Printing Summary Sheet for Multiple Matters

SOLVED

Hello, 

We have been using TimeSlips 10 for years. Historically, we've printed separate invoices for each client matter and then have created a summary sheet in Excel, showing the total amount of new charges, previous balance, payments, and balance due for all of the client's matters. Obviously, this is time consuming and allows for user error when manually entering the data. 

I've been trying to figure out how to get TimeSlips to do this work for us. Is there a way to print a summary invoice or cover sheet for multiple matters? 

I think part of the issue is the way we enter our client/matters into TS. We enter each matter in as a new "name" or "client" (with the first matter as the "master client"). It seems to me that entering the matters as a "reference" may have been preferable.

Any thoughts? 

  • 0
    verified answer

    No, you don't need references, but you have been working too hard with that EXCEL spreadsheet.

    You will need to read the help file about a concept known as Client.Project.  It is a naming scheme that allows to to relate various individual clients to one another.  You create one Master Client named (for example purposes) AKS.  You typically do not bill this account, although you can.  Some users will bill that account for any sort of general representation work.  Then, each separate matter is named AKS.Matter1, AKS.Matter2, AKS.Matter3, etc.

    There are two key ideas here, the prefix is always the same for all of the matters (here AKS), that is followed by a special character (by default it is a period (.) but you can change that in the General Settings). You can then follow that with anything you like, so AKS.Jones, or AKS.239856, or AKS.14-67843 are all acceptable ways of naming the individual matters.

    Now, to get the Consolidated Bill Summary that you seek you need to assign a bill layout that has such a section included in it and you have to run all of the bills for AKS in a single run (otherwise it cannot calculate the Consolidated Bill Summary).

    This should be enough to get you started.  Again, the Help file is pretty good on this.  

    If you want to seriously get into this, you might find it helpful to spend and hour with a consultant to go over the details and nuances.

    Hope this helps.  

    If you think this suggestion was especially helpful, please consider rating it within the five star option, or clicking the green Yes button next to the "Did this answer your question?" option below.  Thanks.

    Nancy Duhon, Esq.

    Master Certified Consultant for Timeslips,Certified Consultant for Amicus Attorney and Credenza

    Duhon Technology Solutions, LLC

    a member of Certified Resources Network, LLC

    [email protected]

    404-325-9779

    Providing personalized local and remote online support for Timeslips users for over 20 years. Available for private consultations, including older/unsupported versions.

  • 0 in reply to Nancy Duhon

    Dear Nancy,

    Your response to my question regarding consolidated billing was very helpful! This will save our billing assistant A LOT of time! One more question: when using Client.Project formation to create a consolidated summary bill, how can I get my projects to print in order?

    We name our matters as Client.MatterName for Nickname 1 and Client#.Matter# as Nickname 2. For example,

    First matter:

    Nickname 1: Test.Matter1

    Nickname 2: 9990-9991

    Second matter:

    Nickname 1: Test.Matter2

    Nickname 2: 9990-9992

    However, when I set these up to print with a consolidated bill summary, they print in the following order:

    Summary Sheet

    Matter2

    Matter1

    Project Billing Summary

    Of course, we want our matters to print in matter # order.

    Thank you!