Time Entry During a Billing System Conversion: A Checklist
Many of the firms we talk to are somewhere in a billing system conversion, whether that's planning one, sitting in the middle of one, or recovering from one. The accounting side gets most of the planning attention, and it should; time entry gets less, even though it's where your attorneys will feel the change every day.
This is a checklist for the person running the conversion, and it only covers time entry. We've tried to make it useful whichever systems you're moving between, and since your vendor's conversion team will have their own plan, theirs should win wherever the two disagree.
Before the cutover
Decide what happens to unbilled time. Work in progress is the riskiest data in the move, so confirm with your vendor whether unbilled entries will convert with full detail (date, timekeeper, narrative, task code, rate) or as a summary balance per matter. If it's a summary, bill as much as you sensibly can out of the old system first, so that less WIP has to cross over.
Get time current. Set a firm-wide deadline for all time to be entered and released in the old system, a few days before the freeze. When we hear about a conversion that went badly, there was often a pile of late time that belonged to neither system.
Map the matter numbers. If client or matter numbering changes, build the old-to-new map before cutover and publish it where attorneys can search it. People remember their matter numbers, and for the first month they'll keep typing the old ones.
Map the codes and rates. Task codes, activity codes, timekeeper IDs and rate tables will all need a home in the new system, and it's worth checking that UTBMS codes for your e-billing clients come across exactly, because a rejected invoice is a slow way to find a mapping error.
Pick the freeze window. There'll be a period, usually a matter of days, when the old system is read-only and the new one isn't open yet. Pick it to avoid month-end, and tell your attorneys the dates well ahead of time.
During the freeze
Give people one place to put time. Your attorneys will keep working during the freeze, and that time has to go somewhere. A shared spreadsheet template works, and so does a capture tool that holds drafted entries on its own until the billing system is ready; what doesn't work is "hold onto it and enter it later," which is how hours get lost.
Name an owner for freeze-period time. Make one person responsible for seeing that everything recorded during the freeze lands in the new system afterwards, and for checking that it did.
The first month after
Reconcile WIP. Compare total unbilled hours and value by matter between the final old-system report and the new system's opening position. Do this before anyone bills from the new system.
Expect entry time to go up before it comes down. New screens, new codes and new matter numbers will slow everyone down for a few weeks, and late time usually rises in the first month. It's worth telling your partners to expect that, so it doesn't read as a failure of the new system.
Watch the first billing cycle closely. The first prebills out of the new system are where the mapping errors will show up, whether that's a wrong rate, a missing task code, or a matter pointed at the wrong client, so build extra review time into that cycle.
Keep read-only access to the old system. Someone will need to look up a historical entry at some point, and it'll probably be during a fee dispute.
Where time capture software fits
If your firm uses an automatic time capture tool, or you're considering one, the conversion raises three questions for that vendor:
Does it integrate with the new billing system today? Ask for the current list, in writing. Ours is on the billing systems Ajax works with page, and if your new system isn't on it we'll tell you so.
Can it hold drafted entries while the billing system is frozen, and release them afterwards?
When matter numbers change, who updates the mapping, and how long does it take?
On timing, firms reasonably go either way. Some want the conversion finished and settled before they change anything else about how time is recorded, and if the conversion has no dedicated project owner, that's the safer course. Others would rather retrain attorneys once than twice and fold the new capture tool into the go-live training. The right answer depends on how much change your attorneys can absorb in one quarter, and the person running the conversion is the best judge of that.
FAQ
What happens to unbilled time in a billing system conversion?
It converts either in full detail or as a summary balance per matter, depending on the systems and the vendor's tooling. Confirm which before cutover, and bill down WIP in the old system where you can.
How long is time entry frozen during a conversion?
It varies by vendor and data volume, and is commonly a matter of days. Ask your conversion team for the planned window and schedule it away from month-end.
How do we avoid losing time during the freeze?
Give attorneys a single designated place to record it, such as a template or a capture tool that holds entries, and make one person responsible for loading it into the new system.
Should we add new timekeeping software during a conversion?
It depends on your firm's capacity for change. Finishing the conversion first is the lower-risk choice, while combining them will save you a second round of training; either way, confirm first that the tool integrates with the system you're moving to.
