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| Timeslips Version 11.0 | |
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While Timeslips Version 11.0 has new features, new navigations and the new XP look, the functioning of most features are familiar, and you will find them basically where they were in Version 10.5. I tested a beta release for this review. “Timeslips Today” is a screen that summarizes whatever information you want. For example, you can have a list of the last 10 time and expense slips, the last 10 accounts receivable transactions, your slip totals for given periods, a report such as slip value vs. billed slip value and Alerts. This is a convenient way of keeping track of where you are for the day, week, month or quarter. The screen is highly customizable and interactive. “Timeslips Today” doesn’t automatically refresh when the information changes. Pressing F5 refreshes the screen. The “Time Sheet Slip Entry” allows you another way to enter or review your time for given periods. To use it, you must set up Time Sheet Slip templates. The templates include all the information for a slip — timekeeper, client, task, reference, description and defaults. You can scroll through the weeks forward and backward. You also can use a timer in conjunction with the Time Sheet. Assuming you are working on more than one template each day, just start and stop the timers when you come back to that template. The template actually creates a new slip for you when you enter time. The Time Sheet indicates that more than one slip is contained in that cell of the Time Sheet by changing its color. However, once a cell contains more than one slip, you can no longer use the timer for that cell because Timeslips would not know which slip to add the time to. In that case, click the “Slip List” icon on the menu bar, and edit (or start/stop the timer) as usual. Bold numbers in a cell indicate the entry has not been updated. If you need to enter time for a task that you have not yet made a template for, click the “New Slip” icon on the menu bar and enter your time as usual. The Time Sheet will show your template and non-template totals at the bottom of the screen. “Alerts” allow you to predefine information you want at your fingertips without having to run reports. For example, if you want to keep track of when a client runs out of replenishable retainer, you can create an alert to tell you. When the client falls below the amount of the replenishable retainer, you (or someone else) are alerted. As discussed above, you also can place “Alerts” on your “Timeslips Today” screen. Assuming you want to know the status of the clients you are working for, this is a handy feature. You now can create “Bill Format” and “Statement Format” templates for each client. Once you create and assign the templates, every time you run a bill or statement, it will use the assigned template, which is another timesaver. Timeslips 11.0 now includes a Portable Document Format (PDF) driver. I have converted my Timeslips reports into PDF and burned them to CDs for backup and storage. In previous versions, you needed Adobe Acrobat (a separate program) to convert your reports to PDF. Now the driver is built in. After you run the report, just select the PDF driver and name the file. A Reinstallation Code is displayed in the “About Timeslips v11.0” selection on the “Help” menu. This will save a phone call to Best Software if you have to reinstall Timeslips. Like its immediate predecessor, Timeslips Accounting Link (TAL) comes with the program (see the “Timeslips TAL Pro” review in June/July 2002 Law Office Computing). It allows you to link to and transfer information from Timeslips to accounting programs such as Intuit’s QuickBooks. If your state doesn’t tax legal fees, this is a great feature since you don’t have to re-enter your fee and payment information into QuickBooks. Timeslips Remote is still available, which allows billers to keep track of time on another computer (a laptop or notebook for example) and later merge their time into the firm database. The “Split Billing Module” also is available as an add-on for $149.95. While one should always be a little hesitant to pronounce judgment on beta software, Timeslips Version 11.0 looks like an able and justified upgrade. |
Best Software (Small Business Division) (800) 285-0999 www.timeslips.com
Price: $399.95; upgrades start at $199.95 Reviewed by Steven Schmidt, shareholder, director and president of Business & Technology Law, Albuquerque, N.M. PROS CONS VERDICT |
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