| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | Announcing ProZ.com invoicing tool for translators (alpha release) Thread poster: Jason Grimes
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Jason Grimes wrote: Peter van der Hoek wrote:
Have you got any idea when this new release will be? I was under the impression that costumers receive the invoice as an attachment, but that does not seem to be so. Today a client mailed me back that he needed the invoice as an attachment and my invoice was inside the message itself.
Hi Peter, The next release is currently scheduled for Thursday, January 29. It will be announced in this forum as soon as it's available. Thanks, Jason
Hi Jason,
Great news!
Thanks a lot for another great feature from ProZ.
Peter
| | | | Niraja Nanjundan (X) 
Local time: 04:32
German to English
| Invoicing tool as downloadable software | Jan 22, 2009 |
Hi Jason,
In view of the confidentiality and privacy issues raised by some of those participating in this discussion, would you consider offering this tool as downloadable software, similar to the Translation Office software that many translators currently use for administrative tasks? That way it would not be "attached" to the ProZ.com website, so to speak, but would still be offered by ProZ.com.
Niraja
| | | | | Very useful for me, personally | Jan 22, 2009 |
Dear Jason,
This is great for me, as I don't invoice very often, and I'm a bit messy with my bookkeeping at best: this is a good way to keep me in line! Also, a lot of the good invoicing programs are not available for Mac but this worked fine for me.
I agree it would be a good option to be able to invoice in other languages, using the template. And security clearly is an issue.
But on the whole I think it's an excellent tool, so far.
Thanks<... See more Dear Jason,
This is great for me, as I don't invoice very often, and I'm a bit messy with my bookkeeping at best: this is a good way to keep me in line! Also, a lot of the good invoicing programs are not available for Mac but this worked fine for me.
I agree it would be a good option to be able to invoice in other languages, using the template. And security clearly is an issue.
But on the whole I think it's an excellent tool, so far.
Thanks
Alison ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Interesting stuff! | Jan 23, 2009 |
I just had a try with this new tool. It gives a good overview of the work we do and money we make and the timing as well. If one uses it frequently it may be irreplaceable.
However, I could not find my currency (MKD-Macedonian Denar) so I would suggest to include it in the existing or give us translators an option to add the currencies we need.
Also a good option may be if we can have the invoices converted to pdf file for the archives.
Thanks to the Proz ... See more I just had a try with this new tool. It gives a good overview of the work we do and money we make and the timing as well. If one uses it frequently it may be irreplaceable.
However, I could not find my currency (MKD-Macedonian Denar) so I would suggest to include it in the existing or give us translators an option to add the currencies we need.
Also a good option may be if we can have the invoices converted to pdf file for the archives.
Thanks to the Proz team for this useful novelty.
all the best,
Marina ▲ Collapse
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| Privacy issues | Jan 23, 2009 |
Jason Grimes wrote: Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
My main concern, and maybe you can give me your view on this, is:
- What kind of access will Proz.com staff have to this information? Will details like customer and PM information, [usually confidential] job descriptions, volumes, rates, total income, etc. be available to Proz staff? To what degree will all that sensitive information be readable by Proz staff? Hi Tomás, An important issue indeed. Like all information collected at ProZ.com, your invoice data will be protected according to the site's privacy policy. Invoices created with this tool can be accessed online in the following cases. (...) * ProZ.com staff have access to view your invoice data for purposes of providing support and for maintaining and improving the service. This access is governed by the privacy policy, and your information will be kept in the strictest confidence. Access to your invoice data will be logged for auditing purposes.
I find very little information in the privacy policy concerning access to invoices. Maintaining and improving the service is a very vague concept. Maybe it is a cultural thing, but I find my invoices are a private issue between me, my client (and maybe my bank...). I am sure it would be very useful for ProZ to see how much turnover translators have or how many invoices they generate, but I still think that is information I own and I would not like ProZ to have access to that information.
I just had a look on the website of a company that offers online invoicing services in the Netherlands and there the invoices are only accessible to the client and the debtor, if authorised. Data are encrypted and their staff do not know the password. Furthermore, all data are downloadable.
http://www.facturen.net/index.php
In my opinion, the ProZ.com invoicing facility should follow the same kind of privacy guidelines.
| | | | sylvie malich (X)
Germany
Local time: 01:02
German to English
| This should not be underestimated... | Jan 23, 2009 |
Anjo Sterringa wrote: Jason Grimes wrote: Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
My main concern, and maybe you can give me your view on this, is:
- What kind of access will Proz.com staff have to this information? Will details like customer and PM information, [usually confidential] job descriptions, volumes, rates, total income, etc. be available to Proz staff? To what degree will all that sensitive information be readable by Proz staff? Hi Tomás, An important issue indeed. Like all information collected at ProZ.com, your invoice data will be protected according to the site's privacy policy. Invoices created with this tool can be accessed online in the following cases. (...) * ProZ.com staff have access to view your invoice data for purposes of providing support and for maintaining and improving the service. This access is governed by the privacy policy, and your information will be kept in the strictest confidence. Access to your invoice data will be logged for auditing purposes. I find very little information in the privacy policy concerning access to invoices. Maintaining and improving the service is a very vague concept. Maybe it is a cultural thing, but I find my invoices are a private issue between me, my client (and maybe my bank...). I am sure it would be very useful for ProZ to see how much turnover translators have or how many invoices they generate, but I still think that is information I own and I would not like ProZ to have access to that information.
In a facebook/myspace/yahoo/google data collecting world the above points should not be ignored. What a treasure trove of data for Proz marketing! Who knows what could or will be done with it. The imagination runs wild.
| | | | | Downloadable software not currently planned | Jan 23, 2009 |
Niraja Nanjundan wrote:
In view of the confidentiality and privacy issues raised by some of those participating in this discussion, would you consider offering this tool as downloadable software, similar to the Translation Office software that many translators currently use for administrative tasks? That way it would not be "attached" to the ProZ.com website, so to speak, but would still be offered by ProZ.com.
Hi Niraja,
A separate, downloadable version is not currently in the development plans. I won't rule it out as a possible future option, but the plan is to focus on the online version at this time. I do want to resolve any concerns about security and privacy in any case.
Thanks,
Jason
| | | | | Added MKD to currency list | Jan 23, 2009 |
Marina Karamitrova wrote:
However, I could not find my currency (MKD-Macedonian Denar) so I would suggest to include it in the existing or give us translators an option to add the currencies we need.
Hi Marina,
I have added MKD to the list of currencies. Thanks for pointing out that it was missing.
Also a good option may be if we can have the invoices converted to pdf file for the archives.
A PDF export feature is currently being tested and is scheduled for release next week.
Thanks,
Jason
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| Privacy is paramount, but some level of staff access is necessary | Jan 23, 2009 |
Anjo Sterringa wrote:
I find very little information in the privacy policy concerning access to invoices. Maintaining and improving the service is a very vague concept. Maybe it is a cultural thing, but I find my invoices are a private issue between me, my client (and maybe my bank...). I am sure it would be very useful for ProZ to see how much turnover translators have or how many invoices they generate, but I still think that is information I own and I would not like ProZ to have access to that information.
Hi Anjo,
To be clear, my position is that you should have complete control over the personal information you provide to ProZ.com, and it should be used only in ways of which you approve. I think the privacy policy is a longer legalese way of saying the same thing.
In keeping with this philosophy, it is important to understand that there are times when ProZ.com staff do need to have access to the personal information you have provided. In order to provide useful tools to members (which is part of the site's mission), it is extremely important to adapt and improve those tools based on how they are actually used in the real world.
This situation is not unique to ProZ.com. You mentioned your bank, for example--how could your bank serve you if their service reps or technical people couldn't access your transaction history? At the same time, no doubt you expect that there are reasonable controls governing this access to your information to ensure it is not misused. I would like to establish the same kind of controls for this invoicing tool. For example, an audit trail has been added to track every time invoice data is accessed by anyone.
I just had a look on the website of a company that offers online invoicing services in the Netherlands and there the invoices are only accessible to the client and the debtor, if authorised. Data are encrypted and their staff do not know the password. Furthermore, all data are downloadable. http://www.facturen.net/index.php
Thanks for this link. I translated the site's security page using Google's machine translation, so maybe some meaning was lost, but it appears that this site follows the same security practices as ProZ.com (encrypted passwords, SSL support, a secure datacenter, and backup policies). I will take the suggestion to use SSL by default and make it easy to back up your own data. But I would be surprised if this invoicing service did not require a similar level of access by its own staff to its customers' data, in order to maintain and improve the service.
Thanks for engaging in this discussion.
Best regards,
Jason
| | | | | US Safe Harbor framework and EU data protection laws | Jan 23, 2009 |
It appears that the U.S. Department of Commerce has worked together with the European Commission to develop a "Safe Harbor" framework to enable U.S. organizations to comply with the European Commission's Directive on Data Protection. More information is available here: http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/
To those who have expressed concern about these issues: if ProZ.com were to get certified... See more It appears that the U.S. Department of Commerce has worked together with the European Commission to develop a "Safe Harbor" framework to enable U.S. organizations to comply with the European Commission's Directive on Data Protection. More information is available here: http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/
To those who have expressed concern about these issues: if ProZ.com were to get certified with this Safe Harbor program (making whatever changes would be necessary to comply), would that resolve your concerns?
Thanks,
Jason ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ines R.
Spain
Local time: 01:02
Member
Spanish to German
+ ...
| good tool-some questions+proposals | Jan 24, 2009 |
Dear Jason,
just now I saw this great tool and surely the question about the confidential data is here an important thing. So why don’t you sell us the programme like translation3000 did is and when there are updates we can pay a small amount for it.
In this case it is sure that the data are only on site of each translator and like some of my colleagues told before about the data security.
1)
On the other hand I would also propose to create the possibility that... See more Dear Jason,
just now I saw this great tool and surely the question about the confidential data is here an important thing. So why don’t you sell us the programme like translation3000 did is and when there are updates we can pay a small amount for it.
In this case it is sure that the data are only on site of each translator and like some of my colleagues told before about the data security.
1)
On the other hand I would also propose to create the possibility that the translators can add up in the same English invoice at least another language option or that we have the possibility according to the clients country to choose the language of the invoice.
2)
Spanish Invoices
In Spain we have to have the possibility to add up IVA (VAT 16%) but than we have to deduce another tax IRPF 15%. I tried to configure it but I couldn't find it out until now.
Could you please be so kind to figure out how to solve this for us?
3)
Is there any possibility to get each week like a list to our emails which invoice/s is/are due so to make sure to have the control....?
Thank you in advance for developing for us this invoicing tool.
Kind regards
Ines ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anabel Granados
United States
Local time: 16:02
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Very Useful to Me | Jan 26, 2009 |
I am finding this tool very useful. I like being able to track my invoices on the site. I also agree that there should be an option to send as PDF. I would be willing to participate in any testing. I send my invoices in English mainly.
Regards
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Kristina Kolic
Croatia
Local time: 01:02
English to Croatian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Croatian curreny not listed & Different VAT | Jan 26, 2009 |
I just tried the new invoicing tool and it just looks great. However, I have a problem with VAT, since the applicable rate of VAT in Croatia is 22% and not 16%. Would it be possible to add an option to enter the applicable rate of VAT?
Likewise, unless I am mistaken, the Croatian currency (HRK - Croatian kuna) is not listed in the currency drop-down menu. Would it be possible to add it to the list?
| | | | | How to handle tax deductions | Jan 26, 2009 |
Hi Ines,
INES Reisch wrote:
In Spain we have to have the possibility to add up IVA (VAT 16%) but than we have to deduce another tax IRPF 15%. I tried to configure it but I couldn't find it out until now.
Could you please be so kind to figure out how to solve this for us?
If I understand correctly, you are saying you need to add 16% tax for IVA, and subtract 15% for IRPF (please correct me if I misunderstood). This is possible--just specify the IRPF percentage as a negative amount. In your tax settings form, specify two taxes, like this:
Tax name: IVA
Percent: 16
Applies to: Item amount
Tax name: IRPF
Percent: -15
Applies to: Item amount
Then, when creating your invoice, for each item to which these taxes apply, specify IVA as "Tax 1" and IRPF as "Tax 2" (or vice versa).
More information about working with taxes is available in the FAQ:
http://www.proz.com/faq/invoicing.html#how_can_i_specify_taxes_
On the other hand I would also propose to create the possibility that the translators can add up in the same English invoice at least another language option or that we have the possibility according to the clients country to choose the language of the invoice.
It will be possible to translate invoices in the next release, scheduled for later this week.
Is there any possibility to get each week like a list to our emails which invoice/s is/are due so to make sure to have the control....?
Would a simple dashboard page suffice for this?
Thanks,
Jason
| | | | | PDF option will be available for testing this week | Jan 26, 2009 |
Anabel Granados wrote:
I am finding this tool very useful. I like being able to track my invoices on the site. I also agree that there should be an option to send as PDF. I would be willing to participate in any testing. I send my invoices in English mainly.
Regards
Hi Anabel,
Great, thank you! A PDF option will be available for testing later this week. I'll announce here when it's ready.
Thanks,
Jason
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