Onit’s new Budget feature provides an efficient, collaborative way to request and review matter budgets – both internal and external – within the BillingPoint platform. In this how-to guide, you’ll get a step-by-step overview of how to work with the Budget feature within Onit’s ELM platform.
NOTE: This feature requires an Onit services engagement; please contact your Account Manager if you are interested in setting up the new budget feature.
For information on implementation settings, review the full Budget Collaboration in OnitX ELM guide.
Requesting a Budget
Requesting a budget from a vendor will occur during the Vendor Assignment to Matter (VATM) process. You can set up budget requests at any time – either during initial setup or by clicking into an individual VATM after creation.
1. Create a new matter or click on a pre-existing individual matter on the ELM screen.
2. Once you are into the matter, click on Assign Vendor.
3. The Vendor Assignment to Matter (VATM) screen will appear. Fill out the Vendor information and then click “Save and Create Budget” on the bottom right of the screen.
5. The Budget Setup Wizard will appear on the screen. From here, you have two paths to choose from:
External Budget Creation
For an EXTERNAL budget, click YES on "Request Budget from Vendor."
Fill out any notes you might have for the vendor in the Notes from Client field.
Select the Budget Type you would like to send to the vendor for their numbers. You have four different options here: Life of Matter, Annual, Period, or Monthly.
Note that Life of Matter is defined as one estimated budget for the entirety of the matter. Details for the Annual, Period, and Monthly selections will come from the information defined on startup.
If you select the Annual, Period, or Monthly options, you will also have to select the type of Budget Calendar to use. You have two options here: Fiscal (aligning to your organization’s fiscal calendar) and Calendar (aligning to the standard 12-month calendar).
NOTE: You can only select Fiscal if you have your organization’s fiscal calendar integrated within Onit’s ELM solution.
From there, select the Budget Detail Type. You have two options here, Fee / Expense and Total.
If you select Fee / Expense, the vendor will enter Fee Budget and Expense Budget values, which will be summed for Total Budget.
Select the Calendar Year you would like to request information for in the drop-down menu.
Finally, select the Forecast Request Cadence and Reforecast Request Cadence. For the Forecast Request Cadence, you can select None or Annual. For the Reforecast Request Cadence, your options are None, Annual, Period, or Monthly.
These fields will default to what was setup in the settings. When the requests are sent will come from the input at implementation.
Once you have input all your information in, you’ll get a message at the bottom of the screen summarizing your request:
From there, click Setup Budget and you are all set!
Internal Budget Creation
For an INTERNAL budget, click NO on "Request Budget from Vendor."
Select the Budget Type you would like to send to the internal contact for their numbers. You have four different options here: Life of Matter, Annual, Period, or Monthly.
Note that Life of Matter is defined as one estimated sum for the entirety of the matter.
If you select Life of Matter, you’ll next have to select the Budget Detail Type. You have two options here, Fee / Expense and Total.
If you select Fee / Expense, you’ll be able to fill in the Fee Total and Expense Total at the bottom of the screen, which will be summed for a Total Budget.
If you select Total, fill in the Budget Total at the bottom of the screen.
If you select the Annual, Period, or Monthly options, you’ll also have to select the type of Budget Calendar to use. You have two options here: Fiscal (aligning to your organization’s fiscal calendar) and Calendar (aligning to the standard 12-month calendar).
NOTE: You can only select Fiscal if you have your organization’s fiscal calendar integrated within Onit’s ELM solution.
From there, select the Budget Detail Type. You have two options here, Fee / Expense and Total.
For both Fee / Expense and Total, first select the Calendar Year you want to request the details for. Then, you will be able to fill in the Fee Total, Expense Total, or Budget Total at the bottom of the screen under Budget Details.
Finally, select the Forecast Request Cadence and Reforecast Request Cadence. For the Forecast Request Cadence, you can select None or Annual. For the Reforecast Request Cadence, your options are None, Annual, Period, or Monthly.
These fields will default to what was setup in the settings. When the requests are sent will come from the input at implementation.
Requesting a Budget: Notes to Remember / FAQs
- You can only add one internal and external budget per matter. To add an additional budget to a matter, click on the “Add Budget” button within the matter screen. This button can also be used to add a budget after the initial Vendor Assignment to Matter.
- The Forecast and Reforecast Request Cadence will default to the Corporation default set in the Budget Settings; however, it can be edited for the specific budget during the VATM budget setup.
- If a budget is opted out of automated forecasting, client users can manually request a forecast.
- Manual Reforecast requests are also available.
Reviewing Budgets
Vendors will receive an email alerting them to the budget submission request. They will be able to log into BillingPoint and fill out the budget details on a screen looking like this:
NOTE: The budget contact is set in the Vendors application; it is the same as the contact for matter assignments, accruals, etc.
Clients will view an updated budget within the Budget Details screen.
On that screen, clients can Approve or Reject the budget. They can also View History of prior budget entries for reporting and analysis.
Requesting a Budget: Notes to Remember / FAQs
- The client can set up billing rules to block invoices from being submitted if the budget is reached or has not been entered.
- Note that internal budgets do not have an out-of-the-box approval workflow.
- The vendor will have the option to submit “no changes” to their previous budget values; if no changes are submitted the budgets will be automatically returned to their previous state prior to reforecasting.
- If a vendor fails to submit a budget value within the submission window, the client user can provide a value on the vendor’s behalf.
- If a historical year budget is entered it is automatically opted out of the automated forecast process until a budget exists for the current year.
- Any budget value changed during the reforecast process will be re-routed through the approval workflow.