The 7 Second Blog

Just back from this year’s Time Matters and PCLaw conference. My thoughts summed up. There are indicators that the future will bring some innovation and some updates and fixes to the applications. These are needed and a positive sign in the market.

The Time Matters exchange synchronization will support Exchange 2010 in the near future. It has been re-written. Let’s hope they have improved the logging of the application and deal with meeting requests in an affective manner. We all know meeting requests and the current Time Matters Exchange synchronization do not mix. If you are using them….read my previous blogs.

The PCLaw to Time Matters link is undergoing a re-fresh. In the future we will see an expanded and a reasoned approach. Sorry…nothing to add or change to it today, although with the release of PCLaw 11 the link now runs as a service and is not a process.

Once we have the products in hand..more will come.

If you have not upgraded to Time Matters 11 or PCLaw 11 or you have to renew your AMP in the near future, contact me and we can work on them together. Lexis has given consultants some incentive to assist in the upgrades and AMP that will benefit customers.

We all know the love hate relationship that we have with the Time Matters – PCLaw link. Let’s just start with what we all know…if you are on an old version of Time Matters or PClaw (pre-version 9), I recommend that you upgrade. If that is not your cup of tea…contact us and we can discuss some of the issues that you need to understand.

Time Matters has fixed one huge issue with time entry. The description field in Time Matters was limited to 100 characters. Why was that a big deal? It made the Worksheet useless if your are verbose…and for those of you using it before the SR for 9… be careful.  Now we can enter long descriptions in Time Matters and send those to PCLaw.

Wait there is more!!!

They have updated the PCLaw worksheet to allow easier time entry and they have made it even easier to post that time to PCLaw. It acts similar to the Amicus to PCLaw link of years ago with some extra features. Users will like it. This feature alone may be worth the upgrade and adding AMP. 

Enter your time on the worksheet and watch the Matter summary information update. You can see the AR, the WIP etc for that matter in real time from PCLaw. (Note this does not include any time that has not been posted. ) When you are ready….post the time to PCLaw from the worksheet. You can also make time entries in other places in Time Matters and they show up in the worksheet….so capture the billing for all of those emails. Check out the demo video:

The first hurdle in implementing Time Matters is proper matter naming. It may sound odd that I call it a hurdle but…it is. Although I have been a Time Matters consultant for years, I always start with the fundamentals.

Fundamental #1
You need to name your matters in a consistent manner preferable as;

Last Name, First Name – Descriptive Language
Company Name (or short form) – Descriptive Language

This way, you can open your Matter list and begin to type. QuickPic will take you directly to the proper matter immediately. 

This may sound simple, but what if you are a long time PCLaw user and are adding Time Matters into the mix. You set up the link and bring over the matters into Time Matters. Be default, the MatterRef will be the Re line in PCLaw. Most firms will now have lists of : incorporation, Will, ats …   etc… this causes an issue in Time Matters that you have to address.  You can rename the matters which will write back to PCLaw, or you can unmatch the MatterRef field and rename the matters.  This is key to beginning your Time Matters implementation.

Some other best practices:

• Use Matter and Client numbering. It just keeps things simple. You can use the Matter number for many things including auto-naming in the Document Management System
• Staff on the matter, you can use all of the staff that work on the matter. This way, everyone can have a concise list of the matters they are working on. (If you are using the PCLaw link, be careful as the staff field is linked to the Responsible Attorney in PCLaw. I suggest that you un-match this)
• In Contacts – enter the RefName as you would refer to the person in a letter. Example . Matt Stone, Esq or Matt D. Stone, or Mr. Matt Stone
• Always use the last name field. I suggest you make it required. If it is a company contact, enter the company name in the last name field
• Leave the default form fields alone, especially in contacts. Leave the phone numbers and email field where they are.
• On an event, only assign it to the person that will attend that event. Multiple staff create multiple records
• Save Email attachments outside of the database

There is a list to get you started… Strong fundamentals leads to long term success in Time Matters

Having a healthy client base in Ontario and Toronto, I deal with the Time Matters PCLaw link on a daily basis. I was exposed to PCLaw for the first time in 1995, Time Matters 1999. The first good sized firm that I linked was in 2002..there was 30-40 users. That was tough…there was many things we had to monitor and keep straight. When I was contacted by management at Lexis (well before PCLaw was acquired) to discuss the acquisition and the potential value statement to the end user….I worked hard to stress how important the link was and would become. My words were wasted.

Today…it is a different story. The link was been re-worked, re-thought out and changed over time. With the release of version 10 of both Time Matters and PCLaw, I can say that I may start promoting time entry in Time Matters to be sent to PCLaw. Wait I am getting ahead of myself.

Do the progams link?

The link has a lot of history. Today, the philosophy is that the link is real time. This means the second a change is saved in one application it is sent to the other. This is great, but can be troublesome. See below.  There is no need to manually run a synchronization between the programs. We used to do this in Time Matters (File Synchronize).

Yes they link – it is a real time link

What is the scope of that link?

Contacts and Matters flow both ways between the programs
Billing entries can go from Time Matters to PCLaw (but changes do not come back)
PCLaw reports can be viewed in Time Matters

What does this mean?

You do not have to open a matter two times.  BUT you do have to enter the appropriate information in each application for it to function properly.  PCLaw needs to know the billing details, rates, bill templates, Responsible lawyer etc.. Time Matters needs to know the proper MatterRef, the staff working on the matter and the related records – People on the Matter, key dates etc..  This detail is not shared between the programs so you have to complete the matter opening in each application.

IF you are on the latest release of Time Matters 9 (SR-3b) you can send time from Time Matters to PCLaw. If you are on a previos version, I do not recommend entering time in Time Matters especially through the timesheet.

You can view various PCLaw reports from Time Matters. An example you can open a matter in Time Matters, click the billing tab and run a time listing report for that matter. This is necessary as any edits to billing entries made in PCLaw do not make their way back to Time Matters. The billing list in Time Matters may not be accurate.  These are watered down PCLaw reports as you do not have access to any of the options.

So there is a link – now what?

You have to take a look at your data and decide the best approach to the link. I will go into this in more depth in another post.   But you should look at :

• Are there matters in Time Matters
• Are there matters in PCLaw
• Have you been prudent in closing matters in PCLaw?
• Do you use client addresses or billing addresses or both?
• Do you have duplicate clients in PCLaw?
• What is your re:line? Is that an appropriate MatterRef in Time Matters

I understand my data, now what?

Now you have to configure then activate the link.  I will go into greater depth in another post but for now:

1. Do NOT accept the shipping defaults for the link matching. Review each tab and template carefully.
2. Make sure PCLaw and Time Matters is installed on every workstation that uses either program.  If you have a billing person that does not use Time Matters, but opens matters in PCLaw…they need Time Matters on their desktop (and a log on) so the link can open the matter in Time Matters.

Hopefully this is a start. This is an expansive area with many things to consider. More posts to come…