It’s common to want to compare report information, but not all reports in Tabs3 can be compared. A field on one report may be calculated one way, while on another report it is calculated another way. For example, on one report payments may be calculated based on transaction date, while on another report they are calculated by allocation date. So how do you know which reports can be compared?
Knowledge Base Article R11161, “Comparing Tabs3 Report Information,” provides guidelines for comparing the information provided on certain Tabs3 reports to the information on other related reports. Additionally, information about billing figures, archive data, and reports that cannot be directly compared is provided.
Our Knowledge Base can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at support.Tabs3.com. You can also access our Knowledge Base while in the software by selecting Help | Internet Resources | Knowledge Base.
Occasionally, transactions may accidentally be entered for the wrong client. If there are only a couple, it’s easy to just delete them and reenter them for the correct client. However, when there are many transactions, what can you do? Use the Transfer A/R and Transactions utility in Tabs3!
The Transfer Transactions program can be used to transfer unbilled fees, costs, and/or payments between clients. When selecting to transfer fees, costs, and/or payments, you can select a range of transactions based on tcode, timekeeper, category, date, and/or reference number. This can help make sure that you are only transferring the transactions that you want to transfer.
Additionally, if a time comes when you want to transfer one client’s full accounts receivable balance, ledger, archived transactions, and client funds to another client, the Transfer A/R and Transactions utility can also be used. This function will transfer ALL of the client’s ledger records and billing history to another client. It is not possible to only transfer a client’s current A/R without also transferring everything else.
Note: When using the Transfer A/R and Transactions utility, keep in mind that once the transfer has been performed, the only way to undo it is by restoring from a backup.
To transfer transactions between clients
Keep this utility in mind the next time transactions need to be transferred from one client to another client. It can save you significant time.
A WorkFlow can be configured to edit a field provided there is a consistent character (or set of characters) indicating where the fee’s description begins. For our example, we will use “***” as an indicator. With a WorkFlow set up to automatically edit the description field of a new fee, the journal record will retain the original text, but only the text after “***” will be included in the fee. Additionally, if an attorney wants an entire journal record’s description included, they simply have to omit the character (or set of characters) from the description.
For example, let’s say a journal record that you will convert to a fee includes the text “could not find precedence.” You don’t want your client to see this on their bill. With this WorkFlow, you could change the description to “could not find precedence *** Research,” and when the WorkFlow runs, “Research” is all that will be included in the Fee Description.
To set up a WorkFlow that automatically trims the Description field
Note: This WorkFlow will run for any new fee entry provided that, in this example, there is *** present.
Note: In order for this WorkFlow to run properly, Description Field must be specified as the Default Description for Convert to Fee Settings (Maintenance | Preferences | Convert to Fee Settings).
Note: Before saving the Fee, the additional text will still be shown. The additional text is only removed after the save has been completed.
Alternative Methods: As an alternative, you can use the statement comments attribute in the Journal record for text you don’t want printed on a statement. Using statement comments suppresses the text from printing on a final statement, but displays in red in the Journal and Fee records. Additionally, in draft statements and reports, statement comments will be shown with a strikethrough character (e.g., could not find precedence). To use statement comments, select the desired text, right-click in the Description or Comment field of the journal record, and then select Statement Comment.
Another option to prevent text in the Journal record from being included in the fee description is to specify a different Default Description such as Tcode/Activity Code Description in the Convert to Fee Settings (Maintenance | Preferences | Convert to Fee Settings). This option uses the selected Tcode’s default description for the fee instead of the text from the Journal record.
For more information on WorkFlows, refer to our new PracticeMaster WorkFlows Guide at Tabs3.com/support/docs.html or Knowledge Base Article R11307, “All About WorkFlows.”
Did you know that you can convert calendar, e-mail, note, phone, research, timer, and document records into fees? This allows you to easily bill your client for the time spent on their matter.
The Converting Records to Billable Fees video shows you how to convert records to fees via the Matter Manager, Calendar and Journal file, and the Process Timer Records utility. Additionally, this video walks you through the Convert to Fee Settings, which allow you to specify default settings to be used (e.g., Tcode, Minimum Time to Bill, etc.) for each type of record.
Watch this eight-minute video here:
Training Videos can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at Tabs3.com/videos. You can also access Training Videos while in the software by selecting Help | Documentation and then clicking the See also link for Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Training Videos.