How To Search Your Billing System

Search for, find and assign clients and matters to your time in just a few clicks.

As part of our mandate to make timekeeping as easy and efficient as possible for you, Time by Ping (TBP) integrates seamlessly with your firm’s billing system, or Practice Management System (PMS).

This allows you to quickly and easily find clients and matters in your firm’s PMS and assign your time to them for simple, fast billing. In this article we’ll show you not only how to find those clients and matters in the PMS but also how to add them to your Current Matter List so they’re available at the click of a button when you need them.

How does the Time by Ping search work?

Before we look at how to search the PMS, let’s look at how the search function works in TBP. You can search the PMS for a:

• Client name
• Client / Matter name
• Client / Matter number

TBP search works by checking the PMS against exact matches for your search query, so it’s important to be as specific as you can. For example, a spelling mistake might mean the client or matter you’re looking for doesn’t appear in the search results at all, or a more generic search may return lots of results and make it harder to find the right one. 

There are also rules specific to the type of PMS your firm uses:

Aderant

When you search Aderant, it will return around 60-70 clients or matters at any one time and will show nothing at all if the results list is larger than that. If your search query is too broad and appears to return no results, try being more specific to narrow down the results.

Elite Enterprise

When you search Elite, it will return the top 50 clients or matters. If the client or matter you’re looking for isn’t in this result list, try being more specific to narrow down the results.

3E

When you search 3E, it will return the top 500 clients or matters. This would obviously involve a lot of scrolling so if the result list is this long, try being more specific to narrow down the results.

How do I search for clients or matters in Time by Ping?

TBP gives you the flexibility to find the client or matter you’re looking for in several ways:

Search via your Current Matter List 

Keeping your Current Matter List (CML) up to date is the best way to make finding clients and matters as quick and easy as possible. By adding Clients / Matters to your CML, you won’t need to repeatedly search the PMS.  

To search for and add a Client / Matter to your CML, simply:

1. Go to your Timeline view and you’ll see your Current Matters on the right of your TBP window. Click  in the right-hand corner of your CML
2. Click in the search box to find the client or matter you’re looking for. The search is dynamic so results will appear and narrow as you type
   • If you’ve already added the Client / Matter to TBP before, it will appear on your local list directly underneath the search box
     
     
3. If you haven’t added the Client / Matter before and it doesn’t appear in the local results list, click ‘Search Firmwide’ to locate it in the PMS
4. Once you’ve found the Client / Matter you’re looking for, click  to add it to your CML. It’s now in your CML and you won’t have to search the PMS for it again
   
   

Search via the Assign to Client / Matter modal

TBP likes to give you flexibility when carrying out an action, which is why you can also search the PMS via your Client / Matter window in your Timeline. Here’s how:

1. Click on any Activity in your Timeline and the Client / Matter window displays on the right-hand side of your TBP window
   • If the Activity is Unassigned you’ll see an ‘Assign’ button.
   • If the Activity is Assigned you’ll see a ‘Re-assign’ button.
2. Click on either and the ‘Assign to Client / Matter’ modal will display
3. The list that appears under the search box is your local list – clients or matters you’ve already added to TBP. You can scroll this list or type in the search box to find the Client / Matter you’re looking for.
   • If you haven’t added the Client / Matter before and it doesn’t appear in the local results list, click ‘Search Firmwide’ to locate it in the PMS
4. Select the Client / Matter you want to add and then ‘Save & Close’. It will now appear in both your local list (so you don’t have to add it again) and your CML

If the Client / Matter hasn’t been added to the PMS yet, you can also create a Temporary Matter to assign an Activity to. For more on this, read our article, Assign Time to Temporary Matters.

Search when you create a new Activity or Entry

When you manually create an Activity or Entry, you can also search locally and firmwide for the Client / Matter you want to assign it to. Here’s how: 

1. In your Global Navigation Bar click on ‘Create Activity’ from your Timeline view or  from your Timesheet view
2. Click on ‘Select Client / Matter’ and enter the name of the client or matter you want to assign the Activity or Entry to. The search is dynamic so results will show as you type.
   • If you haven’t added the Client / Matter before and it doesn’t appear in the local results list, click the ‘Search Firmwide’ button when it shows to search the PMS. Select the Client / Matter you want to assign
3. Add the start and stop times and, if you want, the Narrative and Work Codes (although you can add these later)
4. Click ‘Save & Close’ and the Client / Matter will appear in both your local list (so you don’t have to add it again) and your CML

Do you have any top tips to share about search?

We do! Here goes:

• The best way to find a client or matter is with the client matter number, as it’s unique
• Try to avoid searching by client name or a generic client matter name as these will likely return a lot of results and so make it harder to find the specific Client / Matter you’re looking for
• Be specific as possible to keep the search results narrow and the list short
• And remember, TBP searches for the exact phrase you enter in the search field – like when putting quotation marks around a search term on Google. So, for example, if you type in Bank of America, TBP only pulls up results from the PMS that contain the exact phrase ‘Bank of America’