Glossary

Active Assignment: Assignment with a Provider that is currently billing hours.

Affiliate Providers: Companies that offer distributed or co-located teams. Most are outsourcing firms that work with clients from around the world. Their professionals are typically full-time employees, working under the supervision of a local manager.

Assignment: A set of tasks which a Buyer has contracted a Provider to complete.

Authorized Hours: All hours that the Buyer has approved the Provider to spend on an assignment. These hours could be online or offline.

Automated Clearing House (ACH): Automatic withdrawal from a bank account, one of the methods available to Buyers to pay their oDesk weekly charges.

Bill Rate: The hourly rate a Buyer pays for a Provider's work. The bill rate is equal to the Provider's pay rate plus the oDesk fee.

Bugzilla: Bugzilla is a web-based task and bug tracking system, also known as a Defect Tracking System, used for managing software development. To learn more about Bugzilla, please click here.

Buyer: An oDesk member who contracts for services rendered by an oDesk Provider.

Candidate: A Provider who a Buyer is considering for an Opening. The Buyer can search and save a Provider to an Opening list, or the Provider can apply for an Opening.

Cover Letter: The Provider can submit a cover letter as part of applying to an Opening to tell the Buyer why he is a good Candidate for the Opening.

Disintermediation: Buyer and Provider contracting for services outside of oDesk, resulting in a breach of the Service Agreement with oDesk

Feedback Score: Feedback score is the average of the numerical feedback rating given in the following categories multiplied by the category weight. 

Fixed Price Job:  Job postings that are performed on a Fixed Price basis. Buyers post an initially estimated budget, and providers may bid any amount and specify a requested percentage as an upfront payment.  Payment is made solely at the discretion of the buyer.

Freelance Provider: Individual Providers, who often work from their homes.  Many freelancers are experts in their chosen field. Most work for oDesk Buyers on a part-time basis, though some are available full time.

Hire Request: Request to start an Assignment with a Provider, initiated by a Buyer

Hire: Decision taken by the Buyer to start an Assignment with a specific Provider, usually after an Interview.

Hourly Job: Job postings that are performed on a time and materials basis. Buyers post a job with an estimated workload duration in weeks and providers may apply at any hourly rate. All time on these jobs must be logged with the oDesk Team client application in order for the providers to receive guaranteed payment for the work.

Interview: A scheduled meeting between buyer and provider before the decision to hire is made, usually over VoIP, Instant Messenger chat or phone.

Interviewee: Provider that a Buyer has selected to Interview for an Opening.

License: The right to use oDesk Tools by a user. Read our License policy here.

Mailing List: A distributed email list that a member can use to send emails to registered email addresses of other team members. To learn more about the Mailing List, please click here.

Moneybookers: Service used by oDesk to pay Freelance Providers, who do not live in Ukraine. For more information and fees, please click here.

Non-Disclosure Agreement: Agreement signed by the Provider upon entering the oDesk network, which guarantees Privacy and Proprietary Right (including Intellectual Property) of the Buyer.

oDesk Fee: oDesk fees are 10% of the Bill Rate, or 11.11% of the Pay Rate. There are no minimums on the hourly rates. oDesk also charges 10% of any Bonuses given from the Buyer to the Provider. There are no other fees.

Here are a few example rates:

Buyer Bill Rate = oDesk Fee + Provider Pay Rate

oDesk Network: All oDesk Buyers and Providers

oDesk Score: The oDesk Score is the average of the Feedback Scores for the user weighted based on the number of hours worked in that assignment.

oDesk Share: oDesk Share is a screen-sharing and collaboration application. The person hosting a Share session can also give the viewer remote control of his computer. To learn more about oDesk Share, please click here.

oDesk Staff: Direct employees of oDesk, including both full-time employees, part-time employees, or contractors

oDesk Team: oDesk Team is a complete time-logging and verification system. To learn more about oDesk Team, please click here.

oDesk Tools: oDesk provides the use of oDesk Team, oDesk Share, a Mailing List, SVN Source Code Repository and Bugzilla bug-tracking to help Buyers hire, manage, and pay remote Providers.

Opening/Job Opening: An assignment for which a Buyer is looking to hire a Provider.

Pay Rate: The hourly rate received by a Provider for work completed.

Provider: An oDesk member who renders services at an hourly rate.

Provider Profile: The skill and professional information of a Provider. This includes Quick Facts including hourly rate, availability, English communication skills, oDesk Assignment History, certification, competency tests, skills, previous employment history and education.

Reject: Decision taken by the buyer to decline putting a Provider on an Assignment. This can happen after an Interview, or if the Opening is filled.

Repository/Secure Central Repository: Online secure space provided by oDesk to manage files and code for a team room.

Subversion/SVN: A secure, online version control system used to manage files and source code over time. The files are stored in a central server and accessed via the Web. To learn more about SVN, please click here.

Team Room: A central interface that lists all the Providers currently active on the Buyer's assignments and gives access to all oDesk Tools.

TimeAnalyze: Time Analyze provides a snapshot of the work history for a Provider over any given period of time and as compared with other Providers on the team. The reports are available in many different visual formats and can also be easily exported, downloaded and saved on your computer. To learn more about Time Analyze, please click here.

Timelog: Automatically generated time sheets detailing work performed by a Provider (including any manually added hours) and the oDesk charge. Timelogs are generated every week.

Work History: The complete history of a Provider on the oDesk network, including a start and end date, a description of the assignment, the hourly pay rate, and total hours worked.

Work Memo: A text memo entered by the Provider and shown in the Work Diary and the Timelog. This should be a detailed description, including specific description and reference to task tracking numbers.

WorkDiary: The WorkDiary feature of oDesk Team is used to monitor the work being completed on assignments on a daily basis. It gives you complete visibility into the day’s work by displaying a “filmstrip” of a Provider’s activity. To learn more about the Work Diary, please click here.