Assign Time to Temporary Matters

A clever, convenient way to track your time while you wait for a Client / Matter to be added to your firm’s Practice Management System.

Just because a new Client / Matter hasn’t yet been loaded onto the Practice Management System (PMS) shouldn’t mean you can’t start work and assign time to it. Time by Ping (TBP) takes care of this problem with Temporary Matters – an easy way to capture and assign your time locally while you wait for the PMS to catch up. Note: this feature was originally called “Pending Matters.”

What’s a Temporary Matter?

Our Temporary Matter feature is a quick and simple way to create a temporary, local Client / Matter and assign time to it while you’re waiting for the permanent Client /Matter to be added to the PMS. 

You can easily spot a Temporary Matter on the right-hand side of any Activity in your Timeline or Entry in your Timesheet, where you’d normally see the Client Name and Client / Matter number. It will be highlighted in grey.

How do I create a Temporary Matter?

To create a new Temporary Matter, select the Timeline tab and:

1. Click on the top-right of your Current Matters List (CML) to bring up the ‘Edit Matter List’ window
   
   
2. Click on ‘Assign to New Temporary Matter’, name the folder and click ‘Save’. You’ll now see your new Temporary Matter under the Edit Matter List on the left-hand side of the window and, when you close this window, in your CML.
   
   

How do I rename a Temporary Matter?

1. Open the Temporary Matter Settings modal by clicking on the Client / Matter settings cog wherever you see the TemporaryMatter name:
2. You will see the TemporaryMatter name. Edit this, and the Temporary Matter name will be updated.
3. Click Save & Close
   

How do I remove a Temporary Matter from my CML?

You can remove a Temporary Matter from your CML in two ways:

• Make sure you haven’t selected any Activities in your Timeline, which means your CML is in ‘filter mode’. Then just hover your cursor over anyTemporary Matter in your CML and click to remove it – simple.
• Or you can click in the top right of your CML to bring up the ‘Edit Matter List’ window. Here, just click next to the relevant TemporaryMatter to remove it.

If you remove a Temporary Matter with an Activity assigned to it for that day from your CML, it will remain in your CML for that day until you re-assign it to a permanent Client / Matter. Once you do that, the Temporary Matter will drop off your CML but remain on your Local List if you ever need it again.

How do I find days with time assigned to a Temporary Matter?

Easily! When you open your Month View you will see those days which have time assigned to a Temporary Matter indicated by a dot underneath the date.

This will allow you to quickly navigate to those days and re-assign that time to the correct Client / Matter once it is ready. 

How do I re-assign time from a Temporary Matter?

Once a Client / Matter has been added to the PMS, you can re-assign your time to it from a Temporary Matter via your Timesheet (recommended) or Timeline. 

1. Find your temporary Matter In your Timesheet.
2. In the Temporary Matter heading, click the Matter Settings icon in the top right.
   
   
3. In the popup, choose the active Client / Matter from the Assign to Client / Matter drop down. 
4. You will see a confirmation of the number of hours assigned to the Temporary Matter across how many days. If these meet what you expect, click Reassign
   
5. Review and double-check once more before you click Confirm Reassign. All the time will migrate from the Temporary Matter to the new Matter.
   Be certain before clicking Confirm Reassign. You can’t undo this action.
   
   
   

In your Timesheet:

1. Click on the Temporary Matter Entry and the Client / Matter box will pop up on the right-hand side of your screen, above your Daily Timesheet. If you want to re-assign multiple entries, click on the Entry header or check ‘Select all entries’. Click on  and then ‘Re-assign’.
2. In the search box, type in the name of the client or matter and then click ‘Search Firmwide’. This will search the entire PMS and show you any relevant clients or matters.
3. When you locate the right one, click on it and then click ‘Save & Close’.

Can I release time for a Temporary Matter?

You can’t release time assigned to a Temporary Matter until you assign it to a Client / Matter in the PMS. This means all Activities and Entries assigned to a Temporary Matter have a ‘Needs Review’ status:

If you try to release your time for the entire day (via the ‘Release Day’ button) but still have Entries for that day assigned to Temporary Matters, you’ll see a Notification Bar in the Release Confirmation window:

To release your time for that day just re-assign all Temporary Matter Entries to a permanent Client / Matter as described above.