Alerts

Alert rules can be triggered off changes to records in the database such as inserts, updates, and deletes. Alert rules also can be scheduled using the Scheduler. The Rules Engine provides a mechanism for users to subscribe to Alert rules. When an Alert rule is executed, the Rules Engine sends an e-mail notification to each subscribed user and also adds an alert to the Alerts widget on the user’s home page.

Standard alert rules include the following:

• New Matter Alert – Notifies users when they are added as players to a matter.
• New Entity Alert – Notifies users when a new entity has been added to Secretariat.

Validation Rules

Validation rules are triggered off changes to records in the database such as inserts, updates, and deletes. Validation rules usually check the validity of the database operation and can reject the operation if validation checks fail.

Standard validation rules included with Suite are as follows:

• Matter Reserve – Limit Check (eCounsel only) – Prevents a user from adding a matter reserve record with amounts exceeding the user’s specified limit.
• Invoice Post – Invoice must be balanced (eCounsel only) – Prevents invoices from being posted if the detail amounts for each matter do not equal the invoice total amount.
• Invoice Post – Approval Required (eCounsel only) – Prevents invoices from being posted until they have been fully approved. This rule checks for all of the following error conditions:
  1. the invoice is not fully approved,
  2. no approvers exist on the approval list,
  3. no approvers on the approval list have sufficient authority to approve the invoice, and
  4. one or more approver’s limits could not be verified because the approver is not a player for the matter and/or the approver’s primary employment record could not be found.
• Invoice Post – Invoice must be fully used (eCounsel only) – Prevents invoices from being posted unless the matter amount(s) equal the invoice total.
• Verify Approver’s identity when approving invoices (eCounsel only) – Verifies that the identity of the user matches that of the approver when the Approve button is clicked.
• Invoice Duplicate Check – Configurable (eCounsel only) – Prevents duplicate invoices from being entered based on user-configured fields.

Workflow Rules

Workflow rules can be triggered off changes to records in the database such as inserts, updates, and deletes. Workflow rules also can be scheduled using the Scheduler. Workflow rules may be used to post changes to the Suite database or to export data to external systems.

Premium validation rules included with eCounsel Smart Invoice are as follows:

• Invoice Currency Conversion Rule Package (Database) - Uses a database script to populate a custom table used to calculate the applicable invoice base amount fields in the same manner as the application when the conversion rate is entered manually by the user. 

• Invoice Currency Conversion Rule Package (CSV) - Retrieves a conversion rate from an external .CSV file to populate a newly created invoice (electronically or manually created) that is in a currency other than the client’s base currency. The rule also is activated if the currency on an invoice is changed or an invoice is taken off hold after correcting a missing or invalid rate in the external file.

• Invoice Routing Rule Package - Automatically routes an invoice to approvers.

• Invoice Allocation Check Package - Validates that when an invoice is created/saved to eCounsel, the total of the allocations must be exactly 100%. A warning email is sent if all allocation percentages on an invoice total over 100%.

• Invoice Adjustment Vendor Comments Package - Sends an email with a comment to the vendor if an invoice is adjusted or discounted at the invoice level once the invoice is posted. For Smart Invoice (Collaborati/Corridor integrations), the email address on the Billing Info tab will be notified; otherwise, the primary email for the vendor will receive the notification. This rule includes a workflow rule, a validation rule, and a customizable email template. Please review the installation instructions included wtih this package to install all the components of the rule to ensure that it works properly.

Invoice Audit Rules

Automating the enforcement of your company’s billing guidelines when importing invoices is easily done in eCounsel. The Rules Engine can reject an invoice or include a warning on the imported invoice based on rules configured by the System Administrator. If your company has guidelines that are outside of the scope of the default set of rules included with eCounsel, contact Mitratech’s Professional Services Group.

This feature works with invoices that are imported through any of the tasks in Scheduler as well as those brought in manually through the import utility in the Invoices module. Rejection rules are run first and in the order they appear in the list. All assigned warning rules are then run.

Standard invoice audit rules include the following:

• Expense Rate – Specific expenses cannot exceed a specified rate. Highlight the rule in the Assigned Rule text box, then type the amount and the expense code in the Value column in the Parameters box.
• Mandatory Timekeeper – Verifies that the invoice contains a Timekeeper ID.
• Valid Matter Player – Timekeepers must be assigned as players. To have this rule also verify that the billing rate from the invoice matches the rate set on the Player tab, highlight it in the Assigned Rule text box and type YES in the Value column in the Parameters box.