Timekeepers are people from vendor law firms who bill for work on legal matters using hourly rates or flat/fixed fee arrangements depending on customer billing guidelines or requirements. Your vendors must submit timekeeper rates for review via BillingPoint.
Only admins can approve or reject timekeeper rates submitted by vendors. This article covers the following:
Note: These User Guides will be updated as more features are added and revised. Check in frequently for more information.
In addition to standard timekeeper rates for use across matters/invoices, vendors can submit matter-specific rates for approval. If there are spot rates or exceptions that need to be considered based on the type of legal matter or the scope, matter-specific rates give vendors and customers more flexibility in the billing process.
Finding Timekeeper Rate Requests
New timekeepers or rates that require review are grouped into batches in Unity eBilling. To find pending requests, go to Settings > Timekeeper Rate Batches and switch to the Pending Batches tab.
The Pending Batches list displays one row per vendor with pending requests. Requests are listed in ascending order (i.e., oldest listed first). You can re-sort the list by clicking on a column name or use the search field. The list shows the following columns of information:
- Vendor: Hyperlinked vendor name that takes you to the batch of requests for review. NOTE: The same vendor appears more than once on the list if they submitted separate batches of rates on the same or a different day.
- Timekeeper Rates: Shows how many of the submitted rates are still pending review out of the total number of rates in the batch (e.g., 1 out of 5 pending). You have the option to approve/reject some batches and finish the review later.
- Submitted By: Displays the name of the BillingPoint user who submitted the rates.
- Submitter Email: Displays the email address of the BillingPoint user who submitted the rates.
- Received: Date on which the batch was submitted by the vendor.
Viewing a Batch
Click on the hyperlinked vendor name from the Pending Batches and switch to Timekeeper Rates to start your review.
Approving or Rejecting Rates
From the Timekeeper Rates tab of a pending batch, review the rate information (e.g., Billed Rate, Effective Date, etc.) and then click the ... (more) option under the Actions column and select Approve or Reject.
Rejecting a timekeeper rate will update the status in Unity eBilling to Rejected and the status in BillingPoint to Disputed. In this case, the vendor has the option to resubmit an updated rate or void out the rate and submit a new one for approval.
Viewing Existing Timekeepers
All timekeepers that have been submitted to date can be found by clicking Timekeepers from the left-side navigation bar. This list shows one row per timekeeper, including the number of rates in approved, rejected, or pending statuses.
You can further narrow the list by using the filters above the table to see timekeepers based on various criteria, such as a specific vendor, a number of rejected rates, or a certain classification.
Click on a hyperlinked timekeeper name to view additional details, including name and classification. To see the list of all rate submitted for this timekeeper to date, switch to the Timekeeper Rates tab.
Alternatively, you can view timekeepers associated with a specific vendor by opening the vendor record and going to the Timekeepers tab.
