Support Home/General Questions
How Does Work View™ Help Contractors and Clients Manage Hourly Jobs?
Admin
posted this on March 23, 2010 09:22 am
How Does Work View™ Help Contractors and Clients Manage Hourly Jobs?
What is Work View™
Work View is a safe and efficient way to pay for hourly work online. With Work View, Contractors can document their work as it progresses by streaming screenshots and comments into the Work View section of the Workroom. Clients can view the work in real-time and provide timely input and guidance. With Work View, Clients verify the hours billed and Contractors are guaranteed payment for hours worked.
Benefits:
- Simplified Billing and Payments: Streamlined online timesheets and payments link hours billed with documented work.
- Guaranteed Work: Clients are confident paying for documented hours and providers are guaranteed payment for hours worked.
- Improved collaboration and trust: Contractors and Clients can communicate and share screenshots as hourly work is being delivered.
Work View™ FAQs
Work View™ For Clients:
Q: What are the benefits of using Work View™?
A: Work View™ offers the following benefits for clients:
- Easily Manage Hourly Workers: In one window, see what your remote team is working on right now. Improve collaboration by providing immediate feedback while work is progressing.
- Guaranteed Hours: Feel secure knowing you will be paying for documented hours.
- One-Click Payments: Streamlined online timesheets and payments link hours billed with documented work.
Q: I required Work View™ for one of my jobs, but it appears that the contractor did not use Work View™.
A: If the work was completed and delivered, the contractor should be paid as agreed. If the work was not completed, the client may dispute the hours and Elance will adjust the timesheet without question.
Q: I used Work View™ and am not happy with the quality of work. Is quality covered with the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee?
A: The quality of work is not guaranteed. If you are unsatisfied with the quality, you should contact your contractor to discuss or terminate the job with the contractor.
Q: How do I respond to a comment my contractor included with a screenshot?
A: It's not possible to reply to a comment via Work View™. If your contractor asked you a question via the comments feature, you should answer their question using the workroom.
Q: Can I add a comment to a screenshot?
A: Only your contractor can add a comment to a screenshot.
Q: Can I delete an image?
A: When working on a Work View™ job with Tracker, you have the option to reject any screenshots that are not relevant to the job.
Q: What do I do if I find objectionable screenshots or comments in my contractor’s Work View™?
A: You should contact the contractor and ask for clarification on the screenshot. If the screenshots or comments violate our Terms of Service, you should report them to Customer Support. Please include as many details as possible to help Elance find the screenshot or comments in the Work View™ to review.
Q: What do I do If I find an issue with the screenshots and want to dispute the hours on the timesheet?
A: You can dispute hours recorded on the timesheet during the Timesheet Review Period.
Timesheet Review Period: The Work View™ timesheet is submitted automatically on Monday at 10:00AM ET for the prior week. The client has until the following Friday 11:59PM ET (5 business days) to review the timesheet before it is automatically charged to the client account. If the client disagrees with the time billed, they must identify the hours not related to the job requirements or client instructions and submit a dispute to Elance prior to this deadline. If the dispute is filed within the Timesheet Review Period but unresolved before Friday at 11:59PM ET, the client’s payment method will be charged for authorized Work View™ hours, but payment will not be released to the contractor until the dispute is resolved. The client’s account will then be credited as appropriate based on the outcome of the dispute. Disputes cannot be filed after the Timesheet Review Period.
Q: When I view Work View there are images that state "Computer Idle. No time recorded". What does this mean?
A: If the contractor's computer has no activity for 24 minutes, Tracker will be paused and 24 minutes will be deducted from the timesheet. If this time should be submitted on the timesheet, the contractor can add it manually to Other hours.
Q: Can I turn off Auto-Pay for a Work View™ job?
A: Work View™ requires that you have a payment source that is setup on Auto-Pay, therefore you can not turn off Auto-Pay and use Work View™.
Work View™ For Contractors:
Q: What are the benefits of using Work View™?
A: Work View™ offers the following benefits for contractor:
- Automatic Billing: Saves time and reduce billing errors. Timesheets are automatically delivered to clients for weekly payment.
- Guaranteed Payment: Use Work View™ to guarantee payment for your work on eligible jobs.
- Improved Collaboration: Keep clients up-to-date in real-time. Tweet your comments and upload screenshots while maintaining full control of your privacy.
Q: Am I required to use Work View™?
A: Work View™ is always optional. Contractors are never required to take screenshots while working. However, if a client requests Work View™ and they dispute hours that are not documented with Work View™, all non Work View™ hours will be removed from the timesheet without dispute.
Q: I'm concerned about my privacy.
A: Work View is not for everyone. It is designed to be a tool to assure both parties that work that is billed is work that has been performed. Many established relationships will not require this level of visibility to the work. This is why Work View™ is optional. However, contractors that would like the extra assurance that their time will be paid for will find this tool to be very useful. And likewise for clients that would like more visibility to the work in progress.
Q: What will my client have access to with Work View™?
A: Your client will have access to the screenshots that are taken while using Tracker. In addition, they will be able to view any comments you made on the screenshot.
Q: Where can screenshots &/or comments be viewed?
A: You can view the screenshots and comments by going to Manage > My Jobs > Click job name > Work View™.
Q: Why are comments required as part of the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee?
A: Comments act as verification of the work being performed, and also keep your client posted on the progress of the job.
Q: How do I hide or permanently delete a screenshot?
A: If a screenshot is taken that may not be relevant to the job, the contractor can delete the screenshot and the time will be removed from the timesheet. To delete an image, click on the Home Icon > Click job name > Work View™ > place your cursor over the image > click the trash can icon. You will be asked to confirm if you want to hide the screenshot. You can hide it by clicking Yes or permanently delete it by checking the box in front of permanently delete this screenshot, then click Yes. You can also delete the image from the thumbnail that is displayed in Tracker when a new screenshot is taken. Please note: screenshots can only be deleted prior to the timesheet being submitted. Once the timesheet is submitted it is not possible to delete a screenshot or modify a comment.
Q: What happens when I delete an image?
A: When you delete a screenshot, your client will no longer have access to the image. The time can still be manually added to the timesheet without documentation, but payment for that time is not guaranteed.
Q: I want to delete an image but my timesheet has already been submitted.
A: Once a timesheet is submitted a contractor will not be able to delete any screenshots.
Q: When I view Work View there are images that state "Computer Idle. No time recorded". What does this mean?
A: If your computer has no activity for 24 minutes, Tracker will be paused and 24 minutes will be deducted from the timesheet. If this time should be submitted on the timesheet, it will need to be added manually to Other hours. To view how to add additional time to Other hours, click here.
Q: Can I use Tracker comments to ask my client a question regarding the job?
A: We don't recommend using the comments to ask questions since it's recorded with the screenshot and there isn't a way for your client to easily reply to the comment. Instead you should use the Workroom to ask questions so your client can reply back more efficiently.
Q: I forgot to launch Tracker so my screenshots and hours were not recorded. What should I do?
A: You should communicate to your client via the workroom that the screenshots for the work completed were not recorded. The time can still be manually added to the timesheet without documentation, but payment for that time is not guaranteed.
Q: I selected the wrong job in Work View™, can my images be transferred to the correct Work Room?
A: The images cannot be transfered to another job if the wrong job was selected from Tracker .
Q: How do I report extra hours outside of what was recorded with Tracker?
A: Enter extra hours that were not recorded with Tracker by adding the time in the Other field on the timesheet.
Q: I need to adjust my timesheet because my client is questioning an image.
A: If the timesheet has not been submitted, you can delete an image and your timesheet will automatically be adjusted. Each deleted screenshot will deduct 12 minutes from your timesheet. If the timesheet has already been submitted to the client, the contractor can go in and manually adjust down the hours.
Q: I already submitted my timesheet but I need to record additional hours. Can I still use Tracker so my time is guaranteed?
A: Once a timesheet is submitted, Tracker can no longer be used to record time. Instead you will need to manually add the time to your timesheet. Any additional hours will not be covered by the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee.
Q: I want to delete a screenshot &/or comment but I already submitted my timesheet. Can I still delete?
A: Once a timesheet is submitted screenshots &/or comments can not be deleted.
Q: Can I use Work View™ on fixed price jobs or jobs where the client is not requiring Work View™?
A: Yes, you can use Work View™ for any job, however the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee will not apply.
Q: I used Work View™, but my Client is refusing to pay me.
A: If you used Work View™ and the job was completed as outlined in the project description, a dispute should be filed.
Technical Questions:
For Clients:
Q: I'm unable to view the images in the Work Room or the images are black.
A: The screenshots will show up as black images if the user's desktop is inactive or has been locked.
For Contractors:
Q: How do I download Tracker?
A: To download Tracker, go here.
Q: What are the minimum system requirements for Tracker with Work View™?
A: For Windows:
- Operating System - Windows XP/Vista/7
- Processor - aIntel® Pentium® II 450MHz, AMD Athlon™ 600MHz or faster processor (or equivalent) or PowerPC?® G3 500MHz or faster processor
- Memory - 256MB of RAM
- Disk Space - 250 MB
For Mac:
- Operating System - Mac 10.4+ (Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard)
- Processor - Intel Core™ Duo 1.33GHz or faster processor (Power PC not supported)
- Memory - 256MB of RAM
- Disk Space - 250 MB
For Linux:
- Intel Pentium III processor (Pentium 4 recommended)
- Fedora Core 10, Ubuntu 9.04, or openSUSE® 11.1
- 1GB of RAM
Note: 64 bit Linux machines are not currently supported.
Q: The Tracker isn't working, what should I do?
A: If you can not successfully launch Tracker:
- Verify you have an Internet Connection
- Exit Tracker and relaunch
- Notify your client via the Workroom to get guidance on whether you should continue working without using Work View™
- Unistall and reinstall Tracker
- Contact Customer Support for assistance
Q: What is Adobe Air?
A: Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) is a cross-platform runtime environment developed by Adobe Systems for building rich Internet applications using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML, or Ajax, that can be deployed as a desktop application. It was used in the coding of the Tracker application.
Please note: Tracker requires the latest version of Adobe Air. When you go to Download Tracker, it should automatically prompt you to download the latest version (if you don't already have it). However, in some cases this step doesn't complete properly. If this happens, you can get the latest version of Adobe Air here
The Elance Hourly Work Guarantee
What is it?
The Elance Hourly Work Guarantee means clients can verify and contractors get paid for Work View™ hours.
- When both parties agree to use Work View™, clients have the ability to view screenshots and comments for the hours billed by the contractor.
- Additionally, Work View™ allows contractors to document the hours worked online so that Elance can guarantee payment.
How do I qualify for the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee as a CONTRACTOR?
- In order for hours to qualify for the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee, both parties must agree to use Work View™, and the contractor must use Tracker with Work View™ turned on while performing the work.
- Hours billed must be supported by Work View™ screenshots and at least one comment during each hour.
- The screenshots taken automatically by Work View™ must be clearly related to the job requirements or client instructions in the workroom and the number of hours billed must be within the hours authorized for the week.
- The client must have a valid payment method established and agree to automatically pay for hours billed through Work View™ (except those hours the client identifies as not related to the job requirements or client instructions).
How do I qualify for the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee as a CLIENT?
- In order for hours to qualify for the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee, both parties must agree to use Work View™.
- Work View™ streams the contractor’s screenshots of the work and comments into the Elance workroom, allowing the client to view the work as it progresses.
- Only hours authorized by the client are subject to the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee.
- Within the “Timesheet Review Period”, the client must identify time billed that may not be related to the job requirements or client instructions.
- The client must have a valid payment method established and agree to automatically pay for hours billed through Work View™ (except those hours the client identifies as not related to the job requirements or client instructions).
Timesheet Review Period: The Work View™ timesheet is submitted automatically and locked on Monday morning at approximately 7:00 am ET for the prior week. The client has until that Friday 11:59PM ET (5 business days) to review the timesheet before it is automatically charged to the client account. If the client disagrees with the time billed, they must identify the screenshots not related to the job requirements or client instructions and reject them prior to this deadline. If the time is rejected within the Timesheet Review Period, the client’s payment method will be charged for non-rejected Work View™ time only. The contractor may raise a dispute within 5 business days of receiving the notice of rejected time. If a dispute is raised, Elance will review the rejected time and make a determination in its sole discretion regarding the validity of the rejected time. If Elance determines the rejected time is valid, the client's payment method will be charged for the rejected time. Disputes cannot be filed after the Timesheet Review Period.
Additional Information
- The member account must be in good standing. In order to process a claim, Elance will re-verify the member's identity, account and bank information.
- The guaranteed hourly rate cannot exceed the usual hourly rate billed by the contractor across all clients. In case of limited Elance history, the hourly rate must be reasonably consistent with the average rate for the same skills in the contractor’s location.
Payments not guaranteed:
- Miscellaneous and Bonus payments
- Refunds
- Other Hours (Time added outside of Work View™ with screenshots)
The Elance Hourly Work Guarantee ensures that the work billed by the contractor is related to the job. However, the quality of the work is not covered by the Elance Hourly Guarantee. If a dispute arises, Elance offer Dispute Assistance to help both parties resolve the disagreement. For more information on Elance Dispute Assistance, click here.
Work View™ User Guide
Work View™ For Clients
All hourly jobs are Work View™ enabled when the job is posted.
Viewing Contractor screenshots and comments:
Once the contractor accepts the job and Tracker is turned on, it allows the contractor to stream images and comments into the Workroom. The images are taken at random intervals throughout the hour to create a record of the work performed online. Sign in to your Elance account to access Work View data.
When working on a Work View™ job with Tracker, the Client has the option to reject any screenshots that are not relevant to the job.
Work View™ For Contractors
Work View jobs require the use of Tracker to stream images and comments into the Workroom. Learn more about how to install and use Tracker.
Once awarded the job, you will have access to a Work View link when viewing the Workroom.
Prior to starting work, you should verify that the client has auto-pay setup. You can do this by viewing the status in the Workroom. If the Work View status is "Not Ready" it means that your client does not have an authenticated payment source setup for auto-pay. If you start work prior to the Work View status changing to "Ready", the work will not be covered by the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee.
Access Work View™ to view or delete screenshots, add, edit or delete comments :
Sign in to your Elance account to access Work View data. From the Work View section, screenshots can be viewed or deleted. Screenshots can also be deleted from the thumbnail image that is shown when a new image is captured. In addition, comments can be added to any of the screenshots. If comments were made at the time the screenshot was taken, they can be edited or deleted. Once the timesheet is submitted, screenshots can no longer be deleted.
Add comment, View Larger Image or Delete Image:
When your cursor is placed on a screenshot, the icons for Add Comment, View Larger Image and Delete Image will appear. Click on the appropriate icon to complete the action.
Add, Edit or Delete comments:
Comments can be added to any of the screenshots. There is also the ability to edit or delete comments that were added at the time the screenshot was taken. Once the timesheet is submitted, no change can be made.
When working on a Work View™ job with Tracker, the client has the option to reject any screenshots that are not relevant to the job. This will delete the associated time with the screenshot. If a client rejects a screenshot you have 3 options:
- Do Nothing. If you agree the time should not be billed the time will automatically be removed from the timesheet.
- Contact your client through the workroom to resolve the dispute.
- If you are unable to reach a resolution with your client, file a dispute.
Work View™ and Escrow only FAQ
Fixed Price Escrow Jobs:
All fixed price jobs now have Escrow available. While the majority of jobs already use escrow, the small percentage that do not can still pay immediately as they do today by skipping the fund step (only if both parties agree escrow is not required) and clicking the release button.
Frequently Asked Questions
As a job poster, can I opt out of using Work View or Escrow?
While these tools are now available on all jobs, you do not have to use them. If you would like to pay a contractor immediately on an Escrow job, just skip the fund button and click release to make payment to your contractor. For hourly jobs, billing and payments now operate on a standard weekly schedule. If you do not require visibility to the work through Work View screenshots, you can agree with your contractor to not use that feature. If they use Tracker without Work View, you will still see when they are logging hours in the workroom, but all screenshots will be blank. Alternatively, the contractor can enter time as “Other Hours” on the timesheet. We recommend that you discuss the terms of job at the beginning, prior to starting the work.
I thought Work View was always going to be optional? It appears to be default?
All hourly jobs are now Work View™ enabled. As a contractor, you can turn Work View on or off in Tracker. If Work View is turned on, all tracked time is backed by the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee. Both parties should agree to how work will be tracked before work begins.
Why am I being required to use Auto-Pay?
With Work View, clients gain visibility to the work being performed in real-time. This enables them to review the work and raise any issue almost immediately, preventing non-productive time from being billed. Automating the billing and payment process reduces the number of steps required for both parties, allowing the contractor to focus on doing the work instead of worrying about collections, and allows the client to focus on reviewing the work instead of worrying about missing payments.
What if my client is unwilling to pay me since I did not use Work View™ to document my hours?
It is important to agree to how you will work with your client at the beginning of the job. By not using Work View™ to track your hours, you will not be covered by Hourly Guarantee. If your client refuses to pay, you will need to either find a solution directly with your client or cancel the job.
What happens when a client rejects a Work View screenshot?
Once a screenshot is rejected, the associated time (12 minutes per screenshot) will be removed from the contractor’s timesheet.
As a contractor, what should I do if a screenshot(s) rejected?
You should review the screenshot(s) in question. If the screenshot is not related to the job, you must accept the deduction from the timesheet. If you feel the screenshots were valid and job-related, you should contact your client via the Workroom to come to an agreement. If you and your client are unable to reach an agreement, you have the option of filing a dispute and Elance will review the time in question. If it is job-related, you are guaranteed to be paid.
Do hourly disputes differ from Escrow disputes?
Yes, the process is different. If a dispute is raised by the contractor, Elance will review the screenshot and make a final determination of the validity. If valid, the time will be added back to the timesheet (unrejected) or the client will be billed the additional amount if the timesheet has already been paid. If the screenshots are determined to be invalid, the timesheet adjustment stands. Contractors cannot dispute non-Work View™ hours.
No dispute assistance calls or arbitration is available for hourly job disputes.
Still have questions? Contact us..
|
|
|
