System Flow

The following is a list of functions that should be completed on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. These steps can be modified to better suit your firm as necessary.

Daily Functions

Add new clients.
Add new contacts.
Run Conflict of Interest checks as required.
Change existing clients as needed.
Run Import Online Payments.
Enter new fees, costs, and payments. Print verification lists.
Import online payments.
Enter new retainers.
Change existing fee, cost, payment, and client funds transactions if needed.
Print Detail and/or Summary Work-In-Process reports as needed.
Generate "on demand" statements as needed.
Run the Data File Integrity Check utility.
Back up data files.

Monthly Functions

Print the following reports as needed:
Write-up/write-down fees and/or costs for clients before printing pre-bills.
Print a Write-Up/Write-Down Report.
Generate pre-bills as needed (i.e., Detail Work-In-Process Reports or draft statements).
Adjust flat fee clients.
Adjust split billing clients.
Make any necessary changes to fees, costs, and payments, and reprint pre-bills as needed.
Using the Pre-Bill Tracking window, mark returned pre-bills as reviewed. Determine which pre-bills have not been returned.
Generate final statements.
Note: 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.
Make corrections to fee, cost, and payment transactions and reprint statements if necessary.
Print and review a Pre-Update Statements Report. If corrections are necessary, unbill the client, make changes and rebill the client.

Run the Data File Integrity Check.
Run the Archive Integrity Check.
Back up your data files. You may want to maintain this backup for a period of time in case you need to print reports as of this date or view information from before statements were updated.
Update statements and print the Update Statements Verification List.
Review and send email statements if necessary.
Print Accounts Receivable Reports as needed:
Print an Accounts Receivable by Invoice Report as needed.
Print other productivity/management reports as needed. Use the last day of the month of the billing period for the report date. (Tip: Consider creating a Report Suite for your month-end reports.)
Run the Set Current Reporting Month utility.
Select the Inactive check box for any clients that should be designated as inactive (located on the Address tab of the Client Information window).
Write off clients as required.
Run the Data File Integrity Check utility.
Back up data files.

Quarterly Functions

Print a Detail-Work-In-Process Report to review all clients (if not already printed).
Print an Aged-Work-In-Process Report for all clients to review which clients are not being billed that should be.
Print a Detail Accounts Receivable Report and Collections Report to review all clients (if not already printed).

Annual Functions

Run the Data File Integrity Check.
Run the Archive Integrity Check.
Back up your data files. You may want to maintain this backup for a period of time in case you need to print reports as of this date or view information from before statements were updated.
Run the Update Statements utility for any client whose final statement was run but not updated.
Print any accounts receivable, work-in-process, management, and productivity reports used by your firm. These reports do not have to be run for Tabs3 Billing to function properly. They are used as aids in decision making.
Caution: The accounts receivable reports will change the next time you run the Update Statements utility. Therefore, we strongly recommend printing year-end accounts receivable and work-in-process reports for future reference. Most firms want the ability to see their accounts receivable and work-in-process as of year-end. Due to the size of some of these reports, you may want to consider saving them as PDFs rather than printing them. If you do not run these reports at year-end, you will not be able to access this information without restoring to a backup created at year-end.
Platinum Note: The Platinum edition of Tabs3 Billing can run accounts receivable reports for Historic A/R, which prints the report as of a prior date. This allows you to print these reports as of year-end at any time. See KB Article R11379, "Platinum Overview," for additional information on the features available in Platinum systems.
We recommend retaining a year-end backup in the event you need to print reports as of the year-end or view the information for other reasons. You may want to consider retaining this backup for a year or longer. This backup could be an external backup, or a copy of the ARQ file created by the built-in Back Up Data Files program. Refer to KB Article R11421, "Creating a Built-in Backup Without Overwriting an Existing Backup" for more information.
Run the Set Current Reporting Month utility.
Print a Timekeeper List that includes timekeeper overhead amounts. Review these amounts and edit as necessary using the Timekeeper Information window.

See also:	Knowledge Base Article R11693 - Tabs3 Year-End Overview
	Knowledge Base Article R11421 - Creating a Built-in Backup Without Overwriting an Existing Backup

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