This ScreenSteps user guide will take you through every aspect of the eBilling.Space platform, including:
- Using the Dashboard
- Working With Time Tracking
- Working With Expenses
- Working With Invoices
- Working With Matters
- Working With Analytics
- Working With Staff
- Working With RFPs
- Working With the Calendar
- Adjusting the Settings
- FAQ
If you cannot find an answer, please contact our support team via email at BusyLamp Support.
With eBilling.Space, there is no need to install any additional software on your computer; you only need a computer with a modern internet browser installed and your login credentials to use the application.
BusyLamp will send you a welcome email inviting you to join the system (please check your junk folder if it has not been received). This email will contain a link and temporary password, giving you access to eBilling.Space for the first time.
After clicking the link, you must enter your e-mail address and the temporary password. Completing the process outlined in "Welcome and First Steps" is essential to gaining full access to the application.
Password
Your organisation may have elected to link eBilling.Space to your internal SSO (single sign-on) to provide added security.If so, users cannot access the application using their email address and password, nor can they change their password within eBilling.Space; all login and password management will occur through the internal SSO.
External Law Firms
External lawyers must be assigned to an existing matter within eBillling.Space.Click on the "Invite Lawyer" button within the matter to issue the initial invitation email to the lawyer, who will then follow the same "Welcome and First Steps" process.
The seven steps should be self-explanatory, but please pay special attention to step four: hourly rates and step five: Location.
You must enter hourly rates in step four for each matter you have been assigned even if you are not a lawyer but a member of the eBilling team. This is critical for you to have full matter access in eBilling.Space.
- eBillling personnel and support staff who will not be working as a lawyer can enter 1.00 EUR for example.
- eBilling personnel should always be allocated the role Project manager as this is also essential for sufficient matter access in eBilling.Space.
These two steps cannot be omitted. They are mandatory to guarantee successful access to eBilling.Space matters.
Entering your location address in SETTINGS Law firm data is also important; it will provide the VAT rates when recording time entries and other information needed for eBilling.
The invitation email to your eBilling.Space account will arrive as soon as the client assigns your first matter/instruction in eBilling.Space; it will contain your username which is your email address along with a temporary password for your first login into eBilling.Space.
Once you enter your username and temporary password you will be led through a Welcome Process that guides you through each step.
NOTE: If you are not receiving eBilling.Space related emails in your inbox and they cannot be found in your SPAM folder, then please contact your IT and request that our domains "busylamp.com" and "busylamp-legal.com" are white-listed.
The screenshot below sets out the Welcome and First Steps to be taken to complete your registration.
Once you have completed the Welcome Process successfully, you should enter your law firm data settings.
Please note that you must have the appropriate credentials in order to be able to add or change your law firm's data. Only a user who has been allocated the "Project Manager" role for at least one matter can perform the steps described below.
To enter your law firm data, please choose "Settings - Law firm data" from the main menu.
You will then be taken to the overview of your law firm's details. Here you can add or change your data such as the Value Added Tax identification number, bank details, etc.
To save your changes, please click on the corresponding button to the right of the input fields:
NOTE: Inputting the "Central Contact email" field will direct all eBilling.Space related email notifications to be sent to that one email address ensuring you can keep track of them (it can be either an individual or shared mailbox - and they will not be sent to the acting lawyer.
Adding a location
To add a location, please click on the button "Add another location" in the middle of the Law firm data page on the right-hand side.
Existing locations can be modified by clicking on the edit icon.
A pop-up screen will display allowing you to enter the address of your location and the billing address, including the bank account information. Any fields with a blue * are mandatory, and you will not be able to exit the screen until they have been completed.
Usually, the billing address will be the same as the law firm address.
NOTE: The Location title will be the entry to be selected in the settings of each lawyer.
NOTE: The VAT ID and IBAN must start with the two-letter ISO code of your country.
To save your entries, please click on the "UPDATE ADDRESS" button. If you need to add further locations, please repeat the two steps described above.
Adding Billing Managers
You can add up to five "Billing Managers" who will be assigned all matters for their law firm. Afterwards, the "Billing Managers" will have to enter hourly rates for each assigned matter to have sufficient access for eBilling.Space.
The timekeeper import feature can be found here:
Depending on the client configuration, the hourly rate import option might be missing. Please mind the download section highlighted in red that contains the definition sheet and an example file.
By clicking on the menu option right underneath the import with hourly rates option, you can check the status of your imported timekeepers.
General Rules
- The semicolon ";" is the preferred separator. The reason is that some addresses may contain a comma:
- Preferred file encoding of the csv text file is UTF-8.
- Currently, Excel files are not supported.
- Please remove all unnecessary spaces mainly between entry and separator.
- Before reimporting a corrected file due to previous errors, please refresh the page by using the F5 key on your keyboard.
Example File with Hourly Rates
Here is the screenshot of the example file downloaded from the timekeeper import page opened in Notepad++.
In many cases, the files are generated in Excel and then exported as csv file where Excel chooses the comma as the default separator although the semicolon is required.
In this example file the address contains a comma which would cause bad data if the comma were the separator as well. Therefore, please make sure to use the semicolon ";" as the separator and enter the date using the format as highlighted in red.
Using Excel for your import file
Excel can generate comma separated value files, as well.However, it will use commas as the default separator, which will work in most cases. Excel will open files named *.csv by default, but that should not do any harm except for the date format. Excel will always try to reformat a date according to locale settings, which is not correct.
To prevent this from happening, the two date columns should be reformatted as "Custom" and entering "yyyy-mm-dd".
After formatting the two columns as text, make sure the validity dates have the following format: yyyy-mm-dd.
Uploading new rates on top of existing current rates
To upload new rates with validity dates in the future, please make sure not to overlap the validity dates!
EXAMPLE: For this existing rate the updated hourly rate would need to have a valid_from date of at least 2025-01-01:
Inviting a Lawyer
Click on the INVITE STAFF icon on the eBilling.Space dashboard or choose "STAFF - Invite staff" from the main menu on the left-hand side to invite a lawyer.
or
Now fill out the "Personal information" screen and please remember to fill out the input fields marked with a blue star as they are mandatory.
NOTE: The "Internal Lawyer ID" is a unique ID for each lawyer/support staff within your organisation. The ID should be created internally and will not be issued by your clients. The ID must be entered for each lawyer at the time of invitation in order to prevent duplicate lawyer entries in your time keeper uploads and invoices.
NOTE: Each lawyer and support staff must be linked to a location.
Function and Hourly Rates
Further down you must select the matter(s) to which the new staff member should be assigned including the respective function and hourly rates. You must enter at least the first two letters of the matter for the search function to activate and then you can select the respective matters from the resulting matter list by selecting one at a time while pressing the Ctrl-key on your keyboard.
The matter function Project Manager must be selected for users responsible for eBilling, as it provides the required credentials for eBilling and inviting further staff. A Project Lawyer can only record times on his own behalf.
If you choose the invited person to be a contact person for matters, please note he or she will be visible to the client.
Click on the question mark symbol for details.
Setting Up Lead and Local Counsels
NOTE: Use of the Local Counsel function is only possible after your client has successfully connected the Lead and Local Counsel offices.
After your client has established the Lead and Local Counsel connection and added the Lead Counsel firm's staff to the project, the following steps are to be completed by the Lead Counsel firm:
- Open the corresponding project and select the local counsel office in the settings
2. Select the desired lawyer of the local counsel office
3. Enter the hourly rate agreed with the client and click Add
The Local Counsel attorney can now record times that are subsequently billed by the Lead Counsel law firm.
Recording of Times and Expenses by Local Counsel
For more information on how to record times and expenses, please refer to our online help sections:
Invoicing by Lead Counsel
For more information on entering invoices, please refer to our online help section:
Managing Staff and Timekeepers
Once your account is set up, you can manage your staff and timekeepers via the Staff tab.
Clicking on the first option of "Staff" will display all active staff in alphabetical order and highlight where profile information needs to be fully completed (depending on the method of creation).
The below example shows that location information needs to be added, and one user assigned to a Matter and given a Function.
A user will display in pink if they have been "blocked" and can not be added to a matter (and record time against a matter).
There are four ways a member of staff or fee earner can be added to eBilling.Space:
- Invited by client - an email invitation will contain a clickable link taking the user through the steps to create their profile
- Invite Staff - a member of your eBilling team can manually invite a user by completing the Personal Information template with all the mandatory fields, including adding to a matter and allocating a role function
- Import Timekeepers - the import file should be in CSV format and use a ";" to separate each entry.
- Import Timekeepers with Hourly Rate - this is an alternative to the Import Timekeeper file and your client will confirm which format they required. The import file should be saved and uploaded in CSV format and use a ";" to separate each entry. Please ensure that "tk_hourly_rate; tk_currency" are completed for the upload to be successful
Once you have created or uploaded a timekeeper by any of these methods, the timekeeper will be visible to your client allowing them to invite the lawyers and fee earners to matters. Any team members set up as a billing manager will be added to all matters automatically.
Approval of Hourly Rates
Please note you will not be able to raise an invoice including newly imported timekeeper(s) until the hourly rates are approved by your client. You can check the progress of the approval of individual lawyers via the "Release Status of Hourly Rates" tab so you can monitor directly with your clients.
Timekeeper Classification
eBilling.Space is a SAAS (Software as a Service) application that works on every browser. However, we have optimized the look and feel of our application for the following web browsers:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- Microsoft Edge
Please contact BusyLamp Support if you have any difficulties accessing or viewing eBilling.Space.
NOTE: The following guidance will not apply to organisations that use SSO (single sign-on) to access eBilling.Space.
You have two ways to change your password. You can access the Change Password screen by either:
a) clicking on Settings on the left-hand screen tab and then Details
b) Clicking on your Account name (the blue name text) on the upper-right-hand side of the screen.
Both will bring you the Account Details section; scroll down to the Change Password section.
Passwords must be longer than 10 characters and contain at least one letter (both lower and upper case), one symbol, and one number.
Forgot your password? Just click Forgot your password on the login screen. From there, you'll be prompted to enter your email address and receive an email with instructions on how to reset your password.