Automatically Generate Billing Items From Tasks
AppColl can automatically generate billing items when tasks change status. For example, if you have flat fee for responding to an office action, you can automatically create a billing item for the specific amount when the office action response task is completed. There are two steps to setting up automatic generation of billing items: From the Billi...
QuickBooks: Send Invoices from AppColl to QB (AppColl PM Plus)
Please note: this feature is only available in AppColl Plus. Click here for pricing and details on the plus features. Sending Invoices On the Manage Invoices page, select the invoice(s) you want to send over to QuickBooks, and click the "QuickBooks" button. Then click the "Send invoice(s) to QuickBooks" button from the popup window. If you haven'...
Time Manager
AppColl's Time Manager simplifies the entry and updating of billing items associated with a person's time. The Time Manager, available on any page in AppColl, is used to start/pause/stop billing timers and to quickly enter and edit "Fee" type billing items for the person currently logged in. To use the Time Manager, hover over the clock at the top...
Lock Invoices
There may be times when an invoice should be locked from editing even from people that normally have edit permissions for the Billing Module. There is a user permission setting which allows a user to lock or unlock invoices from being edited by anyone who does not have this permission. Note: account admins and users having the below setting enab...
Trust Account Reports (AppColl PM Plus)
Please note: this feature is only available in AppColl Plus. Click here for pricing and details on the plus features. Overview Trust account reports are used to assist in reconciling actual bank account balances with debits and credits from retainers received from customers. These reports are generated entirely from retainer type billing items ...
Add Credits to an Invoice
To create a “credit” invoice:In the Billing module, add one or more billing items (as described here (https://support.appcoll.com/customer/portal/articles/1846433-entering-billable-hours-and-other-expenses)) with a billing item Type of “Fee Adjustment" or "Expense Adjustment" as appropriate, with a negative amount. Create an invoice (as described h...
QuickBooks: Send Client Contacts from AppColl to QB (AppColl PM Plus)
Please note: this feature is only available in AppColl Plus. Click here for pricing and details on the plus features. Sending Client Contacts On the "Manage Invoices" page, click the "QuickBooks" button. You do not have to have any invoices selected to use this feature. Click on the "Send client contact information to QuickBooks" button. If you have...
Retainer Bank Account
When entering a retainer type billing item, you can specify a bank account to assist in the generation of trust account reports. The bank account field appears just below the retainer amount in retainer type billing items. The information in this field is for your use only and isn't linked to any other fields in AppColl....
QuickBooks: Import Payments from QB to AppColl (AppColl PM Plus)
Please note: this feature is only available in AppColl Plus. Click here for pricing and details on the plus features. Importing Payments from QuickBooks You can import payments from QuickBooks to any AppColl invoice that has been linked (you'll see a green "QB" logo). Select your invoice(s) from the Manage Invoices page, click the "QuickBooks" bu...
QuickBooks: Import Client Contacts from QB to AppColl (AppColl PM Plus)
Please note: this feature is only available in AppColl Plus. Click here for pricing and details on the plus features. Importing Client Contacts from QuickBooks On the Manage Invoices page, click on the "QuickBooks" button. You do not have to have any invoices selected to use this feature. Click the "Import client contact information from QuickBoo...
USPTO Fee Schedule Updates
AppColl can generate billing item templates automatically from the USPTO Fee Schedule - see this article. The USPTO periodically updates these fees and makes them available here . If you create billing item templates for USPTO fees please note that they will not be updated automatically when the USPTO changes the fee schedule. You will need to ...
Record Actual Hours Worked
After completion of work for a client, you may want to bill a different number of hours than were actually needed. You could, for example, be charging the client a flat fee for the work, regardless of the number of hours worked. You may also have an employee working on the the task who is undergoing training, so will likely take longer than normal f...
USPTO Fee Schedule Billing Item Templates
AppColl can download information from the USPTO and create billing item templates for all items in the USPTO Fee Schedule . After the templates have been created, you can easily create expense billing items for PTO fees by simply selecting the fee from the template drop-down when creating a new billing item. To create billing item templates for all...
Invoice Numbering and Naming
The Invoice Number and Invoice Name are two distinct things. An Invoice Name is an internal reference used by you to identify the invoice at a glance. Whereas, the Invoice Number is displayed in the invoice and visible by customers. See below. Invoice Name By default, AppColl names invoices based on the invoice date and customer. Invoice names can b...
When Invoice Amounts Have Changed
There may be a time when you open an existing invoice and a dialog box pops up with the message “As a result of changes to billing items included in this invoice since the last time this invoice was saved, the invoice amount has changed…." What does this mean? AppColl automatically includes any fee or expense billing items in an invoice unless: The ...
QuickBooks: Overview (AppColl PM Plus)
Please note: this feature is only available in AppColl Plus. Click here for pricing and details on the plus features. AppColl speaks QuickBooks! Once you've enabled AppColl Plus, you're ready to start sending Client Contacts, Invoices, and Payments between AppColl and QuickBooks. AppColl integrates with QuickBooks in four ways: * Sending Client ...
Set Fee or Expense Caps for a Matter
You can use the Fees Cap or Expenses Cap fields to set the maximum amount that may be invoiced for a matter. In the Matters module, locate and enter the desired matter from the main table, then scroll to the bottom of the Bibliographic Data tab to the Fees Cap and Expenses Cap fields. Enter the desired fee or expenses cap in the appropriate field. ...
Remove Billing Items from Existing Invoices
Removing Billing Items from Existing Invoices Follow these steps when you have a billing item attached to an invoice and you wish to remove it and use it in a different invoice: 1. In the Billing module, click on the Manage Invoices link in the Navigate section of the left margin. 2. Click on the relevant invoice name. 3. Find the billing item in th...
Import Billing Items
If you maintain billing items in spreadsheets or other means outside of AppColl, you are able to import them into AppColl using the attached Billing Items Import Template.csv spreadsheet file. Here are the steps: 1. Remove any the sample data, leaving the top row intact. 2. Fill in columns A-H for each billing item, as these are mandatory. The re...
Record Payments from Clients or Retainers
Because payments are applied directly to an invoice or invoices, you must first have at least one outstanding invoice before you can record payments. (Create and send an invoice to a client as described here .) 1. If necessary, set up the retainer as described here . 2. Create a billing item as described here with a billing item Type, "Payment fr...
Set up a Retainer Account
In the Billing module, on the Billing Items page, click the Add button in the left margin. Select the Client. This will populate the Matter and Task drop-down menus. (optional) Select a matter and/or task for this retainer. In the "When" text box, select the date the retainer was created. In the "Who" text box, select the person in your firm respons...
Send a PDF Invoice to a Client
Follow the below steps, after first creating an invoice as described h ere . 1. On the main page of the Billing module, click the "Manage Invoices link in the left margin. 2. If the PDFFile column is not shown in the list of invoices, click on the Columns link in the top-right corner of the window. From the list Available Columns box, click on PDFFi...
Enter Billable Hours and Other Expenses
You can manually create billing items in AppColl, as shown below. If you prefer, you can upload multiple billing items using a spreadsheet as explained here . Finally, you also can create Billing Items using AppColl's timer feature. 1. In the Billing module, on the main table, click the Add button in the Make Changes section of the left margin. 2. ...
Invoice Numbering
Invoice numbers are used to identify a set of billable items in an invoice for which payment can be accepted independently. Invoice numbers are entered in the invoice details page. You can have one or multiple invoice numbers per invoice. For example, you may wish to group billing items by matter in one invoice and give each group a different invoic...
CreatedBy and Who Contact Fields in Billing Item
To help track updates to billing items, AppColl provides two contact fields to associate people with billing items. Who : This field is the person/timekeeper doing the work or processing the expense CreatedBy : This read-only field is the person that created the billing item. It is set automatically by AppColl. Both fields can be added as columns to...
Discount Invoices
There are several ways to provide discounts in an invoice. Percentage Discount To discount all Fee billing items in an invoice, enter a Discount percent in the Amount Due section on the right side of the invoice details page. Please note that percentage discounts do not apply to expenses. Discounting a Specific Billing Item To discount a single Bi...
Create Retainer Refunds
If you have completed work on a project without using all the retainer funds, follow these steps: In the Billing module, click the Add button in the left margin. Select the client. In the "When" text box, select the date of the refund. In the "Who" text box, select the person responsible for issuing the refund. In the "Type" text box, select Retaine...
Sections of an Invoice
The following sections can be added to an invoice. Each section can be separately included, with a page break inserted before the section if desired. Each invoice section can re-arranged as desired . The chosen arrangement will be reflected in the PDF created version of the invoice. For example, some customers prefer the amount due section to be sh...
Write off Invoices
You can write-off all or part of an invoice by creating a "Write-Off" type billing item. If you create a write-off that reduces the invoice balance to zero, the status of the invoice is automatically set to “Write-Off." In the Billing module, click the Add button in the Make Changes section of the left margin. Select the client. Select “Write-Off”...
Import and/or Generate LEDES Files (1998B and 2.0)
A Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES) format invoice is used to transmit billing information electronically to a client. You only need to use LEDES invoices if your client requests that you bill them electronically using a LEDES invoice. AppColl automatically generates both LEDES 1998B and 2.0 invoices every time an invoice is saved. Pl...
Change Field Names Within an Invoice
Note: You must be an account administrator to perform this action. Click the Settings link in the upper right corner of any page. Scroll down until you find the “Invoice Phrase Mappings” section. Enter the phrases you wish to change in the form phrase=replacement;. E.g. Retainer=Trust Account;Services=Fees; Click the “Set Invoice phrase mappings” bu...
Change the Client Associated with an Invoice That's Already Been Paid
Accidentally generating an invoice and applying it to the wrong client is a common mistake. Once the invoice has been paid, undoing the error takes a few steps as shown below: 1. Create a new matter for each one included in the invoice. On the Matter Details page for an original matter, click the Save and Duplicate button. Complete the page for the ...
Billing Timers
AppColl has a built-in billing timer allowing users to track their time for one or more tasks. Billing timers can be added, paused, completed or deleted as needed. Once a billing timer starts, a "Fee" billing item is created along with any details (i.e., who, client, matter, tasks, etc.). The timer continues until it is paused. Paused billing timer...
Billing Item Templates Overview
Billing item templates are used to simplify the creation of billing items for standard fees or expenses. For example, if you have a standard set of flat fees that you charge for specific tasks, such as drafting a provisional patent application or responding to an office action, you can create a billing item template that includes the fee amount and ...
Change Sent or Paid Invoices
Please Note: A new PDF is created each time an invoice is changed and saved, with the PDF link showing the most recent file. You can see all previous invoice PDF files by clicking the "View Revisions to PDF" link just below the PDF and LEDES links. Changing a Sent (but not paid) Invoice There may be situations when you need to change, remove, or ad...
Create Client-Specific Billing Rates
In the Contacts module, select the attorney, paralegal, or other biller that performs work for a desired client. At the bottom left of the biller's contact record is an Hourly Rate section. The default rate box will be used any time the client being billed does not have a client-specific rate. Click the Add button to add a client rate. In the pop-up...
Customize Biller’s LEDES Timekeeper Classification
AppColl automatically creates LEDES electronic billing files for invoices, provided the invoice has a clear start and end date as well as a Tax ID number for the law firm sending the invoice. Click here for more information on LEDES files. By default, AppColl selects an appropriate value for the TIMEKEEPER_CLASSIFICATION column in LEDES files base...
Delete Invoices (Paid or Unpaid)
There may be situations where invoices (paid or unpaid) need to be deleted. A couple of steps are necessary to do so. Already paid invoices cannot be deleted until the underlying payment(s) are deleted first. Identify and delete all payment-type billing items (i.e. "Payment from Client" and "Payment from Retainer") applied to the invoice. This wil...
Change Invoices that have Already Been Sent to a Client
There may be situations where invoices (paid or unpaid) need to be deleted. A couple of steps are necessary to do so. Already paid invoices cannot be deleted until the underlying payment(s) are deleted first. Identify and delete all payment-type billing items (i.e. "Payment from Client" and "Payment from Retainer") applied to the invoice. This wil...
Bulk Downloading Invoice PDFs and LEDES Files
Bulk downloading invoice PDF documents and LEDES files can be accomplished for archival reasons or to send a client all their invoice details at once. This option will download all PDFs and any LEDES file to a single zip file which can be extracted on a local computer. Here are the steps: Filter on the desired invoices you wish to download. Do not a...
Billing Overview
The Billing module is used to keep track of billable hours and expenses, and to generate and track invoices sent to a client. It generates invoices in PDF format that are customizable to include various types of information and levels of detail. Unlike some other billing systems, AppColl stores billing items and invoices separately. You first genera...
Create Uninvoiced Fees and Expenses
There may be times when time and expenses should be recorded and tracked, yet should never appear on an invoice. For example, multiple hourly time entries are created for drafting a patent application, However, the eventual invoice only needs to show a single billing item of "Draft and File Patent Application". The individual hourly entries won't be...
Add Taxes to an Invoice
You can add tax to an invoice by marking Billing Items as taxable and then specifying a tax rate when creating the invoice. 1. Create the billing item as described here, selecting the Taxable Item checkbox. 2. Create an invoice as described here that is set to include those billing items that include the "Taxable Items" option. 3. In the invoice...
Add Invoice Description(s) to LEDES Files
There are two ways to add an invoice description to each line in a LEDES file's INVOICE_DESCRIPTION column. This can be done globally for all line items in the LEDES file. Or it can be done on a matter by matter basis. Adding a Global Invoice Description to each line in a LEDES File Each invoice page has a Comments section as shown below. Any text p...
Add Discounts to Invoices
You can apply a percentage discount to all the professional services fee in an invoice. You can add an overall fee discount by specifying a discount rate when creating the invoice. Note: Discounts are applied to all fee items and cannot be designated for specific items. If it is necessary to apply discounts to certain fees only, you would want to ...
Add "Outstanding Balance" to an Invoice
1. Hover over the Billing module button and click on the Manage Invoices option. 2. Click the Add button, and create a new invoice as explained here. 3. Click on the None button in the upper right to de-select all Sections & Options. 4. Check the "Include" checkboxes for sections: Outstanding Invoices, Account Activity, Amount Due. 5. If appro...
Search Previous Billing Item Descriptions
Previous billing item descriptions can be searched to use previous billing item descriptions in a new billing item. Saved billing item descriptions ("preferred" descriptions), or all billing item descriptions may searched. To search for any past description ((including preferred and ones that were never saved), check the "Search all descriptions" ch...
Retainer Balances
The balance remaining in a retainer account is the value of the Retainer Amount field in the retainer Billing Item (as created here ), minus all payments from the account and plus all refunds to the account. A payment from a retainer account is created using a "Payment from Retainer" type Billing Item. A refund is created using a "Retainer Refu...
Create Invoices
1. Create one or more billing entries as described here . 2. Hover over the Billing Module tab, and click Manage Invoices. 3. Click on the Add button in the Make Changes section of the left margin. 4. Select the Client. If you have previously generated invoices for this client, your invoice format and layout preferences will be loaded. 5. Selected...
Apply Payments to an Invoice
Applying payments to invoices is a matter of adding Payment-type billing items to the invoice. Payments can be made from retainers or newly collected money (e.g. checks, wire transfers, credit card, etc.) In order to use retainers to pay an invoice, a retainer billing item must already exist in AppColl and have a positive balance. Click here to le...
Invoice Details Visible in Billing Items
Invoice details can now be seen from the Billing Items summary screen. Click the columns link and select one or more columns you wish to include. Once the columns are selected, the details can be seen. This added functionality allow for greater depth of reporting on billing items. For example, you can filter on all billing items that are 30 or more...
Paid Dates of Invoices and Billing Items
Invoices may consist of numerous invoice numbers (provided you group invoices by matter ), matters, and billing items. A payment can be applied to an Invoice Number (which means it will be for all billing items of the same Matter) or the whole invoice, but cannot be applied to an individual Billing Item. If an invoice is grouped by matters, it is p...
Bulk Management of Invoices
To speed up the management of invoices, AppColl has three commands that operate on multiple invoices from the Manage Invoices page in the Billing module. The 'Generate Invoices' command creates invoices for multiple clients. This command is equivalent to clicking on the "Add" button, selecting a client, and then clicking on the Save button multiple ...
Billing Profit
AppColl's billing profit feature is used to help manage situations where the hourly rate paid by a client is split between the timekeeper doing the work and the law firm. For example, you may have an patent agent drafting patent applications for a client. The client is charged $300/hour. The patent agent receives $225/hour and the remainder, $75/hou...
Default Invoice Settings
When a new invoice is created for a client, the settings last used for that client will be loaded automatically. If this is the first invoice for a client then the default invoice settings will be loaded. To save the default invoice settings, open or create an invoice with the desired settings and click on the "Make Settings Default" button....
Invoice Preview and Dashboard Report Caching
To improve performance when viewing large invoices in the Billing module and reports in the Dashboard (PM Plus), AppColl saves the previous result and displays it quickly rather than recalculating and new report and/or invoice. Invoice previews are saved whenever the invoice is saved from the invoice details page. Dashboard report results are saved ...
Sending Invoices to Clients via Email
After an invoice has been generated you may wish to send the PDF of the invoice to the client via email. This can be done from within AppColl using the Email to Client command in the invoice details page. When you click on the button, any changes to the invoice will be saved and a popup will appear to allow you to pick the email template to use fo...
Bulk Updating Billing Item Hourly Rates to Current Values
AppColl allows timekeeper client-specific hourly rates to be specified that populate billing items automatically. After a billing item has been created, the hourly rate will not change unless it is manually updated, even if the underlying client specific rate is updated. If you wish to update billing items to the current specified rate you can use...
Invoice Naming Scheme
Please note that this feature is only available for AppColl account administrators. From the Settings page, you can specify the default naming scheme for your invoices. When an invoice is created, the text in this setting is used, with field substitution, to generate the name for the invoice. Note that you can use fields from the invoice to create t...
Merging Multiple Fee Billing Items into one Flat Fee Billing Item
Note: Merging fee billing items an optional feature. Please contact AppColl support to enable merging in your account if you cannot access this feature. AppColl allows multiple fee billing items to be merged into one split flat fee billing item. This allows an invoice to have one line item which includes tracked hours from multiple timekeepers. Some...
Automatically Merging Billing Items
AppColl supports merging of multiple fee billing items into one split flat fee. For more general information about this, click here . When working with merged billing items you can configure AppColl to automatically merge billing items associated with certain tasks into one split flat fee billing item. Important: automatic merging can happen ONLY i...
Adding Matter Specific Text to Invoices
This article describes how to add matter specific text to invoices which is shown beneath the title of the matter in the invoice. First, on the settings page, create a matter custom field called "InvoiceDescription". You must use this exact name. It should be a text box type. Next, add the matter specific text in the matter details page. Note that y...
Exclude Billing Items from an Invoice
Billing Items can be excluded from invoices for any reason. This is especially useful when matters are not invoiced until the entire work is done, yet the billing items are recorded along the way. Billing items can be marked as 'Do not Invoice' from within the Billing Item itself or in bulk. To mark within a Billing item, check the box shown below. ...
Customizing LEDES File Generation
This article describes how to customize LEDES files and solve problems associated with naming differences when transmitting LEDES files generated by AppColl to clients. Note that this customization can only be setup by an account administrator. Normally LEDES fields are populated from standard AppColl matter, contact and invoice fields. Some LEDES f...
View Prior PDFs of Invoices That Have Changed
If you change an invoice that has already been sent, you can update the PDF by opening and resaving it. However, there may be times when you want to access the originally created PDF. Below are the steps. 1. In the Billing module, click on the Manage Invoices link in the left margin.2. Locate the invoice and click on the InvoiceName. 3. In the left ...
Invoice Locking by Client
In order to prevent invoice errors, invoices will lock by client whenever someone is working on an invoice for that client. Whenever a particular client is locked, a lock icon will appear next to invoices for that client to indicate that those invoices cannot be edited at this time. A message will also appear in the lefthand column indicating what c...
Hourly Rate Categories
Note: Hourly rate categories are an optional feature. Please contact AppColl support to enable hourly rate categories in your account if you cannot access this feature. Please also note that after enabling hourly rate categories it is not possible to return to the previous simpler method of specifying hourly rates in the timekeeper's contact record....
Reset Invoice Numbers
The first time an invoice is saved, numbers are allocated and reserved for the invoice. If not grouping billing items, one number is allocated, if grouping by matter or task one number is allocated per matter or task. Regardless of the edits made to an invoice, the same number will always be used for a given matter or task in that invoice. Once a n...
September 2022 Updates to Invoice Processing
Faster Invoice Generation The algorithms for creating an invoice from individual billing items has been completely reworked to greatly reduce the time it takes to create and save an invoice, particularly for invoices with large numbers of matters and billing items. Improved Invoice Number Processing The invoice numbering system now has a much more "...
Selecting Matters for Invoice
You have three options to select the matters that will be included in an invoice. The selection is made using the "Matter:" dropdown. Note that billing items included in the invoice are subject to other criteria, such as start and cut-off date. All Matters Billing items for all matters for the selected client are available for inclusion in the invoi...
Editing Invoice Billing Items
You can quickly edit items in an invoice by clicking on the item. This shows a pop-up to change the item. If you make changes and click on Update Billing Item you will see a yellow highlight for the changed item and a note indicating the invoice has been changed. Editing in this manner does not update the totals. You must click on Apply Changes to s...
Add QuickBooks payment link to invoices
Simply placing a URL in the payment instructions field will not convert the text to a hyperlink. That being said, as part of our QuickBooks integration, we do offer the option to add a payment link to an invoice. Please see the instructions below. 1. Hover over the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen2. Select Settings 3. Select Bi...
Origination Credits
A law firm grows by acquiring new clients. To drive growth law firms may use origination credits to compensate attorneys for bringing ('originating') new business to the firm. An origination credit specifies the percentage of all fee collections for a client that an attorney receives as a reward for bringing that client to the firm. The AppColl orig...