This video will walk through how to review, manage and edit Pre-Bills
Video Transcript:
In this video, we'll walk through how to review, manage, and edit prebills.
Start by navigating to the Prebuild page from the left sidebar.
This page allows you to view all existing prebills, update their statuses, make edits, generate invoices, send them to clients, or delete prebills when needed.
Each prebill appears as a single line item in the grid.
The status column shows where each pre bill is in the billing process.
When a pre bill is first generated, it begins in Preparing status.
At this stage, the billing team is given the opportunity to perform a quick preliminary check to catch any obvious errors on the pre bills.
Once that review is complete, they move the pre bill to In Review status.
Reviewers will then receive an in app notification as well as an e-mail notification and with a direct link to the pre bills assigned to them, they can simply click the link in the e-mail and then click directly on the pre bill.
Then after reviewing the pre bill and making any necessary edits, the pre bill is moved to approved status at which time it can be converted into an invoice.
These status updates are typically done in bulk using filters.
icon for additional actions.
Edit Time Entry is another way to open and edit the Time entry form.
Clone Time Entry duplicates the entry.
This is useful if, for example, Erica and Kate attended the same meeting but only Erica recorded time.
You can clone the entry and update the new copy for Kate.
Remove from Prebill sends the entry back to WIP so it can be included on a future prebill.
Any edits made so far will be preserved.
Delete Time entry permanently removes the entry from the system.
This should only be used for duplicates or true errors.
View history shows an audit trail of all changes made to the entry.
Within the time entry list, you'll notice some descriptions appear in bold.
These bold lines represent tasks.
Each time entry can be linked to a task, which is why the task name appears in bold on the pre bill.
If you double click a time entry to open it, you'll see the task field selected.
If you don't want the entry associated with a task, simply open the task drop down, change it to select Task, and Save.
This removes the bold task description from the line item.
Whether tasks are used or shown on the bill is completely firm driven.
Some firms rely on tasks as the full description, while others prefer to use a separate written description.
The Expenses section works the same way as the Fees section.
You'll see all expense entries included on the prebill and all the same editing options are available, as well as the option to add an attachment to an expense entry.
The Total Matter Summary section provides a high level summary, and the Time Summary for Invoice section gives a summary of the amount of time that each time keeper has on the bill and the rate associated with that time.
At the firm level, you set the default structure and design for invoices, including the standard summaries that appear on them.
Those defaults can then be overridden at the Client or Matter level when needed.
This pre bill is pulling in whichever settings apply either the firm wide default or the customized settings for this specific client or matter.
To make a one off change on this individual pre bill, select Settings at the top of the page.
Line item settings allow you to choose which columns appear on the client's invoice.
For example, if you prefer not to show the time keeper's name, you can deselect that column and if you open the print preview, you'd see that the column had been removed from the final bill.
In the PDF Summary Settings section, you'll see that the Matter summary is currently enabled for a client based bill.
You could switch to a client summary instead.
The checked items are what appear in the Summary section.
You can select or deselect items depending on what you want included.
The Showtime Summary option controls whether time keepers appear with their role and rate.
Turning this off removes that section from the prebill and the invoice.
Private Notes allow you to add internal comments that will appear only on printed prebills.
These notes never appear on the client's invoice.
The Customer Memo section lets you add a note that will appear on the client's invoice.
This is commonly used for messages such as holiday greetings or client required details like claim numbers.
You can also use the paper icon to copy information directly from the matter, such as the matter name or number, so you don't have to retype it.
The Billing Statement toggle allows you to include a billing statement with the invoice.
You can specify the transaction order and the statement type.
When enabled, the billing statement is placed first, followed by a copy of the current invoice.
After the prebill has been fully reviewed, adjusted and approved, it's ready to be generated as an invoice and delivered to the client.
That concludes our walkthrough of reviewing, managing, and editing prebills.