and potential effectiveness for 2019. It’s often said that the success of a start-up isn’t dependent on how original the idea is, but on the execution. Just because your plans didn’t happen in 2018, doesn’t mean they can’t happen this year.

Set yearly, quarterly and monthly goals now

In a dream world, what would you like to achieve by the end of 2019. Write that down.

If you had to split that goal into four parts, what would they consist of? Write that down.

How would you achieve those four parts in monthly bite size chunks? Write that down.

Create 2019’s diary now, complete with personal and work deadlines

It’s very common for people to buy a diary in January and never use it beyond February. It can be hard to find time to manage entries and sometimes a handwritten journal can become more stressful than useful. What a lot of journals are missing is the simplicity, flexibility and ease of an spreadsheet.

Type diary into Excel’s templates and use the provided format to set yourself a year’s worth of deadlines and tasks. Whether or not you follow the plan, having a week by week guide outlining how you’re going to achieve your goals will keep you grounded throughout the year. Creating personal deadlines will help you stay focused. Inevitably, a lot of things are going to change, and your work schedule can become quite hectic, but the Excel sheet can change with you.

Blogs to help get you organised

Did you find your year was a little too unorganised? If so, read our blog on how project process automation software can help reduce cortisol levels by organising and automating your work structure.

Or, if you run an event agency, did you find that any of your event budgets overran? Read about how budgeting software for event agencies increases profit.

Leveraging the January Sales to Promote Your Own Event Planning Services

As a small business owner, it can be useful to start seeing sales periods as a time to sell, rather than buy. This is true whether you’re trying to promote your events in a B2B or a B2C environment, after all, other business owners are people too and everyone loves a good bargain. Here are a few ways you can leverage the January sales to promote your event planning skills.

“Book now, pay later”

This is generally standard practice anyway, but highlighting it takes the edge off any commitment. It also utilises language we’re all used to, making the often-larger expense attributed to event services feel like a casual shopping experience. However, by “book now” make sure your future client understands that booking involves signing contracts. You need to protect yourself while also encouraging your businesses growth.

Create urgency

Set a time limit or include “subject to availability” to create a sense of urgency. This works on two levels, they’re more likely to follow the offer up as soon as they hear about it and it will also make the offer feel more exclusive and special. Including a coupon code like “Jan2019” will help people feel like they’ve stumbled onto a great bargain that someone else might be missing out on, again creating the feeling of exclusivity.

Clear, straightforward header

Whether you’re sending an email or writing a blog, make your subject header clear and easy to understand. For example, “January Sales: 15% off event planning services”, will give the reader a clear understanding of why they should give you their attention.

Tell your suppliers and friends

People remember discounts, telling your network that you’re having a sale will help generate referrals. If someone mentions that they’re struggling with event planning, your name is more likely to come up since the person offering your details will feel like they’re doing their friend a favour.

Make the sales work around your schedule

Design your sale offers so that they’re relevant to the type of business you need. If February’s all booked up but June’s looking a little empty, the offer could apply exclusively to any pre-orders for events occurring over summer. Or if it’s the other way around, make your offer “need immediate help on an event? Get 20% off event planning services for any events occurring before March, including day of planning”.