These are the definitions for the main terms that CETA users may not know. Where a term has its own user guide, you can click the link to find out more
| CETA Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Actualise | The process of recording the final (actual) times taken to complete a Service on a Job |
Advertiser | The Company that owns the Product, such as Procter & Gamble. They may not be the same as your Client, as your Client may be an agency |
Allocation Style Billing Approval | A Billing Approval that charges the total value of the work completed, rather than a percentage of the Quote total. You choose which line items go on each Billing Approval, and the Allocation style lets you create as many as you need for a Project |
Artist | Any Resource that is a person (Staff or Freelance) that performs Services on a Job |
Artist Access | An application for Artists to view the Jobs they are booked on, record their Actual hours, and add Jobs for unscheduled work. Artists log in with details provided by your iCFM administrator |
Artist Contract | Artist Contracts record an Artist’s working hours and Regular, Overtime and Weekend Day Rates for a given date range. You can add multiple Contracts so that historical rates stay accurate |
Billable Time | Billable times are the hours the system determines you could bill the customer for, factoring in any minimum or maximum charges |
Billing Approval | Billing Approvals are also known as Pre-Invoices, and the idea is that you send them to your customers for approval before converting to an Invoice |
Booked Time | Booked times are the times scheduled to complete a Service on a Job. These are estimates and can be Actualised later |
Check Flags | Check Flags is a menu option on most Entities that will inform the user why the current Entity cannot be a certain Status |
Client | The final paying customer that you will invoice for work completed. This could be either an Agency or the Advertiser |
Company | Any business that you work with can be added to your CRM database. This includes Clients, Agencies, Suppliers, Advertisers, other Production Companies |
Conflict | When two Jobs have been scheduled for a Resource at the same date or time |
Contact | Contacts are all people who work with your company, including those who work for your Clients and Suppliers |
Costing Row | A line created for each scheduled Service, Misc Cost and so on once a Job is Costed. Costing Rows can then be Allocated to a Billing Approval or Invoice in the Client Billing tab. Sometimes called billing rows or billing lines |
Custom Rate Card | A set of agreed prices for one particular Client, which can be linked to a Company or a Product |
Department | A distinct administrative unit within your company. These are generally used to separate out procurement budgets and/or staff specialisms |
Depot | A location in which work can take place, or where your Resources and Artists are based, represented by a short code name. For instance, LDN, NYC, and LAX |
DMG | Stands for Dubs, Media & Graphics; DMG Tasks are smaller tasks that must be completed as part of a Job, such as exporting or importing video files, or sharing file locations |
Employee | A Contact in your database with a relationship to a Company. A Contact can be linked to multiple Companies, creating an Employee history record |
Entity | Entities are the parts of a Project, such as Jobs, Quotes, or Shipping Notes |
Gekko | Gekko is the system that calculates the financial data behind your reports. It rebuilds a Project’s figures in the background whenever the Project or its Entities change, and some reports may be inaccurate until it has finished. See Gekko Data Processing message |
Generic Resource | A type of Resource that you can book on multiple Jobs at the same time without causing a Conflict |
Holiday | Holiday can be booked on the Schedule to denote a member of staff is on leave, or sick, etc. Depending on your iCFM set up, these may cause Conflicts with bookings |
Inside Cost | Services that you provide in house, using your own staff and facilities, such as an Artist’s time or a suite |
Interim Billing Approval | A Billing Approval for a percentage of the Quote total or a set amount, with a description and an amount instead of line items. Often used for staged payments, such as a 'First 50' and a 'Second 50'. Interim is our recommended invoice style |
Invoice | An Invoice is the document you issue to your Client for payment, with an Invoice number. Unlike a Billing Approval, an Invoice can no longer be amended, so to correct one you create a Reversal |
Job | A Job, or worksheet, is a scheduled piece of work such as a day of colour grading, or a DMG Job. Jobs belong to Projects and move through a series of Statuses from Pencil to Sent To Accounts |
Lead | Leads (or Sales Leads) allow you to record information about a prospective Project with only basic information required |
Master Resource | The main Resource in a set of Linked Resources. Booking the Master Resource automatically books the linked Resources on the same Job, although they can still be booked on their own |
Media Record | A record of any drive, tape or other medium that content is output to, such as a USB key or an LTO tape. Each Media Record shows which Project it belongs to, where it is physically located, and what type of asset it is |
Misc Cost | Miscellaneous Costs (or Sundry Costs) are the additional costs and expenses that need to be logged against any Project for billing and reporting purposes |
Outside Cost | Services that you do not offer in house, and have to outsource to a third party, such as a freelancer or supplier. These are typically recorded with a Purchase Order |
Pitch Cost | The cost of work done to win a Project, such as a sample for the Client, which is not usually charged for. Pitch Costs can be flagged so they are removed from profit/loss calculations |
Placeholder Resource | Placeholder Resources are used to make a booking when you do not yet know who will do the work. They are set up as Generic Resources, and once you have availability you move the booking to the correct Resource |
Product | The focus of a Project. In commercials, this is the product being sold, i.e., Oral-B iO-9. For other Projects, this is usually the title of the Show, and each Series can be a new Project |
Project | A Project is the container for all the work that your Client has asked you to do for them pertaining to a specific Product |
Project Type | A Project Type is a distinct business offering within your company |
Purchase Order | Purchase Orders can be submitted to record the cost to your business for Outside Costs, typically freelance work, against the relevant Project |
Quote | A Quote (bid, or estimate) is the description of Services that you are presenting to your Client |
Rate Card | This is where you set up all the different Services and deliverables that you will ever need to bid, schedule, order, or bill |
Reconciliation | Reconciliation is used to close a Project that has Interim Billing Approvals. The remaining costs are discounted so that the total matches what has been invoiced, and the Project moves to Sent To Accounts |
Resource | Resources are anyone or anything that you want to book and keep track of in your Schedule. This includes people, suites, rooms, workstations, equipment, or licences |
Revenue Reporting Method | A setting in the Project header that controls how revenue is tracked, either Fixed Price or Time & Materials. Fixed Price matches the value of the scheduled work to the confirmed Quotes, while Time & Materials ties it to the rates in the Quotes |
Reversal | Also known as a Credit Note. Used to cancel an Invoice that can no longer be amended, for example because the wrong value was invoiced |
Schedule | The Schedule is the calendar view of iCFM which shows you what’s going on across your company over a selected period of time |
Service | Services are the tasks you book Resources for, and are the individual bid line items that your company charges Clients for |
Shift | Shifts are markers on the Schedule made against a Resource, but without scheduling a Job. Typically used for marking availability, maintenance etc |
Shipping Note | A Shipping Note, or despatch note, is a record of items sent via courier. They are attached to Jobs and can incur a charge to the Job depending on your set-up |
Status | Each Entity in iCFM has a Status showing how far it has progressed. Each type of Entity has its own set of Statuses, for example a Job starts as Pencil, while a Project or Quote starts as New. If you cannot change a Status, use Check Flags to find out why |
User | A User is someone that can log into your iCFM instance |
User Permissions | Most functions and features in iCFM can be toggled between Approved or Denied on a per-User basis, giving you control of your company's security |
User Groups | User Groups are pre-defined sets of permissions which define the areas of iCFM that Users have access to, meaning you can make changes for a department or group of Users at a time |
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