September ::: blink :::
September is already up in my grill. Prep for Tennessee trip....then the trip itself... then *BAM* here comes prep for the billing cycle. Tons of questions from program managers and clients.... finding and mopping up messes, reviewing contracts, setting up projects, creating templates, pulling documentation for adjustments and pushing them through...
Then ... *BAM* it's billing time. Running reports, finding more crap to clean up.... poking people to hold up their end. ::: frowny face :::
I've run abbreviated prelim reports and calc'd all but twelve of this month's 35 invoices. More than half have errors because the folks approving the costs can't always be bothered to code them correctly or to ask us what to do when they're not sure. ** stabby ** I've already pushed through the adjustment requests for all of them because if I wait for the PMs to do it, no bills will go out. Many of them have not yet made the leap of thought that connects the sending of bills to the client with the receiving of cash.
Meanwhile our office move date has been bumped up to the 24th to ensure that we're out of our current space on time and so that we don't bump up against the third quarter financial close. Yes, in two weeks we'll be moving, lock, stock and barrel to downtown Durham, across from Brightleaf and a few doors down from James Joyce Irish Pub. The CEO is taking us for a tour of the new space on Monday and lunch at Alivia's. I'm bursting with curiosity about the new space - and yay lunch!
And now it's Saturday. Damn, how did that happen? We're got invites to two get-togethers, one of which should be raging as we speak. I'll be joining Gary at the weenie roast after a quick shower after helping a friend move some of her bulkier items to her new apartment. Yay local move! I'm shooting for turning in at a reasonable hour (say, before ten - it could happen).
Tomorrow I'll be at work tackling the final twelve - make that 15 invoices - I forgot about the UK. Then finish up four more sets of adjustments plus any new ones that pop up while calc-ing the invoices. This needs to be done before accruals are posted on Monday afternoon. Then I run a full set of reports for all projects (between 4 and 16 reports each for about 40 projects, including the ones that don't get billed). Then tweak and send them out for review. Then my inbox explodes and I spend the rest of the week fielding questions and dealing with the inevitable adjustment requests. I'll be cracking the whip this time because I'll be out of the office from Thursday through Monday. Then I hit the ground running (we have a theme here!) to wrap up billing, then on to the frenzy of packing for the move and cataloging the last of my hardcopy billing and contracts files to go off to storage forever. Good riddance!
Then the move. Wow. So fast. Let's hope the internets work! Our connection is supposed to be five times faster at the new place. AWESOME! Hoping that my new workspace will be awesome, since I'll be spending half my waking hours there. Maybe it won't be freezing like old one. Hope!
Then ... *BAM* it's billing time. Running reports, finding more crap to clean up.... poking people to hold up their end. ::: frowny face :::
I've run abbreviated prelim reports and calc'd all but twelve of this month's 35 invoices. More than half have errors because the folks approving the costs can't always be bothered to code them correctly or to ask us what to do when they're not sure. ** stabby ** I've already pushed through the adjustment requests for all of them because if I wait for the PMs to do it, no bills will go out. Many of them have not yet made the leap of thought that connects the sending of bills to the client with the receiving of cash.
Meanwhile our office move date has been bumped up to the 24th to ensure that we're out of our current space on time and so that we don't bump up against the third quarter financial close. Yes, in two weeks we'll be moving, lock, stock and barrel to downtown Durham, across from Brightleaf and a few doors down from James Joyce Irish Pub. The CEO is taking us for a tour of the new space on Monday and lunch at Alivia's. I'm bursting with curiosity about the new space - and yay lunch!
And now it's Saturday. Damn, how did that happen? We're got invites to two get-togethers, one of which should be raging as we speak. I'll be joining Gary at the weenie roast after a quick shower after helping a friend move some of her bulkier items to her new apartment. Yay local move! I'm shooting for turning in at a reasonable hour (say, before ten - it could happen).
Tomorrow I'll be at work tackling the final twelve - make that 15 invoices - I forgot about the UK. Then finish up four more sets of adjustments plus any new ones that pop up while calc-ing the invoices. This needs to be done before accruals are posted on Monday afternoon. Then I run a full set of reports for all projects (between 4 and 16 reports each for about 40 projects, including the ones that don't get billed). Then tweak and send them out for review. Then my inbox explodes and I spend the rest of the week fielding questions and dealing with the inevitable adjustment requests. I'll be cracking the whip this time because I'll be out of the office from Thursday through Monday. Then I hit the ground running (we have a theme here!) to wrap up billing, then on to the frenzy of packing for the move and cataloging the last of my hardcopy billing and contracts files to go off to storage forever. Good riddance!
Then the move. Wow. So fast. Let's hope the internets work! Our connection is supposed to be five times faster at the new place. AWESOME! Hoping that my new workspace will be awesome, since I'll be spending half my waking hours there. Maybe it won't be freezing like old one. Hope!