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Setup

Application setup overview

Learn about the main setup areas required to configure the application before processing work for your firm, staff, clients, and optional modules.
This is an overview of the setup tasks you complete before using the application for processing. Setup includes entering information for your firm, staff, offices, and clients; defining groupings and custom fields; creating templates; and configuring other options to support your firm's workflow.

Initial setup

Initial setup includes configuration tasks that establish the basic framework for the application. These tasks typically include defining file locations, configuring service charges, creating custom fields, and setting up groupings used to organize records and streamline data entry.
  • Setting file locations
  • Service charges setup overview
  • Custom fields setup overview
  • Grouping setup overview

Firm setup

Firm setup includes entering and maintaining information that applies across the organization. This setup area includes firm preferences, billing and accounts receivable options, and tax-related settings such as taxing authorities and tax areas. These settings help ensure that firm-wide defaults and financial processing rules are in place..
  • Firm setup overview
  • Setting up firm preferences
  • Setting up firm billing and A/R options
  • Taxing authorities setup overview
  • Tax area setup overview

Office setup

Office setup includes the information and configuration needed for each office record in your organization. This helps define office-specific details and supports accurate assignment, reporting, and record management across multiple locations.

Staff setup

Staff setup includes creating and maintaining staff records used throughout the application. This area can include staff details, rate descriptions, billing rates, department and level groupings, security groups, and staff security assignments. Proper staff setup supports reporting, billing, security, and work management.
  • Staff setup overview
  • Staff rate descriptions overview
  • Setting up staff rates
  • Setting up staff department groupings
  • Setting up staff level groupings
  • Setting up security groups
  • Assigning staff to security groups

Activity setup

Activity setup focuses on defining the categories and templates used to organize the work your firm performs. This can include activities, engagement category groupings, engagement templates, and activity category groupings. These settings help standardize how work is classified and managed.
  • Activities setup overview
  • Setting up engagement category groupings
  • Setting up engagement templates
  • Setting up activity category groupings

Client setup

Client setup includes creating and organizing client records and related classifications. This may include client entity groupings, contact category groupings, and recurring bill descriptions. These settings help maintain consistent client information and support billing and relationship management.
  • Clients setup overview
  • Setting up client entity groupings
  • Setting up contact category groupings
  • Setting up recurring bill descriptions

Pre-processing setup

Pre-processing setup includes tasks that should be completed before you begin using Practice CS for live processing. These tasks can include setting up bank accounts, defining standard text, entering beginning balances, creating custom formats, and importing conversion data when needed.
  • Bank accounts setup overview
  • Setting up standard text
  • Entering beginning balances
  • Custom formats overview
  • Importing conversion data

Project management setup

If your firm is licensed for the add-on Project Management module, additional setup is required before using that module. This setup may include creating project templates, importing default project templates, defining task templates, and setting up projects for clients.
  • Setting up project templates
  • Importing default project templates
  • Setting up task templates
  • Setting up projects for a client

Client management setup

If your firm is licensed for the add-on Client Management module, setup includes defining values used to support client management processes, such as client retention descriptions.
  • Setting up client retention descriptions

Staff management setup

If your firm is licensed for the add-on Staff Management module, setup may include defining staff skill areas, skill ratings, skill sets, target hours, benefits, and qualifications for work items. These settings support staffing decisions, performance planning, and resource management.
  • Staff skill areas
  • Staff skill ratings
  • Setting up staff skill sets
  • Setting up staff target hours
  • Setting up staff benefits
  • Setting qualifications for work items

This article applies to:

  • Product: Practice CS
  • Subject: Setup