GNM_RCS_Commissioning_FS

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• 1. Introduction

     1. Purpose

GNM Editorial enters into agreements with contributors to supply content for publication in Guardian media.

Editorial staff engage contributors to supply content on a one-off or ad hoc basis, and these contractual relationships are known as “Commissions”.

When contributors are engaged on a longer term, or more regular basis, their contractual relationship is known as a “Contract”.

This document describes how commissions are recorded, and the processing lifecycle of a commission.

• 1. Scope

This document is intended as a high-level document outlining the main processing involved. It is not a detailed functional specification from which the system could have originally been developed.

Separate Technical specifications document the implementation of these functions.

• 1. Specification

     1. Content providers

To contact a contributor the editor is likely to search for the contributor’s contact details in RCS. Searches can be performed based on name, by-line, geographical location, or skillset. Once found the contributor’s name, address, phone number and email address are available.

Once the user has entered their search criteria a search of the database is performed and all matching contributors are displayed. The user can then scrolls through them and chooses the correct one.

• 1. Rights

Every commission has its own rights profile. When content is published and matched to a commission each item of content is deemed to have the rights profile of the commission. The rights profile defines how GNM can use the content and for how long, whether it can re-publish it in other media, and whether it can syndicate the content to 3rd parties.

The rights model is now quite complex. To save time and reduce errors the commission rights profile is initially a copy of a set of default rights. In most cases this set of rights does not need to be changed. However, the editorial administrator can change these defaults, but upon doing so the rights profile will be marked as “non-standard” with all changes highlighted on screen.

• 1. Fees

If the fee is not known at the time a commission is entered it can be left blank, and an estimate can be entered. (The estimates are important to ensure GNM accrues for financial commitments that have been made.)

Various fee calculations can be used with commissions, as described below.

• 1. Lineage fees

If a contributor is engaged to supply text (i.e. an article or a blog) their fee may be based on a lineage rate, which is a rate per thousand words.

RCS maintains a list of the current NUJ lineage rates that are agreed, and this figure can be chosen by the commissioning editor.

RCS also calculates the last lineage rate used for a contributor, if they have previously been commissioned, and the editor can choose to pay at this rate.

• 1. Space rates

Contributors who are delivering images from stock may be paid according to the published size of the image.

RCS maintains a list of stock rates that can be applied to the published image. Separate rates exist for photographs and graphics. The rates are in size bands i.e. 0 - 5 sq. inches, 5 - 10 sq. inches and so on.

NB the area of an image is only available post-publication, as pictures are cropped and sized to fit the space available on a page.

• 1. Day rates

Some photographers have pre-agreed day rates and half-day rates. These rates are used when photographers are engaged for a number of shoots over a half or full day.

• 1. Agreed fees

Finally the editor can enter any fee that they have agreed with the contributor, which may not match any of the above.

• 1. Multiple and fast-tracked fees

RCS supports the payment of multiple fees against a commission. For example an advance may be paid, and then a further payment made on delivery or on publication. Or payments may be scheduled on specific dates irrespective of content delivery.

• 1. Stock vs. New commissions

In the case of imagery, contributors may be commissioned to produce new content, or GNM may commission the use of a picture from their back catalogue or archive. The main difference between the two is that GNM acquires more rights in new content – as the inspiration for the image is from GNM. However these images may cost more.

• 1. Advance vs. Retrospective

Ideally the editorial desks would record all commissions in advance of publication. This would provide GNM with a better picture of its financial commitments at any given time. It would also make the process of rights management faster post-publication, as the content would just need to be linked to the relevant commission instead of the entire commission needing to be defined. This in turn would lead to more accurate rights profiles being linked to content faster.

In reality there are a mixture of advance commissions and retrospective commissions.

When a commission is entered retrospectively the use enters the date the commission was actually agreed, as this maybe some time ago. This date can impact which rights apply to the commission as the “standard” rights can change over time.

• 1. Chart of Accounts

The GNM Chart of Accounts has 8 distinct segments that define how expenditure is recorded in and reported by the finance systems.

One such segment is the Cost Centre. Every commission must be linked to a cost centre, which reflects the publishing area e.g. Sport.

Editorial staff can modify their “own” commissions, but can only view other desk’s commissions.

All 8 CoA segments must be completed before a payment instruction can be sent to Accounts.

• 1. Approval

RCS has two approval mechanisms for commissions which help identify mistakes, and prevent unauthorised expenditure.

• 1. Fees

Each editor has a limit within which their commissions are self-approved. Any fees they agree above that level get referred to a more senior person on the desk e.g. a department head, or if the fee is very substantial the fee is referred to the Managing Editors.

• 1. Rights

Every commission is queued for review by the Rights department. The rights model is quite complex, and so an expert review of the agreed rights is always required. The rights department can adjust the rights, or reset them to the current set of defaults applicable to the type of contributor, format of content, and whether the contributor is assigning copyright to GNM or agreeing a licence for the reuse of their content.

• 1. Letter confirmation

The “commission letter” sets out the agreement between GNM and the contributor. RCS generates all commission letters, basing them on an agreed template, and substituting in text in accordance with what has been agreed and who it was agreed with. These letters also cross reference the GNM freelance charter, which sets out in more detail the rights GNM secures in bought in content.

The letters are produced as PDF documents and are either emailed to the contributor or posted to them if they do not have an email address.

• 1. Fulfilment

Usually the commission fee is not paid until the contributor’s obligation has been fulfilled. In most cases this means the content has been delivered and published. However, some desks build up stock, such as features or obituaries, and in these cases the contributor should not have to wait for publication, so the fee may be paid upon delivery of the content.

• 1. Spikes / kill fees

If a contributor submits content that is deemed to be sub-standard or if the opportunity to publish the content disappears due to the need to publish more topical or current content, a spike fee is paid. If the content was below the expected standard a 50% fee is usually paid, whereas the full agreed fee is due for anything else.

• 1. Payment

The commission fee is usually payable to the contributor. However some contributors have agents who negotiate their fees on their behalf. Where contributors have agents the fee is usually payable to the agent.

Also, some contributors, from time to time, request that their fees be payable to charity. For tax related reasons it is necessary that GNM choose the charity, but the contributor is told which charity or charities GNM is currently supporting. RCS can be configured for one or more charities.

Contributors can be paid through Oracle AP, or in the case of GNM part-time staff who are commissioned outside of their contracted hours they are paid through Oracle Payroll. RCS will send a payment instruction to the appropriate payment system, and will receive and process status notifications until the fee has actually been paid.

• 1. Reviewing and Tracking

Once commissions have been entered onto RCS they can be reviewed and modified.

An editor has the option of seeing all recent commissions via the “Commission tracking” screens, or they can review all commissions for a specific contributor using the “Review commissions” screen.

• 1. Change history / audit

From an audit perspective it is also important that a change history (or audit trail) of changes to key data be kept. An audit trail is recorded for commission data, but is not visible to the users of RCS.

• 1. Reporting

There are two Editorial reports relating to commissions:

• • Unfulfilled commissions report

  • Unmatched, fulfilled commissions report

Commission data also appears on many of the other reports that focus on monitoring expenditure.

End of Document