Budgets

Legalsense lets you set a budget on a matter, submatter, or client, so you can track whether it's staying within its financial or time boundaries.

Adding a budget on a (sub)matter

1. Go to the matter.
2. In the Budget status section, click Add Budget.

Budget status section on a matter, showing the Add Budget button.

3. Fill in the budget form that opens.

Budget form, showing the fields for configuring a new budget, including period, budget kind, and notification options.

When you set a period on the budget, only time entries with a date in that period count toward it. This gives you four ways to set a budget's period:

• No begin date and no end date: the budget takes into account all time entries written on the (sub)matter.
• Begin date set, end date blank: the budget takes into account all time entries written on the (sub)matter from the begin date onward.
• Begin date blank, end date set: the budget takes into account all time entries written on the (sub)matter before the end date.
• Both begin date and end date set: the budget only takes into account time entries written on the (sub)matter within that period.

This means you can set multiple budgets on a (sub)matter with different or overlapping periods or rates.

Budget kind

A budget can be based on:

• Hours: all hours available on the (sub)matter, or only the billable hours on the (sub)matter.
• Amounts: the expected amount based on the pricing scheme, or an amount based on standard hourly rates.

Note: Budget amounts always use your firm's default currency, also for clients you invoice in another currency.

Expected amount

With Expected amount, you specify a budget amount based on the pricing scheme set on the matter. The amount Used is everything already invoiced, plus the work in progress (WIP) valued at the selected rate schedule.

Virtual amount

With Virtual amount, the budget is based on the hourly rates set for the fee earners. The amount Used is calculated on all work at the hourly rate, ignoring any discounts or deductions.

Budget notifications

You can set up three notifications per budget. The thresholds for the first two are set for the whole firm at Settings → General → System, in the Budget section, with the Info notification percentage and Warning notification percentage fields.

• Notification 1 (blue): triggered when the Info notification percentage is reached on the (sub)matter. Legalsense only shows this notification if that field is filled in.

Blue budget notification indicator shown during time entry.

• Notification 2 (orange): triggered when the Warning notification percentage is reached on the (sub)matter. This is 80 percent by default.

Orange budget notification indicator shown during time entry.

• Notification 3 (red): triggered when the budget reaches 100 percent or more on the (sub)matter.

Red budget notification indicator shown during time entry.

To choose who receives these notifications, select the Notify timekeeper, Notify matter supervisor, and/or Notify billing supervisor checkboxes when you create a budget on a (sub)matter. Notify timekeeper is selected by default.

• Timekeepers see the notification on the time entry page while they write time on the matter. It disappears once they write time on a different matter, and they can't dismiss it.
• Matter supervisors and billing supervisors receive a message in the Budget alert box on their Home page when the budget passes a threshold. They receive it whether or not they write time on the matter themselves, and it stays visible until they dismiss it.

When multiple budgets apply to a (sub)matter, Legalsense shows all relevant budget alerts during time entry on that (sub)matter.

Note: Legalsense doesn't block time entry or billing based on a budget notification. It's up to the matter supervisor, billing supervisor, or firm to decide on next steps, such as analyzing the deviation, adjusting the budget, or renegotiating with the client.

4. Click Add Budget to save the budget on the matter.

Adding a budget on a client

1. Go to the client.
2. In the Budget status section, click Add Budget.

Budget status section on a client, showing the Add Budget button.

3. Fill in the form that opens. This is the same form as for a matter budget, with two additional fields.

Client budget form, showing the additional Matters and Add future matters fields.

The Matters field lets you select or deselect all matters to include in the budget. The Add future matters field automatically adds new matters of this client to the budget. A client can have multiple budgets, and a matter can be included in more than one budget.

If you select Notify matter supervisor or Notify billing supervisor on a client budget, Legalsense alerts the supervisors of every matter included in the budget.

When a matter is included in a client budget, this shows in the Budget status section on the matter itself.

Budget status section on a matter, showing a reference to the client-level budget it's included in.

Click the client budget link to open the client detail page. You can only edit a client budget from the client detail page, not from a matter.

Reporting on budgets

You can report on budgets via Reports → Budgets. This report is visible to users with the view_report permission.

Budgets report, showing matters, clients, budget hours and amounts, and usage.

The report can include the following columns; empty columns are left out depending on the filters applied and the information available:

• Matter number: the number of the matter the budget was created on.
• Matter: the name of the matter (a link that opens the matter).
• Submatter: the name of the submatter the budget was created on.
• Client: the name of the client linked to the matter (a link that opens the client).
• Begin date: the begin date of the budget on the (sub)matter.
• End date: the end date of the budget on the (sub)matter.
• Budget hours: the budgeted number of hours, for budgets based on hours.
• Hours used: the number of hours recorded on the matter so far, relative to the budget.
• Budget amount: the budgeted amount, for budgets based on an amount.
• Amount used: the amount recorded on the matter as fees so far, relative to the budget.
• Last time entry: the date of the last time entry written on the matter.

Use the following filters to refine the report:

• Client: filter results to a specific client.
• Matter: filter results to a specific matter.
• Budgets based on: filter by Hours, Amount, or Both.
• Budget status: filter by Below budget (under 100 percent), Near budget (close to the set threshold percentages), or Over budget (100 percent or more).
• Include archived: choose No archived objects, Archived matters, Archived clients, or All.
• Budget type: select Client, Matter, and/or Submatter to show budgets on the selected object types.
• Valid from: the date from which the budget takes effect for the relevant (sub)matter.
• To: the date until which the budget is valid for the relevant (sub)matter.

Click Export to export the report to Excel.

Troubleshooting

Supervisors or timekeepers receive too many budget notifications

If budget notifications appear for almost every budget, or right after a budget is created, check the following:

1. Go to Settings → General → System and find the Budget section. You need permission to manage the firm settings to open this page.
2. Check the Info notification percentage field. If it's set to 0, every budget triggers the first notification as soon as any time is written. Clear the field to turn the first notification off, or enter a meaningful percentage, for example 50.
3. Click Save.
4. On budgets where supervisors or timekeepers don't need notifications, edit the budget and clear Notify timekeeper, Notify matter supervisor, and/or Notify billing supervisor.

Note: Legalsense sends a supervisor alert each time a budget passes a threshold. If the amount used drops below a threshold and then rises past it again, for example after a time entry is moved or written off, the supervisor receives the alert again.

Supervisors can dismiss Home page alerts one at a time. To change the notification settings on many existing budgets at once, contact Legalsense Support.