Budgets

In Legalsense it is possible to enter a budget for each matter. A budget can be desirable for several reasons a.o. to see if a matter is still financially in line.

Adding a budget

1. Go to 'Clients' - 'Matters'

2. Select the applicable matter and choose 'Add Budget'.

3. The form below opens

When a period is set on the budget, only the time entries written with a date in the selected period will be taken into account. This gives you four possibilities for setting a budget.

• Without a ‘Begin date’ and ‘End date’ set:
  The budget takes all time entries written into account that have been written on the (sub)matter.
• When a ‘Begin date’ is set, but the ‘End date’ is left blank:
  The budget takes all time entries into account, starting from the begin date onward, written on the (sub)matter.
• When the ‘Begin date’ is left blank, but the ‘End date’ is set:
  The budget takes all time entries into account written before the specified end date on the (sub)matter.
• When the ‘Begin date’ and ‘End date’ are set for the budget:
  The budget only takes into account time entries written in the selected period for the (sub)matter.

This allows for the possibility of setting multiple budgets for a (sub)matter with different or overlapping periods or rates.

Budget kind

The budget can be based on:

Hours:

• All hours available on the (sub)matter
• Billable hours on the (sub)matter

Amounts:

• • Expected amount based on the rate scheme
  • Amount based on standard hourly rates

Expected amount

With 'Expected amount' a budget amount has to be specified based on the pricing scheme as it is set on the matter. The budget that is 'Used' is everything that has already been invoiced and the WIP is calculated at the rate schedule that is selected.

Virtual amount

In case of  'Virtual amount' the budget is determined based on the hourly rates as they are set for the employees. The budget that is 'Used' is calculated based on all work at the hourly rate, ignoring any discounts and deductions.

Budget notifications

For a budget, it is possible to set up three notifications, of which two settings can be configured by the office. The notifications can be configured via ‘Settings’ – ‘General’ – ‘System’.

Notification 1 – Blue
This is the first notification, triggered when the first set threshold percentage is reached on the (sub)matter.

Notification 2 – Orange
This is the second notification, triggered when the second set threshold percentage is reached on the (sub)matter.

Notification 3 – Red
The budget is used 100% or more on the (sub)matter.

Set a notification

To enable these notifications click the checkboxes next to the ‘Notify timekeeper’, ‘Notify matter supervisor’, ‘Notify billing supervisor’ when creating a budget on a (sub)matter. The notification is shown when the user logs into ‘Time entry’, it remains visible until it is clicked away.

When multiple budgets are applicable to a (sub)matter, during time entry on the (sub)matter, all relevant budget alerts will be shown during time entry on the (sub) matter.

Please note that from Legalsense, no further blocking is added to the (sub)matter. It is now up to the ‘Matter supervisor’, ‘Billing supervisor’, or firm to decide what the next steps for the matter should be (analyze deviation, adjust budget, renegotiate with client etc.)

4. Click 'Add Budget' and the budget will be added to the matter.

Reporting on budgets

In Legalsense, you can report on budgets via ‘Reports’ - ‘Budgets.’ The report is visible to users with the permission 'view_report',

This report is divided into eight columns: 'Matter Number', 'Matter', 'Submatter', 'Client', 'Begin date', 'End date', 'Budget Hours', 'Hours Used', 'Budget Amount', 'Amount Used', and 'Last time entry'. Depending on the set filters and availability of the information, empty columns will be left out of the report.

Below, the different columns are explained:

• Matter Number: The number of the matter for which the budget has been created.

• Matter: The name of the matter for which the budget has been created. This is a hyperlink that allows you to click and access the relevant matter.

• Submatter: The name of the submatter for which the budget has been created.

• Client: The name of the client associated with the matter on which the budget has been created. This is a hyperlink that allows you to click and open the corresponding client card.

• Begin date: The begin date of a budget on a (sub)matter.
• End date: The end date of a budget on a (sub)matter.

• Budget Hours: The set budget expressed in hours, when the budget is based on hours for the matter.

• Hours Used: The number of hours currently recorded on the matter, consumed in relation to the total budget.

• Budget Amount: The set budget expressed in amount, when the budget is based on an amount for the matter.

• Amount Used: The amount currently recorded on the matter as fees, consumed in relation to the total budget.

• Last time entry: The date of the last written time entry on the matter.

In addition to these fixed columns, you have several filters available to customize the report results as you wish. The filters are explained below:

• Client: Here, you can enter the desired client to filter the results for that specific client.

• Matter: Here, you can enter the desired matter to filter the results for that specific matter.

• Budgets Based On: Here, you can choose from ‘Hours,’ ‘Amount,’ or ‘Both,’ allowing you to filter based on the type of budget set for the matter.

• Budget status: The options are below-, near-, and over budget.
  Below budget means anything below 100%.
  Near budget means between the set percentages, close to the amount set in the budget.
  Over budget means anything above 100% of the budget.

• Include Budgets on Archived Matters: Here, you can select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to determine whether to include budgets on archived matters in your search results.

• Include Budgets on Submatters: Here, you can select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to determine whether to include budgets on submatters in your search results. If 'Yes' is selected, budgets for submatters will be displayed as lines in the results.

• Valid from: From when does the budget take effect for the relevant (sub)matter.

• To: Until which date the budget is valid for the relevant (sub)matter.

Finally, you also have the option to export the report to Excel using the ‘Export’ button.