Matter Overview Panel Explanations

Modified on Mon, 24 Jun at 10:29 AM

There are a number of different panels that you can configure to appear on the overview page of your matter. We list some and what information they display below.


Custom Data Panels

As well as having standard panels to display information about the matter, you can choose to display the information that has been entered against a Custom Data Collection for a matter. This will basically show the data fields and the values from the data collection however it has been configured.


Accounting Panels


Panel Name
Description
Action Ledger
This shows ledger for the matter. It will detail the total income and expenses and their net value. It will also show the percentage of any markup or margin added to these. It breaks down the amounts by quotes, order and actual so that you can compare what you have budgeted (quoted for a matter) compared to what it has cost or earned you.
Sales Opportunity
This summarizes the information entered on the Sales Opportunity page. It is designed to show you the information relevant to your sales pipeline.  

It displays what the expected sale amount is for this matter and the probability that the sale will take place and the expected sales date. It also displays the sales quote you have generated and linked in the Sales Opportunity page. Lastly it will also show you the marketing activity that brought about this sale or potential sale. (to learn more about how Actionstep can help you track your marketing activities, see Marketing.)


Use the link at the bottom of the Sales Opportunity panel to open the matter's Sales Opportunity page (normally accessed under the matter's Accounting menu).


Sales Opportunity Payment
This shows scheduled payments as entered on the Sales Opportunity page. These also highlight whether the payment has been invoiced and or paid or if a payment is overdue. Selecting the invoice listed opens that invoice in a new tab.

Click the link at the bottom of the Sales Opportunity Payment panel to open the matter's Sales Opportunity page (normally accessed under the matter's Accounting menu).

Expense Summary
This panel is similar to the Billing Summary panel but shows details about the expense or supplier transactions you have entered against this matter.

This panel shows you all the Supplier Quotes, Invoices and Orders that are loaded against the matter to allow you to see at a glance the cost you have incurred for this matter (and those that are yet to be incurred). Click any of the transactions names to open them.


The Expense Summary panel includes links for all three transaction types (Quotes, Invoices, and Orders) which will take you to a list of those particular transactions (normally accessed under the matter's Accounting menu).


Receipts & Disbursements
This shows all invoices once paid and any client receipts or general retainer applied. The invoice and tax amounts are green (disbursements) and the payments are red (receipts).

 

Note: Trust payments are not included in this panel.


Billing Summary
Similar to the Expense Summary panel, this shows details about the sales or billing transactions you have entered against the matter.

This panel shows all the sales quotes, invoices, and orders that are loaded against the matter to allow you to see at a glance the income you should receive (or will receive) for this matter. Click any of the transaction names to open them.


The bottom of the Billing Summary panel includes links for all three transaction types (Quotes, Invoices and Orders). Clicking these will take you to a list of those particular transactions (normally accessed under the matter's Accounting menu).




Time Billing Panels


Panel Name
Description
Time Billing Disbursement
This shows all disbursements that are waiting to be billed for this matter. If any disbursements are not billable (which does not happen often), they will not show on this panel.

The link at the bottom of the page will take you to the Matter Disbursements page.


Time Billing Invoice History
This summarizes the invoices generated for this matter that are either Open, Draft, or Closed that were created through Matter Billing. Neither will invoices that you have created manually (not by converting time and WIP into an invoice).

Each invoice's name, number, date opened, and status appears in blue. Clicking this will open the invoice on a new tab.


The link at the bottom of the page will take you to the Billing a Single Matter.


Time Billing Summary
This summarizes time that is loaded against this matter. It will break it down into Non-Billable, Un-Invoiced, and Invoiced time. showing you the number of tasks (time record entries) and disbursements, the actual and billable hours, and the total amount for each.

The link at the bottom of the page will take you to the Billing a Single Matter.


Time Billing To Invoice
This shows all the time records that have been loaded to the matter that are not yet billed.

The link at the bottom of the page will take you to the Billing a Single Matter.




Messaging


Panel Name
Description
Recent Email
This will show the most recent emails that have been received and sent from this matter. The most recent five emails allocated to the matter based on date will be displayed. The panel shows who the email was sent to, the first few characters of the subject line and the date of the email.

You can click the link at the bottom View full emails list to see all emails. By default, this link takes you to the inbox for that matter.


The panel shows draft emails first, then emails in the inbox and sent box ordered by date. If the email is a draft, the To email address will be in bold.




General


Panel Name
Description
Recent File Notes
This will show the five most recent file notes recorded against this matter. The image of the user will appear beside the note and each note will be titled with the person who recorded the note and the date they recorded it.

There are links on the bottom of the panel to create a new file note for the matter or to view the File Notes.


Parties
This panel shows all the parties assigned to the matter. This is a simple view, showing only the name of the contact to the left and the role or party they have been assigned to the right. See the Parties (detailed) panel for options where more of the contact information is displayed.

If you hover the cursor over any particular name, you will see further details of that contact including any Custom Participant Data that you have saved against the contact that is specific to the role they have been assigned on this matter. (If they are a contact loaded as a "client" party, only the custom data under "client" will be displayed).


On the extra information window that appears when you hover over the name you can click the email address to send an email to that contact. You can also click the Edit Data link at the bottom of the window to edit the Custom Participant Data displayed on that panel. Please note that updating this will only update the data stored against this matter, not the data stored against the contact record.


You can click the name of any contact to open their contact record in Actionstep and you can click the Full Parties List link at the bottom of the page see Action Parties information.

Parties (detailed)
Similar to the Parties panel (above), this shows all the parties assigned to the matter with more of the contact details for those parties displayed. The extra details are the contact records phone number and physical address.

If you hover your cursor over any particular name, you will see further details of that contact including any Custom Participant Data that you have saved against the contact that is specific to the role they have been assigned on this matter. (If they are a contact loaded as a "client" party then only the custom data under "client" will be displayed).


On the extra information window that appears when you hover over the name, you can click the email address to open a blank email to be sent to that contact. You can also click the Edit Data link at the bottom of the window to edit the Custom Participant Data displayed on that panel. Please note that updating this will only update the data stored against this matter, not the data stored against the contact record.


You can click the name of any contact to open their contact record in Actionstep and you can click the Full Parties List link at the bottom of the page to see Action Parties screens.


Progress
This panel indicates how far through your step tree you are. It assumes you will follow the standard process of steps and gives you an indication of how close you would be to the last step. For instance, if your matter has five steps and you are on the second to last step, you will be 80% through the matter. The first step in the workflow is not factored into this calculation, so if you are on the first step in your matter you will be at 0%.
Recent Documents
This will show the ten most recent documents for this matter based on when they were last modified. The panel shows the document name, its size, and when it was last modified.

You can click any document name or files size to download a copy of that document. Clicking the View Documents Screen link at the bottom of the panel takes you to the Matters Document page.


Incomplete Tasks

This panel shows any tasks for this matter that are yet to be completed. The tasks shown are for all users. The panel shows the name or title of the task and when it is due.


Clicking the name of the task opens it for you to alter it further. Clicking the View full tasks List link at the bottom of the panel will open up a list of all the tasks assigned to that matter.






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