Understand the AtomicSam data model
Learn how AtomicSam organizes your business information into five core entities. This structure helps you report accurately and manage work effectively.
This article explains the five core building blocks of your AtomicSam organization. Understanding this structure helps you keep your data organized and your reports accurate.
AtomicSam is built on a simple hierarchy. This design provides a clear place for every piece of information, from a client's phone number to a single hour of work. This ensures your reporting is always consistent and reliable.
Your Organization
Your Organization is the top-level container that holds all your data. It represents your entire company.
Only one Organization exists per subscription. It contains information that applies to your whole business, such as:
- Your company name and address
- Default currency and branding settings
- Your list of Staff members
- Your AtomicSam subscription and Billing details
- Integrations with other software
Your Clients
Clients belong to your Organization. A Client is the person or company you perform work for. You cannot have a Job without a Client.
A Client record holds information specific to that relationship:
- Client name, contact details, and address
- Contact people at the Client's business
- Client-specific settings, like default payment terms
Your Jobs
Jobs always belong to a specific Client. A Job represents a distinct piece of work you are doing for that Client. For example, you might have one Client, "Acme Inc.", with two separate Jobs: "Website Redesign" and "Q3 Marketing Campaign".
The Job record is where you manage the work itself. It contains:
- A Job name and unique number
- The budget, either in hours or currency
- Rates and billable settings for the work
- All time and cost entries associated with the work
💡 Tip: Think of the structure like nesting folders. Your Organization is the main drive. Inside are folders for each Client. Inside each Client folder are folders for their Jobs. Inside each Job folder are the individual files: your time and cost entries.
Your Time and Cost Entries
Time and Cost entries are the building blocks of a Job. Each entry must belong to a specific Job. They are the individual records of labor and expenses that make up the work.
- Time entries record the hours your team spends on a Job. Each entry includes the staff member, the date, the number of hours, and a description of the work.
- Cost entries record expenses you incur while working on a Job. This can include materials, travel, software licenses, or any other item you need to track or bill to your client.
These entries are what drive your Job Totals and profitability reports. You can mark any entry as billable or non-billable.
Your Invoices
Invoices also belong to a single Job. An Invoice is a request for payment for the work you have completed on that Job.
When you create an invoice, you pull in the billable time and cost entries that you have logged against the Job. An invoice acts as a financial snapshot, turning your work into a formal document for your client. You can create multiple invoices for a single long-running Job, or a single invoice for a small one.
How this structure helps you
This strict hierarchy is designed to keep your data clean and your reporting honest. Because an entry cannot exist without a Job, and a Job cannot exist without a Client, you avoid orphaned data and confusion.
This structure allows you to analyze your business from any angle:
- Organization level: See your entire company's performance, staff utilization, and overall profitability.
- Client level: Report on the total value and profitability of all work for a single Client.
- Job level: Track a Job's progress against its budget and see its real-time profitability.
By ensuring every piece of data has a logical home, you can trust your reports to give you the insights you need to run your business.