Outsourcing Collaboration Tool

Download the Outsourcing Collaboration Tool here.

The Outsourcing Collaboration Tool can help you keep track of your online outsourcing projects and online independent contractors. It’s in permanent beta stage, but you’re welcome to download it and give it a test run. It may serve your purposes as is, as described in DocuMaker’s ‘Outsourcing Through RentACoder‘ textbook. If not, simply remove the program from your computer. If we get enough queries, we may take the program out of its permanent beta stage and work to improve it.

This database stores two types of data: (1) data pertaining to each outsourced project, and (2) data pertaining to each project’s contractor(s). Both project and contractor datasets interface on the first screen.

Download the Outsourcing Collaboration Tool here.

With this simple program, you can store details regarding project start and end dates, project names, project summaries, project requirements, projected costs, and the overall progress of how far projects develop. It additionally stores the locations of discussion, document, chat, and storage URLs.

The contractor database stores hire and fire dates, contractor names, roles, email addresses, tasks, phone numbers, addresses, and progress logs. It additionally stores an organization chart for each contractor (used to graphically display who reports to whom), contractor pay rates, contract or service agreement locations, and the progress that each contractor makes.

As mentioned, this application is in beta stage so all functions may not be available or function correctly.

Download the Outsourcing Collaboration Tool here.

IMPORTANT: To use the program, unzip the archive into its own directory and do not delete any accompany files and folders. Double-click the ‘Outsourcing Collaboration Tool.exe’ file. The main screen displays the first project in a record of projects. The total number of projects is displayed in the ‘Total:’ field.

Instructions

On the left side of the Project screen:

• Enter a start and end date for your outsourced project in the top fields. Give the project a unique name in the ‘Project Name’ field.
• Enter the URL in which this project is discussed (usually an outsourcing service, like vWorker) in the ‘Discussion URL’ field. If you don’t have one, click the ‘Create’ button to create a discussion area at Google Groups.
• Enter the URL where this project’s documentation is stored (again, usually at an outsourcing service, like vWorker) in the ‘Documents URL’ field. If you don’t have one, click the ‘Create’ button to create a storage area at Google Docs.
• Enter the URL where this project is discussed in a chat environment (once more, typically at an outsourcing service, like vWorker) in the ‘Chat URL’  field. If you don’t have one, click the ‘Create’ button to create a chat area through Google Talk.
• Enter the URL in which this project is monitored with a calendar in the ‘Calendar URL’ field. I recommend Google’s free calendar service.
• Click the ‘Change’ button next to the ‘Local Storage’ field to select a folder for your outsourcing files. Whenever you need to send a contractor a file via email, you can simply click the ‘Email’ button and select a file from this specific folder.
• Describe the project in the ‘Project Summary’ field. List the project’s requirements in the ‘Requirements’ field.
• Enter the project’s estimated costs in the ‘Projected Costs’ field. You can compare it to the project’s Actual costs when the project is finished.

On the right side of the Project screen:

• Click ‘Team Members’ to add independent contractors associated with this outsourced project only. If you’re not working with any designated contractors yet, click the ‘Yes’ button on the Bid Solicitor alert box. The program will take you to a place where you can find some of the Internet’s best online contractors for your project. Otherwise, click ‘No.’

On the left side of the Contractor screen:

• Enter the date that you hired the contractor working on the project in the ‘Hire Date’ field. Then enter the date that the contractor will no longer work on the project in the ‘Fire Date’ field.
• Enter the contractor’s name in the ‘Name’ field. Describe the contractor’s role (programmer, writer, artist, etc.) in the ‘Role’ field.
• Enter the contractor’s email address in the ‘Email’ field. Whenever you need to email the contractor, simply click the ‘Email’ button next to this field.
• Use the ‘Branch’ and ‘Member’ buttons to identify this contractor’s place within an organizational chart. Create a name for the organization’s division on the right side of the ‘+ Branch’ button and then click the ‘+ Branch’ button. Create a name for a member to the right of the ‘+ Member’ button and then add that member to the division with the ‘+ Member’ button.

  Insert a name for another member to the right of the ‘> Member’ button, and then click the ‘> Member’ button. Delete a division with ‘- Branch.’ Then save the chart you created with the ‘Save’ button. This part of the program is tricky to work with, so you may have to play with it a few times to get it to look the way you want it to look.

• Enter the tasks this contractor will perform into the ‘Tasks’ field. Enter the location of this contractor’s working agreement by clicking the ‘Open’ button and selecting the agreement’s document.

On the right side of the Contractor screen:

• Enter the contractor’s pay rate in the ‘Pay’ field and then enter the rate in the ‘Per’ field. This could be per hour, per week, per phase, or per milestone.
• Enter the contractor’s phone number in the ‘PhoneNo’ field. Enter the contractor’s address in the ‘Address’ field. Enter notes about this contractor’s progress in the ‘Progress Log’ field.
• Move the ‘Progress’ slider to identify how far this contractor has progressed with his assigned tasks.
• Click the ‘Add’ button at the bottom, right part of the contractor screen and repeat these steps for each contractor working on your outsourced project. When you have more than one contractor saved to the database, you can flip through them with the ‘First,’ ‘Prev,’ ‘Next’ and ‘Last’ buttons.

  Click the ‘Delete’ button to remove a contractor from the database. When finished, click the ‘Close’ button. You will see your contractor’s name in the ‘Team Members’ section of the current project.

You don’t need to adjust the ‘Overall Progress’ slider beneath the ‘Team Members’ section. The software will do that for you.

• Click the ‘Add’ button at the bottom, right part of the project screen and repeat these steps for each outsourcing project that you’re managing. When you have more than one project saved to the database, you can flip through them with the ‘First,’ ‘Prev,’ ‘Next’ and ‘Last’ buttons. Click the ‘Delete’ button to remove a project from the database.

Close the entire program by clicking the ‘X’ button at the top right.

Known Issues

Download the Outsourcing Collaboration Tool here.

You may encounter two error messages in a language that isn’t English. One error is caused by deleting files that came in the original archive. To remove that error, restore missing files from the original archive and note that you may lose data as a result. That’s why you are warned not to delete anything after unarchiving the original file.

The other error message is due to a bug in one of the program’s 3rd party plugins. Just ignore it. It should disappear with a sufficient amount of data entered in the program’s database.

Support

Email support@justoutsourcing.com with your questions or comments.