If there is one question that I hear the most as a Timeslips consultant it is this – “Does Timeslips have an app for my iPhone?”
Sage Software, the manufacturer of Timeslips, does not. But a former programmer who worked there does. Check out the Apple iTunes Store for iSlips, the application that allows users to exchange slip-based data between their Timeslips database and their iPhones , iPod Touch and/or iPads.
iSlips is a product of Brain Freeze software (http://www.brainfreezesoftware.com/). It works on a simple premise.
- Download the synchronization software to a workstation that accesses your Timeslips database.
- Synchronize Timeslips data with your iPhone or iPad, either wirelessly or by exporting data to the device.
- Enter your time and expenses.
- Send that data back to your workstation, either wirelessly or by exporting the slip data.
iSlips takes advantage of the fact that an iPhone or iPad is “always on”. It is certainly handy to enter a time or expense charge while on the go. Or, use it instead of waiting for a computer or network workstation to go through its startup routine.
Other advantages (and waaaay cool features!) are –
- A mileage calculator that measures the distance between your client’s location and your default, starting location (click on the “Get Location” button to begin the calculation
- )The ability to track time spent on sending an email from your device to a client and use the stored client’s email address for the message.
- The ability to track the time spent on a call from your iPhone, and entering it on a slip.
iSlips works with Timeslips 10.5 or higher. It’s definitely NOT free and may even strike you as pricey. However, it’s cost will be more than made up when you track the extra time that otherwise would have been lost when working through your day. Those of us at Eastern Legal Systems are not sales people for Brain Freeze Software and do not have a monetary interest in it. But I have to say that as a Timeslips user, this is a great app.
Dana Riel is President and Founder of Business Solutions, Inc., serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area since 1985. Her firm is the authorized training center for the region for Time Matters and PCLaw by PCLaw|Time Matters, PLLC; Timeslips and Sage 50 Accounting by Sage Software; and QuickBooks by Intuit Corporation. She also serves as a consultant for Caret Legal (formerly known as Zola Suite), CosmoLex, Soluno & TimeSolv. As a trainer, Dana has provided training services to organizations such as the DOD Defense Logistics Agency, Judge Advocate General’s Office (JAG)/Department of the Navy, University of the District of Columbia School of Law, U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as with small‐ to mid‐size law firms in the Baltimore‐Washington D.C. area. In 2009, she participated in the series of day‐long seminars sponsored by the District of Columbia Bar Association Practice Management Section, titled “Basic Training: Learn About Running a Law Office”. Ms. Riel also served as an Adjunct Professor in Georgetown University’s Paralegal Studies Program, having taught the course, “Legal Ethics/Legal Technology” in 2009; and “Legal Technology” for the Spring and Summer Semesters of 2010. She presently serves on the Advisory Board for PCLaw|Time Matters, PLLC.
