I have been following a growing web conversation on the issues of billing and PR.  Some firms are proposing a pure fee-for-results model. Others maintain that the monthly retainer is fair given the vicissitudes of the craft of PR.

We are taking a middle approach in the New Year using SLA’s to define value: traditional and new media coverage generated, content and other resources created and used, research conducted, strategic insight given and leads, hits and revenue generated.

To take this middle approach is complicated. You have to work closely with the clients because they have to help you manage results, issues and work process.    The client must be your partner in calculating the bill because they have to share results with you.

We are using an outsourcing model, in effect.

To be perfectly honest, I would not have gone this route at all if not for the online project management software we have been using over the last month – Vertabase (www.vertabase.com).  

Their offering is well laid-out and scaled appropriately for us to manage large projects with over 100 tasks conducted over the normal three months duration of our Web2.0 PR projects. There is just enough functionality, but not too much to get lost in complexity and communications breakdowns. We looked at Microsoft Project, but it was way too powerful and while I know how to use it from a previous life, my clients and team do not. That makes it a non-starter.  

Vertabase however, has the common tools that are easy to navigate, permit access to appropriate to the work at hand, facilitate communication and engage the team and client in tuning the project’s workflow.

As the Vertabase folks say: the guiding principal is to enable people who are not experts (i.e. managers) in project management to navigate its interface intuitively and learning to operate the entire system quickly.

To dig deeper a bit, with Vertabase the interface changes depending on who the viewer is. A writer would see the daily task list, a resolution list, a time sheet, and a document management system. He can do his work and interact with it. As project manager, I would have a set of reports built specifically for me. I would also have full access to everyone’s schedule to create and manage a comprehensive plan.  There is nothing there to distract the team – that is playing around with the project management software to produce a GANTT chart or complex report. 

People are focused on just the amount of project management wisdom that they require to do their jobs well. The system is scalable in terms of the amount of data the system can contain- reports, tasks, projects etc.; but the complexity of the structure of the way the data is organized is limited.  Information is easy to take in and work with.   

In sum, with the Vertabase system, we can be more effective in working to goals in a disciplined manner, work with our clients more closely and bill precisely to value created. I know that this will be a true core competence for our firm in 2007.