If you are a Time Matters power user or administrator, then you are fully aware of the features (or lack thereof) provided with the reporting utility within Time Matters. The Time Matters reporting tool can be very useful when a list of cases is needed, with related records, filtered by code or date. Most times, though, you may find yourself caged in, with little logical filtering ability.
The editable layout template is pretty flexible with field location, but can be painful to get those fields separated just enough where they don’t overlap each other. But you can work around these issues and just deal with them, right? Sometimes you may just give up on the reporting templates and send your list (or quicktab) over to excel and complete your report manually.
Creating reports for partners, attorneys, or general business meetings and conferences are often one of the most important tasks you are given. These reports are expected to be accurate, on time, and easy on the eyes. Manually creating your reports can take hours, maybe even a full day, to calculate all the numbers, and calculate again, and then once more for good measure. The graphs can be difficult to design to insure they are easily readable and interpreted. This is usually the moment where you exhale and say “Oh My!” (or something stronger).
Fortunately for you, there are solutions for these reporting issues that can make your life a whole lot easier. And what is even better, you probably already have all the tools you need to begin automating your Time Matters reports.
Most Time Matters power users and administrators don’t know that, with one tool, they can automate almost any report imaginable. That tool is Microsoft Excel. With Excel, a connection to your SQL Server, and some expertise with advanced Excel functionality and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), your report can be completely automated, sitting on your printer before you’re done pouring your first cup of coffee on that Monday of your meeting.
This blog posting contains a series of screen shots of various automated reports, all using Excel to create the reports by drawing data directly out of Time Matters.
This is Part 1 of a series that we will be posting monthly on Time Matters reporting. Next month check back for Part 2, when we dive into the Time Matters reporting world to show you how to create a simple saved query for extracting Time Matters data, available to you right on your desktop by simply double clicking the icon.
Sample Excel report screens drawing data from Time Matters:
Input screen for filtering reports:
Caseload Calendar Selector
- Monthly Case Report
Closed/Inactive Case load by case/matter type and attorney, automatically populated and calculated for selected month and year-to-date, processed in seconds:
Closed Cases
Caseload Bar Charts
Automated graphs populated and designed on the fly:
Data selector for marketing report
Jack Schaller has been active in the field of law office technology since 1989, and has worked with a variety of commercial accounting, legal billing, practice management, and document management software products during his twenty plus years in the software consulting field. During his tenure as a software consultant he has garnered many sales and service awards for his work with legal software products. Jack is a frequent presenter at legal conferences and seminars, and is a regular contributor to TechnoLawyer and other technology publications.