Abacus Consulting, LLC

LexisNexis has released the latest version of its award winning practice management solution, Time Matters/Billing Matters.  This new version includes over 30 enhancements designed to supercharge the productivity of your law or professional firm.

As with past releases, they are offering Early Bird upgrade pricing...up to 50% off full price through September 30th, 2006.  Even if you do not plan to deploy immediately, the most inexpensive time to purchase your upgrade is in the month of September.

For the first time, great discounts are also being offered to move from the Professional Edition to the Enterprise Edition, so make sure you check the website for more information.

Complete pricing details are available at http://www.lexisnexis.com/v8

Some of our favorite new features include Auto-Emailing of invoices, The new Client Ledger report, Customizable Lookup Lists, Emailing and Converting documents to PDFs automatically, TMSave from Adobe Acrobat Reader and numerous Outlook Integration enhancements.  These are just a few of many great new features that are sure to speed up information management, and reduce costs.

Upgrading to 8.0 is painless and safe.  Version 8.0 can co-exist with 7.0 or earlier versions so that it can be tested prior to deployment. Converting data from prior versions leaves the original data untouched in the original folders.

The list below outlines the major new features in Time Matters and Billing Matters.  What it does not mention is that Billing Matters Plus is now part of Billing Matters, and is included in the price of Billing Matters.  This is a boon for those who have been considering an upgrade to include Billing Matters Plus.

Although the major new features are outlined below, we encourage you to visit the Time Matters website to view the most complete feature list, as well as product screenshots and videos.  New information is being added daily, so please check in on a regular basis.  Now, on to the major new features.  Stay tuned to our site, or subscribe to our newsletter, as we will have some in-depth looks at What's New with Time Matters 8.0 coming your way soon.

Auto-Email Invoices

Invoices can now be emailed, making your billing distribution process effortless and efficient.  Simply enter email contact information for your client and Billing Matters will automatically distribute bills electronically.

Automatic Updates

New Automatic update options insure that your Time Matters and Billing Matters programs are always on the latest service releases.

AutoTXT Speeds Common Functions

Save Keystrokes and set standards with new AutoTXT functionality. Insert words or complete paragraphs with a few keystrokes using the new AutoTXT functionality available from all Time Matters records. Ensure standard wording and minimize typing errors on firm records, invoices and documents by implementing Program Level AutoTXT codes for the most commonly used document text and firm activities.

Bill Design Options

New options have been added to give you greater flexibility in designing your bills. Fields for "Charges Through" and "Bill to Name/Ref" have been added to "This Bill" pool in the Bill Layout designer.

Billing Data Security

Billing Matters now includes Program level settings that prevent casual deletion of critical billing information.  Set restrictions to prevent deletion of previously used Bill Codes and General Ledger Accounts to insure data integrity.  Additionally, restrict users from changing the Accounting method from a Cash to Accrual basis.  Insure all required data is entered with new Program level settings that require Staff and Bill Code entry on all billing items if your firm uses the Staff or Bill Code Receipt Allocation method.

Billing Power Views

Billing Power Views let you see client related billing activity including billed and unbilled time and expense entries from the Contact or Matter list.   Billing Power Views honor all security settings to prevent staff from seeing records for which they don't have rights.

Billing Reports

Billing Matters provides an extensive selection of billing reports to help you manage your billing information.  A new Client Ledger report can show allocations by fees, expenses, interest and tax, giving you transparent client data at your fingertips.  A Billing History report, aka History bill, commonly required by the courts can be generated at a moments notice.  The Account Register report with running balances lets you see daily totals to help with the reconciliation process.

Billing Setup Wizards

New Billing Wizards make Billing Matters setup straight forward.  A Billing Setup wizard walks you through the basic information needed for you to start billing.  Billing Preference wizards help you walk through individual client billing setup for each new client.

Calendar Conflict Notification

New calendaring conflict functionality allows you to run conflict checks on repeating events, select to view details of conflicting calendar entries for individual staff and display conflicting record information.

CaseMap Integration

Send matter, contact and other record information over to LexisNexis CaseMap to help organize case data.

Custom Client/Contact Numbers

Organize your firms data with Contact/Client Numbers. Time Matters 8.0 allows you to assign both unique client and matter numbers for easy reporting and organization of your contacts and cases. Produce reports and filter records grouped by client or matter.  Client numbering can be masked using a variety of automated formats to relate contacts and matters.

Custom Printer Assignments

Let your printer do the thinking!  Save the time you would’ve spent loading and reloading paper trays by assigning Microsoft® Windows® printer trays to make document, invoice and check generation effortless.

Customizable Lookup Lists

Customize lookup lists for Time Matters and Billing Matters records to make searching easy!  Set columns and information to your preferences making data mining simple.

Customizable Pre-Bill Layouts

Customized pre-bill layouts display exactly the data your staff needs to review and approve invoices.  Choose the billing and client information most relevant for your firm's billing process.

Email Documents as a PDFs

While it has always been easy to email a document stored in Time Matters, it is now just as easy to convert that document to a PDF before sending it. Because most legal documents are emailed in PDF format, this is a significant time savings for Time Matters users.

Enhanced Outlook Integration

Flexible Print Options

Let your printer do the thinking!  Save the time you would’ve spent loading and reloading paper trays by assigning Microsoft® Windows® printer trays.  Dedicate one printer or drawer for labels, one for letterhead and one for invoices – never changing paper between printing runs again.

Custom printer assignments can be used on reports, labels, envelopes, bills, pre-bills, statements and checks. A great example is if the first page of your bills require letterhead, while the remaining pages can be on plain stock paper.

Inactive Staff and Classification Code options

Now you can set former employees' staff codes as inactive in Time Matters to eliminate long drop down lists yet maintain vital historical data.  Classification codes can also be set to inactive status to eliminate and clean up firm classification options.

Net Documents Integration

PDA & Smartphone Integration

Take Mobility to the next level with the latest PDA & Smartphone technology. Time Matters offers synchronization support for Windows Smartphone and Windows Mobile 5 devices. Synchronize your contacts, calendar and more from your PDA and mobile devices directly to Time Matters. Synchronization support is also available for devices using Blackberry Handheld Devices and PDAs using Palm Operating systems.

New Power View functionality includes the ability to search from Power Views as well as insert clipboard data into Power Views.

Powerful Integrations

Integrate with critical applications that help you manage your practice. Time Matters 8.0 further expands integration capability with support for Shepard’s CheckCite, CaseMap, Firefox, Worldox, iManage, DocsOpen, Adobe Acrobat Reader and more. Additionally, Time Matters 8.0 includes an even tighter integration with Microsoft Applications including Outlook, which prompts users to save emails and attachments. Calendar appointments and tasks created in Microsoft Outlook can synchronize to case and contact records in Time Matters, ensuring all case information is saved.  Users can now effortlessly create PDF documents from Time Matters’ Document list and Lexis research and subsequently email these documents as PDFs.  New integration with Adobe Acrobat reader lets you save PDF files to Time Matters as a documents from a new TM Save toolbar.  Enhanced Windows integration allows you to send documents to Time Matters instantly using a new right click option.

Recurring payables can now be set up once to automatically be generated on a scheduled basis. This can reduce the time and energy you spend paying your recurring flat-rate bills and let you focus your attention on more valuable tasks.

Recycle Bin Enhancements

The recycle bin can now be sorted and emptied by date or record type.  Additionally, users can tag records and delete or restore from the process menu.

Save Invoices as Documents

A single click now allows you to save invoices as documents associated with a Client or Matter.

Scanning Default Settings

Now users can set default file types for scanned documents to meet their personal preferences.

Strong Password Support & Security Enhancements

Time Matters 8.0 includes strong password support to enhance your firms security.  Password formats can be set to require alphanumeric characters and specific lengths.  Program level settings allow you to lock users out after 5 incorrect attempts.  Additionally, an Administrative security setting has been added that allows an administrator to lock users out during maintenance and prevents others from changing security settings.

TM Toolbar for FireFox and Acrobat

TM Save & TM Open functions are now available for both the Firefox web browser and Adobe Acrobat Reader. Save your web research directly from Firefox to Time Matters or send a PDF from both Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader to Time Matters.

Trust Accounting Enhancements

Worry free trust account management includes Matter to Matter fund transfer and negative trust balance compliance.

Windows Right-Click send to Time Matters

Now right-clicking on any document on a Windows PC will present a menu option to send that document to Time Matters. This new and easy connection is one more way to save time and energy while managing your practice.