PanEris Guidelines

Over time, we have established a number of guidelines that help us work efficiently and ethically. These Guidelines are STRONG, which means that, if you break them, you are going to be in trouble, your membership of PanEris is at risk, and you need to be very prepared to defend yourself.

First, you need to know a bit about PanEris:

Who makes up Paneris?

The Paneris Community has 3 different kinds of people involved:

1. Members are individuals who spend some or all of their working life in the community. Corporate membership is not allowed.

2. Partners are companies who use PanEris as a source of skills to deliver solutions to their Customers.

3. Customers are companies who we do work for, either directly or through a Partner.

Hopefully, you can see where you fit in. The guidelines apply to all parties.

How does the Money Flow?

Customers and Partners of PanEris are typically charged a fixed price for a job. Customers are asked to pay 25% upfront as a commitment, 25% on production of a prototype/design, and 50% on completion.

The fixed price is calculated by multiplying our standard hourly rate by the estimated number of hours. On completion of the job, 80% of the money is proportionally distributed between the developers based on the number of hours they put in.

80% !? Where does the remaining 20% go?

It should be mentioned, that all figures are flexible. Basically good/more work should be rewarded and bad work penalized. So 20% is just a guideline. :) Anyway:

• 10% goes to the Salesperson for getting the job. This is to incentivise people to bring work in.

• 10% goes to the Project Leader for managing the job. This is to incentivise good management. Should the job overrun or otherwise go bad, the Project Leader may volenteer to cut his bonus.

This leaves 80% to be spent directly on development, which tends to impress customers.

This all seems very clear and sensible, why do you need Guidelines?

We need guidelines because it is not often clear how the Members, Partners and Customers should interact. This needs to be defined as the interaction affects who gets paid what money.

All right, I believe you, what are the guidelines then?

1. Openness
   You are expected to be honest and open in all your communication with everybody. This essentially means that you must use the messageboards for all email messages, and must post all documents on the server. You should also follow-up all telephone calls with an email. Customers and Partners can request that their information is kept from public view, in this case, a group of trusted users is established, and communication remains open within this group.
   
   
2. Interaction of Members
   These are your colleagues, your friends, your community. Please be civil and helpful at all times.
   
   
3. Project Management Tools
   As a member of PanEris, you are expected to record all time billable to PanEris Partners or Customers in the PMS. All invoices to other Members, Partners or Customers must be entered in the invoicing system.
   
   
4. Interaction of Members with Partners and Customers
   Each Customer/Partner has a Key PanEris member who manages all dealings between the Customer/Partner and PanEris, this member typically collects the 10% Management Fee. This relationship is very important and should not be undermined in any way by any party. Partners put themselves at risk when they approach PanEris, as it is easy for an outsource organization to steal customers from a 'middleman'. PanEris Members guarantee never to approach Partner's Customers without explicit public written permission.
   
   
5. Allocation of Sales Fee
   The person who wins new work for Paneris generally gets 10% of the value of the initial project as a sales fee. Long Term Work will see the Sales fee go the the Key Paneris Member (assuming that they have 'sold' the new project). This can be adjusted to reflect the amount of work done attracting the customer, or in situations where the initial project was small. The Salesperson and the Key member will need to agree publicly in writing that the Customer / Partner is now generating Long Term Work
   
   
6. Changing the Key Member
   Both Partners and Customers can generate work over the medium and long term. This tends to lead to multiple interactions with Paneris Members. Pressure can come from both the Customer / Partner and/or an Alternate Member to change the Key Paneris member (and hence the allocation of 10% for Management and Sales). It is appropriate to change the Key Paneris member in the following situation:
   • The Alternate member is generating new work from the Partner/Customer (acting in the role of a Salesman)
   • The Alternate member is largely managing the customer (acting in the role of the Project Leader)
   • All Parties agree publicly in writing.
     
     
7. The Default Situation
   If things get overly complicated, or are unclear. Sales fees are payable to the Paneris Fund. This is spent on our Christmas party, and on keeping our server online.
   
   
8. Informing Others
   Please refer new Partners, Customers and Members to these Guidelines.