Contracting

Contracting is for work done by people outside your shop, who are paid per piece. You send them the parts, they make the items and bring them back, you check them, and you pay them with a signed receipt.

How contracting works

Each job you send out is a work order, numbered like WO-0418. One work order is for one contractor and can hold several items. It moves through five stages, shown as lanes on Contracting › Work orders:

1. Awaiting pickup: you sent it out. The parts left stock and a work order printed with a QR slip.
2. With contractor: they picked it up. If you offer a bonus for fast work, its clock starts now.
3. QC: it came back. You count how many pass the check (QC means quality check).
4. Awaiting payment: QC is done. The units that passed are in stock.
5. Completed: you paid them. Each item has its own signed receipt.

Contracting needs Inventory and Production switched on. The parts that go out with a work order come from each item's recipe in Production. The screens use your shop's own word for making (Build, Make or Bake).

Who can do what

Each role has a level for Contracting (see People and roles):

Only people who can pay contractors see what anyone was paid. An AI assistant never can.

Contractors

Contracting › Contractors lists everyone who makes things for you. For each one you see what is with them now, how many days they usually take, how often they are back on time, and their QC pass rate. A flag shows when someone is slipping.

To add a contractor:

1. Press Add contractor (or Add a contractor on an empty board).
2. Type their Name. Company, Email and Phone are optional. Receipts are emailed to the email.
3. Press Add.
4. On their page, press + Add an item. Pick what they make and type what it pays Per unit ($). Press Add. Do this for each item.

You can only send someone work for items they have a rate for. If you change a rate later, past work orders keep the rate they were sent at.

A contractor's page also shows their past work, notes they left, how they want to be paid, and their bonus. Edit details changes their name and contact.

Sending work out

Press Send out work. You choose who, what and how many, then when it should be back and any bonus. Ordryx shows the parts that go out with it and whether you have enough on hand. When you press Send out & print work order, those parts leave stock and the work order prints.

See Send work out for the full steps.

Before pickup

While a work order waits for pickup, More on its page lets you:

• Change how many (or the bonus). Extra parts are taken from stock; parts no longer needed go back.
• Offer to someone else, at their own rate.
• Expected date and instructions.
• Cancel work order. The parts it took go back into stock.

Press Picked up on the board, or on the work order's page, when the contractor collects it.

When work comes back

There are two ways to check work back in:

• Scan the slip. Open Contracting › Scan slip. A handheld scanner, the camera, or typing the code (like WO-0418) opens the work order. You can also scan the slip's QR code with any phone camera.
• On screen. Press Receive on the work order's card.

Count how many of each came back and press Received. Nothing goes into stock yet.

If only part came back, choose what happens to the rest:

• Still coming: the rest stays out. What came back becomes its own work order (like WO-0418·1), checked and paid on its own.
• Not coming back: counted as not returned at QC.

If the pickup was never recorded, Already back? Check it in lets you put in the pickup time if you know it.

QC

On a work order in QC, set how many of each item Passed. For any that failed, pick a reason. Press Record QC. The units that passed go into stock, and those are what the contractor is paid for.

If nothing passed, there is nothing to pay. Press Close: nothing to pay. Recover parts puts any parts worth saving back into stock.

Paying contractors

Contracting › Pay lists everything that passed QC and isn't paid yet, grouped by person. At the top you see Owed now, Paid this month and Bonuses this month.

1. Tick the work orders you are paying for.
2. Check the bonus. Press it to change it.
3. Choose Paid by (ACH, Check, Cash, Zelle, PayPal, Venmo), the day (On) and an optional Reference, such as a check number.
4. Press Pay (it says the person's name and how many work orders).

Each item paid gets its own signed receipt. If the contractor has an email and receipts are emailed, they go out together in one email, with a copy to you. With no email on file, the receipt prints. A paid work order can't be changed.

Paying needs Pay contractors, which only the Manage level has.

Signed receipts and checking them

Every receipt carries a QR code. Anyone holding the receipt can scan it to open a public page on your Ordryx that checks the receipt is genuine. No sign-in is needed. The page shows only what the receipt already says: who was paid, for what, how many, how much, how and when. If the receipt was changed, it says so.

You can open a receipt again from the work order's page (Receipt) and Email it or Resend it.

W-9s and 1099 totals

If Track W-9s and 1099 totals is on, each contractor's page shows W-9 (On file or Not on file) and what they were paid this year against your 1099 limit.

You can Upload the W-9 (PDF or photo) on their page, or the contractor can add it in the portal. A W-9 is stored encrypted. Only people who can pay or manage contractors can open it, and each time it is opened is recorded in the activity log. Their tax ID is shown only as the last four digits; Show reveals it to people who can pay or manage contractors.

The contractor portal

The portal lets a contractor sign in and see their own work: offers, pickups, what they are owed and their receipts. They can accept or decline work, and ask for more.

To invite someone, open their page. Under Contractor portal, press Invite to the portal. They need an email first, because it is what they sign in with. The same card lets you Send again, Cancel it, sign them out everywhere, Send a new sign-in link or Turn off portal access. Only people who can manage contractors see this card.

Once a contractor is on the portal, new work you send them is offered first. Their card on the board says Offered · waiting for them until they answer. Picking it up counts as a yes. If they decline, you see their reason and can Offer to someone else. When they ask for work, it shows under Asked for work on the board: press Make a work order or Not now….

See The contractor portal for what contractors see.

Contracting settings

The gear in Contracting opens Contracting settings. Only people who can manage contractors can change them.

• Expected back, by default: Their usual time or Fixed days.
• Print a QR slip with each work order: on or off.
• Standard bonus: a percent extra if the work is back within so many days of pickup. 0% means no bonus. Each contractor can have their own.
• Reasons a unit fails: the list you pick from at QC. + Add a reason adds one.
• Email receipts to contractors: on or off.
• Track W-9s and 1099 totals, with the yearly limit.

Press Save at the top.

History and reports

Contracting › History lists every paid and closed work order. Two reports are in Reports: Contractor payments (what is owed and everything paid; needs Pay contractors) and Contractor performance (turnaround, QC pass rate and cost per unit).