If you are responsible for managing online freelancers, you’ll find this template to be far more helpful than a generic spreadsheet. You have all the information centralized and you can view them in a variety of ways that could help you manage online freelancers more efficiently. As an added bonus, you’ll find several useful budget allocation formulas included.

First, put all the information about your freelancers in the Freelancers table. Some of the information is populated for you automatically, but don’t forget to enter the individual hourly rates for each of your freelancers. A few formulas in the database will need these. Then, fill out the Clients table with information about your clients. The information given will help a lot when it comes to assigning professionals to the right projects. Finally, enter your clients’ projects in the Projects table. You could use this table as a guide to propose new projects to your clients as well.

Check out this template’s tables and views to see how they all work together to make your life easier.

Database: Online Freelancers Management

Freelancers

Keeping track of all the skilled individuals in a database table is easier with the different types of views available. In this table, the key information fields are already set up for your business. Note that you have to record the hourly rate for each freelancer for this database to be more useful. When a freelancer doesn’t have an hourly rate set, the row will have a red left border on it.

Fields

• Name. The freelancer’s full name.
• Photo. The freelancer’s photograph.
• Skill level. The freelancer’s work experience level.
• Field of work. This is the field or industry where the freelancer would most like to work. The default selection options are set to the most popular online freelance industries. This field can be used as a reference to match the Project table’s Field of work field.
• Skills. This field is linked to the Skills table, showing an overview of all the skills the freelancer has.
• Hourly rate. This is the freelancer’s rate per hour. This is a required field and helps the cost estimation formula found in the Projects table.
• Project count. A formula field that adds up the number of projects that this freelancer has and is currently working on.
• Has ongoing project. A formula field that determines whether or not this freelancer is presently assigned to a project.
• Region. The geographical location information of the freelancer. The default selection options are set to the most popular online freelancer countries.
• Phone number. This is the freelancer’s current phone number.
• Email. This is the freelancer’s email address.
• Password. This password field is by default set to template. This password field is used by the application builder.
• Online portfolio. This is the URL of the freelancer’s website or online portfolio.
• Rating. This field is a rating field, which indicates the freelancer’s overall performance feedback.
• Notes. This field is for notes or remarks about the freelancer.
• Attachments. This field allows you to attach files to the freelancer’s record. Files may include the freelancer’s resume, contract, and other work-related documents.
• Related lead work. This field is linked to the Projects table, indicating the projects this freelancer has been a project lead for. Hidden by default.
• Related projects. This field is linked to the Projects table, specifying the projects this freelancer has been a part of. Hidden by default.
• Actions. This field is linked to the Actions table, specifying the actions the freelancer has posted over all the projects.
• Is available. A formula field that displays a symbol to indicate the availability of the freelancer. This field is used by the application builder and is hidden by default.
• Rating stars. A formula field that displays a number of star icons based on the Rating field. This field is used by the application builder and is hidden by default.

Views

• All freelancers. Displays all online freelancers without filters, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.
• With ongoing project. Displays online freelancers that are assigned and are working on open or ongoing projects, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.
• Without ongoing project. Displays online freelancers that are not assigned to any ongoing project, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.
• Without a project. Displays freelancers which have never been assigned to a single project, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.
• Freelancers gallery. Displays a gallery view of all freelancers without filters, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.
• Freelancers by field. Displays a kanban view of all freelancers, stacked by Field of work. This is especially useful for quickly matching freelancers to projects.
• Freelancers by skill level. Displays a kanban view of all freelancers, stacked according to the Skill level field.
• Freelancers by region. Displays a kanban view of all freelancers, stacked according to the Region field.
• Add a freelancer. Displays a form view that facilitates adding more or new freelancers into this table.

Skills

This table offers an overview of all the available skills and the freelancers that are associated with them. This provides you with insight into which skilss there are already many freelancers present and for which skills it would be better to make additional contacts

Fields

• Name. The skill’s name.
• Freelancers. This field is linked to the Freelancers table, showing an overview of all the freelancers that has this skills.
• Freelancers count. This count field counts the number of freelancers with the skill.

Views

• All skills. Displays all skills without filters, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.
• Skills with less than 2 freelancers. Displays skills where the number of freelancers is less than 2, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.

Clients

This is more than just a list of your clients. This table tells you which clients have projects going on and which don’t, so it’s easy to know which ones to talk to next. With this table, you’d never leave a client feeling like they were ignored. The client records that don’t have any projects are highlighted with a red background.

Fields

• Name. This is the client’s complete business name.
• Description. This field is for the client’s business profile.
• Project count. A formula field that adds up the client’s completed projects and those that are still in progress.
• Has ongoing project. A formula field that determines whether or not this client has an ongoing project.
• Industry. A single select field that indicates the client’s industry or business domain. The default selection options are set to the most common business industries.
• Company size. This is a single select field that specifies the number of employees that this client has currently employed.
• Contact person. This is the client’s main contact person.
• Contact phone. This is the contact person’s current phone number.
• Contact email. This is the contact person’s email address.
• Website. This is the URL of the client’s official website.
• Address. This is the business address of the client.
• Notes. This field holds notes or remarks about this client.
• Related projects. This field is linked to the Projects table, indicating the client’s projects. Hidden by default.

Views

• All clients. Displays all clients without filters, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.
• With ongoing project. Displays clients with open or ongoing projects, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.
• Without ongoing project. Displays clients without ongoing projects, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.
• Clients by industry. Displays a kanban view of all clients, stacked according to the Industry field.
• Clients by company size. Displays a kanban view of all clients, stacked according to the Company size field.
• Add a client. Displays a form view that facilitates adding new or more clients to this table.

Projects

This table has formulas that will help you match freelancers that fit the needs and budget of your project. In this way, talent management works efficiently. Estimates of the project costs are computed based on the duration of the project and the freelancers or project leads assigned. Projects that cost more than their budgets are highlighted in red.

Fields

• Name. This is the project’s unique title or name that serves as this record’s identifier.
• Description. This long text field is for the project’s details, scope, and other related instructions that this project may require.
• Field of work. This is the related industry category for the project. This can help you quickly find the right people to work on this project by matching the similarly named field in the Freelancers table.
• Client. This field is linked to the Clients table, indicating the client this project is for.
• Client industry. This field is a lookup field, which fetches the client’s industry from the Clients table.
• Is repeat client. A formula field that indicates whether the client has previous or other projects in the database.
• Status. This is a single select field that indicates the project’s current status.
• Kickoff date. This is the date on which the project’s implementation will begin.
• Due date. This is the date on which the client expects the project to be completed.
• Estimated working days. A formula field that estimates the number of working days from Kickoff date to Due date.
• Duration (weeks). A formula field that computes the number of weeks this project is expected to be completed based on the Estimated working days.
• Budget. This is the client’s budget for this project.
• Estimated freelancer cost. A formula field that computes for the combined estimated cost of freelancers and projects leads working on this project based on the project’s duration and freelancers’ Hourly rate. By default, this formula assumes a freelancer works 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
• Over/under. A formula field for calculating the difference between the Budget and the Estimated freelancer cost. The entire record row’s background color will turn red if the Estimated freelancer cost goes over the Budget. This field is hidden by default.
• Region. The client’s preferred or required geographical location for its freelancers. The default selection options are set to the top hiring countries for online freelancers.
• Project lead. This field is linked to the Freelancers table, indicating the freelancer or freelancers leading this project.
• Freelancers. This field is linked to the Freelancers table, specifying the freelancer or freelancers assigned to work on this project.
• Notes. This field is for additional notes or remarks about this project.
• Attachments. This field allows you to attach files to this project. Contracts, technical documents, resource photos, references, and any other documents related to the project can be included as files.
• Actions. This field is linked to the Actions table, specifying the actions the freelancer has posted for this project.

Views

• All projects. Displays all projects without filters, sorted alphabetically by Name from A to Z.
• Projects with insufficient budget.
• Add a project. Displays a form view that facilitates adding a new project to this table.
• Projects by status. Displays a kanban view of all projects, stacked according to the Status field.
• Projects by category. Displays a kanban view of all projects, stacked according to the Field of work field.

Actions

Freelancers must be able to offer on a regular base updates about the actions they have taken. All those updates are stored in this table.

Fields

• Name. The action’s name.
• Project. This field is linked to the Projects table indicating the project for this action.
• Author. This field is linked to the Authors table indicating the project for this action.
• Notes. This long text field is for the action details, scope, and other related instructions that this action may require.
• Attachments. This field allows you to attach files to this project. Contracts, technical documents, resource photos, references, and any other documents related to the action can be included as files.
• Created on. This created on field shows the date and time the action was created.
• Created on format. A formula field that formats the date of the Created on field so that it is displayed nicely in the application builder. This field is hidden by default.
• Project name. A rollup field that converts a project name to a text so that a group by view can be created. This field is hidden by default.

Views

• All actions. Displays all projects without filters, sorted alphabetically by Created on from 9 to 1.
• All actions grouped by project. Displays all projects without filters, grouped by the name of the project, sorted alphabetically by Created on from 9 to 1.
• Add new action. Displays a form view that facilitates adding new actions to this table.

Application: Project Manager

This applications allows freelancers to see an overview of their projects, edit general information and adding actions to them.

Login

This page allows to user to identify themselves.

Events

• After login: the authenticated user is redirected to the Dashboard.

Dashboard

This page shows an overview of all the projects the freelancers is assigned to. There is also an overview of projects that still have no freelancers.

Data sources

• My projects. All Projects of the authenticated user. Either as lead or as freelancer.
• Open projects. All Projects that have not been assigned to a lead or freelancer.

Project details

This page shows the details of a single project. It also shows an overview of all the actions associated with the project. It is possible add a new action.

Data sources

• Project. A single Project based on the ID.
• Actions. All Actions that are associated with the project.

Edit project details

This page is very similar to the Project details page. The main difference is that some text fields has become text input fields to allow manipulation of project information.

Data sources

• Project. A single Project based on the ID.
• Actions. All Actions that are associated with the project.

Events

• On click:
  • Updates the Kickoff date, Due date, Description and Notes in the Projects table.
  • Navigates back to the Project details page.

Application: Freelance Manager

This application shows an overview of all the freelancers in the database and allows to search freelancers based on their skills.

Homepage

This page shows an overview of all the freelancers. It has search functionality on the top of the page where freelancers can be found based on their skills.

Data sources

• Freelancers. All Freelancers in the database.

Freelancers

This page shows an overview of all the freelancers that match a skill that is passed through a parameter.

Data sources

• Freelancers by skill. All Freelancers that have a skill that matches with the input of the search parameter.

Freelancer details

This page shows the details of a single freelancer.

Data sources

• Freelancer. A single freelancer based on the ID.