Ask Me Anything - Ask An Expert

This is an article that contains information from our Ask An Expert Webinar on "Ask Me Anything" Your opportunity to ask questions you may have about Actionstep's features generally. 

FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions during the sessions)

Q. How do you write off unrecoverable WIP / invoices?

A. You can write off WIP and invoices by clicking on the green global button, and clicking on write-off (found under the billing section) - find out more on write-offs here: Write-offs

Q. How do you go about charging an admin fee when you cannot show it as a disbursement on an invoice?

A. This is particularly important for New Zealand customers.  The NZ Law Society requirements state that the expenses that you incur as you service your client ( ie. admin fees) appear differently than disbursements on invoices. Actionstep currently does not have a built-in feature for this but we do have a workaround for this. You will need to add the following merge field to your invoice template. Find out more here: How to Separate Office Disbursements and Office Expenses on Invoices (To Meet New Zealand Law Society Regulations)

Q. Is there a report that can be run that will show all tasks (by matter) on all matters for a specific operator? On a related issue, is there a way to have a task show for multiple people without assigning it to those people (ie a supervisor having visibility of an operator's tasks)? 

A. Yes to both of these questions. There is a default task list that is already set up in every Actionstep system. To find this head to Tasks (top menu of your screen) - Everyone - All. From here you can use the filters to show you tasks with all statuses (complete & incomplete) as well as the due dates. For the second part of the question you will want to create a custom list view - find out more here: Task List Custom View or Report

Q. When preparing a new invoice, after I enter the professional fees charged the figures do not "carry over" or are lost when I change the name of the fee earner in the next screen. Is there a way to prevent this from happening?

A.When you change an invoice from a draft to an approved invoice, what you have set at the draft stage stays. So any changes that you want to make to your invoice must be made at the draft stage. Please contact our support team and they can talk you through what is happening to your invoices.

Q. Preparing template letters - tips.

A.Tip 1 - If you haven't already, please use our plug-in for word for building document templates. It is great for letter templates as it pulls all of the information from the matter directly to the template. Find out more about the plug-in here: Using the Word Add-in - Template Builder (for Office 365 only). Tip 2 - If you cannot find the merge field you need for a template head to Admin - Document Assembly - Merge Field List. Here you will find a list of all the merge fields in your Actionstep system. Tip 3 - The Merge Field Test Tool - you can test out your merge fields. This is a handy tool especially when you are doing more complex templates like conditional 'if' statements and repeating blocks. Find out more about The Merge Field Tool here: Merge Field Testing Tool

Q. Can you relate a matter when the matter has already been set up? eg a closed matter?

A. Yes you can, have a look at these instructions and videos for more assistance: Related Matters & Related Matters on your Matter Types

Q. The disbursement total in a bill is 1c out even though all other totals are correct, how do we stop that from happening?

A. Unfortunately there is sometimes a rounding error. There is no way to stop this from happening. One workaround is to create a disbursement for -0.01 and code it to a rounding error general ledger account and not show this on the invoice so the total is not 1c out. Find out more: Rounding Error

Q. I would like to generate an open matter aging report to illustrate all matter types, for all users and to indicate the time taken to address. Currently have to do this via a custom matter list and manually manipulate the data/filters to compile a holistic report, making it time-consuming.

A. We do have a matter aging report but it is limited to running this report on each matter types separately. The custom list view is the best option and we can bring in matter/matter type / current step/date opened / days on current step/days since created / days since last activity. I am unsure what data you are manipulating manually but we may be able to help with this – can you send an email to [e-mail] and we will have a screen share and see if we can come up with a better solution?

Q. How to apply credits to a matter invoice?  

A. Find out all about credits here: Credit Notes