Every so often, a new software feature slips into one of our favorite programs without a lot of fanfare, especially in a release when there a number of enhancements. So it is with the “Send Receipt” feature that was introduced in Sage Timeslips® Version 2015.
With the growth of online transactions, we have become accustomed to receiving immediate emailed receipts for online orders and payments. Timeslips can generate receipts not just for payments to accounts receivable, but also for Reverse Payments, Payments to Account, and Payments from Account. Why would you want to do this? It is an enhancement of your client services, and one that can easily be provided at little to no cost.
Clicking the “Receipt” button on a transaction entry window or a transaction list opens up a basic receipt that includes the amount and date of the transaction and your firm name. From that screen, the receipt can be either printed or emailed.
Each of the four transaction types has its own receipt template which can be customized to provide more information and personalization to clients. When a receipt is emailed, it goes to the email addresses specified in the client’s contact page. We like to add a custom client field called “Salutation” in order to personalize the emails.You can add as many custom fields as you need in addition to having access to the list of data tokens for inserting Timeslips client-specific fields into the text of a template. Just be sure that any fields included in your template are populated before creating a receipt in order to avoid having gaps in the text. Fortunately, the completed receipt appears on the screen when you click the “Receipt” button, so the user can immediately spot any omissions or errors before sending; each receipt can be edited on the fly.
Once your templates are set up the way you want, the entire process of generating and emailing a receipt requires only two clicks.
Timeslips keeps a log of receipts being printed or emailed, and can thus prompt you if a receipt has already been sent for a given transaction. There is also a report to list past receipts for Accounts Receivable or Client Funds transactions. In our experience, however, the report does not appear automatically in the Report List and must be created and set up as a User-Defined report.
Need help setting up your receipt templates? Get in touch with us at [email protected], or give us a call at 877.357.0555 for assistance in creating receipts that your clients will appreciate!
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.