Administration > Matter

Matter

These administrative features allow a System Administrator to group multiple matters to a client and/or group multiple matters together. This can allow for easier billing and case file management in Umbria.

Matters represent individual legal cases. Each matter has a number assigned that links to an identifier in the time and billing system. A potential matter, or opportunity, has a separate opportunity number until converted into a matter. Each matter also has a start date, an end date, and a status such as open, inactive, or closed.

Matter Directory Node

Matters have various associated metadata that are imported from the time and billing system or another source. This includes information such as type of work, area of law, matter subtype, practice area, related tags, legacy types, location, and industry. A time and billing system can attach only one value for each type of metadata. Umbria, however, allows you to attach multiple values for each metadata type. For example, Wal-Mart's primary industry is retail, but they also provide pharmacy, banking, and food services.

A team is created for each matter based on timekeepers imported from the time and billing system that have entered time on the matter. Umbria also pulls in the matters' responsible and billing lawyers.

To add a new matter:

Click the Add Button. The New Matter window displays.
Fill out the following fields on the tabs:

Tabs	Field	Instruction
Basic Info	Start Date	The matter family start date defaults to the current date but can be overridden. This is a required field
	Currency	Select a currency for the matter from the drop-down menu. The default selection appears based on what is set in Global Settings. This is a required field.
	Fee Type	Select the fee type from the drop-down. This is a required field.
	Matter Number	The matter number is defaulted by the system, but can be changed. This is a required field.
	Opportunity Number	The opportunity number is defaulted by the system, but can be changed.
	Confidentiality Level	Set the confidentiality level for the matter. This is a required field.
	Opportunity	Check box, to mark it as an opportunity.
	Status	If marked as opportunity, select status from the drop-down. Available options are In Process, Rejected, Lost, Converted to Matter, Inactive, andWaiting for Matter. If the opportunity check box is not selected, the available options for matter status are Active, Closed and Inactive. This is a required field.
	Matter Name	Enter a matter name. This is a required field.
	Client	Select client , if the matter is for the client.
	Template/Task Code Set	Select the template and the task code set.
	Description	Optionally enter additional information regarding the matter.
Family	Matter Family Information	If the matter belongs to a family, select the matter family to associate the matter to.
Field	Matter Experience	Select the matter experience details. Note: When adding a new matter, the Country, State/Province information defaults to the options set in Global Settings>Defaults.
Team	Matter Team	Click the Add button to add team members to the matter. Select the person and the role to be assigned. Select Yes to allow matter access to the matter team member. Set Access Expiry date. Click Save. Click Save+ to save and add another team member.
Biller	Matter Biller Information	Select the employee to be assigned as a biller for the matter. This is a required field.

Click Finish.

The Time Generator option allows for simple and advanced generation of time entries for a selected matter. Simple time entry generation can target both a specific phase and all phases with a way to only specify completion percentage, while advanced time entry generation targets specific phases with more options on hours, amounts and rates.

The Options menu provides Update Profitability Summary to update calculation for profitability for specific matters. Choosing the top checkbox updates all matters. The Profitability Summary appears on the Matter Performance page. The calculations are updated in the Caliban.MatterProfitabilityStatistic table.

Note: If deleting a single matter from the Matter Directory node, the Remove button can be used. To remove more than a dozen matters it is recommended to make a SQL change. See Deleting Multiple Matters instructions below.

To calculate the profitability for matters:

Access the Admin Panel.
Click the Matter Directory node within the Matter folder.
Select a matter(s) from the list or select all matters.
On the menu bar, click the Options button and select the Update Profitability Summary. Calculations on the Profit per Partner/Profitability KPIs update.

Matter Families Node

Also called Matter Portfolios, these are groupings of related matters that can have one of two types: Budget/Monitoring and Roll-Up.

Budget/Monitoring is a top-down situation in which a company budgets a specific amount for the entire family, and all associated matters pull from this figure when forming their own budgets. For example, if UPS sets a budget with the firm for $1,000,000 per month, all matters included in the UPS matter family will pull from that monthly budget and will be monitored monthly. If one matter is using the bulk of the monthly budget, the other matters are limited to what is left over.

For Roll-Up families, each matter has a separate distinct budget. All matter children are still related, however; for example, the matter children could each represent a plaintiff in a damages suit against a common company.

To create a new matter family:

Click the Add button. The New Matter Family window displays.

Fill out the following fields on the Basic Info tab.

Field	Instruction
Family Number	Umbria automatically assigns the next logical number. You can override the number if needed. This is a required field.
Confidentiality Level	Select a privacy level from the provided list. Public is the default setting. This is a required field.
Status	Select a status for the matter family from the drop-down menu. Active is the default setting. This is a required field.
Currency	Select a currency for the matter family from the drop-down menu. The default selection appears based on what is set in Global Settings. This is a required field.
Matter Family Type	Select Roll Up or Budget/Monitoring (see explanations above). If you select Budget/Monitoring, you are required to enter a Budget Warning Threshold percentage.
Start Date	The matter family start date defaults to the current date but can be overridden.
Family Name	Type a name for this matter family. This is a required field.
Client	Optionally select a client, if all matter children will be for the same client.
Description	Optionally enter additional information regarding the matter family.

Click the Next button. The Matter Children tab of the New Matter Family dialog box appears.
Click the Add button and select a matter from the Matter drop-down menu. Click Save.
Repeat until all matters have been added to the family, then click Finish.
Click the Import Child Matters option to bulk import child matters for a selected matter family. In the Excel Import window you can click on the Download Sample Excel button, to download the excel file or you may browse and select the file for import. In the excel file, enter the MatterNumber, for the matters you want to associate with the selected family. Click Send.

Note: Matters that are deleted, matters with different Client Id, or no Client ID and matters already belonging to any of the matter families will not be added.

Matter Targets Node

In the Matter Targets node you will set up the targets for matters and thresholds for budgets. By setting the targets, practice managers, group leaders, or billing and originating lawyers can be alerted of matters that either fall below leverage, realization, profit margin, PPP (profit per partner) targets or reach a budget threshold. The alerts appear on the Practice Management Dashboard (for the practice group matters) and on the Partner Performance Management tab (for a partner's matters). Targets can be on a firm, department, or office level.

To add targets:

On the Matter Targets node, click Add.
On the Target Type drop-down, select Firm, Department, or Office.
Select the Department or Office from the drop-down list.
Select the Currency and the Effective Date of the target.
For the Leverage, Profit Margin, Realization, and PPP, select the Target value and the Threshold for Warning value from the drop-down lists. If the value falls below the Threshold for Warning value, an alert will display. If the matter falls below the target thresholds, the columns in the dashboard or tab will denote in colors (dark to light red).
Click Save.

Refer to Entity Trigger to set up the triggers for budget thresholds, leverage, profit margin, and realization on a manual/daily basis. In this setup, you will also execute the triggers.

Note: If the budget threshold targets for a matter is not set up here, the system will consider the percentages set in the Global Settings to trigger the alert of matters that have reached the budget threshold.

Deleting Multiple Matters

If deleting matters, they should also be excluded from being imported into Umbria in the future.

Option 1: Update stored procedure script for dbo.umbriamatters table

In SQL Management Studio, browse to the time and billing database and expand the Programmability - Stored Procedures folder.
Right-click Stored Procedure and click Modify.
Under the Selecting matters for processing section, add a where clause similar to the following, replacing INSERTMATTERNUMBERHERE with the matter number(s) to exclude:
Tip: Sample for Elite Enterprise: AND ISNULL(m.mmatter,'')<>'INSERTMATTERNUMBERHERE'
Save the change.
Delete the excluded matter records from the dbo.umbriamatters table. The next time an import runs, the stored procedure will not import the matter.

Option 2: Update Staging_Matter.sql script

Open the Staging_Matter.sql script.
In the where clause at the bottom, above the convert, add a two-line clause similar to the below, replacing INSERTMATTERNUMBERHERE with the matter you wish to exclude.

Tip: Sample for Elite Enterprise:
m.mmatter not in('INSERTMATTERNUMBERHERE')
AND