Time Introduction

Writing and managing time is one of the main functions of Legalsense. This article introduces the time-writing and time-management features described in more detail in the separate articles linked below.

Writing and editing time

Legalsense offers four regular ways to write time:

• Manual input on the homepage, in the Recent time entries section
• Per day
• Timers
• Mobile app (iPhone or Android)

For details on how to write, change, or delete time entries, see Writing and editing Time. You need the appropriate permissions to do so.

Mobile app (iPhone or Android)

You can also write time using the Legalsense mobile app for iPhone or Android. Download the app from the Apple App Store (iPhone) or the Google Play Store (Android). For the activation steps and instructions for use, see Mobile apps.

Time search

You can search for time entries in several ways, for example via Timesheet → Search or Timesheet → Calendar. For more information about searching time entries, see Time search.

Calendar

The calendar overview shows the hours you wrote per day, for a month or a week. For more information, see Calendar.

Hours report

The Timesheet → Hours report page shows an overview of the hours written per day, for yourself or for multiple users, over a week or a month, alongside the expected hours if these are set. For more information about this page, see Hours report.

Finalized periods

You can close periods in Legalsense. Once a period is closed, no one can write hours in it anymore. For more information, see Period closure.

Timesheet settings

Before you start writing time, your organization needs to decide on a few settings. You can change these settings under Settings → General → System, in the Timesheet section, if you have the appropriate access rights.

Default rounding unit time entries

The rounding unit for minutes to be invoiced defaults to 6 minutes, but you can adjust it. Use 0 minutes if you don't want to round time entries. For more information, see Change time format.

Default rounding method

This setting lets you choose between Round up and Round up or down. With Round up (the default), Legalsense rounds every time entry up to the set rounding unit. With Round up or down, Legalsense rounds every time entry to the nearest option. For example, with a rounding unit of 6 minutes, a time entry of 8 minutes is rounded to 6 minutes, while a time entry of 10 minutes is rounded to 12 minutes. A time entry of less than 6 minutes is always rounded up to 6 minutes — Legalsense never rounds down to zero.

Warn when writing time on matter without engagement letter

If you enable this option, Legalsense shows a warning when someone writes time on a matter that doesn't have a signed engagement letter.

Not possible before matter opened

When you enable this setting, Legalsense validates every time entry against the opening date of the selected matter, so timekeepers can't write time with a date before the matter's opening date. Timekeepers receive a notification when they try to save such a time entry.

Activities and activity groups

In Legalsense, every time entry must be linked to an activity. Your organization can adjust the list of activities available when writing time (see Activities) and, if desired, divide them into groups (see Activity groups). When you select a matter in another language, Legalsense displays the activity in that language. To use activities in languages other than Dutch and English, activate those languages in your Legalsense environment.