Communications
a) Client and Matter-Level Contacts
b) Duplicate Contacts
c) Associations on Contacts
d) Enter a Military Address
a) Enable Client Portal
b) Grant Access to Client Portal
c) Enable Payments in Client Portal
d) View Client Portal as a Client
Contacts
The various types of contacts have a hierarchical system in TimeSolv when creating invoices. It is important our users understand the best location to save their contacts. Contacts should only be entered once and then associated with the various Clients or Matters. We generally recommend users save contact information under the Client level which will feed to all Matters for invoicing purposes unless a Matters has a Main or Optional Invoice Contact designated. A Matter contact (Main or Optional Invoice) will override the Client contact (Main or Optional Invoice) and receive the invoice instead.
Client and Matter-Level Contacts
Click on Clients>Clients & Matters>[client or matter name]>Contacts>New Contact.
If the contact is saved as a ‘Main,’ this contact will be the one used in invoices unless there is an ‘Optional Invoice’ contact, which will always supersede a ‘Main’ contact. A ‘Main’ contact would be, for example, the president of a company. An ‘Optional Invoice’ contact would be, for example, the company’s accounting department where the president wants the invoices to be sent. Any contacts listed under ‘Related Party’ or ‘Other’ are for informational purposes only and do not receive or appear on invoices.
Below is the priority order in which the invoice will fetch contact information:
- Matter contact > Type ‘Optional Invoice’.
- Matter contact > Type ‘Main’.
- Client contact > Type ‘Optional Invoice’.
- Client contact > Type ‘Main’.
If contact details are missing at any of the above levels, the system will continue to go down the list in that order to fetch the contact details for the invoice being generated.
Duplicate Contacts
To view, edit, or delete duplicate contacts, click on Clients>Contacts>Potentially Duplicate Contacts in the top right corner of the screen.
Here you’ll see a list of potentially duplicated contacts. Click on the details link for more options to amend.
Users can edit the contact, merge the duplicated contacts into one, and view/edit the contact associations.
Under the Associations screen, users can change the type of contact and see which contacts have Client Portal access.
Associations on Contacts
When creating contacts under Clients and Matters, you always want to be sure you don’t create any duplicates, as this can cause problems with billing. TimeSolv allows users to associate a contact with multiple Clients/Matters so you don’t have to create duplicate contacts. For example, if you have the contact ‘John Smith’ and he should be a contact for two different Clients/Matters, just key in his information once, then associate his contact with both Clients/Matters.
So, let’s say Client X’s contact is ‘John Smith’, and John Smith has a lot of Matters.
Create John Smith as the main contact for Client X under Clients>Clients & Matters>[Client name]>Contacts tab.
Add John Smith’s details after clicking on the ‘ New Contact‘ link and specifying the contact type as ‘Main‘.
After saving, you’ll see an ‘ Associate‘ link next to the listed contact under the Contacts tab. Select all the relevant Clients/Matters to associate this John Smith contact with, eradicating the need to create any duplicates.
Enter a Military Address
Military addresses are specialized addresses associated with an American Army, Air Force, or Navy installation. In some cases, the address may also be associated with a US embassy.
Follow the steps below to add a military Contact address instead of a normal postal address.
Click on Clients>Contacts. Click on the ‘Edit‘ link against the Contact you want to add a military address for.
Enter the Rank in the ‘Title‘ field.
Use the ‘Address Line 1‘ field for Unit # Box #.
Use the ‘ City‘ field for APO/FPO/MPO/DPO.
Select a military state from the ‘State’ field, e.g., Armed Forces Europe, Armed Forces Americas, Armed Forces Pacific.
Note: Users can add all other contact details asides from the above military-related fields.
Email all Contacts
Let’s say you need to send an email out to your entire client contact database. Here are the steps to achieve this:
Click on Account>Import/Export>Export Excel tab.
Select the entity as Client & Matter Contact.
After clicking the Export button, all contact details will be downloaded in an Excel spreadsheet.
Alternatively, open the Excel file, copy the Email column, and paste the information into the email address box of whichever mail service provider you use (e.g. Gmail or Hotmail’s ‘To:’ field in the new email window).
Client Portal
Enable Client Portal
Click under Clients>Settings>General>Enable Portal?
Grant Access to Client Portal
Note: if ‘Login required for Portal?‘ is not selected (under Clients>Settings>General), the system will allow the contact to use a specific link to go directly into the portal without a login. The link is sent when portal access is assigned (shown below) and is automatically included for each invoice or statement sent via email. In this case, you do not need to create a specific login for the contact, but if you do that will override the automatic login and require the contact to enter those credentials.
Access to the Client Portal can be granted when creating a new Contact. Click under Clients>Contacts.
Either click on ‘Edit‘ against an existing Contact or click on the ‘New Contact‘ button on the top right. Assign the user portal login details at the bottom of the screen and ensure the ‘Grant Automatic Portal Access‘ button is selected.
An email gets sent to the Client with a link, allowing users to log in to the Client Portal automatically without having to enter any username or password. Once automatically logged in to the Client Portal, the user is logged out of TimeSolv.
Alternatively, users set their login credentials by clicking the ‘Create Portal Login‘ link.
Enable Payments in Client Portal
Firm-wide Setting:
Click on Clients>Settings>General tab.
Ensure Enable Portal? the checkbox is enabled.
At the bottom of the ‘ General‘ tab, under the ‘Client Portal‘ section, specify what bank account to receive portal payments in.
Client-level Setting:
Users can also achieve this at the Client-level. Click on Clients>Clients & Matters>[client name]>General tab.
Specify the bank account next to the ‘ Receive All Portal Invoice Payments In‘ field.
On the Payment screens under the Client Portal, account-specific required fields (both for merchant and ACH accounts) are read from payment provider set up in the Payment Profile. Corresponding input fields are marked as required and validated.
View Client Portal as a Client
Once you have enabled Client Portal and granted portal access for the contact/client, you will see a ‘View Portal‘ button at the bottom of the Clients>Clients & Matters>Client>Contacts>Edit screen.
Upon clicking on the button, you will be logged out of TimeSolv and automatically logged in to the Client’s view of the Client Portal.
Calendar
The Matter calendar has been completely structured for ease of use with drag-and-drop capabilities. Users can view daily, weekly, and monthly calendars for timekeepers and matters. Features include the ability to assign timekeepers to a calendar event with a specific view or update permissions.
Click on Calendar>Calendar.
Click on a time slot to create a new event.
Company Holiday – will mark it as an all-day event.
Specify permissions for each user under the Users tab.
Merge calendar events from users and matters by clicking on the ‘ Add Professionals‘ and ‘Add Matters‘ links.
Note: Matter-specific calendar events can be created in the same way (shown above) under Clients>Clients & Matters>[matter name]>Calendar.