|
Electronic Bill Presentment with the
Widest Range of Compatibility
The ability to review and analyze invoices electronically is a powerful tool for organizations that want to manage the costs related to services provided by law firms and other professional services providers. The flip side of this equation, however, is that professional services firms must be ready to respond to the electronic invoicing needs of their clients - a requirement that can add yet another administrative burden on firm management, especially those with numerous clients requiring invoices in varying electronic formats. As a flexible and customizable electronic bill presentment solution, E-Invoicing provides professional services firms with the ability to deliver invoices in virtually any standard electronic format, including XML - eliminating both current and future compatibility issues.
Solution Overview
An increasingly popular component of Elite’s financial and practice management
solution, Elite E-Invoicing is a web-based administration module for electronic
billing. With Elite E-Invoicing, firms can produce and deliver bills in multiple
standard electronic formats without learning complex translation procedures.
Getting started with Elite E-Invoicing is simple and straightforward, especially for
those familiar with Elite solutions. The module’s Admin Tab provides five intuitive
menu options that allow the system administrator to configure the E-Invoicing system so that billing personnel can begin processing and delivering invoices electronically.
- General Options - Identifies how the system will be utilized by users and
indicates the database table locations for invoice data. Users can enter or modify fields as necessary to create timecard and cost protocols matching the firm’s
business practices
- Client Options - Provides the opportunity to add information about clients for
whom invoices will be sent. When adding a new client, the user provides
necessary information such as client number, cost code mapping, delivery
preferences, etc.
- Cost Code Mapping - Allows firms to deliver invoices using the same cost codes
as their clients.
- Invoice Format - Enables the user to upload an XSL (Extensible Style Sheet
Language) format to apply to an electronic invoice before sending to the
recipient.
- User Administration - Used when adding, modifying or deleting users.
Cost Task Code Mapping Streamlines Analysis
One of the most powerful aspects of electronic billing is the ability for clients to
utilize billing analysis services or software to fully understand the costs associated
with professional services and streamline the accounts payable process. Key to this
functionality is the ability to receive cost data using equivalent cost codes.
The Client Options page allows users to add new clients and specify invoice format and
electronic invoicing delivery preferences.
Cost Task Code Mapping enables a firm to deliver invoices using client-specific billing codes without changing the way costs are handled within the firm. For example, if a firm’s internal code for photocopying is "Photocopy" and its clients use different codes, such as "PHTOCPY" or "CPY," the appropriate code is used for each client without any changes in the way users with in the firm enter cost in formation.
Setting up Cost Task Code Mapping is done at the Admin Tab level, which is
accessible from the navigation bar. An unlimited number of cost task mapping
names can be added to the system for correlation to individual clients.
Matching Delivery Options to Client Preferences
An important aspect of setting up a client to receive electronic invoices is
determining the delivery option that best suits their needs.
Cost Task Code Mapping allows a firm to send invoices using the cost codes required by a client, without changing the firm’s internal cost codes. Individual sets of cost codes can be mapped for each client and applied appropriately when invoices are processed with Elite E-Invoicing.
Elite E-Invoicing supports two modes of automatic delivery:
Email Delivery - Elite E-Invoicing provides maximum flexibility allowing users to specify email addresses where invoices will be sent and replies should be received. Users can also enter up to 40 alphanumeric characters as a general description of the invoice content that appears in the subject line of the email. Invoices can be sent as an encrypted email, utilizing the AES (Advanced Encrypted Standard) method, which is the same encryption format used by the U.S. government and military.
Web Service - Elite E-Invoicing enables delivery of invoices to a web service via http or https. This option is often used for clients that request invoicing to be handled through a third-party web service for translation and delivery.
In addition, users can select manual delivery mode. This allows invoices to be sent by an administrator using the delivery method that is appropriate at that point in time.
Accessing E-Invoicing - Information at Your Fingertips
Elite E-Invoicing provides powerful search capabilities that allow users to retrieve
invoices quickly and accurately. By simply entering search criteria - such as client
number, matter number, invoice number or date range - both sent and unsent
invoices can be searched and retrieved. Appropriate invoices are then displayed in
a table that can be sorted for easy viewing.
Users can retrieve invoices within a specific date range or by client, matter or invoice number. Invoices can then be previewed and sent to clients according to previously specified client preferences.
Working from the search results page, users can preview invoices in the selected format before forwarding them to clients. Once satisfied, the user selects "send" to trigger delivery of the electronic invoices, per the delivery options defined for each client. For increased productivity, multiple invoices can be selected and sent to recipients in a single procedure.
To check the status of an invoice, users simply click on the Status Tab and enter search criteria such as client name, matter number or the person responsible for sending the invoice. Data is provided in columns that can be sorted by header.
Once an invoice has been processed using Elite E-Invoicing, its delivery status can
be checked by accessing the application’s status tab. Using a similar search
technique, invoices can be identified by client name, number or date range as well
as by the user who sent the invoice. Results are displayed in a table that can be
sorted by clicking on the column headers. By viewing this table, users can ascertain
if an individual invoice or group of invoices has been sent or received by the
appropriate party. Information regarding errors or whether or not an invoice has
been re-sent is also provided.
Broad Format Support for Today and Tomorrow
One of the most powerful features provided by Elite E-Invoicing is the module’s ability to apply virtually any standard format required by any client, including XML. Elite is committed to supporting the standard format needs of professional services firms. As a result, the library of supported formats will grow continuously to support new and evolving industry standards and requirements. E-Invoicing currently supports LEDES, cXML and other custom formats including:
- LEDES 98B and LEDES 2000 - standard file formats used by the legal industry for the electronic exchange of information.
- LawManager - a Thomson Elite solution for legal information management, LawManager supports the ability to receive, analyze and validate electronic invoices in LEDES 98B or LEDES 2000 format.
- cXML - a set of XML specifications for common commerce transactions, including invoices and purchases orders.
- Corporate Legal Management System (CLMS) - formats supported by the Mitratech CLMS or TeamConnect system, which provides invoice validation and analysis capabilities.
- Litigation Advisor - formats supported by the Litigation Advisor system, which provides invoice validation and analysis capabilities.
- TyMetrix - formats supported by TyMetrix, a provider of electronic invoice validation and analysis services.
- Xign - formats supported by the Xign Payment Services Network which links a buyer’s accounts payable department with supplier’s billing or accounts receivable departments across a secure, electronic settlement network.
For more information on Thomson Elite, please complete our sales request form or call +44 (0) 20 7369 7379.
TOP
|
