Question 1

Can I use more hours than my plan allows? How do extra hours work?

Accepted Answer

Our service is designed for growing businesses. We know that without a crystal ball to hand, it’s impossible to forecast exactly how much support you’ll need from your VA every single month.

That means that your VA will simply continue working for you throughout the month - following your instructions - and, if they exceed the prepaid hours you have on account with us (your remaining balance at any one time), the portal will automatically top up your balance with 'extra hours'.

You can see the number of 'extra hours' already added to your account during the current billing period within your Account History.

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You can find your current Billing Preferences in the Billing tab or within the sidebar in the Tasks tab.

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This can be set to any number you prefer - we can set the portal to 'add 1 hour' when your balance hits zero, for example.

You will have set your preference here when creating an account with us, however can manage this at any time by visiting the Billing tab at virtalentportal.com or by contacting your Client Success Manager.

If you find you are consistently using above and beyond your hours every month, you may wish to consider moving up to the next plan - you'll find there's a saving to be made on your hourly rate by doing this too.

Likewise, if you are receiving frequent emails from us related to these top-ups, consider changing your setting around 'extra hours'. This will reduce the number of invoices and emails generated for you to then manage!

Just like with your monthly plan, any unused extra hours will also roll over to your next billing period.

We recommend discussing how you feel about 'extra hours' with your Virtual Assistant. Are you happy for them to log as much time as they feel is necessary or would you prefer to stick closer to a set monthly budget?

Question 2

How do I use the Task Portal?

Accepted Answer

You can access the Virtalent Task Portal at virtalentportal.com.

Don't have login details? Please get in touch with us on support@virtalent.com so we can grant you access.

The portal acts as a hub for you to manage all important aspects relating to your account with us and is, importantly, where your Virtalent VA logs their time for any work they do for you. You'll receive a monthly billing update by email, but the portal can be accessed 24/7 and so is a useful way to check the current status of your account, at any point.

The current system was designed entirely from scratch and launched in April 2021.

Dashboard

When you first log in to the portal, you'll find:

Details of our client referral scheme
A summary of your remaining balance and any time logged during the current billing period
Your current monthly plan and when this is due to renew
Your 'Extra Hours' settings
Links to a few useful help articles

Tasks

This tab shows:

A summary of your account balance, in the side bar
TASKS - All tasks that your VA is currently working on for you (and an archive of older tasks). You also have the option to send your VA a task, if you would like to work in this way
TIME - a full record of all time logged by any Virtalent VA working on your account. This can be filtered by team member, task or date, and can be exported in both PDF and Excel formats, if you would like to review the data. Whenever your VA logs time to your account, they must select the task they are working on (this acts as a broader "category") and then provide a short explanation of the work they carried out (this is the granular detail you might want to see - there is complete transparency here).
EXPENSES - a full record of any additional expenses your VA has incurred and the status of whether these have yet been charged to you, or not. More information on our expenses process can be found here.

Team

This tab shows the details of any Virtalent VAs currently assigned to your account. You can find:

Their contact details
A summary of their skills and experience
A link to their "profile" - you might find this useful if you're trying to understand whether they can help you with something!

Billing

This is where you can manage your account with Virtalent. You can:

See a full breakdown of your current balance and the time logged to your account during the current billing period.
Understand where your balance has "come from" - this is made up of rolled hours from the last period, hours from your latest monthly subscription and, if your balance has hit zero this period, additional 'extra hours'.
View and download your invoices. Need an extra note added to your invoice, such as a project code or PO number? Just let us know!
Make a request to change your monthly Plan with us (this is reviewed and approved by your CSM, to ensure your VA can accommodate the change).
Change your Extra Hours settings, which kick in if your remaining balance ever hits zero, before your next monthly billing date. These help to ensure you're never left without support!
Update your payment details (update your bank details, for example).
Add additional company users to your account

Can I use more hours than my plan allows? How do extra hours work?

How do I use the Task Portal?

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