B. Krultz & Associates
Word processing, general transcription, medical transcription
NOTE: At this time we are only seeking subcontractors within a 40 mile radius of Greenwood, Wisconsin.
We do not hire individuals; we do not have "employees." We use the services of American subcontractors.
Subcontractors are selected based on their ability to fulfill our needs and our customer's needs. Because we work with subcontractors only, a resume is not a requirement; however, the more we know about you and your capabilities (including the type of software and hardware you have), the easier it is for us to select a subcontractor who meets our needs. We cannot use your services if we do not know the types of tapes or digital audio formats you can work with.
Submit optional resumes via e-mail (we will not open file attachments) or by snail mail.
Specify the types of transcription equipment and software you have (word processors and digital audio transcription file formats).
We need to know your e-mail file size limitations because we do send digital audio files via e-mail file attachment to subcontractors.
State your rates (hourly, line, per page, etc.) and payment terms.
General information for subcontractors:
We do a lot of interview transcription. Audio is a mix of tapes and digital audio formats. The most popular digital audio formats seem to be .dss, .wav, and mp3. The most common cassette tape size is standard, but we do get occasional mini-tapes.
Some digital audio file sizes are huge, as high as 100 MB or more. We use WinZip to send these files to transcriptionists. The paid version of WinZip can break apart these huge audio files into manageable segments, and each segment is sent under a separate e-mail file attachment to the transcriptionist. The subcontractor would also need a copy of the paid version of WinZip to reassemble these same audio files. Hopefully, using WinZip will avoid problems with limited e-mail box capacity. When feasible, we will attempt to re-record these large audio files, particularly if they are in an unusual audio format, to a more common, more compact format such as .dss.
Cassette tapes may also be re-recorded to the .dss digital format; however, many times re-recording does not improve tape quality, and it is a time consuming process.
The majority of our customers use Microsoft Word, the full-feature version that comes with Microsoft Office.
Some customers load their audio files to an ftp site.
All of our customers have a very tight turnaround time, particularly medical transcription customers. In some cases, particularly with interviews, we may split the digital recording among transcriptionists so we can meet the customer's deadline.
When possible, I will give you templates provided by the customer. I may also be able to provide word lists in some cases.
All documents must be returned here. You may not submit documents to clients or contact customers for any reason. You may not submit invoices to customers; all invoices are delivered to B. Krultz & Associates. If there are any problems with a customer's source materials, contact Barb as soon as possible.
All documents will be proofed here.
All work is considered confidential.
Please contact Barb if you have any problems including equipment problems, software problems, word processor problems, document set-up problems, changes in your availability, etc.
If you think you may be running behind or feel you won't make the deadline, please let Barb know as soon as possible so we can split whatever work is remaining between you and another subcontractor.
If you find that a recording quality is very bad and it may not be worth transcribing or would be prohibitively costly for the customer, contact Barb.
Some customers request that we, and any subcontractor who will work on the project, sign a confidentiality agreement prior to supplying us with the work.
We use InstantText Pro to calculate line counts. We also keep productivity statistics for all work performed by subcontractors.
Your invoices must include audio file or tape name, document file name, date submitted to Barb, time it took to complete project (minutes), line rate, or rate per minute, or hourly rate. Barb will use your time to complete project information for your productivity statistics, to calculate average customer page costs, and to watch for problem customers or projects.
Helpful software and equipment:
WinZip. Used to send very large digital audio files to subcontractors. The paid version will assemble files that we split here and send to you in separate e-mail file attachments. This is the only way we can bypass e-mail file size restrictions. Generally .wav digital audio files are the only files that are so large they need to be split. We cannot send just one segment of the audio file; we have to send the entire file even if you are only going to transcribe a portion of that file. Audio files in the .dss format generally run about 1 MB in size per 14 to 16 minutes of recording. Wave audio file sizes are impossible to estimate because there are so many different .wav formats.
Re-recording. Once in a while we have to capture internet broadcasts because there is no way to obtain the audio file. There is special software available that will capture any sound coming through the sound card and then save it to your hard drive. Most of these broadcasts create huge audio file sizes, so it would be difficult for us to use WinZip as they would still be extremely large files. We've had broadcast audio files as large as 100 MB!
Submit subcontractor information to:
Barb Krultz
B. Krultz & Associates
N10334 Sidney Avenue
Greenwood, WI 54437
e-mail: pkbk@badger.tds.net
Information on InstantText Pro
We use InstantText Pro software to calculate line counts for customers and subcontractor line count verification. This software program counts all keystrokes including spaces, bold, indent, insertion of symbols, etc. The program is set to count headers and footers only once for an entire document (because you type it only once in the header/footer feature). The font size does not matter. For most customers, a line consists of 65 characters or keystrokes. If there is a short line, for example, a date at the top of correspondence, it will take the number of characters in that line and add it to the next line, and the next, and the next, and so on if necessary until it comes up with 65 characters.
We don't pay for boilerplate text, but do pay for the keystrokes to insert that boilerplate text. At this time, we have only one customer who uses a large enough chunk of boilerplate text (at the very end of his correspondence) where we deduct that amount from his bill. This is a separate issue from macro or shortcut insertion of words or phrases