Tag Archives: Billing

Lesson #133

Setup – System Preferences function

Billing System Preferences

Choose an invoice template based on your company’s payment options, and set other billing options.

Invoice

Before invoicing clients set a start number and an invoice-posting alert, choose your default invoice template plus other invoice options, and customize the email that accompanies invoices. These choices are system-wide.

If starting MR or when you want to reset your invoice numbering system from now on, you can designate the next invoice number MR will use when it creates a new invoice.

You can also choose to have MR pop up an alert when posting an invoice if no Pay Rate is selected or the Pay Amount is 0. With this turned on you get a reminder to ensure that resources get paid for invoiced work if you overlooked it when creating the invoice.

Invoice templates to select from:

• Standard MR invoice with a remittance section at the bottom of the invoice
• Invoice without a remittance section
• Invoice with a credit card payment section that accepts American Express, MasterCard, and Visa
• Invoice that accepts only MasterCard and Visa

Other options you can set include:

• Have the word “Certified” appear before copy in invoice headers if you certify transcript copies.
• Give your clients job location information on invoices when the job location is included in your MR database.
• Have a red “PAST DUE” stamp printed on unpaid invoices that are older than your payment terms. (Set up payment terms in Lists.)
• Have MR automatically include both the client firm’s main phone number & fax number (if they have one) below the address on printed invoices.

Customize invoice email template

If you email clients their invoices, you can customize the email that accompanies invoices. Similarly to job calendar cancellations and notifications, you can change the default text in the Subject and Message fields and insert contextual data fields so that real data from MR related to the job, case, and invoice merge into the email automatically.

If you have MR Connect, you can insert a pay invoice data field into the Email Message that converts into a hyperlink in the email, which when clicked, automatically sends the user to MR Connect. After the user logs in, the related invoice screen appears for a convenient payment process.

You can also customize the appearance of the body of the emails with text formatting, colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables. You can edit your email contents in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.

The invoice itself will attach to the email as a PDF. And you can override the defaults set here in any invoice emails sent from MR.

LEDES 1998B

If you have clients that request electronic billing in LEDES 1998B format, MR9 exports invoices as text files. But if your clients require a different file type from TXT, you can change the default file extension to meet their specifications.

You can also set an option to exclude billed $0 amount service items in exported files, so electronic bills only include services that had billable charges.

NOTE: Export Invoices is an MR9-only function. It is not included in MR Lite.

Reward Points

If you want to offer clients an incentive program that awards points for services they order from your company (and your state allows it), turn on MR9’s Reward Points System. Then set the options for how your system generates and redeems points.

• Choose whether clients accumulate points for original invoices only or all orders.
• Set the default dollar amount billed on invoices that earns a point, e.g., every $100 billed earns 1 point.
• Select whether invoiced amounts will be rounded up, down, or split (amounts ending in 1–4 are rounded down, amounts ending in 5–9 are rounded up).
• Specify the multiplier MR9 will use to convert points to dollars when clients redeem points. You don’t have to use whole numbers, — you can use up to 2 decimal places — and the amount can be less than one.

After setting up your reward point options in System Preferences, you then designate which services earn points and set up individual contacts to earn points for bookings with your company. You can designate different and/or multiple contacts at the same firm to earn points for a contact’s bookings, and boost a contact’s points-earning ability by automatically doubling or otherwise multiplying their points. If you have MR Connect, you can allow contacts to request point redemptions online.

NOTE: Reward Points is an MR9-only function. It is not included in MR Lite.

TL;DR: Customize your invoices. Optionally, set up electronic billing and a booking reward system like a frequent flyer program.

MR concepts in this lesson

Reward Points: Used to encourage clients to book with your agency by rewarding them with points for different services. (Also referred to as award points.)

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with, such as attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, and legal assistants.

MR Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources.

Lesson #36

Billing – Export Invoices function

If you have clients that require LEDES-compliant electronic billing, first set up your MR9 LEDES preferences for service items and invoices. Then enter your clients’ codes — such as their Client Matter No. and Client ID — on the case party, job party, or invoice level. When you generate invoices for the related jobs, they will have the proper UTBMS codes and you can export them in LEDES 98B format, which is the most commonly used LEDES format, and email the text file to the client.

After posting invoices, search for a particular firm’s invoices in Export Invoices. The default is invoices generated yesterday but you can choose any date range. You can also search for a firm’s invoices by post date instead of invoice date. Restrict your search results further by filtering for a single case and/or your company’s business units.

Invoices in the results gird display their information in all of the search categories plus:

• Invoice number
• Invoice amount
• Bill To contacts and firms (clients)
• Sold To clients
• Job number
• Job date

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, MR will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

You can view any individual invoice’s details, edit some of its information, upload/download/email/manage its repository files, and make notes in its Notes Log.

Export any or all invoices listed in Export Invoices results in LEDES 1998B format to your device as a .txt file, which you can then validate and email to your client from your device.

NOTE: This is an MR9-only function. It is not included in MR Lite.

TL;DR: Export invoices in LEDES 98B format for clients who require electronic billing that complies with LEDES standards.

MR concepts in this lesson

Bill To Contact/Firm: The contact/firm responsible for paying the invoice for a job.

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources, such as realtime, videoconferencing, or read & sign. More >

Notes Logs: Un-editable internal-use only notes entered either by a user or automatically by MR appear in chronological logs in the database record where they occurred — such as a case, job, invoice, or entity.

Service items: Regular charges that you bill to your clients. Service items are listed on your invoices to provide itemized details for your clients and third-party payers. In-house, they provide information to help you analyze your revenue streams.

Sold To Contact/Firm: Contact/Firm that ordered the services on the invoice.

Lesson #35

Billing – Transfer Invoice function

Transfer invoices between clients when there has been a mistake in addressing the invoice to a client, instead of voiding and re-billing.

Find the invoice you want to transfer to another client by its invoice number, date, job number, case, and/or your company’s business unit(s).

Invoices in the results gird display their information in all of the search categories plus:

• Invoice amount
• Balance
• Post date
• Sent date
• Bill To and Sold To clients
• Job date
• Void date

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, MR will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Transfer options

You have several options for transferring invoices. You can change the:

• Firm responsible for paying the invoice (Bill To firm)
• Contact responsible for paying the invoice (Bill To contact)
• Firm which ordered the services billed on the invoice (Sold To firm)
• Contact who ordered the services billed on the invoice (Sold To contact)

You can transfer a posted invoice even if it has already been paid.

TL;DR: If you billed the wrong client, transfer the invoice to the correct client, instead of voiding the invoice and re-billing.

MR concepts in this lesson

Bill To Contact: The person responsible for paying the invoice for a job. This contact could be the same as the Sold To Contact, but also could be a different person at the same firm or a person at a third-party firm that is paying the invoice, such as an insurance agency.

Bill To Firm: The firm responsible for paying the invoice for a job. This firm could be the same as the Sold To Firm, but also could be a third-party firm, such as an insurance agency.

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >

Sold To Contact: Usually the person who ordered a job.

Sold To Firm: Usually the firm that ordered a job.

Lesson #34

Billing – Send Invoices function

After posting invoices to your MR ledger, send clients copies of their invoices and archive the invoices in the central repository.

You can access the Send Invoices function either directly from the main menu or when posting invoices. When you post invoices, MR gives you the choice to send/archive the invoices at the same time which automatically opens the Send Invoices window with the posted invoice(s) in the results pane.

In Send Invoices, you have a lot of options for finding posted invoices and then more options for what you want to do with them. You can find the invoice(s) for a single job, or use other search filters to find invoices for a date/date range, a case, a Bill To firm, one or more invoice types, and/or one or more business units in your company.

Invoices in the results gird display their information in all of the search categories plus invoice amount, balance, date sent and method used to send the invoice, Bill To Contacts and Sold To clients, and void date. You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, MR will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

You can preview original and current versions of posted invoices with service items details visible or not. Then email either version to ordering clients or print them to send via traditional delivery methods. You do not have to choose which method to use for each client here. Contacts’ preferred method of receiving invoices — email, print, or none — is stored in their MR database entry. The Send Invoices function will automatically send invoices via each contacts’ preferred method, but you can override it for individual invoices when sending.

Emailing invoices

If you send invoices from MR9 via email and you have MR Connect, you can automatically include a Pay Invoice link in the invoice emails so when your clients click the link they will go directly to the invoice in their MR Connect office to pay the invoice.

When emailing invoices you can attach files from your desktop or your MR Witness-level Repository.

If you email invoices, MR9 records the emails sent in the Email Log function in Tools, so you can refer back to them later. It also makes an entry that includes the receiver’s email address in the Notes Log of the invoices.

You can also archive original invoices to the Invoice-level repository here. With all options — send, print, or archive — you can select any or all invoices to process at the same time.

TL;DR: Send clients copies of their original or current posted invoices and archive the invoices in the central repository.

MR concepts in this lesson

Bill To Firm: The firm responsible for paying the invoice for a job.

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

Notes Logs: Un-editable internal-use only notes entered either by a user or automatically by MR appear in chronological logs in the database record where they occurred, such as a case, job, invoice, or entity. More >

MR Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >

Service items: Regular charges that you bill to your clients.

Sold To Contact/Firm: Contact/Firm that ordered the services on the invoice.

Lesson #33

Billing – COD Invoices function

Cash on Delivery (COD) invoices require the Bill To Firm to pay the invoice when presented — instead of having a grace period before the invoice is due. COD invoices are not included in sales so MR does not allow them to be posted or archived to the central repository. CODs are handled differently than sales to avoid overstating revenue and to minimize the number of voids that would occur to clear uncollectible CODs from your accounts receivable.

You designate an invoice as COD when generating it in Turn In. If you have designated a firm as a COD client in the firm’s listing, their invoices will automatically be COD unless you turn off the COD designation in their invoices manually.

MR handles COD invoices separately

If after calculating an invoice in Turn In the Post Invoices button is grayed out, the invoice is a COD invoice. Use the COD Invoices function to manage and send these COD invoices.

Because COD invoices are different from regular invoices and cannot be posted until paid, they are not included in Send Invoices or Invoice Inquiry searches. To find COD invoices use the COD Invoices function.

In the COD Invoices main window you can find all COD invoices at once — or restrict your results to a particular date range, case, Bill To Firm, job number, or selected business unit(s). You can also look up individual COD invoices.

Invoices in the results gird display their information in all of the search categories — plus invoice amount, when sent, Bill To Contacts and Sold To clients, and job date. You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function MR will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

From this list you can edit, calculate, preview, email, and print individual COD invoices.

Manage COD invoices

You can use this function in combination with other functions for applying payments, purging invoices, and sharing associated files online:

• When you receive a payment for a COD invoice, use this function to remove the invoice’s COD flag and post the invoice. Then apply the payment in Receivables. COD invoices will not appear in Receivables’ outstanding invoices until you post them here.
• Use this function to find COD invoices older than a set date — such as 90 days old — then delete them in Turn In. Do this on a monthly basis — or whatever schedule works best for your organization.
• In addition to emailing and printing COD invoices you can use COD invoices with MR Connect. Since COD invoices are not posted in MR they do not appear in clients’ MR Connect online offices unless you manually publish them to MR Connect. This is better than other COD payment methods because the client has to pay the COD invoice online first before they can download the associated transcript.

TL;DR: Because COD invoices are not treated as sales until paid use this function to manage and send COD invoices.

MR concepts in this lesson

Bill To Firm: The firm responsible for paying the invoice for a job.

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers — or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

MR Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >

Sold To Contact/Firm: Person/company that ordered the services on the invoice.

Lesson #32

Billing – Post Invoices function

Instead of posting invoices one at a time in Turn In, you can save time by posting in batches in Post Invoices. You can also archive the invoices to your repository as you post them.

Finding & reviewing invoices

You can view all unposted invoices or restrict your list to invoices in a specific date range and/or for selected business units. You can include COD invoices in your search. You can also look up individual invoices by job or invoice number.

Invoices in the results are color coded by job status plus you can see at a glance if you didn’t calculate an invoice in Turn In in the unposted invoices list, then calculate it here with the click of a button before posting. You can preview invoices from the list. Other information in the results grid includes:

• Invoice number
• Invoice date
• Invoice and pay amounts
• If the invoice is for originals
• If the invoice is COD
• If the invoice needs calculation
• Date sent
• Job number
• Job date
• Job status
• Business unit
• Case
• Sold To firm and contact
• Bill To firm and contact

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function MR will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Posting invoices

Post any or all invoices at the same time — and archive them in your repository in the same process if desired. When posting you have the option to send invoices to the clients at the same time. MR will automatically open the Send Invoices function with the posted invoices selected. You can choose to email the original or current invoices — or print them for sending via other methods.

To reduce errors you can turn on an MR option in System Preferences that will alert you when an invoice does not have a pay rate applied to it — or the total pay amount is 0 — and you attempt to post it.

Before posting, you can:

• Preview invoices. If you styled the text in invoice messages and third-party direct billing notes (such as bolding text or adding color), your styling will appear on the invoices.
• View any invoice’s details.
• Edit some invoice information, such as the date, message, and insurance/e-billing information.
• Upload/download/manage files in the invoice’s repository.
• Monitor repository activity. See which clients can access a file in the repository, who has downloaded it, and when.
• Look up and make notes in the invoice’s Notes Log.

After posting an invoice, it will appear in Receivables and MR financial reports. Once posted, an invoice cannot be deleted.

TL;DR: Save time by posting invoices in batches. You can archive and send them at the same time.

MR concepts in this lesson

Bill To Contact/Firm: The contact/firm responsible for paying the invoice for a job.

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

Notes Logs: Un-editable internal-use only notes entered either by a user or automatically by MR appear in chronological logs in the database record where they occurred such as a case, job, invoice, or entity.

Sold To Contact/Firm: Contact/Firm that ordered the services on the invoice.

Lesson #31

Finish invoice process started in Turn In

The Billing module is one of the smallest modules in MR. Its focus is on managing and sending invoices prepared in Turn In. What you can do in this module includes:

• After preparing invoices in Turn In, you can finalize and post them from Turn In or in Billing. The main difference is that you can speed up the process by posting in batches in Billing.
• You can also batch email or print original and current invoices,  and archive original invoices in the repository.
• Billing is where you edit, preview, email, and print COD invoices.
• Transfer invoices between clients when there has been a mistake in addressing the invoice to a client, instead of voiding and re-billing.
• Export invoices in LEDES 98B format for clients who require electronic billing that complies with LEDES standards. 

Billing functions by name

• Post Invoices
• COD Invoices
• Send Invoices
• Transfer Invoices
• Export Invoices – MR9-only function

TL;DR: Use Billing to post and send invoices in batches, plus send COD invoices, correct billing mistakes, and prepare invoices in a LEDES format for electronic billing.