Estimate the vendor's job time in workflow definitions (Classic)

Owned by Oksana Vishchuk
Last updated: Jul 03, 2024
4 min read

Introduction

On the Home Portal, you can specify the default working hours and default vendor availability during the day. You can even provide information on whether the vendors are available on weekends. Specifying vendors’ availability and default working hours combined with automatic deadline calculation available in the workflow’s settings allow you to automatically determine how much time can be given for a particular process or job in the workflow. You can easily distribute the time required for the project between your vendors and for project management. Below you can find out how the Automatic Deadline Calculation works and how to set it up.

The automatic deadline calculation uses the following formula
Project time = Job 1 time + Job 2 time + Job 3 time +... Extra time slot.
where:

  • Project time: The time between the project start date and time and the deadline.

  • Job time: The percentage of the whole project time you assign to this job in the Automatic Deadline Calculation section (see Step II.5 of this guide). By default, the time is divided between all jobs equally.

  • Extra Time Slot: The time slot provided in hours in the Extra Time before Task Deadline field. The default value is 0, which means that the deadline of the last job in the workflow definition is the deadline of the entire project. If you provide value in this field, this time slot will be placed between the last job deadline and the project deadline. (see Step II. 6. of this guide).

I. Set up the default work time

To estimate the vendor’s job time in workflow definitions, you need to set up the default time for the start date and the deadline and the vendor’s availability hours.

I.I. Declare the dates and times of your projects

  1. Sign in to the XTRF Home Portal.

  2. Go to the Configuration menu → Projects and Quotes → Settings → Scheduling tab.

  3. Click the Edit button.

  4. Decide when the projects should start and end by default and provide the desired time in the Default Time for Start Date and Time (Classic) and Default Time for Deadline (Classic) fields.

  5. Decide whether you want to Estimate Dates with Accuracy to the Minute. If this checkbox is selected, the smallest time estimation unit will be a minute instead of an hour.

  6. Click the Save button.

I.II. Define vendor availability

When you have declared when your project should start and finish, provide information on the vendor’s working hours:

  1. Go to the Configuration menu → Clients and Vendors → Vendors → Availability tab.

  2. Click the Edit button.

  3. In the Vendor Availability Start Hour field, provide the time when the vendors can start their work.

  4. In the Vendor Availability End Hour field, provide the time when the vendors finish their work.

  5. Decide whether to Treat Weekends (Sat-Sun) as Work Days for Vendors.

  6. Click the Save button.

II. Set up the automatic deadline calculation

Now when you have defined the default work time, you can define the time weights used to calculate the time that is to be spent on jobs and processes in the workflow.

  1. Go to the Configuration menu → Projects and Quotes → Workflow Definitions (Classic).

  2. Click on a workflow that you want to edit.

  3. Go to the Time and Requests tab.

  4. Click the Edit button.

  5. In the Automatic Deadline Calculation section, decide how the task’s total time from start to deadline should be divided between jobs on a 100-point scale. For example, you expect translation to take 60%, proofreading - 10%, and editing - 30% of the task’s total time. Enter 60 in the Estimated Time Weight field for translation, 10 for proofreading, and 30 for editing. The deadline date and time for the first job and the start date and time for the second and third jobs will be calculated automatically.
    If you leave those fields empty, the time will be split equally between all the listed jobs. For example, if you have four jobs, each will be assigned 25% of the total time.
    If you enter custom time values, please make sure that you provide a value in each field and the sum of values equals 100. Otherwise, the automatic deadline calculation will be disrupted.

  6. (Optional) Provide the Extra Time before Task Deadline. This time will be added between the last job and task deadlines. PM can use it for checking the files, contacting the client, etc.

  7. Click the Save button.

Now the project time in this workflow will automatically be split between jobs according to your preferences.