Capturing Time on the Run

In our “mobile” society, being able to keep track of everything you do while “on the go” has become increasingly important. This is especially true for mobile professionals who need to bill for – or at least accurately track – all of their professional time. Various “remote entry” products and tools have been around for a while, but typically require some form of “export/import” routines to get the “mobile” data into the Timeslips billing system, which can prove daunting when everything doesn’t go completely smoothly (does it ever?).

We have recently become acquainted with a clever little product which seems to take most of the “heavy lifting” out of mobile time tracking, and runs right from your smartphone (Blackberry, iPhone, Droid, etc.). WorkTRAKR, from Proximiti Communications, installs right on your phone and runs in the background, waiting for you to make a call, send an email, or schedule an appointment. When you do so, you can choose to be prompted for a billing code, and the transaction is then automatically loaded onto a secure server at Proximiti, from where it can be quickly and easily merged into your Timeslips billing system, typically with a single click from the website portal.

The app runs not only on smartphones, but right on your desktop or laptop, as well, capturing information from Outlook, office copiers, landline phones, etc. – any tool you use for communication (except a typewriter!) is fair game to be integrated for time and expense capturing purposes to bill from Timeslips. The application is sold as a service, allowing the user to “tailor” what communications applications are to be integrated, and is priced accordingly.  A basic subscription for smartphone-only integration can be as inexpensive as $25.00 per month.

There is a link on our website from which you can explore the various pricing options, receive a ready-made quote for the services you elect to purchase, and even try out the service for 30 days at no cost. Click here if you are interested in taking WorkTRAKR for a test drive.

Timeslips 2011 – First Look

Sage Timeslips 2011 was previewed today at the Sage Insights Conference, and the finalproduct  release dates were announced. Product shipments will begin to customers on June 18, 2010. It was noted at the conference that this is the 25^th anniversary of the Timeslips product, quite an achievement in the turbulent world of technology.

This year’s release focuses on four product areas:

1. Performance improvements, especially in the bill approval process
2. “de-infestation”, a rather curious term which essentially means that a lot of the “third party” subroutines which have been part of the code base for years have been removed (e.g., the calendar picklist function, graphing, etc.). These changes  will be generally transparent to users, but should lead to performance improvements, and will  pave the way for a more comprehensive re-work of the product to prepare for the emerging 64-bit operating system platforms. The current version will presently run in the “x86” area of a 64-bit server.
3. Reporting and Billing Engine enhancements, including the addition of more custom fields, additional custom calculations, and overall performance improvements in billing and reporting
4. New features based on customer surveys and the development “backlog” from previous editions that never made it to the final release.

Some of the more interesting (and requested) new features include the following:

• Beefed-up slip entry restrictions – where in the past clients could be put on “restriction” so that a warning was generated if charges were entered against that client record, the restriction can now actually prevent the charge from being processed at all (based on user security);
• Editing of slip descriptions can now be made from the box on the lower left side of the slip listing window, a marked improvement in user workflow;
• Custom fields for clients, timekeepers, and activities have been increased from 30 per area to 90; these custom fields can be further organized into “types”, and will be displayed on sub-tabs opening from the “Custom” tab on the “master” record. This should open up many new possibilities for integrating data from external applications into the billing system, to be used for reporting filters and sorts;
• PDF-generated invoices can now be assigned a unique naming scheme based on “tokens” supplemented by user-entered text (e.g., CustNo+date+invoice#)
• Cash receipts entries can now have a payment “type” (e.g., cash, check, VISA, MC, etc.) associated with the payment, and the user can custom define payment types
• Timeslips will now allow processing of electronic payments, via the new Sage Payments Solutions service; credit card transactions can be processed directly from the cash receipts screen;
• New workstation-level configuration settings will permit a user to disable various external “links” (e.g., to TalPro, Outlook, etc.) eliminating the annoying alert message that appears when the user logs in and does not have the external application running

All in all, Sage Timeslips 2011 appears to be a worthwhile product upgrade, which should both add stability and performance enhancements to the product while also introducing some interesting new functionality and configuration opportunities.

Licensed To Bill

Several clients have recently asked me about how the Timeslips licensing works so it seems like a good topic to discuss here.  I will try to explain it as simply and clearly as possible so you can figure out how many licenses you may need as we move into upgrade season.

I like to think of Timeslips licenses like books in a library.  The first time you open Timeslips on your computer is like checking the book out of the library.  Even if you close the book/program you still have it in your possession and no one else can read the book while you have it out, so that license is considered “In Use.”  You can open and close the book/program as many times as you like but that license is yours until you return it to the library – or clear it using the Station Administrator.

The Station Administrator is a separate application that allows you to view how the licenses are being distributed.  You can access Station Administrator from within Timeslips via the Special menu, or from outside of Timeslips via the Timeslips program group on your Windows start menu.

When you open Station Administrator the first screen you see will show you the location of the Timeslips database and any users that are currently logged into that database.  These are the people that are currently reading their books.

Click the Options menu and choose Licenses In Use to see how the licenses are being distributed – who has the books out from the library, whether they are currently reading them or not.  You will see the name of the computer that each license is being used on as well as the Windows User ID.  This is a good reason to give your computers descriptive names and make sure each of your users have a unique Windows login.  If two people share the same computer, but use two different Windows logins, they will use two Timeslips licenses.

There is also a column for Session Type, which identifies whether the user is working via a remote Terminal Services connection.  Unlike local licenses, Terminal Services session licenses are released when the user exits Timeslips.

If no one is currently logged into Timeslips (no one is listed on the first Station Administrator screen), you can clear any or all of the licenses in use, making them available on a first come, first served basis.

In the lower right corner of the Licenses In Use screen you can also see how many licenses you have purchased, how many are in use and how many are available.

You may also notice two radio buttons at the top of this screen labeled Full Licenses and API Licenses.  API licenses are licenses used by other programs that connect to Timeslips, such as Time Matters, Outlook, Amicus, PC Law, Peachtree and Quickbooks.  Timeslips provides 100 API licenses.

All of this licensing information is stored in a file on the server called Timeslip.cfg.  Some people make the mistake of using the CD to install Timeslips on each computer and this puts a separate Timeslips.cfg file on each computer.  Two computers cannot access the same Timeslips database if they are using different Timeslip.cfg files.  The second person that tries to log in will get an error message.

If you do install from the CD, you can tell Timeslips to use the configuration file on the server by using the Station Administrator.  In Station Administrator, click the Options menu and choose Change Install Path.  This will then allow you to browse to the Timeslip.cfg file located on the server.  You should then delete the Timeslip.cfg file on your C drive.

When you use the Setup.exe file in the LoclInst folder on the server to install Timeslips on workstations, each computer automatically uses the Timeslip.cfg file on the server.

Still have questions about Timeslips licensing?  Need to order additional licenses?  Contact one of the experts at TriStar Data Systems.

Timeslips 2011 will be released early this summer.  You can save up to $320 if you pre-order before May 28^th.

Timeslips 2011 Upgrade Season Approaches

We expect to participate in beta testing for Timeslips 2011 shortly, and anticipate the announcement of an official release date shortly after the conclusion of that beta test period. While we cannot legally discuss the specifics of the new release (due to our non-disclosure agreement), we expect the new version to be available in late June – early July.

 What does this mean for you?

 If you are using a version of Timeslips earlier than Timeslips 2008, it means that Sage’s “official” support for your version will end shortly after this new release. While we will continue supporting these “obsolete” versions, we are constrained by our inability to obtain the manufacturer’s support for those earlier versions. It may be time to consider an upgrade.

 If you are using Timeslips 2008 or later, you should carefully review the new features for the 2011 version when they become publicly available, and make your upgrade decision based on features. We do not know yet ourselves what new features will make it into the final release of Timesl;ips 2011, but we have heard discussions of enough new “wrinkles” to make this new version pretty interesting.

 If you decide to upgrade, we urge you to consider placing your upgrade order through TriStar. We do very little advertising, receiving the majority of our new business through referrals from the Timeslips website. Our positioning on that website (currently #1 for Pennsylvania) is determined by the Timeslips orders we place with Sage. Your upgrade order will help us maintain that lofty position.

In most cases we are able to match or exceed whatever upgrade pricing Sage is able to offer you directly (as a consequence of our Platinum status). So, by placing your Timeslips upgrade order with Tristar you help us maintain our Platinum status, and we help you to save a little money on your upgrade.

A classic “win-win!”

Give us a call if you would like to discuss your upgrade options.

Paperless Time and Billing Tasks

In this environmentally conscious era, everyone seems to be talking about the paperless office.  Timeslips 2010 now has many features that make it easy to manage your billing process from start to finish without having to print a thing.   Let’s take a look at the “old way” of doing things, with piles of paper, and then look at the features in Timeslips that make it easier than ever to perform the same functions in a paperless environment. 

Time Entry
The old way: Timekeepers fill out paper timesheets and hand them to an assistant to enter into the computer. 

The paperless solution:  Timesheet Slip Entry.

Timekeepers can now enter their time in a traditional timesheet format, instead of having to enter individual slips.  Clients and tasks can be pre-filled so that the timekeepers need only to enter the number of hours worked in the appropriate box.  They can make life even easier by using the timer to keep track of the time as they work. 

 Pre-Bill Worksheets
The old way:  The billing clerk prints out a stack of pre-bill worksheets and then gives them to the boss to review and mark up before the final bills are generated.  

The paperless solution:  Interactive bill preview with drill-down capability

The boss can print the pre-bills to his/her display and click on-screen to drill down and make the changes right in the program. 

 Billing
The old way: Print out the bills.  Stuff them in envelopes.  Stamp the envelopes.  Put them in the mail.  Wait a week for the client to receive the bill and another week (hah!) for them to pay. 

The paperless solution:  Send bills via email

Timeslips allows you to email bills right from within the program, via a connection to Outlook.  The client receives the bill as a PDF file.  You can create an unlimited number of email templates with different message bodies and subject lines.  You can even embed tokens like the invoice number and amount into the message and subject line.     If you prefer, you can also print the bills to PDF files and then email them manually. 

 Reporting/Data Analysis
The old way: Print reports to paper

The paperless solution:  Print reports to display, PDF file, Excel or Word

The added bonus to viewing your reports on screen is that you can click on the data elements to drill down for more detail.  Sending reports to Excel gives you extra functionality and flexibility.  With Timeslips 2010, all reports now have a print to Excel option and you can choose to send the data over in columns, or as it appears in the standard Timeslips report format. 

Cash Receipts
The old way: Open the mail. Enter checks into Timeslips.  Take checks to the bank. 

 The paperless solution:  Unfortunately Timeslips has not yet developed a way to receive payments other than to enter them manually.  However, there are many ways that you can receive payments from clients over the internet or phone without using checks.  We would be willing to bet that, before too much longer (Timeslips 2011?) Timeslips will incorporate a way to import payment transactions from the website, that you can then use to process client payments. 

 So there you have it.  Not only do these solutions save paper, they save time, resources and money.

For more help with configuring Timeslips for a paperless office, contact one of the experts at TriStar Data Systems.

Deciphering Timeslips Interest Calculations

Many of our clients that use the “Finance Charge/Interest”  feature in Timeslips have found it confusing. We have been asked for advice about Timeslips interest calculations on several occasions.  It took me a while to completely understand how it works myself, so I figured it was a good topic to discuss in this space.  The new and improved Billing Assistant in Timeslips 2010 gives a much clearer breakdown of how interest charges are calculated, but I will attempt to clarify it a little further.   

First let’s look at the initial interest setup.  Interest is configured for each client on the Arrangement 2 page, where there are five fields that relate to interest:

Annual Interest Rate.  This is typically set to 18%, which equates to 1.5% per month or .049315% per day.  Despite the fact that you are choosing an annual interest rate here, interest is actually calculated by the day.  This is an important point to remember. 

Type of Interest.  You can choose Simple or Compound.  Simple means that interest is only charged on the original invoice amount.  Compound means that interest is charged on the interest.  Once this is set and an invoice is generated, it cannot be changed for that invoice. 

Charge Interest At.  The choices here are determined by how you’ve configured your aging periods.  Typically this will be 30, 60, 90 and 120 (in days).   Interest will begin calculating after the number of days you select here. 

Grace Period.  This tends to be the most confusing field.  The choices on the dropdown menu are also determined by how you’ve configured your aging periods, but here you can type in a value that’s not on the list.  This number represents how many days NOT to charge interest for.  For example, let’s say you generated a bill on 9/30 and have interest set to charge at 30 days.  A month has gone by and the client has not paid, and now it’s time to generate the October bills on 10/31.  31 days have gone by since the first bill went out on 9/30.  If you have set the grace period to 0, 31 days worth of interest will be charged.  If you set a grace period of 5 days, only 26 days of interest would be charged.  If you set a grace period of 30 days, only one day of interest would be charged.  If you look at the Days Due/Days Per Year calculation in the Billing Assistant you will see that the grace period essentially moves the original invoice date later by the specified number of days.  In this example, with the grace period set to 5 days, it shows the original invoice date as 10/5, even though the bill was actually created on 9/30. 

Last Bill Date.  This field should only be filled in if you are setting up a client that you have already billed outside of Timeslips.  Each time you generate a bill through Timeslips this field will be automatically updated to reflect the date of the last bill.   

 Let’s continue to follow the previous example through a little further, to see how the interest charges would be affected in subsequent months if the client still hadn’t paid anything (not that we ever have these kinds of clients ourselves).   We’ll use compound interest for this example. 

On 9/30 we generated a bill for $1000 in fees. 

On 10/31 we billed another $1000 in fees, but added on $12.82 in interest from the previous bill:

           $1000.00 from 9/30 invoice
x                 26 days overdue (31 actual days minus the 5 day grace period)
 x   0.00049315 daily interest rate
               $12.82

So the total amount of the new bill is $1012.82. 

 On 11/30 the first bill (from 9/30) has now accumulated another 30 days of interest.  The grace period is no longer in play for that invoice so the calculation would be as follows:

          $1000.00 from 9/30 invoice
x                 30 days since the last invoice
x   0.00049315 daily interest rate
             $14.79

The grace period is still in play for the 10/31 invoice since this is the first time we are charging interest on it.  The calculation would be as follows:  Note: If we were using simple interest we would charge interest on only $1000 from the 10/31 invoice and not the $12.82 in interest. 

       $1012.82 from 10/31 invoice
x                 25 days overdue (30 actual days minus the 5 day grace period)
x  0.00049315 daily interest rate
           $12.49

So the total interest charged on 11/30 comes to $27.28.  

 Hopefully this will help you to decide how you want to handle charging interest and how to explain the charges to your clients when they inevitably ask you to explain how you came up with the amounts. 

 Discount pricing is still available for Timeslips 2010 upgrades until the end of the year.  Timeslips versions 2007 and below are no longer supported by Sage software.   And interest charges are a whole lot easier to figure out and manage in Timeslips 2010!

Timeslips Speeds up the Billing Engine

One of the major areas of improvement touted for Timeslips 2010 is the presence of a new and improved billing engine.   That sounds nice, but how much faster could it really be?  I decided to take it for a test drive so I can give potential upgraders some hard data. 

I have a client using Timeslips 2008 that is very frustrated by how long it takes to print bills – typically around two hours just for the printing stage, before approval.  I created a copy of their database and decided to do a comparison.  I no longer have Timeslips 2008 on my system, so I ran the first test in Timeslips 2009.  The only filter I used was slip date, which I limited to the month of June.  There were 2042 open clients so I printed to a PDF file in order to conserve paper.  Bills were generated for 912 clients, and the process took an hour and 45 minutes.  It then took another 3 hours to approve the bills.  I could see why my client was frustrated. 

The next day I took the original Timeslips 2009 database, created before I generated the bills, and converted it to Timeslips 2010.  I then generated the same batch of bills, and it only took 7 minutes.  7 minutes!  That is some improvement.  Kudos to the Sage development team. 

Unfortunately, it still took 3 hours to approve the bills, so there is some further improvement to be done on that side of things.  The billing process has gone from over 5 hours to around 3, though, so that is a pretty significant upgrade. 

Do you feel the need for speed?  TriStar is currently offering significant discounts on Timeslips 2010, so order your upgrade today.

How to Avoid Address Violation Errors

If you’ve used Timeslips for any significant amount of time, you’ve most likely received the dreaded “Address Violation Error”.  The message sounds pretty scary and is somewhat vague, so it’s hard to know what caused it and how serious it really is.  Most of the time it is not terribly serious. It just means that your computer’s memory has been maxed out.  If you get these errors repeatedly while performing the same function, then you may have some data corruption.  If they are random, however, then it is more likely an issue with your computer hardware.  Here are some troubleshooting tips. 

These tips are fairly technical in nature, however, so before performing them you may want to consult your firm’s IT person, or contact one of the experts at TriStar. 

Does your computer have sufficient RAM?  Timeslips lists a minimum requirement of 512 MB, but recommends 1 GB.  We routinely recommend at least 2 GB if you plan to run any other programs at the same time as Timeslips.   To check your RAM right click the My Computer icon on your desktop, or click the Start button and choose Properties. 

Are the BDE settings correct?  Behind the scenes Timeslips uses the Borland Database Engine (BDE) and its settings can significantly impact how Timeslips functions.  Go to Start – Control Panel – BDE Administrator – Configuration – System – INIT to check and/or edit these settings.

You may also want to check these settings in your computer’s registry:
Click Start and choose Run.  Then type Regedit.
Once you’re in the Registry Editor expand to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – SOFTWARE – Borland – Database Engine – Settings – System – INIT

The settings should be as follows:

LOCAL SHARE = TRUE
MAXBUFSIZE = 8192
MAXFILEHANDLES = 256
MEMSIZE = 179
MINBUFSIZE = 1024
SHAREDMEMLOCATION: 0x6BDE
SHAREDMEMSIZE = 4096

 Timeslips versions 2009 and above will tell you if these settings are incorrect,t and fix them for you the first time you open the program. 

 You should periodically delete temporary files created by Timeslips.  By default they will go to either C:\Program Files\Timeslips\Temp or C:\Windows\System32\Temp.   You can specify the temp file path in Timeslips preferences.  Setup – Preferences – Other.  The temp files that Timeslips creates are folders labeled FulSes and APISes, as well as files like NAVXXXXX.TMP.

 You can also get an error if Timeslips “times out” while trying to communicate with the server.  One way to speed up the communication between your workstation and the server is to enable Opportunistic Locking in the registry.  Timeslips automatically disables opportunistic locking when it is installed so you need to manually change this setting.

Click Start and choose Run.  Then type Regedit.   

One you’re in the Registry Editor click Edit and choose Find

In the Find what box, type OplocksDisabled and click Find Next. 

When the first key is found, double click it and change the Value Data to 0.

Press F3 to search for the next instance and repeat the process.  There should be three registry keys. 

Restart the computer for the change to take effect.

 Sometimes your Timeslips preferences file can become corrupted, especially if you have used the same preferences file over several versions.  By default the preferences file is located in C:\Program Files\Timeslips on each workstation.  You can delete the preferences file (PREFS.PRF) and then Timeslips will automatically re-create a fresh, new one the next time it is opened.  You will then have to go to Setup and choose Preferences to get your settings back the way you like them.  You may want to make some notes about how your preferences are set before you delete the file. 

 Try to limit the number of other programs and processes that are running when using Timeslips.  You may want to open the Task Manager to the Performance tab to view how your CPU usage is affected by Timeslips processes.  If it is up near 100% then you probably need some more RAM. 

 If none of this makes any difference then it may be an issue with the data.   Try running Data Verification (File – Data Verification) to look for errors — or contact a Timeslips expert. 

Timeslips 2010 is now shipping.  Order from TriStar to take advantage of significant discounts.

Timeslips “Tailored to Fit”

Timeslips is a highly customizable program. The more you can tailor it to your needs, the more value you will get from using the software.  Sure, you can use it “as-is”, but most likely there are a bunch of features you don’t ever use, making your screens extra busy and causing you to click in extra places, slowing down your workflow.  Here are some tips on how to customize Timeslips so that it is “tailored” to your specific needs. 

We’ll start with the first thing you see when opening the program for the first time – the Navigator.  The current Timeslips version defaults to an “Enhanced” Navigator, which includes several reports and lists surrounding the navigation buttons.  There are four “Enhanced” Navigator templates that you can choose from: Timekeeper, Office Manager, Business Owner, and Tutorial.  You should choose the template that best suits your role, so that your buttons and reports will correspond to the functions that you typically perform.  You can customize each of the panes to a considerable extent, but we’ll save that discussion for another day.  To choose an alternate template, click the “Change Template” button in the lower left corner of the screen.  

If you have upgraded from an earlier version of Timeslips, you may want to see the “Classic” Navigator that you’re used to.  When you click the “Change Template” button you can choose “Classic”, and then choose from the list of classic navigators: Basic, Advanced, Tutorial, and Custom.  Some of the Enhanced Navigator features have been known to slow down Timeslips when it first opens, so that may be a reason to opt for the “Classic” Navigator. 

There are other tricks you can perform if you like the Enhanced Navigator, but are unhappy with the performance hit it sometimes causes. We’ll address that another time….

The “Change Template” button actually takes you into the Preferences screen for your login, so while we’re there, let’s look at some other Preferences settings.  On the Startup/Exit tab you can control what screens automatically open up when you open and close the program.  We typically recommend unchecking the majority of the boxes on this section of the Preferences screen.  If you are a solo practitioner, or the last one who usually leaves the office, it’s not a bad idea to be reminded to make a backup, but if you have the automatic backup enabled it’s unnecessary. 

The “Open Window” dropdown on this screen will allow you to choose a screen that automatically opens as soon as you start Timeslips.  For example, if you are just entering time you may want to have it open to either the slip entry screen, the slip list screen or the timesheet entry screen. 

We’ll briefly review a few of the other preferences that we typically customize when performing a new install.  On the “Interface” page in the Preferences area there is a dropdown menu that says “Save when closing or switching reports.”  We typically set this to “No”, since  many users find it confusing, or annoying, or both.

On the Slips page of the Preferences area you can choose which slip entry fields copy from the previous slip as you are performing data entry.  If you enter slips for multiple people, and have a data entry backlog dating back a few days, you’ll definitely want to check “Copy dates.”  Unless this is checked, Timeslips defaults all new slips entered to the computer’s system date, and you’ll have to change the date on every new slip entered. 

Another great way to tailor Timeslips is to disable features that you don’t need.  Click the Setup menu at the top of the screen and choose Features Enabled. We typically disable “unused” fields on the slip entry screen, including Custom Fields on slips (the so-called “Extra” field), the End Date field on slips, the Time Estimated field on slips and the Reference field (unless of course you are using references).  This will make your screen look cleaner and speed up the slip entry process. 

Unless you use the Timeslips-Outlook link, which we  find very few people do, you should disable that feature as well. This prevents Timeslips from spending extra time during startup trying to initiate a link for something that isn’t there. 

For most features listed in the Features Enabled list, there is a Usage column, which tells you how often you use a feature.  If it says Never, then it’s a safe bet that you can disable it. 

These are just a few examples of how you can tailor Timeslips to suit your needs.  If you’d like to learn more about Timeslips customization, please contact one of the experts at TriStar Data Systems.  

Timeslips 2010 begins shipping at the end of June.  Pre-order from TriStar now to take advantage of significant discounts.

Timeslips Custom Reports

One of the more under-used features of Timeslips is its powerful user-defined reporting capability.  Over the last few versions, and continuing with the 2010 edition, Sage has added a lot of functionality to this area, making it much easier for users to customize their own reports.  User-defined reports allow you to see your information exactly the way you want it, instead of the way Timeslips thinks you want to see it. 

From the Reports menu, choose Create a Report, then Create a completely new report.  You can choose to create a detailed or summary report for Slips, Clients, Accounts Receivable or Funds.  The report wizard makes it easy to add fields, sort keys, and filters.   you can also simply click Finish at that point, to go right into design mode and drag any fields you need onto the report. 

The advantage of using the designer is that you have almost total control over report formatting.  Simply drag fields from the list on the right side of the screen into the desired column.  You can easily add columns and rows, and modify the width of each column if you so desire.  Once you have a field on the report, you can get really creative by using Field Display Criteria to filter the information that appears in each column or row. 

An accounting firm client recently asked us to create a report that compares how much they billed their tax clients this year compared to last year.  To build this report, we pulled the Billed Slip Value onto the report twice and used Field Display Criteria to filter the first field for the current month and the second field for the same month a year ago.  We then sorted the report by client, to get a clear comparison between this year’s and last year’s tax billings.  We then took it a step further by sending it to Excel, where the user could easily subtract one field from the other to see the difference (you can’t do this directly in Timeslips….yet).     

Calculated fields, which was a new feature in Timeslips 2009, and has been enhanced in Timeslips 2010, gives you another powerful tool for building custom reports. 

Say you want to know your firm’s “profitability” for a specific timekeeper; that is, how much the firm actually nets after paying the employee.  You could create one calculated field that multiplies the time spent by the Timekeeper’s overhead rate.  We’ll call that field “Overhead Slip Value”.   You could then create a second calculation that subtracts the Overhead Slip Value from the Slip Value, giving you employee “profitability”. 

In Timeslips 2010 you’ll be able to use the new number-type custom fields in calculations as well, giving you even more power and flexibility. 

In larger law firms, associates frequently have billable hour targets from 1,900 to 2,200 hours per year.  You could store this “target amount” in a timekeeper custom field.  You could then create a calculation that compares the target number to the actual billable hours, giving you the timekeeper’s utilization percentage. 

These are just a few examples of how you can take your reporting to the next level.  If you’d like to learn more, please contact TriStar Data Systems to have us help you with your specific reporting needs. 

Timeslips 2010  begins shipping in July 2009.  Pre-order now to take advantage of significant discounts.  As a “Platinum Level” Certified Consultant for Sage Software, we are able to offer special pricing  on license upgrades through June 30, 2009.