Setting Up Timekeeper Rate Review
Law firms can use the timekeeper feature in Tracker to establish timekeeper billing rates with client companies. When the rate sheet is submitted in Tracker, the client company reviews the rates. You can specify approvers and classifications, as well as diversity and inclusion requirements. Companies can designate up to five timekeeper rate reviewers.
Customers can request law firms to provide comprehensive diversity and inclusion information when submitting their timekeepers. This information is used to track outside counsel diversity based on common categories of diversity widely used within the industry, and many legal departments use diversity data to make outside counsel selection and pricing decisions. Diversity and inclusion information you can track includes gender, ethnicity, military status, disability, and LGBTQ+ affiliation.
You can also submit a lookup file that contains all the timekeeper rates approved by your company. Invoice approvers can download this file from invoices and audits pages to use as a reference.
note
Analytics must be enabled for your company.
Required role | System Administrators
Upload Timekeeper Rate Sheets
If you have a file that contains all the timekeeper rates approved by your company, you can upload it. This file will be available from the Audits tab as a reference for invoice approvers, who can use it to look up a firm's approved rates for invoices that have timekeeper rate audit exceptions. The file can be in any format, but Microsoft Excel or a similar spreadsheet is recommended as the easiest format for finding and looking up rates. Excel file. Because an individual timekeeper might have different rates (for example, for work on different matters), be sure to include all the rates in a single file.
To upload a timekeeper rate sheet:
- SelectSettingsfrom the left navigation.
- In theeBilling & Financial Setupsection, selectTimekeeper Classifications, Rates, and Reviewers.
- Next toTimekeeper Rate Lookup and Support File, clickBrowseand navigate to the timekeeper rate file on your computer.
- On the toolbar, selectSave & close.
Enable and Configure Timekeeper Rate Review
To set up timekeeper rate review:
- SelectSettingsin the left navigation.
- UndereBilling and Financial Setup, clickTimekeeper Classifications, Rates, and Reviewers.
- Next toEnable Yearly Timekeeper Rate Review, selectYes.
- Next toWho can approve/modify TK rates?, select one of the following options:
- TK Rate Reviewers only: If you select this option, invoices with rate discrepancies are not submitted to an invoice approver until a timekeeper rate reviewer has resolved the discrepancies (by approving, reducing, or rejecting the rates).
- TK Rate Reviewers and Invoice Approvers (during invoice approval process): If you select this option, invoices with rate discrepancies are submitted to an invoice approver at the same time that the rate discrepancies are submitted to a timekeeper rate reviewer, and users in either role can resolve the discrepancies (by approving, reducing, or rejecting the rates).
- To add a rate reviewer, click theAddbutton. On the window that opens, clickSelectnext to the name of a company user to be a rate reviewer. Repeat this step to add additional rate reviewers as necessary. You must designate at least one reviewer.
- If you want your law firm users to address any potential duplicate timekeepers they are posting, selectRequire Potential Duplicate Timekeepers Be Addressed. Duplicate timekeepers refers to timekeeper IDs that differ only by the inclusion or exclusion of leading zeroes.
- If you selectYesfor this option, law firm users posting rate sheets will be required to validate that the potential duplicate timekeepers are unique or are duplicates.
- If you selectNo, law firm users will be able to post rate sheets and are not required to address the potential duplicates.
- In theDiversity & Inclusionsection, define the diversity requirements. You determine the diversity categories to be included, and can further define which categories are required. For required categories, you can select the countries where the field is required to be completed in order to submit the timekeeper.
- CheckYesnext to the categories that you want to be included on the timekeeper rate sheet. A new section appears next to the categories you want to include that lets you specify if these categories are required.
- SelectYesnext to the categories to be required. A new window opens that lets you specify a country or countries where this category is required to be included.
- Check the box for each country where this category is required and clickSave.
- TheEnabled Timekeeper Classificationssection shows the timekeeper classification to be included. These categories appear on the Timekeeper Audits page and users will be able to sort timekeepers in the list of timekeepers by classification.
- On the toolbar, selectSave & close.