Looking for FreeAgent Beta Testers

[edmolyneux]

Well that was a quick response.

Feedback:

Should I do this here? What do people think?

1) It won't let me put a .co.uk email address into my client contact. (I changed it to .com, which was accepted, but it isn't right)

2) Having to add task hours on a per day basis is a PITA. Per week or per month options should be available. (Fully selectable start and end dates would be even better).

Can't go much further than this as I don't have online banking. I'm going to have to add the details manually later?

tim

Tim,

Feedback here is fine. There will be a thread on the website blog in the next couple of days once we've addressed the obvious stuff we should have thought of but didn't.

- Can you either post the email address you tried to enter here or send it to me privately - I can't reproduce this and our email validation should be ok - it's not exactly RFC 822 but...

- There is a per-week option. Try using the 'Add weekly timeslips' option at the top of the timesheet page. We've had feedback about how this could be improved (different task each day) and we're working on that.

- No online banking is going to make life much harder for you, in truth. It's one of the big wins of using FreeAgent but also its dependency is also a weakness. You can still enter items manually.

Who are you with, is it Cater Allen?

[tim123]

- Can you either post the email address you tried to enter here or send it to me privately - I can't reproduce this and our email validation should be ok - it's not exactly RFC 822 but...

Who are you with, is it Cater Allen?

The address is my agent so I can post it it here:

a.ross@jamjobs.co.uk

I can enter this on the edit screen, but it wouldn't let me use this on the initial creation until I had changed it a couple of times.

But I also had to do the same thing on the "Add a time slip page". The first couple of times I entered a task name it complained about "invalid task name" (or similar) and then after the third name change, it accepted it and complained that I had added more than 24 hours (which I had, because I thought it was for the whole week).

I eventually found 'add weekly time slip', a bit convoluted considering the simplicity of reaching the daily one.

Yes, I'm with CaterAllen.

tim

[edmolyneux]

The address is my agent so I can post it it here:

a.ross@jamjobs.co.uk

I can enter this on the edit screen, but it wouldn't let me use this on the initial creation until I had changed it a couple of times.

But I also had to do the same thing on the "Add a time slip page". The first couple of times I entered a task name it complained about "invalid task name" (or similar) and then after the third name change, it accepted it and complained that I had added more than 24 hours (which I had, because I thought it was for the whole week).

I eventually found 'add weekly time slip', a bit convoluted considering the simplicity of reaching the daily one.

Yes, I'm with CaterAllen.

tim

Hmm. Checking out the email and task problems. It's weird because I can't reproduce what you're seeing in any of our test accounts. What platform/browser are you using?

Yeah, the timeslips page has always been the most of a first stab of any of them, simply because we only know how we (as a team who've all freelanced) have worked before. If you tell me how your ideal time recording system would work (apart from telepathically) I will make it so. Well, I'll try anyway.

Cater Allen recently launched their internet banking service: http://www.caterallen.co.uk/Login.aspx?pid=105&id=0

They do statement download but we don't know what format yet.

[tim123]

Hum,

I can't repeat it now.

I'm using IE7.

There's nothing (yet) wrong with the weekly time slip, it's just that it should be reachable from the home page in a single click, like the daily one is.

tim

[edmolyneux]

Hum,

I can't repeat it now.

I'm using IE7.

There's nothing (yet) wrong with the weekly time slip, it's just that it should be reachable from the home page in a single click, like the daily one is.

tim

Sod's Law.

Do let me know if it comes up again. And please keep the feedback coming whether via here or elsewhere.

We know we're not there yet, but we want to be and that's what's important I think.

Cheers
Ed

PS unfortunately the news about Cater Allen is actually bad: apparently the internet service is appalling and the statement download is in randomly-formatted CSV with no transaction descriptions. Over to you to 'help them improve'...

[dahowlett]

Hard to believe but...

Hi all - I'm the accountant on the team. Not sure if this helps anyone but when Ed first showed me the service I had an 'ah-ha' moment. I've been trying to find ways of doing what Ed and his team have developed for more than 25 years and I can tell you it just hasn't been possible.

The reason is simple - all the things you're probably using were built for accountants and not end users. That means, try as I might, I could never have come up with this type of solution.

At present it's an open beta so there's nothing for you to lose by giving it a whirl. The reception we've had so far from professionals and others who've taken a peek is a clear thumbs up so there must be something right about it.

That's been a pleasant surprise. The main thing to understand is that while the feature set is pretty much worked out, there are always things that can be done better and that's where you all come in.

How much do you think the Sage's, Intuit's etc take notice of your concerns? They don't. FreeAgent is starting from the premise that without user engagement, it's a dead duck.

Anyway - my 2 penn'orth.

If you read my blog you'll see I'm pretty candid about a lot of the issues that impact end users. This is no different, despite I have an involvement.

[minsky1]

Way too expensive ......

The "pain point" for me to end up paying that is into the stratosphere. The truth is most accountants give you the tools to do this. For most contractors situations, and for no additional cost, its bearable.

[Zorba]

Got to agree on the pain point - it must be special to make it worth the effort. But I'll check it out anyway when I get the chance... SJD's sheet is quite big and bulky and I sometimes forget what goes where

[minstrel]

Ed,

I've taken a look a FreeAgent and I really like what you have done.

It's better than SJD's clunky spreadsheet and also beats JSA.net (JSA's online tool).

I agree with other posters that pricing could be an issue. Personally, I think your most viable route to market has got to be via one of the established contractor accountants. Get the accountant to make FreeAgent their preferred data entry system and then get your revenue direct from accountant via some form of licensing agreement i.e. users effectively pay for FreeAgent as part of their accountancy fees.

A couple of bugs/issues/suggestions for you I spotted whilst having a play:

1. When you click the 'Show Calendar' icon for 'Starting Date' on the 'Edit Company Details' screen it takes you a calendar pick screen, but when you pick a date it just goes to a blank screen.

2. When creating an Invoice and selecting Include Unbilled Expenses it doesn't seem to add them.

3. When you add a mileage expense it includes a VAT element (at least in the description). I don't think that is correct.

4. Agree with Tim that adding weekly task hours isn't completely intuative. I expect many contractors would want ability to enter time on a monthly basis too.

So, I like what done, but wouldn't want to pay anything more for it on top of my accountancy fees. After all, if I have to enter everything into FreeAgent and then enter it again into an SJD spreadsheet that doesn't actually save me any time.

My advice would be to focus on selling this to the contactor accountants.

All the best of luck - you deserve to make a few quid out of this.

[dahowlett]

Thanks for the feedback

Thanks for the feedback - we really appreciate it.

On pricing - I think it's important to understand what we're really trying to do here. And yes - we've not done enough to explain the value proposition. We're working in that.

We see this as a way of removing a lot of the grunt work that both you as a contractor and the accountant as the preparer are *really* involved in.

As a former professional, I know that around 60-70% of that cost is tied up in sorting out the records the professional receives. Ed and his team have worked really hard on this aspect so that when the numbers are worked into tax preparer format, there should be comparatively little to do.

I see lots of posts where the contractor is trying to sort out routine problems. In the FAC approach, we're building out a TON of help, supported in lots of different ways so that hopefully, your time (and money) spent with the professional is put to good use. You can look at this one of 2 ways:

1. Reduce the overall professional's annual bill
2. Use the professional's time to get the best advice

We think those 2 factors serve as game changers because they put control of your affairs firmly in your hands and not those of a professional with whom you may only have a tenuous relationship. Even if it is at a fixed price.

The key is to see that when you have a fair indication of tax liability in advance of the year end then you are in a far better position to plan how to mitigate that liability rather than after the year end.

As I said, we've still got a long way to go in terms of explaining the value proposition but we're working hard to make sure that it is crystal clear and makes sense in plain English.

As an addition, we see FAC as a community where shared experience can actively help you understand how to manage your affairs. The folk involved are from the contracting world and we think that makes them uniquely qualified to understand the problems faced. We're not replacing forums like this but will use them as ways of enriching the user experience (sorry for marketing BS words).

We have over 100 beta users pulled in less than a week and we're now getting external feedback. http://del.icio.us/freeagentcentral. Check it out for yourselves and please keep that feedback coming. We genuinely welcome it.

Thanks for your attention.

BTW - if anyone has specific questions and wants fast answers then you can try my skype id: dahowlett - I'll do my best to answer in real-time.