Data entry Outsourcing

claire.ck

Hello fellow money savers, :T

In short: I am looking for a safe, reliable, accurate and low-cost data entry solution. Someone has recommended outsourcing to a foreign company, which does appeal to me, apart from the personal data fraud worries :eek: . I wonder if anyone could recommend a specific company that might be backed by a UK governing body.

Back Story:
I am helping my family with a new build :T . We are getting clued up on the very complex VAT reclaim process and have had free consultations with several accountants. They have all contradicted one another with the advice as to what can and can't be reclaimed- but that's another story. They all have requested that our invoices logged in a spreadsheet, as it is the easiest format for editing the data for the form VAT431NB. We also need to keep track of the general costs including those that are not 0% (or VAT reclaimable).

I have looked at options such as Sage and Quickbooks, as well as business software solutions, but the prices get steep and unless you are a registered company Sage etc haven't got a clue as to how to help.

Fields that need to be logged are:
Invoice numbers, invoice date, payment date, amounts (exc. VAT & Inc VAT), Item description. Qty, etc
I explained that if I could scan a document and there was software that could extract the Date e.g. 'value a' (invoice number) and it could be exported to cell a1, a2, a3 etc. even if click verification was possible, then that would be ideal. The companies I have contacted have told me that this is not something their software could do.

We had kept on top of the invoices but then the stage of superstructure commenced (at an incredible rate , and Christmas happened , and a relative is going through chemo so we figure outsourcing the data entry is going to be cost effective as we can spend time getting the materials and labour costs down.:T

I deeply appreciate your time and information regarding this matter.
With Much thanks and appreciation for taking the time to read and advise.
CK.

bluesnake

safe, reliable, accurate and low-cost and government bonded, security cleared, Nato pass holder too? Nuclear command bunker eh, for the Brexit fallout:)


Tried https://www.peopleperhour.com/
https://www.fiverr.com/

bengalknights

Ditto bluesnake here people per hours works wonders for this kind of thing.

maisie_cat

I'm a retired Accountant with project accounting experience amongst other things.
If you already have excel it's a straightforward process, and a bookeeper or admin person could do it. Don't buy accounting software just for this one task of < 500 entries. and you will not find something that can extract for example "invoice number" from an image, for a start it's in a different place on every invoice
I do the books for small businesses and get a carrier bag full of paper that I file chronologically and then plod away, usually in the wee hours, it takes a few hours at most to transcribe a few hundred entries. What does take longer is the missing paperwork, checking that nothing has been missed because there is only one shot at this. I would recommend using any gaant chart or project scheduling information you have to ensure nothing is missed.

Le_Kirk

How big is the house? Isn't this something the project manager should be doing?

bluesnake

Le_Kirk wrote: »

How big is the house? Isn't this something the project manager should be doing?

You should have realised by now that PMs always delegate. It gives them someone else to blame should shtf

Zola.

Heedtheadvice

That is good advice from Maisie!
Sounds like you are your own PM so it is down to you to organise?
I would suggest, rather than employing anyone from an 'organisation' such as has been suggested above that you do not know (unless lots of good believable references) you look for a book keeper in your area. In this way to get someone who can cook the books close to you thus obviating the need to scan or send away invoices, receipts, planned activities etc. You can maybe ask at accountants or small local businesses if they have recommendations. If you prefer a local secretary who also deals with figures (invoices etc or surveyors data entry) might also be good. Some advantages with the former though.

A bit of advice regarding the information processing though if you wish it?
I would warn against scanning the documents to extract the required data. Unless you have excellent software to do the optical character recognition, that risks reading errors. In words that is often easy to recognise but an error in just one character of a figure and.....
You would need to do a lot of checking so just as easy and as quick for non standard pages to do it by hand transcription.

When you have invoices and payments have these recorded separately but in the same record to aid reconciliation if possible I.e. simple on to one entries. If you make several payments against any invoice this can be covered with several entries (date, amount and notes etcetera) as multiple entries on the one row (record).

Not necessarily as easy to cope with one payment for several unlinked invoices - which is sometimes how things get paid to a supplier but recorded as multiple invoice entries.

This type of activity (recording data )does fit well being handled by a database for the entries especially where items/payments need to be linked. It can be done in Excel too if the data areas (invoices, payments etc.) are held separately but with identifiers (such as invoice and receipt/payment reference numbers held in both table areas.

A common mistake with spreadsheet layout is to not keep the data entry areas and the desired end analysis, summary or presentation separately. Record the data entries on one or two sheets, calculation and formulas etc on another and do the summaries on another sheet or in another workbook. They can then be linked together but with the separate entries clearly in separate 'compartments'. If held in a database such as Access they can also be linked into a spreadsheet.
If Excel do switch on tracking changes/workbook sharing so you have a record not just of data entries but also any changes, when done and by whom.

It should be obvious but worth mentioning that you can record the data in the way that is best for you (which may be on a spreadsheet) and then 'extract' or combine the data to a form suited best to the accountant - provided entry and records are done properly in the first place. You can then also do the checks mentioned in another post to compare costs and timings with your plan and budget.

Hope all that helps and good luck.

paddyrg

Become closely acquainted with data protection regulations - this is pretty much exactly what they're for, and the penalties for noncompliance can be quite severe (and rightly so).

claire.ck

maisie_cat wrote: »

I'm a retired Accountant with project accounting experience amongst other things.
If you already have excel it's a straightforward process, and a bookeeper or admin person could do it. Don't buy accounting software just for this one task of < 500 entries. and you will not find something that can extract for example "invoice number" from an image, for a start it's in a different place on every invoice
I do the books for small businesses and get a carrier bag full of paper that I file chronologically and then plod away, usually in the wee hours, it takes a few hours at most to transcribe a few hundred entries. What does take longer is the missing paperwork, checking that nothing has been missed because there is only one shot at this. I would recommend using any gaant chart or project scheduling information you have to ensure nothing is missed.

It's 465 SQ m. We are project managing to keep costs down.
It really has been our personal circumstances changing that has meant time is precious, and if it's not going to cost too much, it will be money well spent.
Brexit has also piled the pressure on, we are trying to beat the material price increases by ordering asap.

claire.ck

Heedtheadvice wrote: »

That is good advice from Maisie!
Sounds like you are your own PM so it is down to you to organise?
I would suggest, rather than employing anyone from an 'organisation' such as has been suggested above that you

Thank you for your advice.
It's just really the acual data entry. We are quite fastidious about the filing of invoices and payments. As we have been advised to scan all invoices and reciepts incase of loss or damage, I thought the best way to get around the data entry vs lack of time issue would be to outsource it. My only concern is with data protection.