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Billing Cycle
When generating client bills there are a number of different steps which you must complete prior to generating the final customer bill. Be sure that you have already posted the last months invoices before beginning this months billing cycle. Neglecting to do so will create erroneous balances.| Fields in the View 1. Entering time transactions ( you have completed this step in day to day operations) 2. Creating Pre-Bills 3. Reviewing Pre-bills for errors 4. Making Adjustments to Pre-bills 5. Selecting/Deselecting Time and Accounting Transactions 6. Produce new Pre-bills 7. Review new Pre-bills for errors 8. Produce Invoices-Produce Ledes Invoices 9. Review Invoices for errors 10. Void Incorrect Invoices 11. Make back up of Data. (Highly recommended in the event that an error takes place beyond this point) 12. Post Invoices - Invoice Listing - Reprinting Invoices 13. Run Related Reports 14. Review Reports 15. When all of the above are completed and reviewed to satisfaction you may go ahead with the End of Month Procedures. Return |
Entering Pre-Bills
1. Enter the comments in the note fields which you would like printed at the top or bottom of the report.
2. Select the Matter which you would like to print pre-bills for.
3. Select the client or client range which you would like to print pre-bills for.
Entering the same Client in the to and from Matter range fields will select a single Client/Matter.
4. Finish selecting the desired restrictions to generate the pre-bill format you would like.
Note: Restrictions limit the type of information selected for output in each field. Leaving all restrictions blank is allowed but will generate every client bill for each matter and could take an especially long time to process.
5. Select the output order for the report. This will determine what order fields in the report appear in. It is also good to keep in mind that your output order should most closely match the field restrictions you have in place to reduce processing time. You may select the output order of Last Name, Responsible Attorney or Client Number for output by person, or you may select a time entry output sorted by person or date.
Example: If you typically sort out bills and invoices by Attorney name, it is best to print out pre-bills which have their Client/Matter issues separated by order of responsible Attorney. This will save you time when generating and editing Pre-bills.
6. Select the case status type, Active only, In-active. This case type code is set in the matter information field.
7. Select the printer output by selecting the screen or printer option.
8. Review the generated pre-bills. If there are no problems with the pre-bills then you may go on to the next step, Selecting and deselecting time and accounting transactions to be billed. If the bills are in need of adjustment, make the changes in the related views and then return to the pre-bill process. Steps 4-7 may be repeated as many times as necessary.
Overview of the Billing Cycle
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Editing Pre-bills
To edit pre-bills
1. re enter the pre-bills view after having made the necessary adjustments to person, matter and ledger entries.
2. Make the proper selections and restrictions at this time. If you did not like a previous pre-bill format you may clear all restrictions and reselect the options that you would like to appear on the pre-bill form. To view your changes you may print to your printer or print to screen and you are able to reformat the pre-bills screen as many times as you like, provided you have not gone past this step.
Overview of the Billing Cycle
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Selecting and Deselecting Transactions to be Billed
1. Select the global or specific option to limit the types of transactions you select/deselect. Selecting Global will allow you to select or deselect both time and accounting transactions, as well as selecting one and deselecting another. Specific will only allow you to select one type of billing transaction at a time.
2. Fill out the rest of the field restrictions to provide you with a set of transactions you wish to select or deselect.
3. Choose whether you wish to select or deselect these transactions.
4. Click on the Apply button to start the Global selection process.
Selecting Time Transactions
The select Time transactions specific view will allow you to be far more precise in the selection or deselection of transactions to be pre-billed or invoiced.
To Select /Deselect specific time transactions
1. From the Select/Deselect Main view select the desired constraints for Client/Matter, Responsible Atty, Working Atty, Start and finish date ranges..
2. Select the default values for types of transactions and whether they are selected or deselected.
Recommendation: If you will be selecting a large number of transactions and only eliminating a few it is a good idea to set this option to "S". This way, when the transactions list appears you need only mark a few items instead of each transaction line.
3. Click on the Specific option button in the Global or Specific view.
4. Click on the Time Button. A list of transactions which meet the criteria will appear to be selected or deselected.
5.In the Select column change the selection value to "B" for select or "N" to deselect where necessary. All other fields are displays which describe the transaction and you may not alter.
6. When finished click on the close button. Selection and Deselection of transactions is now completed but you need only re-enter this view to make changes if you wish later on.
Selecting Specific Accounting Transactions
The select Accounting transactions specific view will allow you to be far more precise in the selection or deselection of transactions to be pre-billed or invoiced.
To Select /Deselect specific Accounting transactions
1. From the Select/Deselect Main view select the desired constraints for Client/Matter, Responsible Atty, Working Atty, Start and finish date ranges..
2. Select the default values for types of transactions and whether they are selected or deselected.
Recommendation: If you will be selecting a large number of transactions and only eliminating a few it is a good idea to set this option to "S". This way, when the transactions list appears you need only mark a few items instead of each transaction line.
3. Click on the Specific option button in the Global or Specific view.
4. Click on the Accounting Button. A list of transactions which meet the criteria will appear to be selected or deselected.
5.In the Select column change the selection value to "B" for select or "N" to deselect where necessary. All other fields are displays which describe the transaction and you may not alter.
6. When finished click on the close button. Selection and Deselection of transactions is now completed but you need only re-enter this view to make changes if you wish later on.
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Producing New Pre-bills
To produce the new pre bills you may return to the pre-bills screen and make the desired field selections.
After you have reviewed these new pre-bills to satisfaction you may move on to the next step, Producing invoices.
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Producing Invoices
Once the Pre-bill transactions have been selected for processing you may generate invoices for these transactions. It is important to note that once a transaction has been invoiced it will not appear on a pre-bill again unless the invoice has been voided. Also, the printing of invoices will not print all pre-bills, it will only print those that have been selected for invoicing.
With the exception of printing all items and not just those which have been selected, the invoicing screen is identical to the pre-bill screen. Printing of results here will remove the pre-bill capability and will generate an invoice form for client matter billing.
If all invoices are correct then you may move onto the next step which is Posting invoices.
If the invoice(s) is not correct you must first void the invoice, correct the pre-bill and then return to the invoice screen and reprocess the invoice correctly. For further formatting of the invoice and it's fields you may select options from the billing tab in the matter information screen.
*Note: It is important to realize that printing to a screen will not assign invoice numbers to an invoice. Printing to a printer or file however will. It is better to print to the screen to view invoices for errors before printing, otherwise you will have to void the invoice to make corrections. Until you have printed out the invoices the transactions will remained marked as un-billed. Only the printing of invoices will stop these transactions from appearing on pre-bills in the future.
Producing Ledes Invoices
As you will soon notice the general invoicing screen and the Ledes invoicing screen are very different. The difference in appearance results from the levels of constraint and types of information which you have available for selection. In Ledes Format you are reduced to selecting one client matter at a time and must output the resulting invoice to a file. You may not select a Client/Matter range, output order or output destination other than a file. Ledes invoicing will only allow the entry of Client/Matter issues that have been selected for invoicing and have no previous balance.
To enter a Ledes formatted Invoice.
1.Enter the Client/Matter/Sub Matter issue you wish to invoice
2.Enter the cut off date for the selected transactions to be invoiced.
3.Select the Directory/File for the invoice. You may do this by clicking on the Select Directory/File button. Choose the file destination.
4.Enter the name for the Invoice file.
5. Click on the Print button.
The Invoice file will now be created.
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Voiding Invoices
To Void an Invoice Select Void Invoice from the Billing Menu.
Enter the Invoice number(s) you wish to delete in the To and From fields.
( to delete a single invoice put the same invoice number in both fields)
Click on the Void Button.
The Invoice is now voided.
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Posting Invoices
To Post Invoices
*Note: It is a good idea to make a backup of your data at this time since posting invoices will make charges part of your accounts receivable system. The aged accounts receivable report will now show invoices you just completed in the current receivables column. Other management reports will also select posted invoices or transactions. This is a main reason why we post before running reports.
1. Make absolutely sure that all invoices have been processed correctly and no further adjustments need to be made before moving on. No editing or voiding of invoices is permitted beyond this point.
2. Go to the Views menu, select Time Billing Accounting transactions, billing, posting invoices.
3. Select the responsible attorney Client/Matter/Sub matter range for the invoices to be posted.
4. Enter an allowable invoice number range and select the output destination for the posted invoices.
5. Print the Posted invoices.
*Note: This portion of the program should never be used to reprint invoices. You should access the Reprint Invoices view instead.
Once you have completed the invoices you may move onto the next step in the billing process, End of Month file clearing procedures. These procedures should be completed at the end of every month.
Invoice Listing
Reprinting Invoices
Invoice Listing
The Invoice Listing screen comes in handy when you are unable to recall whether or not an invoice has been printed or may act as a ready referenct to identify each invoice for reprinting purposes.To create an invoice listing
1. Select the range of invoice numbers or the exact invoice number which you are looking for if you know the number.
2. Enter the Client/Matter/Sub Matter issue range that you believe is included on the invoice(s) in question. If you know the specific Client/Matter/Sub Matter issue you are looking for you may enter a range of the same starting and ending Client/Matter/Sub Matter issue.
3. Enter the Dates which the invoice would have been processed during.
4. Enter the output order and printing destination for the invoice listing.
*Note: Printing to the screen may be very useful if you are looking at a large range of invoice numbers and may want to reduce the number of listings before printing to the printer.
Reprinting Invoices
Occassionally multiple copies of invoices will be needed in the event that record keeping practices or clients demand additional copies.To Reprint an invoice
1. Access the Reprint invoices view from the billing menu.
2. Select the desired output orders for the report.
3. Enter "Y" or "N" to display the related responsible Attorney to the invoice.
4. Enter the invoice number or range of invoice numbers to be reprinted. Leaving this field blank will reprint all invoices. If you do not know the number(s) you are looking for you should refer to an Invoice listing.
5. Click on the print button to reprint the invoice.
*Note: If you have already completed End of Month procedures and have set this matter to ARCHIVE "N", then you will not be able to archive or reprint the invoice.
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Run Reports
Archive Statements
Write-Ups / Write-Down
Archive Statements
This screen is similar to the Reprint Invoices screen and will not be available if you have set the archive option for the selected Matter to "N". The Archive Statements view will allow you to select a detailed list of all work that has ever been completed for a client so long as the related Client/Matter/Sub Matter invoice has been set to archive "Y". Although you may archive all invoices for all client matters and in this way maintain a record of all work ever completed for any client, this is not recommended as it takes up a great deal of memory over time. Keep in mind the larger the number of items archived, the longer it will take to generate this report.To Archive Statements.
1.Enter any comments you wish to appear on the top or bottom of the archived statements.
2.Enter the range of Matters you wish to archive.
3. Enter the range of Clients you wish to archive.
4. Enter the responsible Attorney for the Client/Matter.
5. Select Y or N to display the attorney information on the Archived report.
6. Select the most appropriate out put order for your needs and select the report output destination.
7. Click on the Print button to process the Archive Statements report.
Write-Ups / Write-Downs
The Write Ups/Write Downs view allows you to modify transactions that have had WU/WD adjustments made due to a courtesy or bookeeping error issue. You may only create WU/WD entries for transactions that have been selected but not billed. You may WU/WD Time, Cost and Service entries.To enter a Write Up /Write Down transaction
1. Enter the Date of the WU/WD if you wish it to be different than today
2. Enter the Client/Matter/Sub Matter issue
3. Enter the related person code ( for time and billing purposes)
4. Enter a plus or minus in the WU/WD field
5. Enter the amount of the WU/WD for time this is hours, for costs and services it is dollars.
6. Save the entry by clicking the Save button. At this point you may be asked if you want to show the values on an invoice. If you wish to, enter yes.
7. The new balances will be reflected.
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Fields in the Billing Cycle View
| Field | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Comment Top | 400 | Comment listed at top of Pre-bill if entered |
| Comment Bottom | 400 | Comment listed at bottom of Pre-bill if entered. |
| Client/Matter/Sub Matter From | 6/6/2 | Beginning Client/Matter/Sub Matter issue |
| Client/Matter/Sub Matter To | 6/6/2 | Ending Client/Matter/Sub Matter issue |
| Cut off Date | Standard Date | Indicates the date transactions will no longer be selected after if they exist in the system. |
| Responsible Atty | 4 | Code representing the name of the responsible Atty for the case. |
| Display Resp Atty | 1 | Y or N to display the responsible Atty name. |
| Select Case Type | 1 | Allows you to invoice Active or Inactive cases. |
| Type of Law | 5 | Indicates the type of law which the Client/Matter deals with if selected. |
| Field | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Comment Top | 400 | Comment listed at top of Pre-bill if entered |
| Comment Bottom | 400 | Comment listed at bottom of Pre-bill if entered. |
| Client/Matter/Sub Matter From | 6/6/2 | Beginning Client/Matter/Sub Matter issue |
| Client/Matter/Sub Matter To | 6/6/2 | Ending Client/Matter/Sub Matter issue |
| Cut off Date | Standard Date | Indicates the date transactions will no longer be selected after if they exist in the system. |
| Responsible Atty | 4 | Code representing the name of the responsible Atty for the case. |
| Display Resp Atty | 1 | Y or N to display the responsible Atty name. |
| Select Case Type | 1 | Allows you to invoice Active or Inactive cases. |
| Type of Law | 5 | Indicates the type of law which the Client/Matter deals with if selected. |
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