LexisNexis Time Matters — Billing Matters

From
the Nov. 2006 Review of Time & Billing Systems

The Billing
Matters system provides a comprehensive time and expense management, client
billing and accounting program that includes automated invoicing capabilities,
recurring payables, check writing and customizable pre-bills, along with the
ability to manage vendors, payables and other related issues. The system can
support any number of clients, staff and projects, with the ability to utilize
multiple billing methods. It also integrates with many accounting packages as
well as with its sibling product, Time Matters, which provides a comprehensive
practice management application. The Billing Matters system is available in
two versions: Professional and Enterprise. A single-user license of the Professional
version costs $350 with the ability to add additional users for $200 each. The
Enterprise version starts at $700.

Ease of Use/Navigation Features — 4.5 Stars
After wizard-guided setup of clients, staff, rates, expenses and other items,
the system opens to a mostly blank screen that houses only the primary icon
menu across the top. While all of the system’s features are available
from this menu and a pull-down menu, the program also offers a selection of
“navigators,” which can act as the primary interface for the system.
Navigators are available for Regular Activities, Simple Billing, Advanced Billing,
Billing Setup, Management Reports and Schedule Activities. These screens provide
workflow diagrams based on that task group, each showing the various components
of time, billing and other processes. Icons within these diagrams allow users
to jump to various specific tasks including time and expense entry, for which
there are three methods to choose: Quick Item, Timesheet or Add Bill Item.

Quick Item entry displays a spreadsheet of all billing records for a specific
time range with sorting and filtering options. This allows administrative users
to easily manage, input or review time and expenses for multiple users. The
Timesheet method is calendar based, allowing the user to simply plug in data
on a five- or seven-day calendar. The program’s Add Bill Item is the most
comprehensive in the data it provides, allowing authorized users to modify,
adjust, mark-up or make other changes to invoices. Billing Matters can also
create time slip entries from activities or tasks already on a staff member’s
calendar. Although the system can be occasionally overwhelming because of its
vast features, all data-entry screens provide intuitive navigation and clean
interfaces that require a minimum amount of data-entry fields. Additionally,
the system’s client and staff lists are well-designed, providing simplified
searching and management of data.

Management Functions — 5 Stars
Billing Matters offers several very useful managerial functions, including an
easily referenceable master billing list that displays all time and expense
records in a spreadsheet view, with associated summaries also available. The
program offers multiple billing methods (split, flat and consolidated) and can
support any number of staff with an unlimited number of rates per staff member.
The built-in calendaring system in Billing Matters allows viewing of individual
or multiple calendars side-by-side with day, week and monthly views with the
ability to turn calendar activities into timesheets. The system supports trust
account billing.

Among other notable features, the system includes analysis reporting for assessing
productivity by client, staff and tasks. The system’s BillFlow Manager,
which provides an automated workflow process that assists in managing the data
entry and invoicing process. Management can set this system to notify them or
other users when tasks need to be performed. Additionally, several alerts and
alarms are available that can notify users of virtually any situation, while
Triggers can be set to automatically perform an action if/when a specific event
happens. A full-time audit trail maintains a history of all data changes. A
wireless device option also allows users to remotely enter time, contact and
calendar data.

Billing & Reporting — 5 Stars
The Billing Matters system provides several billing options, from basic summary
invoices to more comprehensive detailed invoices, as well as those for split
and consolidated bills. All reports are customizable using the report writer/invoice
designer, which can be used for all client communications, and can automatically
adjust message content based upon client data. The reports offer drilldown capability
when viewed on-screen, and the system can create *.PDFs of any report, invoice
or scanned-in document.

Integration — 4.5 Stars
Billing Matters offers direct integration with Time Matters, the vendor’s
comprehensive practice management application, and if you choose to turn off
the Billing Matters Accounting functions, you can integrate with QuickBooks
for accounting. The system also imports data from Timeslips, ACT!, GoldMine
and Tabs3, and can integrate with Outlook for contact management and e-mail.
As noted above, it allows output of all reports and invoices into *.PDF and
can export into Excel format, as well.

User Support & Help — 4.5 Stars
Billing Matters offers a well-built Help system with right-click menus and offers
guidance in most setup tasks. The system includes training videos on CD as well
as links within the program to the company’s support website and training
options.

2006 Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars