AdvoLogix Help

Billing Preview⚡Component

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The Billing Preview provides an immediate perspective on time and expenses relative to each account, matter, and organization. Though the component has been designed to work in conjunction with accounting integrations, organizations will find the functionality quite useful for reviewing time and expense metrics at the account and matter levels.

The information in this article applies to the billing preview functionality available in the Lightning experience. Please see this article for information regarding the classic user experience.

From AdvoLogix Matter Management v1.140.x onward, the new Billing Preview⚡component is generated using the billings object. For more details, follow this link.

What is the billing preview?

The billing preview provides the following functionality:

  • Subtotals at the time, expense, matter, and account level.
  • A summary view by accounts or matters using collapsible headings to hide details.
  • Multiple filters are available, including start/end date, account, matter, timekeeper, type, disposition, status, focus matters, list filters, and others.
  • The hyperlink single-click access to time, expense, timekeeper, matter, and account records.
  • The printable view generates multiple output formats, such as an LEDES file per billing party of a matter, an Excel spreadsheet, or a CSV data file.

It is important to note that the AdvoLogix Billing Preview is based on the fundamental principle that all billable matters must be assigned to a primary account for billing and accounting purposes.

Can I control what is displayed in the billing preview?

Yes! Users can control what is displayed in the billing preview using the action buttons shown below:

  1. Use the Create Billing action button to manually add a billing entry. Your users can also add an ad-hoc billing entry for an Administrative Fee or Other Fee using this action button.
    (If your administrators have configured any custom actions for the billing preview, then this button will show an additional drop menu to activate those actions. For more details, follow this link.)
     
  2. Sections can be easily collapsed (or expanded) in one of two ways:
    1. The entire preview can be controlled by using the Collapse All or Expand All icon (shown above).
    2. Individual sections may be controlled by clicking the icon in each account or matter heading.
       
  3. Use this menu to generate and export the current preview window in one of the following ways:
    1. Send the report to a Printable View. For more details on supported export formats, follow this link.
    2. Post the report to a user's Chatter Feed.
       
  4. Refresh the current preview with data.
     
  5. Select multiple billings (with their checkboxes), then use the Mass Edit button to edit multiple rows simultaneously.
     
  6. The chart icon displays a selection of charts in the sidebar.
     
  7. The chatter icon displays the chatter feed for the selected billing record.
     
  8. The filter icon shows or hides the filter panes for the preview window.

There are several ways to identify the information selected for display in the Billing Preview.

  1. The date range is used to select records based on their respective date values. The Start Date will default to the first day of the previous month, and the End Date will default to the current date.
     
  2. [optional] Select the Matter Record Type to limit the preview to billings that are assigned to the selected record type of matters.
     
  3. [optional] Select the Type option of matter to limit the preview of billings.
     
  4. [optional] Entering an Account value will limit the preview to matters that are assigned to the selected account.
     
  5. [optional] Entering a Matter value will limit the preview to billings that are assigned to the selected matter.
     
  6. [optional] Entering a Timekeeper value will limit the preview to billings that are assigned to the selected timekeeper.
  1. Select the type of billings to be shown within the preview window.
     
  2. Select one or more billing Disposition values (Bill, Do Not Bill, Hold or No Charge). The default values are required by the Accounting Seed integration. Otherwise, you may use your own values here. It is advised to name the disposition options the same throughout your organization.
     
  3. The view menu option allows the end user to limit the matters appearing in the billing preview.
    • Select Focus Matters to limit the display to matters qualified for the user's focus matters list.
    • When enabled, the Use List Filter allows the user to select a matter list view filter. This filter allows users to display only those items related to matters that meet the criteria of the list view's filter.
       
  4. Select one or more billing Status values (Unprocessed, Billed, Not Billed). The default values are required by the Accounting Seed integration. Otherwise, you may use your own values here. It is advised to name the status options the same throughout your organization.
     
  5. [optional] Exclude any previously exported billings from the preview window.
     
  6. Upon adjusting any of these criteria, the Apply button becomes visible to refresh the preview with the current filter criteria. Use the Clear all filters action link on this button bar to reset the filters to the default view parameters.
     

What values are displayed in the billing preview?

The billing preview is essentially a dynamic columnar report interface with section headings at the account, matter, and billing type levels.

  1. The account heading is the top level and provides the heading for all matters assigned to the account.
     
  2. The total column for the account row includes the tally for all matters assigned to the account.
     
  3. There may be multiple matter headings for each account.  All billing records will be grouped by type at the matter level.
     
  4. The total column for the matter row includes the tally for all billing records assigned to the matter.
     
  5. Each matter displays a subsection for billing records by type assigned to the matter. Since billing hours are universal across all records, the quantity header displays total hours in the quantity heading.
     
  6. The total amount of all quantities for each billing type is displayed in the quantity heading.
     
  7. The total amount of all billings by type is displayed in the billing type group heading.
     
  8. When a record is marked as Do Not Bill, the Total column will be adjusted to $-0-.

Did you know?

  • The billing preview does not enforce a maximum number of billings shown at a time per matter, but it is advisable to use filters to limit the data displayed within the preview window, as a large amount of data will sometimes make the window appear frozen during normal operations.
  • The Next and Previous buttons will be made available to browse through the list of billing records when there are more than 200 records to show at a time in the billing preview.
  • The billing preview may be optionally configured to display custom fields.

Can I open or edit records from the billing preview?

  1. View the account record.
  2. View the matter record.
  3. View the billing record.
  4. View the source record (which could be a Time, Expense, or Matter Fee Arrangement).
  5. View the timekeeper record.
  6. The action menu allows full edit and delete capability for the billing record.

Can I customize the columns being displayed in the billing preview?

The highlighted list of columns are displayed by default in the billing preview. To customize the display and add/remove any columns from the preview window, your administrators can edit the field set provided by AdvoLogix to show or hide any columns within this window.

Follow these steps to control which columns to display within the preview window:

  • Go to Salesforce Setup | Object Manager | Billing.
  • Select Field Sets from the sidebar.
  • Edit the field set named fieldSet_BillingPreview.
  • Add or remove fields from the In the Field Set section to show or hide them from the billing preview window. (Only the fields within the In the Field Set section are displayed within the preview window.)

Billing preview allows for the customization of the display of columns between the Date and Quantity columns only. The other columns, such as Date, Quantity, Amount, and Total, cannot be removed from the preview window.

Can the billing preview be invoked with preset filter options?

Yes!  The billing preview can be launched with a variety of preset filter options. This may be especially useful for calling the preview directly from a matter or an account, with the resulting display filtered to the context of the underlying matter or account.

Billing Preview Filter Parameters

Billing Preview URL Format 

https://<INSTANCE-URL>/lightning/n/advpm__Billing_Preview_Lightning?<URL-PARAMETERS>

Where

  • <INSTANCE-URL>  is your organizations instance within the Salesforce platform.
  • <URL-PARAMETERS> are the optional filter parameters defined below.

Example

https://advex.ap1.visual.force.com/lightning/n/advpm__Billing_Preview_Lightning?advpm__accountId=<Account Id>&advpm__matterId=<Matter ID>

Supported URL Parameters:

  • advpm__accountId
    The Account ID filter parameter.
  • advpm__matterId
    Matter ID filter parameter.
  • advpm__timekeeperId
    Timekeeper ID filter parameter.
  • advpm__fromDate
    From Date, to be provided in the format of YYYY-MM-DD.
  • advpm__toDate
    To Date, to be provided in the format of YYYY-MM-DD.
  • advpm__filterByDisposition
    Comma separated list of Disposition filter values.
  • advpm__filterByStatus
    Comma separated list of Status filter values.
  • advpm__filterByType
    Comma separated list of Billing Type filter values.
  • advpm__hideExported
    True or False value.

All URL parameters must be appended with the AdvoLogix Matter Management namespace and two underscores (i.e. advpm__).

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