The Pre-Bill Tracking feature facilitates tracking the status of individual clients' pre-bills and final statements.

Prior to sending statements to clients, a pre-bill is created via Generate Statements. Using the Pre-Bill Tracking window, timekeepers can review the statements, make changes, and indicate which clients’ statements need to be held. Once complete, the reviewed pre-bills are used to generate final statements which can be sent to the clients.

The Pre-Bill Tracking window facilitates this process by keeping track of:

  Whether (and when) a pre-bill for a client was generated.

  Which user is assigned to review the pre-bill.

  Whether a pre-bill for a client was put on hold.

  Whether a pre-bill for a client was reviewed and is ready to have a final statement generated.

  Whether (and when) a final statement for a client was generated.

The use of pre-bill tracking is optional; Tabs3 Billing does not require that you use the feature. However, you may find that it provides an efficient way to keep track of statements that are under review so that you can follow up on any outstanding pre-bills or see which statements are on hold. This feature is particularly useful for firms that send out a large number of statements each month.

When are Pre-Bills Created?

The Options tab for the Generate Statements window includes a Statement Type of Pre-Bill. When this type is selected, Tabs3 Billing creates a pre-bill for each client included in the batch of statements. These pre-bills can be previewed as needed within Tabs3 Billing, marked as reviewed, and a final statement that matches the pre-bill can be generated.

Additionally, for Generate Statements with a Statement Type of Draft and Detail Work-In-Process Reports, the Options tab includes an Update Pre-Bill Tracking check box. When this check box is selected, Tabs3 Billing creates “legacy pre-bill records” for each client included on the draft statement or report. Legacy pre-bill records can be tracked, marked as reviewed or on hold, and used to generate a final statement. However, legacy pre-bill records do not create a full pre-bill, so the following features are adjusted:

To gain the additional features of a pre-bill, run Generate Statements with a Statement Type of “Pre-Bill” rather than a draft statement or Detail Work-In-Process Report with Update Pre-Bill Tracking.

Note: Pre-bills and final statements cannot coexist for the same client. Generating a pre-bill or final statement will override the existing record for that client; however, legacy pre-bills will not override an existing pre-bill or final statement.

Note: If a default report definition is not defined for the Generate Statements window, the Statement Type will default based on the Statement Type setting on the Pre-Bills tab of Statement Customization.

Tip: Some firms may want pre-bills created when Generate Statements is run, but not when Detail Work-In-Process Reports are run. In this situation, the firm would want to set up a default report definition for the Detail Work-In-Process Report that has the Update Pre-Bill Tracking check box cleared. When running Generate Statements, they would select a Statement Type of Pre-Bill.

Note: When running a Detail Work-In-Process Report, pre-bills are not created when the report is run by working timekeeper (regardless of whether the Update Pre-Bill Tracking check box is selected).

See also:   Notes About the Detail Work-In-Process Report

Working with Pre-Bills

Once the pre-bills have been created, a user is assigned to track the pre-bills status in the Pre-Bill Tracking window. By default, the user is assigned based on the Assign Pre-Bills setting on the Pre-Bills tab of Statement Customization, but can be reassigned from the Pre-Bill Tracking or Pre-Bill Information window. A badge on the Pre-Bill Tracking icon in the Home Page or Quick Launch pane will show how many pre-bills are assigned to the current user that are not marked as "reviewed" or "on hold." The assigned user can be changed in the Pre-Bill Information window.

While reviewing, you can click the date hyperlink in the Pre-Bill column to open the associated pre-bill in the Pre-Bill Information window for review. During the review process, changes can be made to the transactions included by drilling down to the entry window (e.g., click a fee to open the Fee Entry window for that transaction).

Note: Changes to a transaction that is included on a pre-bill can only be done when drilling down to the transaction from the Pre-Bill Information window, unless the user has rights to Modify Pre-Bill Transactions Outside of Pre-Bills. Attempting to make changes from outside this window will display a message that the transaction cannot be edited.

Note: Fees included on pre-bills that are generated using a Statement Template with an Info Only Fee Format remain as work-in-process, and are therefore not protected like other pre-billed transactions. Info Only statements are commonly used for contingency clients. Users can add, change, or delete fees if they have rights to do so. Each time a pre-bill is viewed, the fees will be refreshed based on the current WIP transactions, using the fee transaction cut-off date specified in Generate Statements when the pre-bill was created. Finalizing the pre-bill also refreshes the fees, so the final statement will be created based on current WIP transactions.

Note: Payments entered after a pre-bill has been created but before it has been finalized will automatically be included on the pre-bill if the payment matches the criteria specified when the pre-bill was generated.

Individual or groups of pre-bills can be marked as "reviewed" or "on hold." Once pre-bills have been marked, you can change the record selection options to see only the desired records such as pre-bills on hold, all pre-bills that have been reviewed, or all clients that have final statements printed. You can view pre-bills by primary, secondary or originating timekeeper as well as for a specific timekeeper or a range of timekeepers. If desired, you can print a Pre-Bill Tracking Report that shows this information.

Note: If a pre-bill for a client is marked as "reviewed" or "on hold" and another pre-bill is run for the client, it is assumed that this new pre-bill needs to be reviewed. Accordingly, the record will be updated to reflect the most recent pre-bill date and batch number and the record will no longer be marked as "reviewed" or "on hold." To ensure that pre-bills are not replaced during the review process, it is important to view these pre-bills by clicking the date hyperlink in the Pre-Bill column of the Pre-Bill Tracking window instead of using the Detail Work-In-Process Report or Generate Statements windows to create a new pre-bill.

Tip: During the review process, use the Comments pane to make note of who is performing the review, what needs to be changed, and when the statement is ready to be sent to the client. These comments are preserved throughout the billing process, and can be viewed on the Pre-Bill Information or Final Statement Information window. Comments are not available once a final statement has been updated.

After the review process has been completed, final statements can be generated directly from the Pre-Bill Tracking window for pre-bills that have been marked as reviewed and are not on hold. Click the Final Statements button to create final statements that match the pre-bill. Once the final statements have been created, click the date hyperlink in the Final column to open the associated final statement in the Final Statement Information window.

Note: You must run final statements from the Pre-Bill Tracking window via the Final Statements button in order to recognize the "on hold" and "reviewed" designations. Running final statements from the Generate Statements window overwrites the existing pre-bill; therefore, to ensure that final statements are identical to reviewed pre-bills, it is important to instead create these final statements by clicking the Final Statements button in the Pre-Bill Tracking window.

Note: The Unbill Final Statements utility will remove the final statement date from the Pre-Bill Tracking information (provided a pre-bill was run) and the "reviewed" status will remain unchanged. However, if no pre-bill was created and a final statement is unbilled, the pre-bill tracking record will be deleted.

Undoing Pre-Bills

Pre-bills for a client can be removed in one of two ways. The information is automatically removed when a final statement is updated for the client. It can also be manually undone by clicking the button on the toolbar, right-clicking and selecting Undo Pre-Bill, or opening the Pre-Bill Information window and using the Undo Pre-Bill action. When click the button, the Delete Pre-Bill Tracking Records window will be displayed and the user will be given the opportunity to delete the selected record(s), all records displayed, or all records for a range of batch numbers.

See also:   Tabs3 Billing Statements Guide