Simon Ramm already had a spreadsheet based system that stored his company information. However he wanted to know if it could be improved and in particular could be modified to create invoices automatically.
The Challenge
As an interior designer, Simon's jobs involved both a considerable amount of labour and materials. He understood that by being transparent on his invoices about his costs, he would mantain credibility with his clients. He acheived this by listing all the materials that had been used on a job and the cost of purchasing them.
However as his business grew, he found that his jobs involved a number of larger number of materials - across an increasing number of jobs. There was a risk that he would forget to charge customers for part of their work. In addition jobs involved different aspects of labour e.g design / construction. These are all charged at different rates. Again, Simon wanted to ensure that he charged his customers correctly and that the invoices reflected the various categories of labour.
Simon's final requirement was that there were some jobs that were fixed price and these had to be shown as such.
The Solution
Simply Spreadsheets successfully managed to automate the Invoice generation process for Simon Ramm Interiors, meeting all the requirements that had been requested. The client now only had to enter the invoice number, and at a press of a button the invoice would be created.
In accordance with the clients wishes, the invoices listed all the materials that were used on job - on a seperate Bill of Materials. In addition, if there were no materials, then the system was smart enough to recognise this and did not produce a "blank bill of materials". Further, the invoice listed all the labour aspects of the job - broken down by price and time spent.
The solution also dealt with fixed price invoices correctly.
Benefits
Simon is now assured that his clients will be billed for the correct amount of labour and materials. In addition, he can mantain transparency with his customers as his imvoices now itemise the relevant materials.
Simon Ramm is particularly pleased as the system now provides all the information that his accountant wants. This also means that he has reduced his annual accountants fees.
Company Profile
Simon Ramm is an interior designer based in South West London. He prides himself in offering imaginative and affordable design services.
Customer Testimonial
"I asked Kapil if he could improve my management accounts spreadsheet, which I had designed myself years ago but had become slow and inadequate. It's amazing what this guy can do with Excel.
Things I did not imagine were possible. I can now generate invoices at the touch of a button and my accountant now has much less work to do at the end of the year, saving me money."
Simon Ramm already had a spreadsheet based system that stored his company information. However he wanted to know if it could be improved and in particular could be modified to create invoices automatically.
