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.

To learn how to create a billing item template, follow the directions here. This must be done in order to complete the following steps. For the example below, the following template was created for a “Respond to US Non-Final Office Action.” Notice that the Who field is set to “Task Owner”, which means that whomever is associated with the task will be the person associated with the generated billing item. 

Update a Task Type to Generate a Billing Item

Note: This process can only be done by an account administrator. 

1. Hover over the Tasks module and select Manage Task Types.
2. Open the Task Type you wish to update. 

3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and complete the billing item generation options. Select the Generate billing items from template checkbox, select the Template, update the when the value of option as needed, as well as the changes option. In the example below, the billing item will be generated from the selected template when the value of the TaskStatus changes to Completed. Note: If you create the billing item when the task status changes to open (i.e. when the task is created), the date of the billing item will be the calculated RespondBy date of the task. If you generate the billing item when the task is completed the date of the billing item will be the completion date of the task. 
4. Click the Save button. Once saved, the task type billing items may be generated when tasks are updated. 

Generate Multiple Billing Items from One Task

You can also cause multiple billing items to be generated from one task by configuring the template that is generated from the task to further generate additional billing items. At the bottom of the billing template page you can add one or more templates to be generated when a billing item is automatically generated from the template. Click on the Add button under Also Generate to specify the template(s) to generate. When you are finished be sure to save.