As the administrator of a firm
with nine attorneys, I was given the responsibility to select a
time-and-billing system with integrated accounting capability. The
system needed to meet the stringent guidelines of our insurance
carriers, which represent the majority of our clients.
During an exhaustive search, I reviewed Juris,
Timeslips, PC Law and Tabs3 from Software Technology
Inc. (Software Technology, Inc.). I contacted various qualified
consultants representing each of the companies over a period of
six months and chose Tabs3. We found that Software
Technology, Inc. had the best suite of products to address our
unique and varied billing requirements, not to mention the integration
with its own accounting and practice management systems. We chose
Tabs3 over the other products because of the flexibility
in customizing the program to our specific requirements. My familiarity
with the DOS version also played a part in our decision.
We retained a certified Software Technology,
Inc. integrator [Harry Salavantis of Resource Advisors] to manage
the installation of Tabs3 and the associated accounting
programs. With the guidance of our integrator, we were able to bring
our systems fully online in a matter of days-a process that could
not have been managed in that time frame. Today, our billing and
accounting operations have never been more efficient.
Tabs3 greatly simplified
the fee input process, production of prebills, billing statements
and the recording of payments. Our attorneys and staff enter time
directly into Tabs3 at their workstations and are
able to monitor the entire billing process. I assist in the editing
process and produce the final bills for each of our clients. Many
of our clients now require "paperless" in-voices and use
software that is compatible with the Tabs3 interface.
At the end of the month, I'm able to access
and customize a variety of reports on all areas of our law practice.
One report includes the Timekeeper Recap Report, which shows the
total of billable and non-billable hours during each day of any
given month. I use the Reports Suite function within Tabs3,
Version 10 to produce reports that I had previously defined in just
a few keystrokes. Tabs3's interface is easy to
understand and virtually guides me through the entire billing process.
The program offers on-demand backup protection and the ability to
unbill a statement, reverse a write-off and even reprint a statement
we produced years ago. We have reduced the time spent producing
bills and performing our accounts receivable efforts by over 40
percent.
After we produce the regular monthly bills,
we're able to generate detailed reminder statements for clients
with past due balances. This eliminates the need to manually produce
collection letters, which saves the firm about a full day of staff
time each month.
I use the Tabs3 Client Manager
program to manage the tasks I work with most often. From the Client
Manager, I can access over a dozen program functions, such as entering
fees, costs, payments, work in process reports, etc., from the same
window. In fact, each person in the firm can customize the Client
Manager based on his or her own requirements.
Once Tabs3 has been set
up properly and there is a good understanding of the program's capabilities,
the system automates many time-intensive tasks. For example, some
of our clients will not allow us to submit a bill unless it is greater
than $500 in fees and costs. Using Tabs3's Threshold
Billing feature I'm able to control when a bill is generated without
having to manually sort through pre-bills that have not met the
minimum billing requirement. Because of Tabs3's
flexibility, I can see why the program works well in almost any
type of law practice.
I can also run many bills at the same time
by using various billing frequencies to group together. clients
with similar requirements Statements can be customized based on
each client and attorneys' requirements. We created statement templates
and assign a template to each case. This ensures each case's statement
is printed based on the client's requirement.
Recently we decided to upgrade our systems
to Version 10 and receive training on the program's new features.
I can honestly state that this program continues to improve with
each release, and yet the functionality of what we have already
learned has been preserved.
In Version 10, I can view a statement on
the screen and edit any fee, cost or payment entry from the same
window. In fact, many of the reports in Tabs3 now
have what is referred to as "drill-down" editing capability.
The Tabs3 Work-In-Process Report can be customized
by selecting the information we are most interested in viewing.
Data entry in Tabs3 has been simplified with Quick
Entry features in the fee and cost program that allow a user to
reduce the number of fields on the screen with a click of the mouse.
In Version 10 of Tabs3,
the payment program has been enhanced by displaying specific accounts
receivable information for a particular invoice as the payment is
being applied. Previously, only the entire accounts receivable was
shown.
The fact that I can now print a regular monthly
statement showing detailed past due information is a feature that
has already improved the collection of outstanding accounts receivable.
For our insurance defense clients that use
a regular paper invoice, Tabs3 Version 10 gives
me the ability to include task codes on the bill and even summarizes
all activity by the specific task and phase.
Some of the attorneys in our firm are interested
in the integration of Tabs3 and the Palm Pilot
computing platform. In fact, Software Technology, Inc. has just
released its own software for the Palm Pilot that allows you to
record time and cost entries while away from the office. This feature
will allow attorneys to load the cases they are working on directly
to their Palm Pilot and record time and expenses associated with
a case while away from the office. The software automatically synchronizes
the information between the Palm Pilot and Tabs3,
saving the staff from re-inputting time from time sheets. Anything
we can do speed the billing process is worth the investment in software
and training.
We are also considering adding Software Technology,
Inc.'s PracticeMaster practice management system, which will allow
us to fully automate our docket in the areas of calendaring, contact
management and document automation. We think PracticeMaster will
be of benefit to the entire firm by consolidating information from
Tabs3 and case information into one customizable
software application.
From the time we began using Tabs3
in 1998 through the conversion to Version 10, we have not had a
single occurrence of data corruption or down time related to Software
Technology, Inc. software. Software Technology, Inc. has been
responsive to all our needs by providing quick and reliable technical
support. The investment we made in software, implementation and
training was recaptured within six months of using the software.
The annual investment in the Software Technology,
Inc. maintenance contract provides us with unlimited technical
support, informative monthly newsletters from Software Technology,
Inc. and free updates as they become available.
I would recommend Tabs3
for any firm that is looking to vastly improve its billing and accounting
operations. The software is easy to use and well within the budget
of most law practices.
Karen L Thiel is the administrator for Gunning
& LaFazia Inc. a Providence, R.I., law firm specializing in
matters of insurance defense. Telephone: (401) 521-6900.
Harry W. Salavantis, Legal Software Applications
Specialist
Resource Advisors for Computers Corporation
Albany, New York
518-381-9244
Software Technology, Inc.
1-402-423-1440
1-800-487-7111 ext. 376
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Tabs3
Billing
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