Pavilion’s project work involves these components:
- sales;
- project management;
- contracts;
- invoicing;
- payments;
- kitty; and
- review
Components are currently handled manually by members. They will be progressively automated. As we automate them, control over each component will become available to members for use on solo projects. Automation tasks are grouped at the bottom in a task list.
Sales
Project Management
Projects can be initiated by a member or by a client using an off-the-shelf project wizard. All projects are either standalone or recurring (“type”), have members assigned to them (“assignments”), and have a state (“state”). All projects start in the draft state (see “states” below).
Type
Each project must be standalone or recurring.
Standalone
Standalone projects always have three “phases”:
- definition: Where member(s) specifies the project.
- development: Where member(s) builds or develop the software or solutions.
- deployment: Where member(s) deploy or implement the work with the client.
Recurring
Recurring projects have “periods”, such as monthly or quarterly. Members are assigned to projects either on a recurring basis or period by period. Recurring projects must have a start and end date for each period, associated with the payment period from the client.
Assignments
Projects can have a single member or multiple members assigned. Multi-member project assignments require at least one project-manager member.
Single-member projects:
- Can be self-assigned.
- Are not required to undergo Project Review
- Project review can be requested from another member (who can decline)
- Project review is required if the member is in their probation period
- Are not subject to group membership.
Off-the-shelf projects:
- Initial auto-assignment from project manager group. Auto-assigned can re-assign if another member is better suited.
- Are not required to undergo Project Review
- Project review can be requested from another member (who can decline).
- Project review is required if the member is in their probation period.
- Project review is required if the project turns into a multi-member project.
- Are subject to group membership requirements.
Multi-member projects:
- Can only be assigned by a member of the project manager group.
- Are required to undergo Project Review.
- Are subject to group membership requirements.
State
Each project may have the following states:
- assigning. Applied when project is being assigned.
- reviewed (optional). Applied when it passes Project Review.
- invoiced or paid (mutually exclusive):
- invoiced applied when a balance is invoiced.
- paid applied when a balance is paid.
Technology
Pavilion’s Discourse Client category is used for projects. Type, phases and states are handled via the Tickets plugin. Dates for recurring projects are handled via the Discourse Events Plugin. Assignments are handled via the Assign plugin. Project initiation may be handled via the Custom Wizard Plugin.
Contracts
Written contracts are optional on any project. They should be used on a project over $1000 USD. A client’s contract may be used after review by a member with legal experience. The reviewing member does not hold any liability if the review fails to pick up any issues and does not act in a legal capacity. Contract review is strictly unpaid, non-legal, shared work.
Technology
Pavilion’s hellosign.com account for eSignatures.
Invoices
Invoices may be sent for deposits or balances. Deposits are treated as early part-payment of balances and are optional. All invoices are sent to clients via email as a PDF attachment. Invoices for balances are sent either:
- after the completion of project review (reviewed tag applied); or
- after the completion of the project (project topic is closed).
Off-the-shelf
Deposits are required for off-the-shelf projects and are taken upon project initiation.
Technology
Pavilion Projects Airtable and Page Designer for invoice templates. Custom Wizard Plugin for off-the-shelf deposits.
Payment
Payments are received in receiving currencies, and sent in sending currencies. Payment by bank transfer is preferred, but credit card payment is available.
| Recieving | Sending |
|---|---|
| USD | USD |
| EUR | EUR |
| GBP | GBP |
| INR |
Technology
Pavilion’s wise.com account for bank transfers and Pavilion’s stripe.com account for credit card payments.
Kitty
The kitty is a pool of money that is used to pay out members working on a project on completion of project review. If a project has both reviewed and invoiced states the kitty may be used to pay the member(s) assigned to the project the full or part of the balance. The balance is reimbursed to the kitty once the invoice is paid by the client.
Technology
Pavilion Projects Airtable and Pavilion’s wise.com account.
Review
Project review is completed by members working on a project, according to the rules laid out in Project Work: Assignments, i.e. required in multi-member projects and by request on other projects. Project review is a form of peer review, in that members review each other’s work on a project. Each member’s review has equal weight, regardless of their role, where weight is relevant, i.e. in passing functional review.
Project review has both functional and evaluative aspects. Functional review is graded on a pass / fail, with a “fail” only being applied after attempts to rectify any issues. Passing functional review has implications such as whether the members can be paid out of the kitty prior to the client paying the balance invoice. Evaluative review is intended for the member’s own use in their professional development. Both types are elaborated further below.
It’s important to note that project reviews do not normally have any bearing on a member’s place within the organisation. The only way project review can be relevant to a member’s place within Pavilion is if they are working on projects that consistently fail to pass functional review.
Functional Review
Functional review means ensuring that the work conforms to the project specification. If the work does not substantially conform, or the specification is not clear enough then the reviewer can ask the relevant member to make changes to reach conformity. A project will only fail functional review if appropriate changes are not made within a reasonable timeframe. All members working on a project have to “pass” the project in functional review for it to pass.
Evaluative Review
Evaluative review means assessing the quality of the work, beyond conformity with the specification. This means different things for different disciplines. Evaluative review is conducted using a combination of graded scales (i.e. 1 to 10) and long-form notes.
Software Development
How well is the software coded? Does it conform to best practices? Does it conform with Pavilion policies, such as open source by default? Are there ways it could be improved?
Project Management
How well was the project managed? Were there things within the PM’s control that could have been handled better?
Consulting
How good was the advice given? Was the delivery of the advice or service timely and professional? What aspects of the advice could be improved?