In today’s post we highlight what we believe are the most relevant new features in Timeslips 2019. We also spell out the policy on end-of-life for Timeslips 2017.

Timeslips 2017 Obsolescence Policy

• Timeslips 2017 additional licenses can no longer be purchased after April 17, 2018 (today)
• If you are using Timeslips Premium and your Sage BusinessCare plan expires, you will not be able to renew that plan for Timeslips 2017.
• Timeslips eCenter will no longer integrate with Timeslips 2017 after July 31, 2018
• Timeslips eBilling service will no longer be available to Timeslips 2017 users after July 31, 2018

Release Timeline for Timeslips

• April 17, 2018 – Timeslips 2019 initial release
• May 2018 – Final Service Release for Timeslips 2018
• August 2018 – Timeslips 2019 Service Release #1

Key Features in Timeslips 2019

• • Day View Slip Entry – (Timeslips Premium Only) The Day View gives timekeepers a visible look at their work day. If you enter start times, you can see the slips fill in during the day, making it easier to spot gaps in time.
  • LawPay Integration – (Premium and Perpetual) The long-awaited link between Timeslips and LawPay will provide a “Pay Now” link in your emails to your clients. Your clients can now submit payments online by clicking on the link in your sent email. (You will of course need to create a LawPay account to use this feature. Click here to set up a LawPay account).
    • Once the payment is completed in LawPay, Timeslips displays a window showing any payments waiting for application to invoices. You can then apply the payment as desired.
  • Some things that are “not ready for prime time” with the Timeslips-LawPay integration:
    • There is no way to embed in the invoice. There is no icon to click. It displays as a rather long URL in the body of your email.
    • The payment comes in as an Accounts Receivable transaction rather than as a Trust Receipt. There is no Payment to Funds option.
    • Hopefully these oversights will be addressed by Sage soon, perhaps in the August Serve Release.
  • Client Contacts – (Premium and Perpetual) Timeslips has long supported a conflict of interest checker, but there was never a way to actually add adverse parties as connected contacts. With Timeslips 2019 you now have the ability to add additional contacts to a client record. Via this addition you can track supplementary contacts such as opposing counsel, insurance adjustors, judges, etc.
    • This will not replace your practice management application but can be useful for keeping your focus within the Timeslips program. You can determine how a contact is linked with the client(s). The client information window will now have an additional Contacts tab for quick access.
    • Currently, there is no way to import contacts. Customizable fields can be added to these supplementary contact records, but there is no way to customize the placement or format of these custom fields. In other words, I might have primary phone number as the first customized field on one contact but the fifth field on another.
    • Your Crosspointe Timeslips certified consultant can help you navigate through this configuration issue to provide consistency and a better overall reporting experience.
  • Filter Options for Timesheet Entry – (Premium and Perpetual) You can now filter your Timesheet Entry Templates. Over time your Timesheet Entry Window can become too congested; filters will allow you to display only the relevant Templates.
  • Security Profile Overview Report – (Premium and Perpetual) With each new release of Timeslips all users are given access to new features by default. For example, in Timeslips 2018 the default is set to allow users to delete and edit billed slips. Whoever thought that was a good idea??? This new report details the Timekeepers’ Profile settings in one place. The report can be displayed or exported for easy review.
• Flat Fee Billing Arrangement Assignment for Timekeepers – (Premium and Perpetual) Halleluiah!! Many of our clients produce flat fee bills with no slips associated with the invoice. In Timeslips 2019, when you set up a flat fee billing arrangement you will be able to indicate who will receive credit for the full amount of the time charges. You can now avoid all those unallocated amounts in the Contributions Report. When invoiced, you will see a contributions tab on the payment to show who will be receiving the fee. NOTE: You can set this up retroactively for all flat fee billing arrangements.
• This feature is so important it needs two paragraphs. More often than not, users do not final bill a flat fee matter. This improved final billing process goes back to the beginning of the flat fee matter and reallocates all fees based on all the work done by all the timekeepers.
  • This re-allocation serves to redistribute the fees to the timekeepers who worked on the project long after the money was allocated at the beginning of the flat fee arrangement.
  • There is a dialog box showing you all jobs not final billed. You can quickly check the matters and have the system perform the allocation automatically. When you run an allocation report, you can review client jobs first.
• Ledes 98BI, Ledes 2000, and Ledes XML (Premium and Perpetual) New Ledes templates are now available in Timeslips 2019. Ledes 98b and Ledes 2000 billing exports will support automatic naming of the Ledes files, if you choose to print the invoices separately.

Honorable Mention Features (Premium and Perpetual)

• Funds Account Listing – This report now shows a total at the bottom
• Delay Typing – In Timeslips 2019 you can manually set the length of time it takes for the list to reset for context-sensitive searches. When you were typing a name in a list, if you did not type fast enough, it would reset. Now you can set the delay for the reset.
• Support for laptop DPI displays at 150%
• Print from Dialogs Option – The easiest example of this is when you have a slip listing filtered in the slip list and you click on the print icon. In all prior editions of Timeslps the report goes directly to your printer. In Timeslips 2019 you have the ability to Print to Display first.
• Google Calendar Sync – You are now able to sync Timeslips to your existing Google calendars. You no longer need to have a calendar dedicated to Timeslips.
• Transaction Amount Expansion – For those of you doing very well, you are no longer limited to $225,000 as a transaction amount. It has increased to $999,999,999.
• Report Rewrites and Enhancements – Ten reports were re-written. Four reports had performance enhancements.
• Application Program Interface (API) improvements –
  • The TSAdmin tool now supports faster access to the Slip Table.
  • The assignment of rate rules in API’s has been reworked, rework of
  • The description fields and other “blob” fields not previously accessible to 3^rd party integrations have been redesigned to improve access for these integrated apps
• Email Address Prompt  When you enter an email address in the client record, the program will prompt you to do so if you have not already set up email billing for the client. From the first tab of the Client Info window, you can click to complete this setup.

There are a lot of new features in this version. For the first time in a very long time, this new release of Timeslips is the upgrade we have been waiting for.To discuss whether this upgrade is the right one for you, contact your Crosspointe Timeslips consultant, email us at [email protected], or give us a call at 877-357-0555.

Gerri Martin

Gerri Martin, a member of Crosspointe Consulting Group, LLC holds her undergraduate degree in Accountancy and is a CPA. This gives Gerri the business background needed to understand the financial and management implications of implementing software and business processes. She started working with Attorneys in 1986 and focuses on supporting Attorneys, Law Firms, and Law Departments. In 1990, Gerri obtained a master’s degree in Project Management while graduating with honors. In 1992, she received her PMP certification in Project Management from the Project Management Institute. She is the past Vice President of Professional Development for PMIs Chicagoland Chapter. This project management background lends itself to helping lawyers and their firms streamline their workflow and eliminate needless duplication of effort.