In many firms, time is written in one place, copied to another for the invoice and checked again when a client asks a question. Each copy takes time and can differ from the others.
This article describes how to connect time capture to invoicing so that information is entered once. Our article on billing and collection covers what the studies say.
The problem
Time that is typed twice is time spent on administration, and the two versions can disagree. Time that is never captured is never billed.
When the invoice and the time record do not match, a conversation with the client becomes hard.
What is known
We cite no new figure here. Our article on billed work and collection reports the published figures and explains why they should not be compared with one another.
What is certain is how the flow works: time is captured, reviewed, turned into invoice lines, approved, sent and then followed through to payment. A connection can carry data between the steps, but a person decides what is billed.
What to do
- Capture time once, close to when the work happens, in the tool the team already opens every day
- Use the same matter and task names in the time tool and in the billing tool
- Connect the two so that approved time becomes invoice lines without retyping
- Keep a person's review between the time entries and the invoice, and let attorneys edit narratives before they go out
- Record payments against the same invoice, and show the balance in the matter
- Send reminders for unpaid invoices from one place, with a person approving the wording
- Keep money held for clients in a separate process, decided with your attorney and accountant, and do not connect it until that process is clear
When not to connect them yet
- Matters and tasks are named differently in each tool, so entries would not line up
- Nobody reviews time before it reaches an invoice
- The fee arrangements are not written down
- The billing tool cannot be exported or corrected without losing history
- The process for money held for clients is not settled
What to look for when you implement it
- Whether entries edited after approval are recorded, and who changed them
- Whether the connection handles corrections and credits
- Whether the invoice matches the time record line by line
- Whether the billing tool can be exported if the firm changes
- Whether all the firm's fee arrangements, such as hourly and flat fees, are supported
- Test with a sample matter and sample entries before any real invoice