Who can approve timekeeper rates?
The process of approving timekeeper rates and the role of approver depend on whether rates are submitted in rate sheets or with individual invoices.
Rates can be loaded into Tracker by:
Firm Admins, Firm Office Admins, and firm users who have billing permissions.
Company System Admins can also upload rate sheets on behalf of firms.
Rate sheets contain the rates for multiple timekeepers associated with a law firm, and can be reviewed by a designated timekeeper rate reviewer or an assigned reviewer. Law firms usually submit rate sheets annually, and the timekeeper reviewer receive an action items alert when a rate sheet is submitted. Assigned reviewers receive an action items alert when a timekeeper reviewer assigns one or more pending timekeeper rates to the assigned reviewer. The pending timekeeper rates are displayed on the Pending Rates page. (Financial > Rates > Pending rates.)
You can set up rules that automatically assign a rate reviewer according to certain conditions.
Rates are auto-approved when a company uploads a rate sheet on behalf of a firm.
A rate submitted for the first time in an invoice is either a rate for a new timekeeper or a changed rate for an existing timekeeper. These new or changed rates can be processed in one of two ways, depending on the system setting:
Rate reviewer only
: As with rate sheets, an Action Items alert notifies the reviewer when new or changed rates have been submitted in an invoice, and those rates are displayed on the Timekeeper Audits page under the Financial menu. The rates are reviewed separately from the invoice that contains them, which is not listed in pending invoices until the rates have been approved, reduced, or rejected.
Rate reviewer or invoice approver
: The new or changed rates are displayed on both the Timekeeper Audits page under the Financial menu and Inv. Audits for the relevant pending invoice.
If the timekeeper rate reviewer processes the rates first, the rates are flagged in the pending invoice for the invoice approver's information.
If the invoice approver processes the invoice and rates first, the rates are no longer displayed on the Timekeeper Audits page under the Financial menu.