Legalsense offers the possibility to add products to matters. A product can be used to charge common equivalent services as a fixed price. These activities can then either be charged once as a product or as recurring activities by means of a subscription (see our article “Subscriptions”). For example, a product can be: drawing up a (standard) agreement that is then offered to clients at a fixed price. It is then no longer necessary to create separate matters for this.
To be able to use products, this first needs to be activated in your environment. When you want to use this functionality you can contact our Support department.
Setting up Products
Before products can be used, they must first be created in the environment. This is done via 'Settings' - 'Lists' - 'Submatters / Product kinds':
Click on 'New submatter kind/product':
When adding a product, a product name must be specified and a separate name can be specified that is stated on the invoices. To turn the sub-matter into a product, you can tick 'Is product', after which the standard ‘Unit price' can be specified. The unit price is the standard value of the product that will be passed on (this can be deviated from at matter level).
When all fields are filled in, click on 'Save' and the product is available for use.
Editing Products
To change the default settings of a product, you can search and edit the product via the list 'Submatter/product kinds' by means of the edit icon:
After clicking on 'Change' you will see the following screen:
Here you can change the name and the name on the invoice. It is also possible to change the unit price (the standard price of the product) or to add a new rate (via 'Add rate') if, for example, you want to apply indexation per a future date.
Removing of Products
You can delete a product via the list 'Submatters/product kinds by clicking on the 'trash bin' icon. The product is then made inactive and can no longer be selected as a new product on a matter.
Use of Products
In order to use the set product, it must be added to a matter.
Open the matter to which the created product has to be added and then click on 'Add submatter/product':
The product kind must then be indicated:
After the product has been selected, Legalsense indicates the values that will be used. It is possible to deviate from these values. For example, it is possible to use a different name on the invoice or apply a different rate.
You only need to adjust something here if you need to deviate from the default values. For example, if a different price for the product has to be used in this matter.
Billing date
We would like to explain the billing date separately here. By default, the product can be billed immediately as soon as it has been added to the matter. Sometimes it can happen that a product needs to be charged at a later time.
The 'Billing date' can be used in order to achieve this. The added product will only be charged when the date set here has been reached.
When everything has been entered as desired, click on 'New submatter/product'. The product is then added to the matter.
Obligation to record time on a product
By default it is not mandatory to write time on a product. This can be made mandatory by clicking on the link 'Make required' under the section 'Submatters/products' on a matter:
A user will then have to select a product at all times when writing time on this matter.
Writing time on a product
If a product has been created, it is also available for time-writing (see Writing and editing time for the ways of writing time that Legalsense supports). Writing time to a product is useful for reporting purposes. You can then see at any time whether the product is profitable.
As soon as the main matter is filled in the 'matter field', the selection field for a submatter/product automatically appears (it is, therefore, possible to have multiple submatters/products). In this field you can then choose the product. The other fields do not deviate from the regular timekeeping.
Billing of a product
Billing a product is done in the same way as regular invoices. You can bill a product from the matter itself or via the invoices selection option:
In the screenshot above you can see that one product has been found to bill. If you click on 'Create', the draft invoice will be created.
Example of the invoice line:
If you click on 'Finalize', the invoice is final and the product is billed.
Archiving products
A setting ‘Archive billed products’ can be activated through ‘Settings’ - ‘General’ – ‘System’ within the ‘Billing’ section.
When you enable this setting, a billed product will be archived automatically. Archiving of the product will happen after finalizing the invoice that bills the product. This will prevent the possibility of writing time on a billed product and keeps a better overview on the matter. Products that are automatically archived can be unarchived manually. When you credit an invoice with a product, the product will be unarchived to be billed again.
Reporting
It is also possible to report on products. This way you can see if the prices you use for the products are profitable or not:
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.