Release 17.106 - September 2017 – Legalsense

The update of Legalsense of September 2017 (17.106) contains the following changes:

Insolvency

These changes are mentioned first because they are relevant to how Legalsense reports values for (Dutch) insolvency cases.

When calculating the Work in Progress (WIP) value in an insolvency matter the billed time entries are no longer used when determining the value compared to the 'cap' value.
A column with the total Work in Progress (WIP) value (without a 'cap') has been added to the reporting builder. The WIP value without taking the 'cap' into account is also added to the matter page under 'Insolvency'.
The insolvency number has been added to the insolvency (matter) report.

Time

Time entries that are on draft invoices are now displayed in the search result with a different status and with a link to the draft invoice (instead of still showing as 'billable').
When time entries are displayed in decimals (instead of hour:minutes) they are also exported to Excel as decimal number (e.g. 1,5 instead of 1:30).
Time input fields now allow values without the leading zero, e.g. ',5' instead of '0,5'.
A 'comment' field has been added to time entries for usage when importing data from other systems. The field will be made available on different forms and on the invoice in a future release.

Contacts, clients and matters

Copying an engagement letter from a previous matter (for that client) also shows the archived matters as available matters to copy from.
An email address can be set to be the default 'dunning' email for a debtor. This address will then be used when exporting debtors to external dunning software or when syncing this debtor to Twinfield.
The job title (function) of a contact person at an organization can now be added. A person can have one job title per organization.
Adding contacts to a matter with the same organization but different contact persons is no longer blocked.
AML: The status of an engagement letter is now also displayed on the Matter AML page.
AML: a 'cancel' button has been added when a matter offers to copy from a previous AML checklist (for that client).
AML: when AML is not required (answer: No), fields that are not required are hidden on the detail page.
Conflict check: the referral field and the role of the contact have been added to the conflict search result.
Conflict check: the organization registration number (Chamber of Commerce/Trade register number) has been added to the search result and can now also be used as a search parameter.
The default invoice language used for new debtors/clients can be different than the default system language. Please request Legalsense support to change this setting if you want a different default invoice language.

Billing / reporting

A separate permission is now available for viewing 'sent emails' on an invoice page. Users with the 'view invoice' permission can in this way be prevented from also viewing the 'sent emails' for an invoice. Please contact Legalsense support to change the permission settings for your environment.
Billing workflow: it is possible to change the configuration for your workflow and set the matter supervisor as the reviewer of the invoice instead of the billing supervisor.
Billing workflow: it is possible to configure an automatic third step in the workflow for creating another review task for the billing or matter supervisor.
Billing workflow: when a maximum amount threshold has been configured in Legalsense, an automatic approval step will be created when the amount of the invoice is decreased by more than the threshold amount. The approval step was created for the head of the practice group (that the matter(s) of the invoice belong to). It is now possible to configure a different Legalsense user as the (managing) partner/user that these approval steps are created for. This can only be one person (for the whole firm).
The field 'Time writing user' has been renamed to 'Timekeeper'.
The 'user id' field has been added to the reports as a grouping option.
A 'WIP time' column has been added to the report builder.
The field 'Activity number' has been added to the reports as a grouping/filter option.
When editing a report that has 'Show empty report' activated, the report won't be rendered on the 'edit structure' page. For complicated or large reports, having to wait for the report to be rendered (when editing) can be problematic.
A filter for the 'leverage teamleader' has been added to the report builder.
A filter for the originator of a client (as opposed to the originator field on a matter) has been added to the report builder.
When adding a custom (ad hoc) fee line on the invoice you have the option to select a date and user (fee earner). That will create a time entry of 0:00 hours in the background with the amount you specified on the invoice line. You can now configure what activity (code) is used for these time entries and a default (hidden) activity has been added and activated for this. Under 'Settings - Firm' there is field to change the default activity to be used when creating a ad hoc fee line.

User management

The filter choices (active, inactive, archived, all) have been added to the top of the list of users(as well as the bottom).
A download to Excel option has been added to the list of users.
Custom fields can be added per user. These fields can be used in Word templates or Invoice texts (header and footer fields).
Security: by request we can configure Legalsense to only allow one session per user. Normally, the same user can log in from multiple devices at the same time (e.g. a laptop and an iPad). We can enforce 'single sessions' so that a user can only be logged in on one device at a time.

API

Legalsense currently offers two API's both are REST(ful) APIs/webservices. The first one is named APIv1 and is slowly becoming deprecated (and being replaced by the second API). The second API is called the Legalsense REST API and actively maintained (and expanded).

Changes in APIv1

Archived contact kinds are now available in the APIv1 (soon to be deprecated) and an 'is_active' value has been added for the contact kinds.

Changes in the Legalsense REST API

It is now no longer possible to view the API homepage (with a list of possible endpoints) without authentication.
An endpoint for 'Firm' has been added (read only). This allows for retrieval of the firm name (among other fields).
A 'Client' endpoint had been added.
An 'Addresses' endpoint had been added including an endpoint for 'Address kinds'.
The 'Contact' and 'Matter' endpoints have been extended.
A 'Expenses' (Disbursements) endpoint has been added including an endpoint for 'Expense types'.
A 'Invoice' endpoint has been added to the API (read only) including a separate endpoint for 'Payments' (create/read/update/delete).
The field 'email' has been added to the Users endpoint.

Other changes

When a different 'address label name' has been set for a contact person, this name is now used when syncing that information to Twinfield.
When an invoice is not 'synced with Twinfield' (because that has been explicitly chosen for that invoice) this is displayed with the invoice 'meta'-information.

Microsoft CRM integration

Legalsense now offers an integration with Microsoft (Dynamics) CRM (365). The integration is only available when CRM has been configured in a specific way (e.g. with Matter templates). Please contact Legalsense support for more information.